Episode 47: Branding, Boundaries and Building Sustainably in Motherhood with Charlotte Vincent

Hello and welcome to the Mum Means Business podcast, where we shine a light on inspiring women who have one thing in common. When they’re not managing tantrums, homework, P.E. kits and play dates, they are busting their gut to create something from nothing, to turn their passion into a thriving business and build a better life for themselves and their families. We dig into what motivates devoted mothers to pursue entrepreneurship and how they integrate their work and family life.

I’m Victoria Phipps, your host, and if you’re an ambitious mum in need of some solidarity whilst navigating the messy middle of making your big dream a reality, then stick around. This is for you.

NOTE: This is the transcript from the original recording, rather than the edited episode so timings may vary.

Victoria (00:01)
My guest today is a branding designer and founder of Rose Studio, a creative studio based in Auckland, New Zealand that helps female led businesses create premium strategy backed brands that attract their dream clients. What started as an early morning design sessions as a busy mum has grown into a full scale creative business designed intentionally around family life.

Charlotte Vincent supports passionate business owners across a range of industries whilst navigating the realities of motherhood, including running a business alongside caring for her youngest child with a disability. Reflecting on the integration of motherhood and business, she says, once I designed my business to support my life, everything became more sustainable. Motherhood sharpened my decision-making, my boundaries and my focus. I waste less time and trust myself more.

I gave myself permission to build slowly and sustainably. Charlotte, I am so interested to hear what this looks like for you as an ambitious mum of three and to have the opportunity to compare our experiences of motherhood across opposite corners of the globe. So a very warm welcome to the Mum Means Business podcast.

Charlotte (01:05)
Yes.

Thank you for having me. So excited.

Victoria (01:16)
It’s a pleasure. no, it’s a pleasure. And we’ve already been talking about how sunny and warm it is with you. We are in bleak midwinter here. So I have lots of envy about that. I’m sitting here in my jumper and you look fabulous in the middle of the night, I might add. So yeah, I’m really interested to compare our experiences of all this stuff, motherhood and business.

Charlotte (01:22)
Yes.

That’s rather light but that’s okay.

Absolutely. It’s

a wild ride isn’t it?

Victoria (01:45)
So let’s,

it is a wild ride. Yeah. And I’m sure we’ll find loads of commonality. So let’s dive in. Starting a business, what made you do it?

Charlotte (01:53)
Yes. Yes.

So when my youngest was a few years old, he was diagnosed with autism. And I was working for, as an in-house branding designer in a marketing team. And I found myself at this crossroads where I could no longer give 100 % to that business and I could also no longer give 100 % to him.

I was pouring all my time into this business that wasn’t my own. The creativity, I lost a lot of creative drive in that business. And I decided that I would back myself while also trying to be the best mom I could be for my son who needed me to be at home with him pretty much 24-7. Yeah.

Victoria (02:45)
So you already had two children at home before you welcomed your third, your son, and you carried on working in that role throughout both of those maternities and into their early childhood. did you ever at any point, sorry, go on, answer. What were you going to say?

Charlotte (02:48)
I did. I did.

Sorry,

no, it’s a little bit of a different story. So my two eldest children, they were actually born in Thailand. We spent five years in Bangkok, Thailand, where I was a freelance graphic designer. So I wasn’t actually in a full-time role at that point. Life was quite flexible. I hadn’t really hit that issue of having to go on maternity leave or being in that nine to five role yet.

Victoria (03:13)
Okay.

Charlotte (03:33)
It was when we returned to New Zealand after COVID that I was in a full-time role and yeah, we were from there.

Victoria (03:42)
So you had some experience of the life of a self-employed woman.

Charlotte (03:48)
Yes, a little bit, a little bit here and there. When I say I freelance, it was like, know, little jobs here and there to keep me going. When my elders too were young, I feel like I lost a lot of my creative drive and I just kind of focused a lot on being a mum. It wasn’t until I got to my third child that I was like, where’s Charlotte gone? You know, where’s that creative person gone? I felt like I didn’t really know myself anymore. So when…

Victoria (04:10)
Yeah.

Charlotte (04:18)
In 2020, after lockdown, I actually decided to do my masters and I went straight back into uni. I thought that’s what I needed to get my creative drive back and it ended up being amazing. So I did it on weekends and early mornings and it became this thing that got me my whole creative career back.

Victoria (04:45)
So, had you kind of then that you were a creative person or is it something that you kind of really grew to realize was important to you as you took that time out to be with your kids and felt perhaps that there was something missing after you had your third?

Charlotte (04:56)
Yes.

Yes, so,

yes. So I’ve always been a creative person. I have designed the whole way through having kids just for myself or in these little freelance jobs. But it wasn’t until I had my third that I realized I really want to make this my career. And I was very worried about the fact that I had this big five year gap, as they say. I’d been working, but it was a gap.

because once you’re out of an agency role or an in-house role, it doesn’t look good on your CV. And so you’re sitting there going, I actually able to get back into this design world that I wanted to be a part of so badly? So that’s why the design role that I took when my son was young was not really suited to me. It was sort of a way to get back in.

And from there I decided that I could do better than that by working by myself. Yeah.

Victoria (06:13)
That’s interesting. you felt that, I mean, and so many of us do feel this if we take that time out, even if you’ve been doing freelance work, you know, as much or as little as you can, depending on the needs of your kids in that season, and depending on your energy levels as well, you know, you’ve kind of kept your hand in to a certain degree and you’re still trying to stretch and exercise that creativity. But on the traditional CV, it looks like a big gap.

Charlotte (06:21)
Yes.

Mm.

Yes.

Victoria (06:44)
and you feel, did you feel then that you just need to close the gap? You just need to get back in and so were you kind of knowingly taking a job that you felt you were overqualified for?

Charlotte (06:44)
Absolutely.

Absolutely.

Yeah, absolutely. I took the job knowing that it wasn’t the area that I wanted to work in. It wasn’t the sort of design work that I wanted to do. I was definitely lowering the bar a huge amount. But for me, it was like, as you said, there’s that gap on my CV. I’ve got to get back in there somehow. And the perfect wasn’t going to come unless I tried to make my way back in there.

So that’s how that worked.

Victoria (07:29)
Yeah. Okay, so tell me about the point at which you decided that you were going to leave that role and do something for yourself, bet on yourself.

Charlotte (07:37)
Yes.

Yes, so when my son was two years old, he was diagnosed with autism and I was working in that role. I went from working full time for them in the office to part time in the office to part time at home. His needs were just rising and I was getting called every day and I couldn’t sustain being there and being in front of a computer even at home.

and I got down to 20 hours a week was the lowest I was getting down to. And I just sat there thinking this is just not achievable. And at the same time, I was creating this work on the side that I really loved and I started putting it on Instagram. People started loving it. And I was thinking, you know what, why can’t I do this for myself? So I sort of planned as I went and decided eventually to take the leap.

hired a business coach and then the rest is history.

Victoria (08:40)
So did you feel differently going into that as a mum of three than you had when you were in Thailand? And in terms of your headspace and how you were kind of viewing this move, it feels like you were kind of tentatively just kind of keeping yourself ticking over with it when you were in Thailand, but this was something different.

Charlotte (08:48)
Yes.

Yes.

totally different. I think I needed to get to that point where I was completely ready, where I was ready to do something for me. I think I didn’t get to that point until I had my youngest. While I had my little ones, my first two, was just in mum land. was so happy to do, I was happy to do the freelance jobs, but I was also just so happy to be a mum. And I was glad that I had this opportunity where my husband was working overseas. I was with him. We were exploring.

We just, the creative side just kind of dropped away for a while. But it all came up once we were settled and I think I needed that season of my life to just enjoy when they were little.

Victoria (09:48)
Yeah, but also how amazing to have that big family adventure when they’re little. There’s so much kind of wonder with kids who are tiny anyway of just the most ordinary thing, you know, that they can just see a feather and think it’s magic. But actually to be somewhere so different with all that sensory stimulation, that must have been an incredible experience for you. And I understand that you probably…

Charlotte (09:55)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Victoria (10:16)
just wanted to absorb that and enjoy it. You probably weren’t really thinking, I must do some work now. You kind of just want to sink into it.

Charlotte (10:22)
Absolutely.

Yeah, I think in the back of your mind, like all mums, when you’re in mum mode and when in the early days, you have this thing in your head going, what am going to do later down the track? You know, when’s it all going to come back? When’s that career going to pop up again? Because it will eventually. At some point, you’re going to say, they’re a bit older, they’re at school. I’m going to need to do some work at some point. I’m going to have to get back into something.

But for me, yeah, just having that experience to explore being overseas was incredible and I tried to just make the absolute most of it.

Victoria (10:58)
Yeah, no, it sounds like it.

And I think that is a kind of really nice synchronicity by the sounds of it in your life that you were kind of taken out of your own homeland as well for that time. So you kind of do feel like you’re on an extended holiday almost because there’s something about being in at home in our community surrounded by, you know, all of the societal pressures that we’ve grown up with.

Charlotte (11:12)
Yeah.

Hmm.

Victoria (11:25)
that actually we can feel, we can kind of internalize that, you know, but I must plan what my next step is. And I certainly felt that, but I think actually if I’d have been in Thailand, I would have just embraced that, you know, you’re not kind of living with that pressure.

Charlotte (11:36)
Absolutely. Yeah.

Yes, we talk all the time about how much easier it felt to have kids in that environment. Everyone we knew was doing the same thing. We were just sort of exploring and enjoying it. And as soon as we came back in 2020, it just felt all very real. You you’re back in the real world, it felt like. And everyone was in the trenches. And I was like, wow, where have I been? I felt like I’d been on another planet. But yeah, so was a shock to the system for sure.

Victoria (11:58)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, and you almost feel like you need to climb back into the trenches. Did you feel that way? Like you need to catch up or yeah, strange and actually.

Charlotte (12:15)
Yes, 100%. Yeah, like I was, I

felt so far behind everyone else, but I just also had this amazing experience, but that sort of didn’t matter. It was that what everyone else was doing and, I need to go and catch up to them and you know where they are in their career. Yeah.

Victoria (12:36)
Yeah, it sounds like a bubble burst because actually I would argue that the whole of society is wrong and you were doing such a beautiful thing, being very present with your kids and exploring this great big beautiful wide world. But I totally understand that when you come back, I think I would have felt the same thing like, okay, well that’s done. I’m grateful that we had that, but now.

Charlotte (12:40)
Hmm.

Yes.

Victoria (13:06)
We’ve got to get back to it. And at what point did you have your third son then? Was that when you were back in New Zealand?

Charlotte (13:08)
Exactly.

So,

yes. So my middle child was born in Thailand and we had an interesting birth to say the least. So we decided that for my third we’d return to New Zealand. I was due very early in 2020. So we came back to New Zealand to have my son. My husband left 10 days after that and we were meant to meet him with my mom six weeks later.

Victoria (13:24)
Okay.

Charlotte (13:44)
And then unfortunately the board is shut. So we were stuck in New Zealand and he was stuck in Thailand. So that made 2020 incredibly difficult for us.

Victoria (13:55)
Wow, okay. So you were intending to go back to Thailand and get back into that bubble with your husband.

Charlotte (14:01)
Yes. Yes.

I was 100 % not ready to, I was 100 % expecting to go back. Yeah.

Victoria (14:09)
Yeah.

And so then you’re at home with the two children and a new baby by yourself and there’s a global pandemic. Yeah. my gosh. See, I can relate because I don’t know if you’ve listened to any of the episodes where I talked about this, but when I had my first, my partner was called away. It was the third lockdown after we had her and he was called away to Oman on an emergency job. And he was stuck there for…

Charlotte (14:18)
Yes, yes, yes, yes.

Mm-hmm.

Victoria (14:42)
about three and a half months. But I mean, and I remember that as feeling very isolated and obviously first baby. So you don’t really know what you’re doing and just trying to figure it out. And I was in the house by myself and we just were in the middle of a house build. So that was all happening. But I only had one, you had three children and you’re by yourself, were you, yeah, yeah. But were you able to kind of bubble with family and get some support during that time? Yeah, good. Okay.

Charlotte (14:44)
Wow.

Yes.

Wow.

Yeah, it was wild.

Yes, yes. So I was living with just my mum, which was really, really helpful.

But yeah, it did end up being a long year. We did 12 months apart. So he got back. Yeah, he missed the first year of number three. So it was a long, it was rough. But I mean, we all, yeah.

Victoria (15:18)
And that’s so hard for your husband.

No, that’s horrendous. So hard.

Charlotte (15:33)
Thank God for video calling and things like that, but it was really rough. My eldest started school in 2020, mean, you know, obviously Rocky. And then, yeah, just had to live life over the phone really. So.

Victoria (15:48)
I’m

so sorry, that’s really hard. And I feel like I have the most minute sort of inclination of what that feels like, because we did it for three and a half months. But I remember my partner actually becoming quite depressed. And as a mum, you don’t really have time to be too depressed, because as soon as you start to kind of think about how awful it is, someone asks you for something. that’s, it’s, at least you have that distraction. You have the distraction, but I think…

Charlotte (16:02)
Yes. Yes.

No. Exactly.

Yes, exactly.

Victoria (16:18)
for my partner and perhaps for your husband, you you’re going home at night and you’re just there by yourself and you know that you’re missing this big important time that you’re never gonna be able to get back. there’s nothing you can do about it because of the kind of global situation, it’s really difficult.

Charlotte (16:26)
so much.

Mm.

Yeah, there’s just such a feeling of hopelessness. mean, I just remember looking up flights all the time and we were always following all the headlines and just trying to make sure there was an option. I mean, he could have got back earlier, but unfortunately the job that he was doing just wasn’t available in New Zealand, so he had to finish his contract as well. So yeah, it was rough, but we made it.

Victoria (16:45)
Yeah.

Really difficult all around, yeah. Yeah, no, exactly,

Charlotte (17:07)
Yeah.

Victoria (17:07)
exactly. And I’m sure that reunion was quite something.

Charlotte (17:11)
Yes, it was. It was amazing. It was so great.

So, great.

Victoria (17:16)
It was such a tough time and I think we forget. So I really appreciate you sharing that because it reminds me that we actually all, and especially around motherhood, of course there were people who were ill, there were people who died. It’s all relative, but I think for new mums in any situation, isolation is just the opposite of what you need. It’s all about community and the village and your family.

Charlotte (17:21)
Mmm. Yeah.

Exactly.

Victoria (17:46)
for your husband to bond with his children during that time as well. It’s really, really difficult and I appreciate you sharing that. So when he came home, is that kind of the point at which you returned to the marketing, you went to get your job in the agency?

Charlotte (17:47)
Hmm.

Yeah.

Yes.

Peace.

Yes, the wild thing is, so my husband was a professional football player in Thailand, so what he was doing was very niche and in New Zealand football isn’t big. There’s not a huge amount going on in the world of football. When I say football, I mean soccer. And so for him, coming back meant a complete career change. So for me, I was like,

Victoria (18:05)
Okay.

Okay.

Yeah.

Okay.

Charlotte (18:30)
I’m ready to get back into a career, but he also had to find his feet and figure it out. So we swapped and he became stay at home dad and I went back. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He was just happy to do it and happy to be around the kids and enjoy that time. But yeah, so we did that for a year. Yeah.

Victoria (18:40)
I bet he was ready for that though. He just must have wanted to be with his kids, you know.

Yeah, and you were probably ready

to go to an office, I imagine.

Charlotte (19:00)
100%, 100 % I was like, let’s get out of here. Although I did

find the change very difficult. I remember I had so many bus lane tickets, that sounds terrible, because I would finish work at five o’clock. I’d be watching the time, because I missed my baby so bad, that I would leave on the dot and I’d race home. because I don’t know, I’d been locked down for a year, I was just like, get me home as fast as possible, going through bus lanes.

Victoria (19:18)
Yeah.

Yeah,

Charlotte (19:29)
But yeah.

Victoria (19:29)
yeah, yeah, but this is the kind of tension of it all because you have become so accustomed to being with them 24 seven. And as a mom, is, yeah, yeah, you feel like someone’s chopped your arm off, but at the same time, you desperately need a break and you desperately need adult engagement. And both of them feel wrong. Like it feels wrong to be away from your kids.

Charlotte (19:34)
Yeah.

Yeah, you feel like you’re missing him.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Victoria (19:55)
but you also feel wrong in that you need some time to breathe. So it’s like you’re suffocating, but you kind of want to stay suffocated because you can’t bear to not be with them. I think after a year of kind of solo parenting, think that’s, I can totally appreciate that. And you kind of don’t know what to do with yourself. So you go and do the job, but then by the end of the day, you’re desperate to see them and you just take the speeding ticket or you take the…

Charlotte (19:59)
Yes.

Yes.

Yeah. Yeah.

Victoria (20:22)
you take the bus lane ticket because whatever. Yeah.

Charlotte (20:23)
It’s fine. got home 10 minutes earlier.

Victoria (20:28)
Yeah, it’s like the price you pay for that extra 10 minutes with your kids. Yeah.

Charlotte (20:32)
I know. And my husband

would be like, you got home fast. I’m like, yes, but I needed to, you know? Like I just needed to.

Victoria (20:35)
Like, yeah, yeah. gosh,

it sounds like such a lot actually, because you’ve gone from one extreme, like stay at home mom full time in a lockdown, you know, with your mom for support, but being with your kids 24 seven to then becoming the breadwinner, the kind of, and then did you go back full time five days? Yeah, yeah. So that’s.

Charlotte (20:44)
Yes, it’s a lot.

Yep. Yep.

Yeah, yeah, I did. Yeah.

Victoria (21:05)
a big change in your routine. And also there must have been, I mean, I’m getting into your relationship a little bit, but there must have been some kind of like, some issues about like your husband didn’t know the baby. And this is awful to say, it’s not his fault. Yeah.

Charlotte (21:07)
Mm, yep.

yeah.

Oh yeah, it was very confusing. No, no.

My son was very afraid of men at that point. So it was really, really tricky because he hadn’t seen any male faces, like male faces with a beard because he’d been with my mom, he’d been with his brother. So as soon as he saw a man with a beard, he was like, what is this? So poor little boy. But he adapted really fast.

Victoria (21:28)
Yeah. Yeah. bless him. Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Why aren’t you poor husband?

Charlotte (21:48)
I know, but he, yeah, yeah. They do.

Victoria (21:48)
Yeah, I’m sure. Kids do, kids do adapt and they’re very resilient. And I’m sure, you know, it all kind of settles far more quickly, but there were, I’m sure in those first few weeks there’d have been times when you feel like, okay, but are they all all right? Cause I’m not there and I don’t know, you know, it’s that tug back to them, like a magnetism. Yeah.

Charlotte (21:57)
Yeah. Yeah.

Oh, 100 % Yeah, the texting going, is this okay?

Have you got this? Have you got this? Yeah.

Victoria (22:12)
Yeah, and your husband’s like, are you doing any work today? Are you just going to keep texting me? So hard, so hard.

Charlotte (22:17)
I I know. I

remember my boss saying, you you need to leave like just after five or like five o’clock, you know, not before five. And I’m like, God, really? Like at that time there wasn’t any flexibility. I know, there was just no flexibility. Yeah.

Victoria (22:29)
Oh God, just give you the extra five minutes. Yeah, but just say, just, would

have been like, if you limit yourself to like five texts home a day, you can leave a half off. Because that’s going to be taking so much of your mental capacity anyway. Like, yeah, but this is the thing, you know, even in the last five years, there’s been such a shift with flexibility in the workplace. And I think triggered by COVID, but we have to kind of.

Charlotte (22:42)
Yeah.

Exactly.

Yes, has.

Victoria (22:58)
just even thinking back that short amount of time, recognise that it was still just happening and beginning. And actually, those kind of traditional boundaries around bums on seats, nine till five, were still very prevalent.

Charlotte (23:11)
Yeah,

very, yeah, very. And it took a while for that to come around. I mean, we did some lockdowns where I was at home and working full time. But yeah, during that 2021, but yeah, eventually I was able to work from home a few days a week.

Victoria (23:32)
Okay, so you were negotiating then. So your son was two, so I think are we going, are we in 2021, 2022, and you’re negotiating your hours to spend more time with him.

Charlotte (23:38)
Yes.

Yes.

So he got diagnosed as soon as he turned two, so that was 2022. And at that point, I was finding it really difficult to do that full-time work. And my husband was starting to do some work, but it was more part-time. And his daycare just couldn’t manage the way that he was feeling his sensory issues.

and so I was just getting calls all the time. So they were incredibly supportive actually, and they said straight away, you know, can work from home. But that again, it started to get harder and harder because I was working from home, but I was also doing the 3 p.m. pickup, and then I was also doing the 9 a.m. drop off and…

I don’t know if you know what it feels like, when you are in a role and you’re supposed to be at your desk, even though you’re at home, it’s just that guilt when you’re in the line for school and you get a phone call or a, hey, can you jump on a quick call? And you’re like, no, I actually can’t because I’m not where I said I was. Yeah. Because I’ve, well, yes, yeah, I’m not there. Doesn’t work.

Victoria (24:58)
Because I have lied to you. Because the system that you have created does not allow me to

be in all the places I need to be. Yeah. And this is the thing, you you still, you’re bringing this guilt in because actually you’re working within a system that is not supporting the way that you have to live because you have children. And that’s so difficult. But again, you know,

Charlotte (25:17)
Yes, exactly.

Victoria (25:24)
there are certain working environments now where we feel like we can have those conversations and certain working environments where we feel like the door is shut and we can’t. And then you force into this position of kind of hiding. And I do know what that feels like. And my partner does it all the time. He does a lot of the school runs now. And he’s kind of on slack, just kind of all like mouse wiggling, dash out and do a school run, come back and then get back on.

Charlotte (25:31)
Yes.

Hmm.

Yes. Yes. Exactly. Yeah.

Victoria (25:52)
And you know, he works hard during the day, it’s fine. He’s not generally missing anything. But again, you feel like, okay, but you’ve got to, and you’ve got to rush and then the bus lanes come in again, don’t they? Because you need to get back to your computer. Yeah. No, no, no, completely. So you got down to 20 hours working from home and then you decide to start your business. So did you have a kind of business plan in mind or did it feel very organic? Like you were…

Charlotte (26:02)
Exactly.

I know.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Victoria (26:21)
kind of figuring it out as you went.

Charlotte (26:24)
To be honest, I had this master plan that I was gonna continue working part time and then slowly move in. But the business I was working for came to me and said, look, we really need someone to work more hours. So that part time role that I was doing was phasing out anyway. A lot sooner than I thought. But I think it gave me the push to just do it. I had…

planned to take a lot more time and sort of find clients, find a business coach, but in the end, I was just like, I’m gonna go all in. My husband had found a full-time role at that point, so my role had again been flipped. So it was me working on my business and supporting my son at the same time. Yeah, and the other two, of course.

Victoria (27:17)
Okay, yeah,

yeah. But they’re at school and your son’s still at home. Are they both at school at this point? The older two?

Charlotte (27:22)
Yes.

At

this point, yes, they’re at school. Yeah, and he’s at home. Yeah.

Victoria (27:30)
Okay, so what did it look like then for you to go all in in inverted commas? So how were you finding clients? How did you get the ball rolling to get that work in?

Charlotte (27:44)
So in my early days, my husband, him, got me a lot of work. He works in the construction industry, so a lot of my clients were word of mouth. had a lot of construction businesses. I was doing rebrands for them, logos, design and things like that, which was amazing. So my first year was full of basically referrals.

Victoria (27:51)
Okay.

Charlotte (28:13)
and I picked up some really great clients along the way that I’ve continued throughout. It wasn’t until my second year that I said, I’m gonna get a business coach, a creative business coach, which helped me so much. And from there, my social media marketing took off. So I was able to get more leads myself. I niched down to work with just female founders.

which I found incredibly beneficial. And it changed the whole way I ran my business and the way that I felt about my business as well. And so I had the most amazing year last year and that was my second year in. Yeah.

Victoria (28:57)
Amazing.

Well, that’s a win. If your second year in is an amazing year, you’re doing well. So tell me about your decision to get a business coach because a lot of women or let’s say a lot of mothers who perhaps are forced into self-employment or starting a business because of the lack of flexibility and the need and the desire to be more present in their role as mum.

Charlotte (29:00)
Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Victoria (29:27)
they might start a business having no kind of example in their immediate circle of anyone who has done this before them and not many people to advise and give them pointers as they go along. A lot of women will just try and figure out as they go along and it takes a long time. So tell me why you decided to invest in a business coach.

Charlotte (29:49)
Yeah. Yes.

I I was putting a lot of effort into the design that I was doing. I felt like I had a lot of questions in regards to where do I go next with my business? What do I do next that will help me get further? And then my creative business coach came up. He was doing these free webinars and I was watching those and going, hey, so a lot of this is resonating with me. And it looked like he had this

plan. Wait, hold on. How do I say this? I’d love the way that he planned out his marketing strategies and his approach to design and creative businesses. So I just decided to go all in. At the time, I probably couldn’t afford it either. I just thought I needed the support myself to get myself to the next level. I felt like

I could do this on my own, but it will take a lot longer. So I thought, you know, maybe this is not a hack, but you know, my next step. Yeah.

Victoria (31:03)
I mean, maybe it is a hack. think, I mean,

I certainly, I had a, well, I still do, had a photography business for 15 years and I feel like actually, and I didn’t ask for any help and it was on and off, it was a side hustle. So I still worked in another role in a charity that I’d set up with my dad. So I had the kind of office set up in the week and I would shoot weddings at the weekend and I would market that.

But actually, had I had some guidance and some help with the business side of things, I now recognise how that would have accelerated it. Because I think when you are trying to figure it out by yourself, you make so many mistakes that cost you in time. And the fact that you have, in your second year, this glowing report, that it’s been amazing.

Charlotte (31:53)
Yes.

Yes.

Victoria (31:59)
suggest to me that

Charlotte (32:00)
Yes.

Victoria (32:00)
you have bought back that time and that it’s worked for you.

Charlotte (32:04)
Yes, 100%, 100%. It just completely kickstarted everything that I would have been working so hard on because I feel like I didn’t have the tools, or maybe, I don’t even know if it’s the tools, it’s just to have someone in your corner that is helping you through these little steps. You know, when you don’t work in an office and you’re not part of a team anymore, you don’t have that person to be like,

Yes, Charlotte, that looks great. Or yes, you’re going in the right direction, you need to do this and this and this. And I just needed that extra little push, like someone else in my team. So I found it really helpful.

Victoria (32:47)
Amazing. I’m glad you did that. I think it’s something that I definitely wish that I had done sooner. And it’s really interesting to hear your experience on it because I know that there will be mums listening to this who are unsure whether that’s a step that they should take. So it sounds like it’s worked out really well for you.

Charlotte (32:51)
Yes.

Yes.

Yeah, absolutely. think that there’s a lot of people that are on the fence, but it’s just about backing yourself and knowing I knew that I had a good thing going. I just didn’t know how to execute it and I just didn’t know how to market myself. And in the end, it all worked out and now I’ve gained so much confidence from it and I probably get most of my leads from my marketing. So I’m really happy with that.

Victoria (33:33)
Great, so tell me what it looked like then, the first year of your business and kind of easing into the second year when you were trying to do that work whilst I guess being full-time mum at home. How was that? Where did you fit your work in in the day? How did you manage that with the demands of caring for your son? What did it look like?

Charlotte (33:39)
Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes, so my first year of business, my son was still in kindergarten. So again, I was in a really tricky spot where his kidney was not really supporting him correctly. It’s a mainstream kidney, so they didn’t quite have the right supports. And so again, I was getting called all the time, but I did feel confident knowing that my clients could work around my day.

And then surprisingly, I know that I’m up late now, but I’m a really early riser. So I would get up at 4 a.m., not tomorrow, but usually I’d get up really early, I’d get my work done for the morning and then tackle the day, do the school drop-offs, get as much work done as I could while he was at Kindy, and then start again the next day. But I just took on as much work as I could.

Victoria (34:36)
Okay, maybe not tomorrow.

Charlotte (34:58)
within the timing that I had with my son.

Victoria (35:04)
Yeah. And did you find that sort of compartmentalizing of working when he was asleep and then just being full on in mum mode? Did you find that easy or did you ever find that you were kind of blurring those boundaries?

Charlotte (35:14)
Yes.

I was definitely blurring the boundaries at certain points and at certain points it was incredibly stressful. I’d had to drop things at the top, I’d have to change things at the drop of a hat or he’d have an appointment or some sort of medical thing that we needed to go to. So I learned a lot about myself and planning my life around my son and my parenting.

through that. it was more, the first year was more an exercise of me figuring out how I work as a business owner and how this business was going to work around my life. And I got to really, really craft that in the second year. So the first year was kind of like a test run, but it all went really well in the end. I was really proud of the outcome. It was just a lot of trial and error, I’d say. Yeah.

Victoria (36:20)
Yeah, and also when you’re starting a business, there’s always a lot of front loading of energy to get this thing off the ground. And I think it sounds like you kind of have accelerated this process. You’ve invested in the coach, you’ve got that guidance in place. So you’ve kind of fast-tracked what for a lot of people is like three years at least before they’re kind of…

Charlotte (36:23)
Mmm.

Yes.

Victoria (36:47)
settled and they’re profitable and they feel like they’ve got a rhythm. But that first year, I imagine there’s a lot of hours that need to kind of go into that. mean, it’s standard in any business, but I think when you’re juggling that with looking after your son, did you feel at that point a sense of…

Charlotte (37:08)
Hmm.

Victoria (37:13)
impatience or urgency that you wanted the business to run and like be successful and you wanted it all to happen now or yesterday? Or actually, do you feel like you brought some of that kind of Thailand bubble energy and you were you were happy to let it kind of grow slowly? Was that something it took you a while to to kind of accept? How was that with your mindset?

Charlotte (37:39)
Yeah, there was a real mixture. There was definitely Thailand bubble energy where I was trying to, I was with the flow of my business and I didn’t want to force it and make it something stressful. I knew that I was going to be taking a huge pay cut anyway and because my husband was now back at work, I kind of had the flexibility to not

Victoria (37:45)
Yeah

Charlotte (38:08)
freak out too much, which was great. But then there were days where I was going, come on, know, I’m not there yet, I need to get there faster. that’s when I started looking at a business coach. But I think I really tried to give myself time and patience and also for my son to give him that year that he needed me to be much more present. And, you know,

You can say that I did that in the early years with my other two, but it always pops up at some point. Your child’s always gonna need you at some point in their lives. And it’s not just when you think it’s gonna happen. It can be any time. And I will drop everything for them. I’m just one of those people that will, know, I’m sure most moms will, but the job stops, yeah.

Victoria (39:06)
Yeah, but it sounds like actually, I mean, I don’t know what you were like before, but the Thailand experience, actually, I can imagine that that kind of was really good in terms of just giving you perspective on what is important. Like you’re so fortunate, you get to do this with your kids, you’ve got two beautiful kids at that point, and you just get to be with them. And the financial pressure isn’t there because your husband is covering that and you have this space.

Charlotte (39:14)
Yes.

Peace.

Hmm.

Victoria (39:34)
and it’s warm and sunny all the time and you can just be with them. And actually to have had that as your kind of motherhood foundation, that that is what you understand motherhood to be is so beneficial in terms of grounding you when you do go back into real life that you bring some of that with you and it’s not just kind of left in Thailand as this kind of mirage of what once was that you can kind of

Charlotte (39:35)
Yes. Yes. Yeah.

Hmm.

Yeah. Yeah.

Victoria (40:04)
take that energy and keep that at the forefront of your mind in terms of like just focusing your priority. And you’re right, all moms will drop everything. If our kids are sick and they need us to go and get them, we leave work or we drop what we’re doing in our own business and we go and get them. Like it’s just a given. But I think actually to kind of give yourself grace and also to release that expectation.

Charlotte (40:18)
Exactly.

Victoria (40:34)
that you should be working or you should be just to go all in and be like, no, this is why I’m doing it. It’s so that I have this flexibility. It’s so that I can be with him whenever, wherever he needs me. It sounds like you came to that really easily. And I think that, I don’t know, I’m speculating, but that kind of adventure that you had at the very start of your motherhood perhaps helped with that a little bit.

Charlotte (40:37)
Yes.

exactly.

I That’s a really nice way of looking at it for sure. I think setting the foundation was definitely the key.

Victoria (41:05)
If what, go on.

Yeah, yeah, because I think it just pulls you out of all those societal pressures that you’ve grown up with about what it should look like and what you should be doing. And it’s all these shoulds, you I should be able to, you know, have my career and be present for my kids and cook them dinner from scratch and do this and do that, or start my business and be a hugely successful entrepreneur and have a 10K month and then cook them dinner from scratch, whatever it might be. And actually just, just go to, just go to Thailand and have a nice time, you know.

Charlotte (41:10)
Mm.

Yes.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

just go to Thailand. And everyone

back home will be like, what are you doing? Like, it’s fine. I’m just having a good time.

Victoria (41:41)
Yeah, I’m having a really nice time. Well, what do

you think about this idea then of mums having it all? You you are now running a successful marketing business. You have three children. You’re able to be present for your son who has additional needs and needs his mum. And you’re doing the school runs. You know, do you feel like you’re…

Charlotte (41:59)
Mm-hmm.

Mm.

Victoria (42:09)
having it all, like, what do you think of that phrase? What’s it mean to you?

Charlotte (42:15)
I, well I personally absolutely think I have it all. I feel like I’m, I feel like I’m, not like I’m, I feel like the foundations that I’ve set with my business, knowing that I need to be there for my children and that my business will be formed around that, has kind of set the tone for everything that I do. I…

I can’t imagine doing it any differently, to be honest. I think you can have it all as long as you redefine what success means to you and put that into your everyday life.

Victoria (42:55)
So what do you think motherhood has brought to your business? How has being a mom impacted the way that you do business? So in terms of setting expectations with your clients and keeping those boundaries, how do you think it’s impacted you? How would you be doing it differently if you didn’t have kids?

Charlotte (43:13)
Yeah.

I am definitely, I’ve been always known as a people pleaser, well before children and before business. think that having, no, I think that having a business has allowed me to create clear boundaries. It’s allowed me to be really good with my time management, really good with obviously juggling everything, problem solving, all of the above.

Victoria (43:30)
You’re not a lion.

Charlotte (43:53)
Yeah.

Victoria (43:55)
And so now then, are you still getting up at 4 a.m.? Like what’s your typical work day? Is your younger son in school or is he still at home with you? He’s in school.

Charlotte (44:04)
Yes.

So this year he just started in a special needs school which has been incredibly amazing because we finally have a place for him where he is fully supported and we are fully supported which has been such a change for me because I now have a full work day. Not a full work day but I have a nine to two. So I start my day pretty early still. I’m up at, usually up at 4 a.m. Probably not tomorrow.

Victoria (44:10)
Okay.

Yeah.

Charlotte (44:35)
But I get up really early, that’s where my best ideas and my best work sort of comes from early in the morning. I work until maybe like six-ish and try and do some sort of exercise and then take the kids to school. And then I’ve got, not a full day, but until, yeah, my youngest finishes at 2.30. And so I pick him up and then pick the other two up and I’ve tied everything up for the day by then.

and I try to start it all again the next day and yeah.

Victoria (45:08)
So you’re in full mum mode from the moment you pick your kids up from school. And tell me you, tell me you go to bed at eight. Like, do you? Okay, good.

Charlotte (45:12)
I am.

Yes. I do. 8.39 usually.

Sorry if I’m fading tonight.

Victoria (45:24)
amazing.

No, I think that’s completely understandable and I appreciate you staying up late. You’re on amazing form considering it’s now what, like nearly five hours past your usual bedtime. So, okay, right, okay, you’re good. So tell me what advice you would give to a mom who is either considering starting her own business

Charlotte (45:29)
Yeah

It’s totally fine, it’s still the school holidays here.

Yes.

Victoria (45:52)
or maybe she has and she’s trying to grow it or get it off the ground and she is in a similar situation to you, so perhaps she has a child with additional needs at home that she is caring for, what are the key bits of advice that you would give in terms of how to navigate that?

Charlotte (46:17)
would say be patient with yourself, be kind, map out what you want to do and what you want your life to look like, what you want your business to look like and how that’s going to work with your family and then sit down and think about who can help you with this, who can help you get there to where you need to be because I think outsourcing even at an early stage can help you so much with getting further ahead.

and it’s just little steps like that along the way and learning as you go. Lots of learning, of following people that you admire. Yeah, that’s what I’d say.

Victoria (46:59)
I think the point about asking for help is such a big one because there’s this idea that we need to be able to do everything ourselves. And I think as moms in the early stages of motherhood, we are doing a lot ourselves and that can feel like a big weight to carry, but then, know, strangely relinquishing some of that can also feel difficult.

Charlotte (47:03)
Yes.

Yes.

Victoria (47:28)
and that can be in our motherhood or in business.

Charlotte (47:29)
Yeah.

Yes, absolutely. Letting go of control, those little perfectionists, I can be such a perfectionist, and letting go of control of little things that you really do need help with is so hard. But once you do it, you’ve just got all this extra time for things that you want to focus on in your business. Everyone has something in their business that they don’t enjoy doing. Accounting.

Victoria (47:57)
Yes. Just maybe more than one thing. Yeah.

Charlotte (48:00)
Yeah, exactly.

And as soon as you can pass those things over, that’s another weight off your chest, you know, to move forward.

Victoria (48:09)
Yeah, and more

time and energy to focus on the things that really light you up, which is at the end of the day, one of the potential advantages of having your own business is that you can do something that you love, but it takes a bit of strategic thinking to actually, like reflection on a regular basis to actually think, well, am I spending my time doing that? Or am I spending my time accounting and I hate accounting? What is actually happening day to day?

Charlotte (48:14)
Exactly.

Yeah.

Yes.

Yeah, yeah. And making sure you’re really honest with the key values of your business and why you started that business in the first place. It’s really important.

Victoria (48:44)
Yeah,

yeah, I love that. Okay, I have a last question for you Charlotte before I let you go to bed. What would you now say? How old are your two oldest children?

Charlotte (48:49)
Yes.

They are 10 and 8.

Victoria (48:58)
Okay, so you know about eight-year-olds. What would you now say if you could have a conversation with eight-year-old Charlotte?

Charlotte (49:00)
Yeah. yes.

I would say keep drawing, keep being creative, keep being yourself and never let go of it. I’d say you are strong and brave and be confident in everything you do.

Yeah. That’s it.

Victoria (49:26)
That’s it. Yeah, beautiful.

Okay, amazing. Charlotte, tell me where everybody can find you and look you up if they’d like to take a look at some of your work and find out more about what you do.

Charlotte (49:39)
Yeah, so my website is rose studio.co.nz and my Instagram is rose studio.co.nz and that’s where can find my latest work and yeah.

Victoria (49:55)
Cool. Thank you so much for your time, Charlotte. I so appreciate it. I am sure you’re exhausted and you couldn’t be up doing an early morning shift with your children. So I will let you go to bed, I’ve so enjoyed this conversation. Thank you so much.

Charlotte (49:59)
No problem.

I’m sure I’ll be fine.

Thank you so much for having me.

Victoria (50:16)
Pleasure.

Charlotte (50:19)
See ya!