This London Girlboss gave ‘supermum’ the finger, was time to find myself!

Susan Gale - 25 Oct 17

Have you ever felt like trying to have a normal job whilst doing school runs, putting the kids to bed, dealing with the day to day never ending cycle of routine needs to change? Well that’s what happened to me. After having my first child I went back to my job, at first, I was over the moon, it felt refreshing to be doing jobs other than changing nappies, making dinner, and becoming obsessed with keeping the house clean. At work I was chatting to colleagues, eating lunch and drinking coffee without interruption, I was really enjoying myself.

But soon I realised, I wasn’t being viewed like I used to be. Due to childcare I went part time and I really noticed people thought less of me in my role because of the hours I was working. I wasn’t being invited to all the meetings, I was given different accounts to work on. As a result, I started to overcompensate on the days I was in work, doing extra to prove that just because I was a mum doing part time hours didn’t mean I was less capable. I was soon doing extra at work and then when I got home all my ‘mummy jobs’, it was exhausting!

After a year or so my partner and I decided to have our 2nd child, at which point I thought, enough is enough. I had decided to let go of trying to be ‘supermum’. I started to think, how can I make things work so I can be with the kids but at the same time have a career that was 100% about me and what I wanted to do, it seemed impossible going back to my normal job with two kids to look after. My life had completely changed and to be honest it was a gimmick at first, my job had become flat and uninteresting, it wasn’t the same as it used to be, I was not the same person.
So, I had decided to break free. I decided to do something I had wanted to do for a long time, start my own business, a business I could run to fit in around the kids.

Ever since 2003 I’ve been buying and selling fashion items on ebay. Since then until now, I have built up a real knowledge of where to buy. As my background is buying/product development it felt right to start thinking about how I could turn my hobby into a real career. I started to feel very excited at this prospect!

I found a service provider and began building my own website, I started a group on Facebook and made friends with people running ‘buy sell’ pages. As I did my research I realised, no one could do what I was doing as my knowledge of where to go and people to buy from was unique. I soon started getting members and now today, 2 ½ years later, its going well. I have a fantastic group of ladies who I buy from and sell to, my client list is getting longer. I still have lots of plans and things I would like to do but the best thing for me is being able to dictate my own hours that fit in around my children’s needs. I won’t lie it isn’t easy, but I absolutely love what I do and once the kids have gone to bed I set myself up to work on my business. Even though I am still tired I don’t feel stressed out trying to be ‘supermum’. I now feel empowered to be the best ‘mum’ and the best ‘me’ I can be.
So, if you feel stuck in a rut, have a little think, what have you always wanted to do? Everyone has something that inspires them, so start a page or group on Facebook and see how it goes, it can’t hurt, and you never know your passion may become your dream job and may give you the courage to leave the hum drum!

Xxxxx London’s Girlboss – Buy The Style xxxxxx
(to join my client list and/or browse handpicked fashion finds, join my Facebook group (simply search buy the style) or visit my website www.buythestyle.net)

Susan Gale

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