Ha! I did it. Blog 1... Blog the most uninviting word there is! Sounds way too much like a slog for my liking but here goes! So act 1, first step, intro! Where to start. I could be wise and polite and say some long-winded highly perfected crap but I prefer to just say Hi, welcome!  I like to do things the way I want. So Hey! Hi! Hello! Welcome. Que Intro -   So I am whichever box you wish to put me in, a mum, an entrepreneur, music-loving candle maker, business developer, motivator and occasionally borderline, swearing wine drinking bestie but above all that I love life in its ugly shape and form, I still love it. I could go on hence the blog but this is the intro and it is not about me it is about you! You showed up. You came on to learn, to engage but in the meantime my name is Lesley I am a mum of two adorable well-behaved children who are gods angels!  No they aren't they are like everyone else's kids. Non-stop snack eating growing small people, whos hair cuts are currently a dedication to trolls. And no I didn't pay £15 to hire the new one! To top it all they are currently being educated by their mother! There have been several statuses that hit the nail on the head for example last week I quote an Instagram guru 'both got suspended for fighting and the teacher well, sacked for drinking on the job' but the plus side wait is there a plus side? Oh yeah I think I have remembered this is the point I say how amazing it is to make scones and paint rainbows and pull every muscle in my body doing Joe Wicks as my kids sit on the couch and watch.

 

So in summary since lockdown I have drank my weight in wine but I am also more focused than I have ever been. Joking aside. I have had days I show up. My god I show up. I smash my online sales goal, I nail it as a mum, a daughter, a friend, a boss but the other days - no I don't smash it, I have the doubt, the fear, the inner voice trying to dictate!  But the difference being I ignore it and carry on regardless. Being different, being ambitious following that inner drive is the difference between listening to the inner doubt and letting it dictate. The voice that says you shouldn't or you better not, what if you fail. Fuck failing! 

I love a quote and I will share my favourites throughout my blogs. They are a consistent reminder of why I do what I do. Why I go get a coffee and keep going...  I pin them on my office wall, I have them as my phone screen savers. One I have above my laptop is 'Go the extra mile, its never crowded' you want space to be you, to do what you want, what drives you then go the extra mile!

 

My first business adventure was a small shop in my home town and I remember having to at the age of 24 still feel like I needed my parents' permission. I needed permission to step out of the norm to push myself. I had a good job, on paper it was everything a post-grad would have hoped for, but nope not me. I wanted to do my own thing. I knew I had it in me to create, I wanted to create.

You don't need to be a biotech company to be an inspiring entrepreneur. I hate the word entrepreneur. I feel it applies you know what you are doing. No one knows what they are doing until they are doing it. It is not about getting it right once. It is about failing again and again and again, but getting back up again and again and again. You have thick skin and you only listen to the voice within to get the drive. Then you start. You take that first step, whether it is to lose weight, to drink less to stop eating the kids leftover tea to take on the puzzle that is growing a business. You take the help, you make the mistakes and you take the good times when they come. As they will come.

I have been asked sooooo many times. How do you do it all? Or How can you be bothered? Truth. I get asked this by people who are looking for a reason for why they don't. Do it all, is the one that makes me smile the most. I don't bloody do it all. I get the same amount of hours in the day as everyone else, for the last three years, these days were long thanks to my son thinking sleeping was overrated.  I have days I don't even shower. I don't grow my business. But the difference is I accept these days. I lower my standards and if they only thing I achieve is drinking my water and making my bed that is still not a bad day.  I don't let them dictate my smash it days if anything it makes the smash it days sooooooo much better.  And let's talk about smash it days, as just now getting through the day and staying safe is an achievement, so from this blog I want, I beg you to take the first step. Decide what you want and work back from that goal step by step to achieve it. Do not doubt that I will be rooting for you whatever you decide to do. I don't judge, we shouldn't judge go smash it!!!

 

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