Parents in Business featuring Anisa Lewis – Positive Parenting
This week for my Parents in Business series I’m delighted to be featuring Anisa Lewis who created her business; Positive Parenting, a business designed to support parents make the parenting journey more magical and less stressful. In addition, Anisa also created the business to work around her daughter and her core parenting values.
Anisa has been running Positive Parenting for three years and she is immensely proud of it, gaining a strong client base as a result of her determination to succeed. She also shares the same approach as I do, which is to just do it! So if you have an idea, get it off the ground, go for it, it can be refined and tweaked as you’re doing it.
Here Anisa shares her business story with us, and how she manages to successfully run Positive Parenting around family life.
Tell me a little bit about you, your background, and your business?
Known to many as a creative, organised, fun loving mummy, wife and friend. My name is Anisa and I am in my 42nd year, I have been a mummy for 11 years and a wife for 12. Ultimately though, I am a work in progress, striving to be perfectly imperfect.
I love eating broccoli and rice, and am the worst Australian ever as I am not a huge fan of sand or beer! Although, I currently reside in England (West Yorkshire), where my Australian spirit and down to earth attitude shines through. I am one of those annoying people whose glass is not half full or half empty but rather it is refillable and can always find a positive in any situation.
My business was born 3 years ago when I took the huge decision to leave my teaching career after 17 years to set up Anisa Lewis – Positive Parenting. I empower parents with the skills and the know how to raise happy, confident kids no matter what the challenge. After all isn’t being a parent the most important job you have and one that does not come with a manual. The work I do involves talks, workshops and 121 coaching with parents.
What were your motivations for setting up your business?
My drivers and motivators for setting up my own business came from my desire to help make parenthood that little bit more magical and a little less full of stress. Childhood is fleeting and for a parent can be incredibly hard work just when you think you have cracked this parenting malarkey, another milestone is hit or child moves onto the next stage in their development and a whole new parenting skill set is needed.
In addition, I would be remiss if I did not say that my own personal aims for setting up my business was for more freedom to be around for my own daughter and to build something that was mine, a business that held my values close and at its core.
How do you balance the business around your family and childcare?
Some days I am Mary Poppins and other days I am definitely NOT all singing and all dancing, in fact most days you will find me with a mum bun and just trying to be a better version of myself than I was yesterday!
Life is a balance and in order to build a growing business I think you can at times loose yourself as your every waking thought is devoted to your business and how to make it a success and to be of service to those in your network.
I have tried as best I can to combat this with building time for me in my week; I have established a morning routine that works for me. My work day starts at around 9.30am, this means that I am present for my daughter as she is getting herself ready in the morning and I see that she is out the door on time, I can do some chores around the house to keep the home ticking over and I can also take the dog for a walk which helps to feed my need for nature and space. Where there is time, I also throw a morning meditation of only a few minutes into the routine to get my head into the right space to start my day. I then start my workday not thinking about house and kids (I include the dog here!) and can plough on building my empire!
Since setting up your business what’s been your biggest success to date?
My biggest success since setting up my business is still being in business 3 years on! There have been highs, lows and a lot of in-between but at the end of the day I do put my head on the pillow and am incredibly proud of what I have created and where I want my business to go.
After this I would have to say the clients that I work with helping to empower busy parents with practical, effective and proven techniques to raise happy and confident kids is incredibly rewarding.
What are your top tip for anyone who is thinking about setting up their own business?
My top tip for anyone thinking of setting up their own business is to do it! Going into your new business with the passion and the drive for what you do, is imperative. Along with a bit of realism that Rome wasn’t built in a night and over night success stories usually come from years and years of behind the scenes work.
In addition, your mind-set needs to be on it’s A-game or at least a plan to get it there. Your mind-set will carry you through the highs and the lows of being your own boss. A bit like being a parent, running your own business can bring with it many emotions but remembering your ‘why’ can be the carrot on the end of the stick that keeps your head held high.