My family based business La Bella Creations will cease to trade from 31 March this year. Until then products will be on sale. www.labellaonline.com
It's been a difficult decision to make as La Bella has won awards, has a great fan-base, I've been able to run it flexibly and spend more time with my kids and we've made a profit in our second year of operation. I'm told this isn't normal and most businesses take longer than this to pay themselves and make $ - so I'm happy!
However, while I've been running La Bella I've also been teaching at university part time, helping my husband with his property business, running Mumpreneur Online and consulting for a global company. Oh and all the other things you do like being parent rep for the school and charity work in running balls to raise $ for cancer, Red cross, hospital helicopter services etc - and raise 3 kids all under 6 with a baby of 8 months.
This morning in an information session for year 1 - as the school requested parent reps my friend leant over to me and said a firm No! This reflects my general approach to 2012. I'm going to try and slow down and centralise my energy and business acumen a little more.
That's the thing. I'm doing so much in the world of business and it's all been quite successful and enjoyable that I'm not sure what I should really do when I grow up. I'm 40 year's old in a year so I should probably have worked it out by then!!
I've made the decision to close La Bella based on the fact that I make more money for my family helping my husband with his property business than I do with La Bella (as profit margins per necklace are $1 compared to $100,000 + per property) and he and I will be able to do it together and therefore see each other more often. I also make a lot more money consulting which is also flexible and it can help fund the property business, when needed. I've asked not to go face to face for teaching as it's lots of work and I'm instead running a university intern placement program for third years (some of who I've taught before so it's nice to help them transition to the workforce) - hopefully 2012 will be less busy!
In regards to my team, Bianca is now working with another exciting firm and we keep in touch and Misty has picked up work as a virtual assistant and can still help with the property business. The property work is also a lot less intensive than having to pack orders every day and deal with daily customer enquiries. Most of the work is based on knowing about strata titles, DA approvals and going through paperwork processes so it's less urgent and higher instant profits.
It makes sense to reduce my workloads, and it also means that my husband and I can cover up and double for each other whereas that's not happening with La Bella as he's swamped with his business and I'm swamped with mine. I'm not sure what else I will stop. This is my first step but I'll probably stop teaching at University in 2013 and I'm not going to sit on any ball committees this year - I'll just go along and enjoy the party instead. As much as I love it - I love doing lots of things and I can't do everything I love!
I'm not going to sell La Bella as I own the international rights for people/businesses not to copy the idea of tug proof jewellery around babies and it's worth quite a bit now and into the future. I'll simply cease trading and when my kids are older I'll decide then whether to sell La Bella, or start it back up again...
Slowing down and reducing my commitments means I can spend even more time with my family and with my husband on his business. It's saying yes to my family which feels right!
For now there is 50% off for me to clear stock and get the stock room back!!! I'm a little sad but mostly I feel free as I know I csn run an successful online business from home and now I need to integrate and consolidate my efforts with my husband so we can achieve great things together.
