Kate Butcher 
Hello, and welcome to Business Foundations for Mums. Today I wanted to talk to you about your Why. Why is it that you have your own business? Why do you want to have your own business, rather than working for someone else? Why this particular business? What does it give you that a job doing the same thing wouldn’t? 

I see lots of business coaches out there telling you that it’s so easy to build a six figure business, but at the same time, I’m also hearing more and more mums who are telling me that they don’t want a six figure business, a lot of mums, and not everybody is the same, but certainly a lot of mums I speak to, what they really want is a business that gives them flexibility to earn money, whilst also still being available for the school runs being available for nativity plays, sports days, all that kind of stuff. And flexibility to take time off during school holidays have days out with the family, to be there when they need to be there for their children for their families.

It’s really, really important that you identify the why behind your business. Do you want to earn enough that you can give up your day job and have that flexibility around your children? Or is it that you want to pay for a family holiday once a year with day trips out? Do you have a family who you need to support financially? Or is there a certain amount maybe that you need to contribute to the family income? Or is it that you’re looking to improve your lifestyle to afford the little luxuries in life? Maybe you have a husband, a partner who hates their job and you would really love to be able to earn enough that your partner can leave their job? Is it to show your children that they can follow their dreams and do whatever they want in life? What is it that really drives you have a really good think about it. And what is it that you really want to achieve with this business? And when I’m asking what it is that you want to achieve? I don’t mean in terms of what your business does. But I mean in terms of what you want to achieve in your life as a result of having this business.

Having a strong why having that reason behind why your business is so important to you. That’s what’s going to drive you forward when times are tough. And there will be tough times in any business. There’s always going to be tough times in business. But your why is what guides the direction that your business takes. It allows you to push yourself out of your comfort zone and it’s what keeps you going when that imposter syndrome kicks in. It’s what pushed me to do this podcast. I absolutely had and have so much imposter syndrome around this and we’ll definitely talk about imposter syndrome in a future episode.

But for those who aren’t familiar with imposter syndrome, it’s that little voice in the back of your head that tells you you aren’t good enough. Who are you to have your own podcast? Who are you to have your own business. You don’t have what it takes to be successful. No one’s going to be interested in listening to what you have to say. But my why which is my desire to support other mums as they get started in their business. That for me is a big part of my why. I desire for my children to see me stepping out of my comfort zone and being a role model for them. That’s what drives me forward. My passion to build a business that will allow us to travel as a family to spend more time together. That’s what drives me on through that fear. Those things are my why.

Your why is what will turn your dreams into a reality. We all have dreams of what we want to achieve in life. The lifestyle we want to live, the places we want to visit the income we want to earn the time we want to spend with those we love, those dreams. Those are what drives our why. And they drive us to succeed in what we’re working to achieve. They drive us to keep on pushing through, bouncing back. Getting up after we’ve been knocked down. It’s what pushes us to overcome the obstacles that we face as mums. Because as mums there are lots of obstacles.

I see a lot of people who pivot in their business, as they start a business and then as time goes on the why behind what they do just isn’t enough anymore. But their passion has shifted something new develops. A new why that they’ve learned on the journey in business. So business foundations for mums, that’s probably quite a good example of that. I started off as a virtual assistant supporting small businesses. And quite quickly my niche changed as I attended mumpreneurs networking meetings, because at the time I had a toddler in tow, and much as I wanted to go to lots of different networking meetings, I found that the only ones I could go to, with a toddler, were the ones that were designed for mums. And were were toddler friendly. And as I spent more time with mums in business, I developed a real passion for supporting mums who are running their own business, who were juggling it all, and got to see that real juggle that was happening for so many mums.

And as I continued to network, both at face to face meetings, and then when those meetings went online for COVID, but also online and Facebook groups specifically for mums in business. I found myself offering advice, supporting mums who were just setting up, whether it’s explaining the difference between being self employed in a limited company, whether it’s covering the basics of Instagram, or why it’s important to know your target market, looking at the different website options. And my passion has really grown to share this advice more widely to make it more readily available to those who are just starting out.

My why has pivoted, so why do I want to support mums who are just starting out? For me it’s because I remember so vividly those early days in business trying to figure it all out, frozen with fear. totally overwhelmed by everything that I needed to learn, didn’t know about didn’t even know that I needed to know, and trying to juggle all of that with motherhood. And I was really, really lucky that I not only found an amazing business course, but I also want a free place on that course. And that was a really amazing business in Australia called Business School for mums, as you can probably tell already, this course and not only everything that I learned from it, but also the incredible support that I got from the community there, has been a huge inspiration for me. And business school for mums no longer exists in the format that it did when I was on the course. It’s now become a mastermind for well established businesses. And it’s got a new name, The Elevatory, but it was so incredibly valuable for me at that time. And I really wanted to create something similar in the UK for UK based mums, who were at the stage that I was at when I joined that course. It was through being on that course with business school for mums and figuring out the why behind my business that I was able to move beyond being absolutely frozen with fear in my business, to being able to make a plan, to figure out what I needed to do, how I needed to do it, learn what I needed to learn and start to move past the excuses that I was making to myself and all of the things that were getting in my way.

So your why gives you purpose. It gives you direction. It reminds you why you’re doing what you’re doing, every day. I really believe that mums are a force to be reckoned with. We’re strong, we’re resilient, flexible and so much more and we have to be, being mums teaches us so many amazing transferable skills, that allow us to grow and develop amazing businesses.

People buy from people. I’ve bought products that I wouldn’t otherwise have even thought twice about or been interested in. Because I’m buying from and supporting the person behind the business, because I see what they’re doing. I see why they’re doing it. Because their passion shines through and sells that product or service for them. When someone really lights up when they talk about their work, you know that they have a real passion for it. And they’re going to show great diligence and care in doing the work. So when you ask someone to do a task and it seems like it’s just a job, to them, I don’t know about you, but I’m often left wondering if they’re going to actually do justice to the work. And if it’s your own business, you do care, and you do want to do well, and you do want to keep up a good reputation because your own business will have been set up with purpose with a why.

It was Simon Sinek who said people don’t buy what you do or how you do it, they buy why you do it. Your why is the everything behind your business. It’s the reason why you do what you do. It really is.

I’d love to hear about your why. What’s the reason behind your business? Why do you run the business that you have? Or why do you want the business that you’re dreaming about? Let me know. I’d love to find out.