Helen had always done well in her career, despite taking a fairly non-traditional route to get there. After high school, she found a full time job in the insurance industry that was meant to be temporary and left behind when she started university in the fall. When the time came to quit, she felt ill, and every instinct told her to stay at that job, even though she was repeatedly told she was crazy. She did stay, and through night school, and a succession of different employers and jobs that paid more and more, she climbed the ladder of "success" without even really trying. She just somehow kept getting promoted without even thinking about what she really wanted and if it was a good fit. Maybe it was the stylish power suits she wore?
Helen became a manager of seventeen employees at 23. It was stressful to say the least! As Helen had married young, she was starting to think about how having a child would fit into her life. Once she became pregnant three years later, the first a-ha moment came. She had to make changes and try to steer her life instead of allowing things to happen! She enjoyed the company and saw herself in other roles there that perhaps were less stressful overall. For some reason, she could not imagine having the life she wanted which included above all else, some sense of balance between work and home life. Helen had determined that she much preferred her interactions with clients over supervising staff and discussed moving into a purely sales/service position with her superiors. The great boss she had at the time agreed to this change, with more or less the same pay! Wonderful, she could still afford a great suit now and then!
Once that transition had taken place, Helen and her spouse Nick welcomed a baby boy into their lives! After Helen's six month maternity leave, Nick stayed home with the baby, working part time around her schedule. He noticed something different about their son that she did not. A long road to a diagnosis began, and finally at three, their son had been diagnosed with Pervasive Development Disorder (a mild form of autism). It seemed devastating and many challenges on the home front presented themselves. Perhaps this is why Helen felt, without really knowing HOW she knew it, that she needed to scale back her responsibilities at work after she became pregnant. Her child was going to need more of his parent's support than a lot of other kids do.
Things went along smoothly at work, and Helen had quite a flexible arrangement so that she could meet her parental duties as well as keep things going smoothly at work. The new position was much less stressful than the old one (although it certainly had its moments). It got to the point where Helen could do the job in her sleep, AND she looked stylish doing it.
More than ten years passed by, and Helen's son and home life were settling down just fine. By the time her son reached his teens, he did not need as much from his parents anymore. Helen found that she was reaching that stage in her life where she needed more to sink her teeth into career wise and had the energy to do it. The problem? She was over forty, and had long ago been left in a corner to do her job with her unspoken agreement! This is when she realized that when she stepped down from that management position all those years ago, she was donning a sign over her great outfit, perfectly accessorized, that said something like "I chose motherhood over my career and someday I will pay the price". Or maybe it became "I am too old and settled to be of value in a new position". She starting "phoning it in" which was disturbing and unlike her, but she knew she could get away with it because she had years of great performance behind her.
She tried to develop a positive attitude and be thankful for the great things she had at work. When that didn't do it, she tried to look for another job but couldn't find anything comparable. She had to face the prospect that if she did nothing, the rest of her working days would be much the same. The days, months, and years wore on, and she died a little each time she went in. When she booked optional foot surgery just to get seven weeks recovery time at home, seeing it as a "break" from the drudgery of her job, was another a-ha moment that something had to give. She actually counted down the days!
Helen did a whole lot of thinking while she worked from home after surgery once the pain pills wore off. Although the thought of starting a business had ALWAYS been dismissed before as being impossible, selfish, unaffordable, and too risky, she couldn't stop herself from dreaming. A wish long buried under bills, laundry, and kid concerns surfaced again. It was the dream of owning a clothing store.
One of the magazines her husband had so thoughtfully purchased for her during recovery was an issue of O magazine. It was all about career inspiration and opening your dream business. As she read, she was more and more encouraged to just get out there and DO, despite the odds, and the huge personal risks involved. After much discussion with her husband (who was unsure at best, downright terrified at worst. Their debt load was NOT unsubstantial!), she managed to secure an agreement from him that she would have his support, financially and emotionally! Just think, one little magazine issue later!!
A business plan was drafted, research made, locations looked into, and discussions with other retailers undertaken. When Helen learned something that was not to her liking or expectation, she revised her plan continually to make it fit her vision as realistically as possible, which involved ditching the idea of a bricks and mortar store, and trying a webstore instead, and to sell women's accessories only, as a starting point, to cut down on start up costs. While working her full time job, she learned about her new one and jumped in to the degrees that weren't too overwhelming. Gaining a familiarity if not a total comfortableness with one issue, she jumped in to tackle the next unknown. Each issue under the belt served as confidence to go on and meet the next challenge. Even when failure surely came, lessons were learned, and experience was gained. Mistakes are actually CRUCIAL, she found out!!
Helen has been operating Princess Fabulosa for over two years now (full time about 1 1/2 years), and has been trying several things to generate publicity for her it, which includes regular social media involvement, blogging, selling directly to the public via fundraisers and home parties, and a consignment program with hair salons for costume jewellery. What she really wants to work for her business is the webstore but is unsure that the time it will take to get this to generate any worthwhile income will see her family to bankruptcy! Success has come from paid web advertising but not enough to cover its cost. She is also toying with the idea of finding someone with a clothing store currently that would like to sublet a portion of it for her accessories. A full store for her own business is still not feasible. She also hopes to improve traffic on the website via "free" means such as through her blog, and social media involvement. Building a clientele takes time and the clock does tick.
The transition from working outside of the home to primarily inside the home was difficult. The problem of not having an office set up to work in (mostly it's the dining room table) is frustrating and she feels like her home chores are taunting her. Inventory overruns the house. Some problems are solved by using workflowy.com which she uses as a simple to do list. Consulting the list frequently and thoughout the day keeps her on track. Most days she does not get through it all but is able to get to the most important things. She is determined to not feel pressured by it, nor beat herself up over uncompleted tasks. She reminds herself that life is an imperfect science and humans are even more so. How can she expect her day to go perfectly? She has had to step really out of her comfort zone on an almost daily basis. She reminds herself that this is exactly what she wanted - to not sleep walk through her life anymore. Did she expect it to be comfortable? Of course not.
Overnight success the Princess is not, but she was never expected to be that. She is part of Helen for a very long time to come.