How I Balance Being Pregnant And An Entrepreneur

If you didn't know, now you know - I'm pregnant! Finally nearing the 9 month mark, I am starting to move more slowly and the excitement of it all has really set in. In this new blog post, I want to back track and go through my pregnancy journey as a business owner. I'll share some things that worked well for me in keeping my body rested while also growing as a small business owner.

Are you a mom or soon to be? I'm sure you can relate to this post, balancing everyday life, business, relationships with being pregnant or having kiddos can be a balancing act. You don't get training, you are kind of just thrown into it and you hope for the best. I'm thankful that my husband has been such a support to me during my pregnancy but also VERY supportive of my small business. So Nick, if you read this, thank you!

Now lets chat about the nitty gritty, what is it like being an entrepreneur while being pregnant!

Being a small business owner comes with hurdles, roadblocks and of course lots of uncharted territory. Mix that with being pregnant and we have a really intricate and amazing journey. When I was newly pregnant, that was a time I took to focus on the excitement of it all. I allowed myself the space to rest and I think that was an important part of my journey, not forcing myself to always be go-go-go. Can any other moms out there relate? 

Once I had a chance to get my bearings, I was able to dive back into my business full force and wow were things busy! Lots of incoming wholesale orders with some of our favourite businesses on the island like Flying Kite Artisan Shop in Baddeck and North Star here in Louisbourg.

We even got into an AMAZING decor and design store in Ontario called Rug & Weave. I am obsessed with this store, we ended up ordering a lot of things for the baby nursery from them. They are the very first retail store selling Canapa Candle outside of Nova Scotia, this was such a huge milestone.

(Repost from Rug & Weave Instagram)

I paired hustle with the wholesale orders. Things tend to move a little more slowly when you are pregnant and nobody warns you about that. Making candles is hard work and a very time intensive process, you need extreme attention to detail since candle making involves chemistry, precise measurements and many different steps that need to be done "just right" in order to achieve the perfect Soy Candle.

Of course my love for candle making made the whole process easier, even though I went through phases where I felt exhausted ( I'm looking at you first trimester!).

The candles got made and customer feedback continued to roll in. I think that is what really kept me going, knowing how much our customers loved our Soy Candles and Soy Wax Melts.

Once I got through that first trimester, I had a lot more energy and this allowed me to focus more time on developing my fall collection. A lot of thought went into our curated fall scents and I am so beyond proud of how they turned out. The fall collection features four unique scents. Autumn Harvest, Pumpkin Spice Latte, Pecan Pie and Cape Breton Apple Crisp.

You can browse our fall collection on our online shop as well as at Middle Ground Market in Sydney, Nova Scotia. They are located right downtown and also carry a vast array of local and Canada Made products.

As a business owner, I understood what I needed to accomplish over the 9 months of my pregnancy. Now as I approach the end of it, just a few weeks away from 9 months, I still have so much to do but I am staying the course. 

My next big task is to finish making our Holiday Collection, there is no better way to celebrate the holidays than with warm and cozy candles. Since I am due in November, my Christmas candles will be made up (hopefully) by the end of October, fingers crossed!

One thing that really helped me succeed was not only mapping out what I need to accomplish in my business, but also getting things done in advance. I am so thankful I was able to get my Holiday Collection labels printed up months ago. So now I can focus solely on making our candles and melts.

I also took time to invest in my business this year and booked a fall / winter photo shoot with an amazing local photographer, Ireland Marchand. You can follow her here on instagram. 

With my product labels printed, photo shoot booked and candle recipes created all I need to do now is make our holiday candles and wax melts!

I'd say my key takeaways for any newly pregnant women who might be balancing a business and a pregnancy or even entrepreneurs who are just starting out, remember to take the time you need to rest and reset.

Don't feel you need to jump right back into things when your body is telling you to slow down. The world can wait. Take the time you need to celebrate, rest or refresh.

Map things out, create timelines, lists or use tools like Google Calendar to help you plan ahead and understand what you want to accomplish before baby comes.  At first the time doesn't move quickly but it will. Being prepared and mapping ahead was something that really helped me be successful. 

Get what you can done ahead of time. It pays off in the long run and your future self will thank you!

I hope you enjoyed getting a glimpse into the last eight plus months of my journey. It has been really surreal experiencing a new chapter in life and what a blessing. With all of that being said, you can expect our holiday collection to launch soon!

I will be taking some time away once baby arrives in November, but I'll still be popping on social when I can. I'm looking forward to the holiday collection launch and cannot wait to share that with you all! Plus the idea of the Christmas season makes me so happy. Are you already thinking of what candles you'll be burning this winter season? I know I am!