Hayley Lewis - Dream Believe Create: A Womans Guide to Small Business

One of my many dreams when I was growing up was to have my very own small business. I remember thinking how wonderful it would be to own a lolly shop or perhaps a doll shop. Actually, I dont think it really mattered what I sold, I just wanted to play shopkeeper in a little corner store that I could operate myself.

As a young girl, I obviously had no comprehension of the long list of responsibilities and costs associated with being self-employed. Thankfully, when I did finally become a small business owner many years later, I still wasnt deterred by the whole notion that my success and longevity in small business hinged on how much effort and time I was willing to put in. Nine years on, I do believe that some people are born to be business owners while others perhaps are not. I have quite a few friends who have no idea why anyone could possibly want to work for themselves, while others could think of nothing worse than having to work for someone else for even a day, let alone their whole working lives. I definitely sit firmly in the latter category and Im not sure how this came about.

Both my parents are firmly of the mind-set that running your own small business is quite risky. Mum has always been a stay at home mum and Dad has worked at the Courier Mail newspaper in Brisbane for 45 years, so branching out and dreaming of becoming an entrepreneur was definitely a gamble in the Lewis household. When I was about 10 years old, my dad bought his own bread delivery business. My only memories of that period were that we seemed to have heaps of money and heaps of bread, but we never really saw our dad because he was either working hard or sleeping. Thankfully, that entrepreneurial phase for my dad only lasted about 12 months before he was back at the paper and we had him back in our lives, albeit with a little less money and a lot less bread! During that time, I realised the sacrifices that families make to run their own small businesses. Dads bread run was a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week energy-zapper.

For this very reason, I can clearly remember to this day the perplexed and concerned looks on my parents faces when I told them that I was thinking of starting my own swim school.

Why would you want to do that? It all sounds like a huge risk and a lot of work if you ask me! my mum stated with furrowed brow.

I hope you know what youre doing, my dad replied, with trepidation creeping across his face. Im sure the magnitude of sleep deprivation from his own small business days had scarred him mentally for life.

I considered for a second or two the question/remark phase of the parental discussion, before deciding quite quickly that as much as I loved my parents, this new adventure I was about to undertake would not be easy for them to understand or feel relaxed about. For me, their reactions of ambivalence and worry were only bolstering my determination to succeed and forge ahead with my plans. I knew within myself that starting my own business would fulfil a lifelong dream one that would be both rewarding and challenging and no one was going to deter me, especially my well-meaning parents. That being said, I really didnt comprehend exactly what I was getting myself into either. I had exactly zero hours of experience in any business, let alone creating and managing one for myself. Im certainly not one to waste time pondering the what-ifs, so I dived right in so to speak.

Looking back at the past nine years of being self-employed, there are certainly days when I felt like packing it all in, but it has never, nor will it ever be an option to go and work for someone else. Its not that I dont like people in fact Im pro-people but I think I just dont like people telling me what to do. I know this sentiment is without doubt the result of my many years as a competitive swimmer. From the age of four through to 27 I was dictated to by programs, swimming carnivals, coaches, diets, exercise regimens, early bedtimes, you name it! As an athlete, I had to be 100 per cent disciplined about every aspect of my life, otherwise it would have been a complete waste of time and effort. It was very much a regimented schedule that I cant believe I maintained for so many years without going crazy. In saying this, I know it made me toughen up and not be complacent to go through life looking for a challenge or two. At 37 and a mum of two, I can finally cherish the fact that I can now live life to the beat of my own drum and not someone elses.

If you are anything like I was prior to starting out on my own, then youre probably spending many sleepless nights just fantasising about owning your own small business, but may not quite know where to begin. Let me be upfront by admitting that even with nine years of small business experience behind me, I would certainly change many decisions I made along the way. The initial stages were far from perfect, but I started with a modest base and built on it. While admitting this, I can at least pass on some helpful and timesaving tips I managed to pick up along the way and these might help to alleviate some of your pre-business angst.