Our little man had been a very difficult baby; severe reflux, daily vomiting, waking ever hour at night, weight loss etc. So the idea of returning to work, travelling up to 7 hours in a day and then having to manage a sick child at night was beyond terrifying. We also were on a medical merry go round that was very time consuming. So the first decision was made, extend my maternity leave on medical grounds. What we went through in the following six months proved this was a very wise decision.
But I was anxious about the future in general and how could I return to my job with so much travel from home with two children, especially if one would have ongoing health issues. So we made another decision!
(Having written that so simply almost feels dismissive of the turmoil I felt and experienced in making these decisions, as I am sure many mothers or parents could identify.)
The second decision was to pursue my handmade business and to test the waters before having to make a final decision about returning to my job from which I was on maternity leave.
Oh my goodness where to begin, even now looking back I cannot recall a clear and logical path to this process - business name, logo, where to sell, how to sell, what to sell, how to price and the list goes on. In no way would I claim to be an expert in how to start a business, but at the end of the day I survived this process however I went about it and I learnt a lot along the way and that is just the beginning of the Winnie&Clem journey.
