Ups and Downs ... just part of being self employed.

I have been teaching Daisy Birthing classes for 16 months now and Daisy Baby for 
3 months and I can honestly say that I've had no regrets at changing my career path. However, at the beginning of the week I was having a bit of a downer about being self employed. Being completely honest, business is a bit slow at the moment and I was just feeling a bit disheartened that things have gone a bit quiet given all of the hard work I put in to marketing and promoting the business. Whilst I didn't expect it to be easy and all plain sailing (in fact I knew it would, in some respects, be harder than being employed!) it can be worrying.


However, I'm lucky to have lots of support from the other Daisy Birthing teachers - we have a forum on which we can share worries, bounce ideas off each other and share experiences which is great. Plus it was good to be reminded that birth, like many other businesses is cyclical in its quiet and busy periods - believe it or not snow has a great affect on conception rates as does recession! Summer is always busy and then there's the 50 Shades of Grey Baby Boom that's about to come!!! Lazy Daisy head office have also been good, offering marketing advice and support, so I'm definitely feeling more positive again today. 

The lovely Marie with baby Archie :-)

The main thing that has lifted my spirits though and reminded me why I do what I do is realising that my 50th Daisy baby was born last month to the lovely Marie and Mark. I had the honour of meeting and cuddling little Archie just the other week and he's gorgeous. Plus Marie and Mark are thrilled with how the birth went which just makes my job so worthwhile. 

Also, today I posted a picture to Facebook from the recent Bump and Baby meet up I organised - 25 Daisy mums and babies attended and it was a bit overwhelming (in a good way) to sit amongst them, seeing how the babies have grown and developed, and knowing I played a small part in their arrival in the world!

So, just as I teach my ladies to stay calm and ride the waves of their labour knowing that the outcome is so worth it, so too I must learn to ride both the tough times and the good whilst staying motivated and positive and knowing that the end result is something that makes me very happy!

How do you keep yourself motivated when times get tough business wise?