Day 1227 – Why Having A Small Business Is Like Having A Kid

Ok, hear me out on this one. I fully, openly, 100% admit, I do NOT have a child. I understand there are things I do NOT understand. But, I think there are similarities.

The message I heard at church yesterday was about parents/kids and all that fun stuff. So I’ve been having discussions with my family about the message and in a conversation with my mom, I made the connection. First, a little back story that brought me to this.

Saturday night, I made a mistake. It was a quick decision I made and wanted to take it back right away. I told Bret about it around midnight and it grew into a “I have to get up RIGHT now to try and make this right.” It meant Bret making an adjustment in his day on Sunday so we could make this mistake right. But, Saturday night, when we were discussing it….I had a little temper tantrum. I’m not going to lie, it was bad. He pointed things out about the business and I have a tendency to just get upset and say “Fine! I won’t do photography anymore! I’m a failure!” I look back at those times and think, “wow Jen, girl, you got some problems.” But thankfully, I have a husband who won’t let me just throw in the towel and who also encourages me to move on and do better next time.

Anyways, in the message, one thing that really stood out to me was that you have to hold your kids in open hands. You can’t hold too tight or just drop them on the ground. I realized that’s what I was doing when I would say those things. The conviction was strong…”God has given me photography, I shouldn’t drop it, I need to hold it loosely.” How awesome that I was convicted about my business during a message about raising kids. Then today, it hit me how many similarities there are. I also want to share that I was 13 when the twins were born and 17 when my youngest brother was born. I saw what went into raising kids and all the work it took. But again, I’m speaking as an outsider.

So here’s what I see.

1. You sometimes need to get up in the middle of the night for a client.
Babies need you a lot at night.

2. Sometimes you need to wake up earlier than normal for a client.
Kids don’t seem to get daylight savings time.

3. You can’t let your business out of your sight. If you let something slip, it could be dangerous.
Kids shouldn’t cross the street alone.

4. Your business needs money to grow.
Dude, kids are expensive.

5. Your business can make you overwhelmingly joyful one minute and make you pull your hair out the next.
They say I love you mommy, give you a kiss and then they throw up on the floor.

6. Not everyone is suited to run a business.
Not everyone is suited to raise kids.

7. It can be tempting to do a quick fix for your business, buy the latest “get rich in 10 days” system….which might work for a while, but isn’t always sustainable for a long time.
Feeding your kids McDonald’s everyday probably isn’t too great in the long run.

8. Sometimes you need to look past the mess that is on your desk and take joy in the product you’ve created.
Kids might make a big mess with glitter, glue and paper everywhere, but have written you a sweet card.

9. Sometimes your “amazing idea” won’t work, no matter how you approach it.
Even if you think something would work for your kid, sometimes it won’t. A musician probably won’t enjoy playing sports as much as you think they will.

10. You need to be humble and admit you don’t know it all. You will always be learning about your business.
You need to be humble and admit you don’t know it all. You will always be learning about raising your kid.

So there you go, my two cents on the topic. I’m sure there are tons of other ways they are similar, what do you think? Am I off base with any of these?

I’ll leave you with a “school picture” of my “kid.” (It works, right?)