Tuesday, September 18

His story



It's been a while now since I've wanted to publish this post. It's been sitting in draft, but now I feel it's a good time to share it.  A journey that is close to my heart and a story that should be told, celebrated and used to inspire.

This journey is not my own, but I was honoured to be a part of it; a player, a contributor but not the lead role.  That honour goes to my husband.

This is his journey.  A journey that started about five years ago.

I noticed a change, ever so subtle at first, but a change non the less.  Sure our first born was about 18 months and I was newly pregnant with our second child, but I was still in tune with my husband enough to know that something was amiss.

At first he couldn't put his finger on it, but he felt agitated, restless and annoyed.  mostly at work.  He liked his job, but he no longer loved it, and his boss and the directors kept letting him down by saying he had good ideas to move the company forward but quite frankly they didn't want to explore them.

I kept asking him if he wanted to go out on his own.  quit his job and be his own boss.

Yeah. newly renovated home.  mortgage. one income.  not likely.

But I persisted with my idea, because I knew deep down his ideas were amazing, well thought out, niche business services that no one else was doing.   He had the skills, he just needed the confidence.   At first he thought he could wait until our kids were older and I could contribute financially to our income, not burdening his new business with such financial pressure.  I was sceptical he could hold out that long as I could see the agony in his face as he trod off to work each morning.  And honestly his ideas were so good it was only a matter of time before someone else got in first.  There were a million reasons not to give it a go, and only a few to take a leap of faith and do it.

After our second child was born, I sat him down and said "you are miserable, you hate your job.  quit now and start your own business. We will manage and you will succeed." 

He wrote a business plan and quietly worked on it for the next few months.  We talked and talked and crunched numbers all day everyday.  When our baby daughter was three months old on Christmas Eve in 2008 he quit his job.  It was then that the Global Financial Crisis hit.  Great!  But that did not deter my husband.  He developed this no fear attitude. We never took out a business loan or overdraft.  It was just all hard work, late nights, finding the right clients and getting the job done no matter what. We adjusted to living without the security of a weekly wage, but getting at first invoice out, paid and in our account was pure sweet relief.  As time went on my husbands confidence grew, failure was not an option and as he would say he had 'the eye of the tiger'.  This was one fight he was going to be victorious.

For the next six months he worked out of the spare room of our house on a table from the op shop,  whilst I cared for our two kids at home also.  There were times I had to leave the house just so my husband could make a conference call without hearing kids screaming in the background.  Meetings were scheduled at a local cafe.   Now that seems like such a distant memory.


Flash forward to 2012 and my husband has three subsidiary businesses, employs 11 staff, and best of all is loving what he does.  I often forget the journey that he took...the sacrifices we made, the risk of losing it all.  But he did it.  Sometimes he muses that the fact that we did it at such a tough time was part of the reason why his business was successful.  There was simply no other option.

I am so proud and this journey he let me be apart of will a special story I will never tire of telling.

x

16 comments:

  1. Thank you for sharing this with us Brenda. What an inspirational story, an inspirational man and a truly loving and supportive wife. Congratulations to all of you on such a wonderful success. xx

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  2. That is awesome & inspiring! And maybe it's new Mumma hormones, but I have tears in my eyes after reading that! It's a dream I have too - one day.

    xx

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  3. What a magnificent story! It is so beautiful to hear of not only the courage and determination of the man but also of the rock solid marriage that made this work. You both are so very blessed to have found each other! Hats of to you Lou...a king amongst men! Can't wait to finally meet your all :) xx

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  4. Oh Brenda what an absolutely amazing story..one of inspiration, courage and strength.
    Thanks so much for sharin it with us, I need to get my hubby to read it..maybe it will give him the boost he needs.

    x

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  5. ...and beside every great man is a great woman! Congratulations to you too.

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  6. I love to hear stories like this, so so much. Congrats to you and your husband, united you stood and succeeded well done.

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  7. oh you two should be so proud of yourselves
    (he definitely didn't do this alone!)
    x

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  8. Just beautiful. Love the love that you can feel when you read these words.

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  9. Wow, what an amazing and beautifully inspiring story. Congratulations to both you and your husband for taking that leap of faith.

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  10. What an amazingly beautiful story of courage. What joy for you all to look back and see the sucess he has made and a better family life for you all.

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  11. Amazing story! Sometimes I think the pressure of hard times is what makes diamonds of our days. My hubby has just gone part-time to grow his building business, and I've started working part-time. It's not quite a risky as you two, but man, it's nice to be calling the shots.
    And good on you for backing him up, you good woman. x

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  12. What a wonderful story! And well done to you guys for swapping a negative but secure kind of stress for a positive but insecure kind. That takes huge courage!

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  13. Incredibly inspiring, Bren. I wish I was more of risk-taker like your man. He went out after his dreams (on the urging of a very good woman) and he succeeded. That takes guts, determination and a special kind of courage. I wish him more and more success, always.

    x

    PS - You've captured him so beautifully with your photography too. x

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  14. Oh, I love this post! You've shared so much of yourselves in this post. Your love, how you get each other, your support, and making dreams come true. It's worth the sacrifice, and the hard work. I love it when work is something you do because you love it, and not a chore. So inspirational Bren! Thank you for sharing. X

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Thanks so much for stopping by....I love knowing your thoughts and comments... xx