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“Life has a way of changing all of us over time, but often the change is subtle and imperceptible. There are, however, certain accelerators that can bring about rapid and meaningful change in an individual's life. The decision to become an entrepreneur is one of those accelerators. The act of creation, of building something from nothing, fundamentally changes those involved for better or worse.” - Chris Meyers
If entrepreneurship is an accelerator, there is no question that becoming a mother is too. A few years ago, Steve and I made the decision to start Rainsford Company before having children. The reason was simple, I thought getting a head start on the business would allow greater flexibility once we were a family of 3. The funny thing is, when the site went live and the proverbial treadmill was on, it not only stayed on, it sped up! Needless to say, 2019 was a year I will never forget and I learned some very valuable lessons that I hope you can take something from.
We’ve all heard it before ... “fake it till you make it”. Let’s be honest, this is terrible advice. Instead, we should say, “believe in yourself”. In a world where Instagram plays such an influential role not only in business, but in life, it’s easy to get sucked into the comparison game and lose your authenticity along the way. I have found it to be incredibly valuable to unfollow accounts that make me feel ‘less than’ or ones that spark my competitive edge in an unproductive way. I’ll never forget when I heard Oprah talking about her experience going up against talk show legend Phil Donohue back in the day. She was told that she would, “never beat Phil Donohue in ratings”, so she approached the show with complete authenticity from day 1 and, to her surprise, came out on top after the first month her show went live, and the rest is history.
As Rainsford Company continues to grow, I’m making a valiant effort to stay true to my style and my small town approach to business in a busy and competitive online world.
I am not a ‘fly by the seat of my pants’kinda gal. I have plans, goals and a work ethic to match, but you throw a baby into the mix and even the best planner in the world will be thrown for a loop! Knowing that I would not have a traditional maternity leave, I did my best to prepare the business for Margot’s birth by prepping work in advance so that I could slow down once she arrived. This worked well for a short periodand then Iquickly ran out ofrunwayand found myself trying to keep my head above water in the summertime.Could I have stepped away from Rainsford Company and put the growth of the business on pause for a short period? Of course. But pausing on my work would not have taught me the lesson I desperately needed to learn,sometimes youhave to slow down to speed up.Becoming amother required a new level of flexibility and it forced me to slow down. I quickly realized that I could not ‘do it all’ andIhad to prioritizemy workloadafter Margot’s needs were met. Just like any new mom (and business owner), there were days where I felt like Wonder Woman and others where I felt like I couldn’t getanything right. Having Margot has forced me to focus and get super pragmatic with my time away from her, which has ultimately led to better results for the business and more quality time with my main girl.
I’ve said to Steve on many occasions that he is ‘the forest’ and I am ‘the trees’. Have I lost you? What I mean by this is that I tend to get into the muck, the details, the ups and downs of the everyday, where Steve on the other hand, often looks at life from a 5,000 ft aerial view. Neither approach is wrong or bad, in fact, I’d argue that both are needed, but from my perspective it’s been very valuable for me to identify higher level goals for the business and lift up from the ins and outs of the everyday. I’m doing my best to not take a rare off-side comment to heart (easier said than done, but I’m trying). Instead, I am pushing myself to focus on the ‘forest’ in order to build a strong Canadian businessthathas the confidence of ourcustomers. Where do I want Rainsford Company to be in 5 years? What do we need to do strategically to get there? What are our customers saying? As we continue to build Rainsford Company brick by brick, we are always listening, evaluating and changing course as needed.
2019 was an incredible year filled with challenges, growth and the greatest gift of all, baby Margot. I started Rainsford Company because I have always loved the comforts of home. Now that we have our girl, our home means even more to us. It’s the community where she will grow up, where she’ll live out her childhood, and where we will make memories as a family that will last a lifetime. We have BIG plans for the next few years that I’m excited to share with you when the time is right, but for now, I want to pause and say thank you to all of our lovely customers and supporters for a wonderful 2019!
Cheers,
Andrea
