Working for yourself has it's perks, but I definitely wouldn't recommend quitting your day job if you don't have full family and financial support behind you. Four years ago I sat down with my husband and asked him to stand behind me. I told him I'd move heaven and earth, that I'd give it my all - yes, we'd suffer a bit financially in the beginning - but, it wouldn't be anything that we couldn't handle. I said to him that I'd rather we scrape through for a few months and do something that I enjoy - that doesn't promote the rage, stress and depression I'd been bringing home every day, than risk it affecting our marriage or my health anymore. I was fortunate that during that year and a half of working for myself from home, that he didn't complain about the money (rather lack of it) - not even once. He stood behind me 100%.

Starting my home business was easy. I paid R150 to CIPRO (South Africa's business registration organization), and took a few days to decide on a catchy, short and appropriate business name. I decided to pursue my hobby at the time of creating gift hampers and small gifts and turn it into a full time job. This seemed like the perfect idea, as I would be able to unleash my creativity and get paid for it. My husband designed the website and this gave him the opportunity to discover his creative side as well. He researched and put together the entire website of about 10 pages - an incredible job, and a huge achievement. I am so proud of what he accomplished.

During the first year I made gift hampers for all occasions - Mother's Day, Valentine's Day, Christmas, etc - but the most popular were the birthday hampers. I spent a lot of time on these as I customized each one to exactly what the client wanted. If they wanted sunflowers added to their basket - I arranged it, if they wanted a unique card added to their order - I designed and printed it, if they wanted it the same day - I made it happen. I knew that it would take a few years for my business to get off the ground properly and was prepared to go the distance. I found an Accountant to do my books for free, advertised my gifts in every possible medium - social media websites, blog pages, newsletters and flyers; and I just started to dip my toes into the wedding gift field. Unfortunately, a year after working from home my husband received news of being retrenched from his job. I knew then that I'd have to give up the dream I'd been living and go back to a permanent job. Luckily, he started a new job a month later and I was able to carry on with my business from home on a part time basis. I started an Au Pair job in the afternoons to bring in some extra money, worked a few hours in the morning for a catering company and did my business in between and at night. I enjoyed the variety of the 3 positions, but sadly - working part time, proved to take it's toll with me as orders started decreasing and I had less time to dedicate to my business. After a few months of selling hardly any hampers, I took a week to weigh out all the options and decided at the end of it to let go of my business and to go back to full day work. It was a very hard decision, knowing what we'd both put into the business (even looking at these images today makes my heart extremely heavy), but I knew that even keeping it on the sidelines while working full day - I wouldn't be able to give it my all. We were looking at financial stability and starting a family within a few years.

I'm currently working an 8 - 5 job, I don't hate it - but I miss the freedom I had while working at home. I'm happy that I receive a monthly salary and that I don't need to stress about buying proper food or paying the rent - but I miss the creativity I became accustomed to. Looking back, I'm glad I took the chance to start my own small business - that I had the opportunity to do it. I learned so many things about myself and about the way business works. I'm positive that I'll do something similar in the future - when we're in a position to do it, but for now - I'm happy to pay the bills, and go away on holiday when we can afford to.







