Sleep deprivation sowed the seed for this working mum’s business idea.

Welcome to another of our interviews celebrating the incredible world of working mums! In celebration of International Women’s Day, we are investigating exactly what it’s like to juggle motherhood with running a business by speaking to those most in the know, a selection of amazing ladies balancing their working lives with family lives. Today’s interviewee Jo Lennon runs Mellie Green Organic and is currently developing her own Baby and Toddler Organic Fashion Label.

Tell us a little bit more about Mellie Green Organic when did you start, where are you based?

Mellie Green is an organic baby and toddler business, retailing the best in organic and sustainable clothing, gifts and toys. We’re based in the beautiful county of Northumberland and at the moment retail mainly online at melliegreenorganic.com

When I’m not running Mellie Green Organic I’m supporting other businesses with their marketing strategy through my other business Jo Lennon Marketing.

I’m a Mum to Annabel, four, and William, eleven who are both at school and I live with my husband Grant in Northumberland.

1. Tell us your story of discovering motherhood whilst running/setting up a business.
For me, my businesses were born and established while I was pregnant with my second child. I blame sleep deprivation for starting Mellie Green Organic, it seemed like a brilliant idea at 2am! Developing a business concept and researching ideas gave me something to do through the long hours of being awake and breastfeeding during the night, it gave me something to do to stay awake.

2. Did having children/planning to have children change your career aspirations and goals?
I don’t think it changed my aspirations, but it certainly changed how I wanted to achieve them. My mindset changed from climbing a career ladder in someone else’s business to wanting to have more control over how I spend my time.

3. During pregnancy how did you envisage raising children whilst running your business would be & how similar or different has it turned out to be?
I think so many people are lured into self-employment at the prospect of ‘being your own boss’ or having more free time – I can guarantee that more free time is not always the case! When you run your own business there are so many things to juggle and think about, the only person who is responsible for your success or failure is you, and that’s a huge responsibility when you’ve invested time and money into your venture.

When your children need you then you have to drop everything, so that important meeting that one action which just needed to happen gets cancelled – when you’re not part of a larger business there is no one else to pick it up for you.

Similarly trying to stay productive over the school holidays is an interesting juggle when you are the one who has the flexibility to stay at home. Trying to cram in a little work while entertaining children and working long evenings to catch up it usually the state of play over the holidays.

5. From your experience, do you believe it is possible to achieve a good work life balance between having a career and being a mother?

Absolutely, you just need to be planned. Something that I realised pretty early on was that I needed to use my time wisely when I didn’t have the children around, that’s the only way that I can ensure that they get dedicated time when they’re home.
Of course, it depends on your career and role, some positions certainly are not family friendly and you will ultimately be pushed to choose between the two.

6. Do think you have missed out on any part of being a mum, due to running a business at the same time?
Not due to running a business, but when I was in full-time employment I felt like I missed a lot of in-school activities, assemblies and parent participation. There are always so many opportunities for parents to get involved in school life, but it just wasn’t possible to get the time off to cover in-school activities as well as being able to use your 4 weeks holiday to spend time with your children over their (on average) 13 weeks out of school.

8. Are there any advantages you have experienced to running a business as a mother, rather than working for someone else?
Flexibility is a huge advantage, the ability to go to the school events, do activities over the holidays and be there when your children need you is great.

9. Do you think it’s more difficult for women to run a business after having children than men?
I don’t think it’s more difficult for women over men necessarily, but I think it’s harder for families where one person is in full-time employment, they don’t have the flexibility to support when you have to drop everything.

I find my working day is incredibly short because of doing the school run or taking the children to afterschool activities. There are only so many hours in the day and you can make slow progress when you’re constantly having to put things to one side.

10. Are there any myths you have heard about being a working mother that you would like to dispel?
I don’t think there are any myths, but I always worry about how I come across in terms of reliability –when you have to juggle and reschedule meetings you feel really guilty especially when you’re working on contracts.

12. Do you believe that becoming a mother has made you a better entrepreneur/businesswoman? If so what has changed?
Being a mother has definitely forced me to be more organised and that has benefited my business, I’m more productive because I have to be!

13. What are your goals and aspirations for the future? Will your children growing up affect these plans?
I’m very clear in what I want to achieve in my business and I don’t see that changing as my children grow up. I’d like them to see that all of the blood sweat and tears is worth it, and it’s possible to have a family and achieve your career goals at the same time.

14. Do you have a question that you would like to ask another working mum who takes part in this interview?
I’d love to ask others with children at school how the manage to juggle the holidays without feeling that their businesses get put on the back-burner!

Thank you to Jo for a fantastic insight into her experience as a mother running a business! It was brilliant to find out more about Jo’s story, and thank you to Jo for such a great new question for working Mum’s. If you’d like to share your tips for balancing work time with family life during the school holidays please tweet us @onelinestudio