As our bath bomb business is quickly approaching 2 years old we find ourselves reflecting on where we were and where we are now, what we have achieved, what’s gone right and what’s gone wrong, what we could have done instead and how things were compared to how things are now and it got me thinking about starting out on your own business and how your friends react.
So, when Kim founded Fun Bombz - she was working for a care home assisting in the admin and marketing and Kat was busy with 2 children and planning her 3rd. Kim became fed up with paying the crazy amounts that some shops charge and thought well this cant be hard to make which then teaming up together we both made (often a lot of times because it was hard to get the consistency correct) but eventually created designs and decided we wanted to set up our own business to help other like minded parents achieve more at bath time with what can be a stressful time with children.
So, when we told our friends, we told them about our plans, our dreams and our aims for the business. At first many were concerned that we would struggle financially and if we’re honest,we were concerned about that too but we pushed forward making sure our hard work didnt go unnoticed - at times Kat having to calm Kim down from the pressure she was putting herself under to ensure the business kept moving forward with sales.
Over time, as the business was quickly taking off we both found we had some friends who worked shifts, had time off or were on maternity leave that wanted to meet up and felt that we could do so at the drop of a hat – after all we are our own boss so why couldn’t we just drop everything for them. The main reason of course was because if we didn’t work we didn’t earn – it took both of us nearly 2 years to have a ‘weekend’ off work and go for a spa together and even then we were constantly checking emails, responding to customer questions across all social media platforms and just staying in touch.
When you start your own business it can get very lonely, you go from a busy office or workplace to sitting on your own in a spare room or small office. We couldn't go networking because we started during lockdown and while you are desperate for the support from your friends around you it is essential that you also stick to ‘working hours’ for your own sanity.
That’s what your friends don’t understand – even when we didn't have any customers and our business was just starting out we still need to be making - designing new bath bombs, thinking up new marketing campaigns, working on our website, posting on social media, marketing our business and so much more and sadly those who we thought were friends slowly diminished into a contact in each of our phone book - never once asking how we'e getting on - how life is - how business is.
Myself and Kat both now have a handful of close friends who understand that why we've been MIA and now celebrate our success in what feels like its taken no time at all.
We both have separate friends and joint friends who have been there for us all along, supporting our ‘after work hours’ and were more than happy to support our 1st Year Anniversary and now coming up 2nd. Friends will come and go when you run your own business, some just won’t understand, some will be busy and others will just stay where they were and their lack of ‘umph’ will drive you mad – but you’ll also find those friends that are there for you, no matter what – and that’s what we have found with our handful of fab friends!
They know who they are and we will always be thankful to each and every one of you.