Monthly Update April 2019

No, YOU’RE three weeks behind schedule…

Welcome to small business ownership with a baby. I can honestly say that right now I’m living my best life – fatherhood, self-employment, some awesome clients. Which is not to say that it’s easy, or that I have the balance quite right.

Last month’s post is here; next month’s is here.

Family

I’m writing this in mid-May, so we now have a 7 week old daughter who is waking up to the world … and therefore requesting extra time and attention from her parents on a daily basis.

Fatherhood has matched the advice I received from so many who went before me; it’s just that I’m understanding that advice on a much deeper level. The sleep deprivation isn’t bothering me too much … though I did spend a week sick with a cold. My logic is that I know I can stay awake for 63 hours and 27 minutes, and so far Flash has proved wholly incapable of going anywhere close to that. So it’s a match-up I will win.

Guinness World Record Certificate

Travel

Putting family first has meant less business activity (see below), and also as expected less travel.

We had a lovely few nights on Australia’s Gold Coast over Easter, spent with family we have down there.

I have unfortunately had to make myself unavailable for a Conference in Hong Kong next month, but our accommodation is now fully booked for an amazing 3 month Europe trip later in the year.

(I will be working remotely, so it’s not a holiday entirely.)

Income & Equity

April income ($13,250 gross; $12,338 take home) was down and below target for the first time this year, though this is obviously due to paternity leave (and I should probably add the Australian governments ~$1,500 ‘Dad and Partner Pay’ to the above).

Our Net Worth kicked up again in April, and we’re now at 43.71% of our way to the FI target. Expect this to take a big hit though as we start paying for all that European accommodation.

Activity: Clients / Marketing / Businesses

I hired an assistant! Which is actually an interesting milestone for me – while I’ve always been happy to invest a chunk of my income into my support team and marketing, historically I’ve done this indirectly through my relationships with Shirlaws Coaching and (more recently) businessDEPOT.

Having a PA / EA as a direct cost is a new experience. I wish I could say it was permanent (as she’s awesome!), but it’s mostly to help me catch-up with the workload that happened while I was on leave and which continues to build while I focus on fatherhood first.

Plus I need to make a decision about the future focus of my business, especially this year – am I comfortable earning a lot less and enjoying time with the family, or do I still feel a need to achieve some business (and income) success as well as? The answer will determine how much marketing and sales activity I schedule between now and the remote work starting in early August.

Lessons

All fatherhood related, as we welcomed baby Flash home and discovered which version of complicated we earned. Turns out it’s still mostly Feeding, which is a constant demand, which does make it difficult for me to dive deep into work in my preferred style. I’m a slow-paced, big chunk of time kind of guy – and that doesn’t work with the variable needs of a newborn.

Still, as I say, this is absolutely living my best life.

What’s your favourite note from April 2019? Leave a comment below, and I’ll see you next month!

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