Stop Chasing Success & Start Building Your Own Dreams
Her purple hair might be the first thing you notice, but Brittany’s charm and hard-work ethic is what has made her a stand-out success. Find out how she’s managed to build a boutique agency from the ground up, all while managing to raise three kids.
Q: How did you get started running your own boutique agency?
Back in 2014, my husband was offered an opportunity to return to a job at the Port Moody Fire Department, a career he was passionate about returning to. The plus side was that he would have a much more flexible work schedule for the family and he was returning to a job he loved, but the downside was that it came with a large pay cut.
At this point I had two children aged 5 and 8 (They are now 9, 12, and our son is 2.5!). I had wanted to start my own business for a while, so I decided to try it on the side to see if I could earn us a bit of extra money to make up the difference. I started Empty Desk Solutions in April, and by August I was earning enough money to quit my full-time job and give it a go.
Q: What marketing training or experience did you have before you started your own business?
I never studied traditional marketing in school or otherwise, but have always been the type to learn well on my feet. At 14, I started my career managing tanning salons. Even at this young age I was figuring out how to speak with customers, manage sales, manage people, and scheduling. I was really good at structure and setting up processes to make things more efficient.
There was a husband and wife that used to tan where I worked and often asked me random marketing questions. The husband was the VP of marketing at Canada’s largest mortgage company and eventually offered me a project management position even though I didn’t have any “real” experience.
It was an amazing opportunity, but because the role was so new, there was no on-boarding process. I got handed a laptop and had to figure it out! I learned so much during this time about marketing and running a business, not to mention being super resourceful. I spent three years shadowing him and I owe much of the success of my business to this particular job.
Sometimes it feels a bit scary that I never studied marketing traditionally, but at the same time, it can be freeing. You really don’t know what you don’t know, and this lets you figure things out your own way.
Q: What were some of the challenges along the way?
There was a real lack of information on where to begin and a lot of the available tools or resources were too expensive when I was starting out. It was a lot of trial and error.
It was also harder to balance the time between managing the kids and the business. When I would go to my 9 to 5 job there was a more clear-cut boundary between work and home time. When I started working from home, and we reduced the day care hours to zero, work and home life started to blend together more.
The other surprising challenge was just believing in myself. I really had to push myself outside my comfort zone at times and not limit myself to what was just easily available.
Q: What’s been surprising to you along this journey to small business owner?
I never thought it could be as easy as it is once you get proper systems in place. I spent a lot of time at the beginning documenting everything and making big binders for our processes, and now it’s paying off. This is thanks in large part to a fantastic business coach I was able to work with — cheers to you Beverlee at Systems Business Coach!
I also find it surprising how much mis-information is out there about how hard it is or why you can’t do it, especially as a mom. When you look at your costs that it takes for you to work such as full-time day care, commuting, parking, lunches, etc. you realize how much less you might need to make if you could reduce or eliminate all of those expenses and work from home even part time.
In my corporate job over half of my paycheck before taxes was going to daycare alone. I realized I could actually make less and get to spend more time with my kids if I worked for myself. When you run a small business, you have business expenses that you can write off against your income. The flow of money is different and you have other assets and liabilities. This was something I didn’t consider before.
Q: How did you manage childcare along with work and your small business?
My older girls were in before and after school care when I started so that helped out, but as soon as I left my job to pursue the business I no longer had childcare. A couple years in to starting my business I also became pregnant with my 3rd child and we knew all along that I would continue running the business even with a new baby and no childcare. I continued to ramp up right until my son was born and then took as little time off as possible to keep things going. He would be on me breastfeeding and I would be typing with my other hand! I think my few years as a single mom in the past adapted me to living on little sleep.
My husband is also on 4 days on, 4 days off, so that helps to manage our household schedule. He takes care of the school drop off and pick up when he’s home so that I can work if needed.
I also evolved our brand to work with the kind of people who would understand the work life balance that I am trying to create. I strategically market to other small business owners who might also have kids running around in the background on a conference call.
Q: What courses or training have you taken along the way that has helped you grow?
I enrolled in Business School for Busy Entrepreneurs as part of a Canada Job Grant for small business owners. It was an online course where there were 90-minute calls once a week coupled with homework to get organized. It was both a mix of consulting and coaching which I thought was unique and beneficial for me, especially at the stage of the business I was in. There were 20 people enrolled from all across Canada and it went over every aspect of your business from HR to marketing.
I am also currently a part of The Social Clique — a Mastermind group for motivated social media marketers. This has been great to connect and learn from other people with similar businesses to mine.
Q: What does success look like to you now?
Success for me has been more about the time and lifestyle than the money. I have more time with my kids now than ever which is something I can’t put a price on.
From the financial side of things, it has allowed us to do things like buy a new home and have rental properties. When I was in my previous marketing manager role, my worth (aka my paycheck) was determined by someone else and it was nearly impossible to invest any money for the future — this has all changed with my own business.
Your perception of success changes as your business evolves and as you evolve as a parent and person. People are always trying to get to this finish line of success, and by the time you get there your kids will be grown and gone. They are only little once and you don’t get that time back.
Now my success is focused on growing my team and helping them achieve their personal goals while I streamline the business to allow me to spend more time with my family AND have the business make money more independently of me.
Q: How has being an entrepreneur affected you as a parent?
It has really helped me instill more confidence in my older girls. They know they can do whatever they want, and because I say it to them, it helps me believe it for myself. They are learning about the value of hard work by seeing me do it, and it helps them to understand there are more options that just 9 to 5 jobs. My oldest daughter now loves to “work” with me and earn some money of her own. They are often telling people, “My mom has her own business” and are proud of me.
On the flip side of things, there is still sometimes the perception that being at home doesn’t mean I am working. My daughter has called me to come and drop off something at school she forgot, and sometimes I can’t because I’m with clients but she doesn’t see that. In her mind if I am at home I’m not working, it’s an interesting conversation trying to explain that mommy and daddy both work, even though one of us works in the house and one works outside the house, they are both important things that support the family.
I hope to normalize entrepreneurship as a path to success. There is more than one way to make money and live.
Q: Has being a woman helped or hindered your success?
Sometimes I have felt that ‘some’ men often are more aggressive or try to negotiate harder or take advantage more than our female clients. I have an all women team so I am more aware of this perhaps than others.
The men we work with are also often less understanding about our childcare situations. We are open and upfront that we have kids and families and that they come first. It can be a challenge but then we don’t want work with clients who don’t understand that. On the flip side I think we make for different and better business owners in some ways as our leadership skills are different.
I think as working mothers we still feel like we have to do it all and we are failures if we don’t. We are trying to be everything to everyone. It’s hard to find that balance. My husband is amazing, but I think I still worry over more things.
Q: What does balance look like for you?
Honestly, I am not very good at finding balance! I am using my old school paper planner to try and carve out specific time for tasks — like checking email and even time to eat!
I know that self-care is so important and I am working on it. I read inspirational quotes to help guide me. It’s something I will continue to work on and get better at.
Q: What tools or systems are important to your business?
Whatever tools you use, make sure they are valuable! They can add up quick with all those recurring monthly subscriptions before you know it. In the beginning we had a larger suite of tools and now have found better ones that combine more things we do and cost less over all. Some of the mains one we use are:
1. Quickbooks
2. Avaza: it’s a project management tool for agencies. Each client is a project and it sets us up for each new sign up.
3. Canva — great tool for graphic design.
Q: What advice would you give to another mom thinking of starting her own business?
Just start. You will figure it out as you go. People get stuck on the technical aspects — GST numbers and names and then they don’t get started at all.
Realize it will never be perfect. Failure is a part of the process. Everything is not sunshine and rainbows (my oldest daughter likes to remind me of this… Lacyee — that quote is for you!). There are still going to be hard days, but then I look at the kids and I realize that it’s been worth it and it will continue to be worth it.
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This is part of a series of everyday mom inspired stories who made radical changes in their work life to pursue their passion, all with kids in tow. If you enjoyed reading it, please leave a comment or a clap! See the full series at: medium.com/the-mompreneur
Are you a mom with an inspiring story to share? Send me an email to connect: mompreneurstories@gmail.com
