Lucy McDowell, who started children's clothes and toys company Double Flip in 2011, says that in many ways running her own business is more compatible with being a parent than working for someone else.
"You set your own agenda," says McDowell. "And also I don't feel the pressure. I think a lot of working women feel incredibly guilty because they're not there for their kids as much as they'd like and they're not working to the standard that they'd like."
But she says she has to compromise between the dual roles of parent and business owner, and that the downside is that her business hasn't grown as fast as she would have liked it to.
"While in an ideal world I would rather it had grown faster, we've doubled our revenue year on year for the past three years," she says. "So I think it's just one of those things that I've had to accept. In terms of a work life balance, it works well and I know that as they get older, the children will need me less and I'll be able to work more on the business."
McDowell runs her business by herself, but some people have found that teaming up with other parents who want to start a business takes the pressure off making business decisions by yourself, with the added bonus of being able to split childcare costs or make compatible childcare arrangements. Mum Plus Business is a service that connects parents who want to start a business together. "The childcare costs are so high," says director Esther Radnor. "When you team with another mum you can share childcare and work around each other's timetables."
Radnor had the idea for the website when she decided she wanted to start a business rather than return to her full-time marketing role in the City after her son was born. She says: "I wanted to work with another mum, someone who had complementary skills to my own, who I could bounce ideas off. I discovered there was no service to connect mums who want to start a business together, so I decided to start one."
Deborah Watson, who runs Okid Ideas with her friend Clare from their homes in York, found that working with another parent has helped enormously with her business. "The beauty of having the two of us is that if one of us isn't here the business can still move forward. We're never away at the same time. And we can keep things ticking over in the holidays in between looking after children as well. The power of two."
When Watson was looking after her children at home and thinking about going back to work, she never would have imagined working from home. "I said I could never work at home because the benefit of going to work would be more the social side – being in an office working with people," she says. "But actually I found that I don't miss that at all. The convenience of being able to drop everything and to go and pick a child up is great, you don't have to answer to anybody else. I actually think it's the easiest way to work and look after kids."
Watson says the downside of running a business from home is drawing a line between work and parenting time. "If you're in the middle of something at work it is tempting to get it done, when actually you need to be cooking tea," she says. "It's a matter of learning to become more disciplined and the more you do it the more you can be strict with yourself and set some hours."
McDowell sets herself working hours of 10am to 3pm in term time. "I work very solidly, often not having lunch those hours. Primary school finishes at quarter past three and for most people that's the middle of their working day, so I pack whatever I can into those five hours. I think I'm very productive in those hours. Maybe I get as much done as somebody who's having a chat or having lots of meetings at work."
The challenges come when a child is ill and a parent has to cancel an important meeting. "It's quite unprofessional to have to ring up and say sorry I can't come, my child's ill," says McDowell. "They are understanding, but if you were going to a pitch and a rival was able to make the meeting then they are going to get the job. People may be sympathetic but if you've missed an opportunity, you've missed it."
McDowell says that running her own business has been much harder work than she imagined it would be, but she says it's the best thing she's ever done. "You need to have a huge amount of self-belief and keep reminding yourself why you are doing it. But I love it," she says. "My confidence has grown and when you look back and see what you have achieved it's great. I can't imagine doing anything else now. I'm very passionate about what I do and I love doing it as much as I love being a mother. "
Content commissioned by Guardian Professional on behalf of Direct Line for Business.
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