Sue Mils is a social media marketing consultant. Her business, Sue Mills Consulting (SMC), launched after the birth of her daughter in 2015. This is her candid story of being back in business after having a baby.

I married in 2012.  My husband came part and parcel with his 13 yo son, who I adore.  I fell pregnant in 2014 - right at the time when the Mining sector started to go downhill faster than a downhill skier at the Olympics.  The company I worked for underwent some drastic losses of clients and, needless to say, being 6 months pregnant and having to pay me maternity leave probably wasn’t a possibility for the company at all.  They were very honest with me about their financial woes but being the Head of Sales and Marketing and on the leadership team, I knew this was going to be a major problem for the business.  I took a redundancy and enjoyed the rest of my pregnancy, whilst starting up my own little SME Consultancy. 

I wasn’t really sure how it was going work or what I was going to do, but I wanted to keep busy, and I wanted to see if I could start something that could keep me home longer after my little girl arrived.  Of course, just as I figured, the minute that I laid eyes on my little girl, my world changed.  I was willing to move heaven and earth just to be with her for as long as I could be.  But financially I had to bring in money for our family to survive, and the other side of that coin was that I had a need to still be functional professionally in order to be completely happy.  So, I made it happen. 

I got a few clients, one of which was my previous employer who was, and is, very happy to use my services and outsource their sales and marketing needs.  The other was an old colleague from a previous life of banking and finance (in the medical sector) who needed a hand with rebranding their business and taking that to market.  With those two loyal clients, I was able to get really clear on my offering and where my expertise lies, and I’ll never look back.
Prior to that, I climbed the corporate ladder like most of us mums. I was a Senior Finance Executive in the medical sector for over 10 years and moved on from there to start my own broking business.  After a few successful years, I sold my business.  After this, I decided to go corporate once more - as Head of Sales and Marketing for a management consulting firm in Melbourne.

Going back into business after a baby? My first major challenge was time management. 

A baby has their own schedule and I think they know exactly when you planned to work, as that would be the time for a giant poonami (my word for a total poo tsunami in the nappy), vomit all over the keyboard, or to decide that sleeping is only for the weak babies of the world.  Another challenge was coming to grips with the fact that being a mum changed me, and, yes, some was hormonal, and some was battling fatigue… however, I found the way I viewed myself changed. 

My priorities changed.  I was somehow more confident, more assertive.   All of a sudden, procrastination wasn’t part of my day anymore.  If I had 2 hours to get some work done, boy, I can now deliver some pretty serious work in that time.  Whereas I think, before baby, my time was a luxury, as I always had later in the day, tonight at home, or tomorrow.  But now, as a mum, tomorrow your baby may be sick, or not feeding, or not sleeping…. I’ve finally learned to live in the now! It just took me 38 years. 

Another major challenge I found personally, was finding consistency.  It's no small feat to carve out a life that balances all of your many needs and responsibilities yet doesn't make you feel like you've turned into a mouse endlessly running on a wheel. However, I’ve become a list person.  I’m never list-less now.  It keeps me focused, and prioritised.  And some days, I give myself permission to be satisfied if the only tick on that list is that I’ve kept everybody alive that day.  I’ve definitely learned to be kinder to myself and allow myself the me-time I need in order to be healthy, happy and energised for my day.
 

Working from a home office allows me to work whilst covered in this morning’s breakfast, milk-stained shirt or in my pj’s if I have to.  Overnight if that’s how it has to be.  However, my business is almost at the point now where I need to look at an office close to home, in order to function properly. My client base is expanding, and I’ve already taken over the whole front of our house. 

My baby is now 18 months old and I’m just now starting to brave putting her in day-care for a few days per week.  I’m hoping to set up a little office a few minutes from home to use for client meetings and like, but the majority of my work will probably still happen at home for the time being.

To connect with Sue Mills, visit her business website