The Mother Behind a Design Enterprise that Generated over $400,000 in Income in 12 months
Are you interested by design and are tech savvy?
Properly, we talked with Chisom Okwulehie and he or she shares her story of leaving her place as a Senior Architect within the authorities and beginning a joint work trip together with her husband, Juntero Design and Junero Know-how.
Chisom tells us concerning the challenges she faces working her enterprise with two younger kids and offers tricks to all working mothers.
She is one busy mama and we’re so impressed with all she has been in a position to accomplish!
1. Are you able to inform us about your journey in founding Juntero? What impressed you to start out it?
I excelled at my full-time job, however the need to run my very own enterprise lingered inside me. When the pandemic struck and the world slowed down, I noticed a chance to make my dream a actuality. Nevertheless, I made a decision to start out small by taking up freelance initiatives on the aspect.
The journey started humbly. In 2021, I launched the corporate with my cybersecurity specialist husband. Juntero is an integrated firm that owns Juntero Design and Juntero Know-how. I personal Juntero Design, whereas my husband owns Juntero Know-how. My first gig concerned designing an advert for Certainly.com, which paid a mere $20.
Initially, Juntero Design’s gross sales comprised principally one-off graphic design initiatives. Nevertheless, the corporate progressively attracted bigger initiatives, reminiscent of creating floor plans for small companies. I juggled nights and weekends between Juntero and my full-time place as a Senior Architect at my authorities job.
2. What specific challenges did you face as a mother whereas launching and rising your organization?
2021 turned out to be each gratifying and demanding, albeit in a optimistic method. I discovered myself inundated with requests and initiatives, all of which I dealt with solo. Balancing this workload was difficult, particularly whereas caring for my daughter and holding down a nine-to-five job.
Within the early days, I devoted my daytime hours to my authorities job from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Then, I transitioned to engaged on consumer initiatives from 4 to seven within the night or in the course of the early mornings on weekends. Managing this alongside caring for my youngster proved to be fairly demanding.
Regardless of the after-hours workload, I needed to refine my prioritization expertise and handle my time meticulously to make sure I accomplished every thing. I owe a lot of Juntero’s preliminary progress to my supportive husband, who has been a useful co-parent all through this journey. My husband performs a pivotal position in my achievements. Along with his hands-on method, I by no means really feel like I’m navigating this journey alone.
3. What does a typical day appear to be for you?
As Juntero expanded, I transitioned to delegating a lot of the workload to a staff of designers. Primarily, it operates as an company the place I oversee a pool of gifted people and assign them duties.
Within the yr of 2023, I discovered myself personally dealing with solely about 10% of the workload, whereas over 30 expert architects, inside designers, and 3D modelers deal with the remainder. Today, my position at Juntero primarily entails interacting with purchasers, managing advertising efforts, and supervising the staff’s progress.
Throughout a typical week, I dedicate roughly five to 10 hours to Juntero, making certain that every thing runs easily and that our purchasers are satisfied with our providers.
I don’t have a typical day. I juggle the roles of being a mother of a toddler and toddler, a spouse, an worker, and an entrepreneur. My days are in a relentless state of flux, filled with various duties and ever-changing duties.
4. How do you steadiness the calls for of working a enterprise with household duties?
Balancing my household, a full-time job alongside working a enterprise isn’t a stroll within the park; it typically results in burnout. Sustaining a wholesome work-life steadiness is essential for skilled success and private well-being.
From my expertise, mastering time administration is essential. For these managing a household alongside entrepreneurship, prioritizing time administration is important.
It takes appreciable group, confidence in a single’s skills, and efficient time administration expertise to maintain every thing in test.
Studying to prioritize duties ensures productiveness whereas safeguarding towards exhaustion. It’s about finding concord between work and private life to thrive in each realms.
5. How a lot do you earn with your small business?
Final yr, I generated over $400,000 in income and earned a $37,500 wage. This yr, I goal to double final yr’s income whereas elevating my wage to $60,000, allocating half of it to investments.
Along with my pension, I plan to maximise contributions to my 401k and different funding accounts to safe long-term monetary stability.
By specializing in doubling income and growing private revenue, with a good portion directed in the direction of investments, I goal to fortify my monetary place and guarantee a affluent future for my household by creating generational wealth.
6. What do you assume are crucial qualities or expertise for a profitable entrepreneur, particularly for mothers within the design/tech trade?
Essentially the most crucial qualities for profitable entrepreneurs, notably for mothers within the design/tech trade, embrace adaptability, resilience, and efficient communication.
As a mother navigating this field, multitasking and time administration are paramount. Being adaptable to market adjustments and technological developments is important for staying related. Resilience helps in overcoming challenges and setbacks inherent in entrepreneurship.
Efficient communication fosters collaboration and consumer relationships. Moreover, creativity, problem-solving, and a progress mindset are invaluable belongings.
Balancing enterprise duties with household commitments calls for flexibility and prioritization. Finally, the flexibility to innovate, persevere, and join with others varieties the cornerstone of entrepreneurial success.
7. What platform/instruments do you utilize for your small business?
My main communication instruments with my various staff, comprising native and worldwide professionals, are WhatsApp and textual content.
For consumer coordination, notably with builders, builders, and design-related corporations, I depend on Slack for ongoing challenge requests associated to their month-to-month, quarterly, or annual subscriptions.
Interactions with owners and fellow enterprise homeowners who require one-time cost fashions usually happen through textual content or electronic mail. For digital conferences, I are likely to depend on Zoom or Google Meets.
Manufacturing work is facilitated by varied instruments reminiscent of AutoCAD, Revit, Lumion, Adobe Suite, amongst others. To successfully manage and handle initiatives, I rely upon Monday, a complete challenge administration platform.
This array of instruments ensures streamlined communication, environment friendly challenge coordination, and efficient manufacturing workflows inside my enterprise operations.
8. What recommendation would you give to different mothers who aspire to start out their very own enterprise?
To fellow mothers aspiring to start out their very own enterprise, I supply these insights that I discovered from my journey:
- Define Your Imaginative and prescient: Clearly define your small business targets and imaginative and prescient, aligning them together with your passions and strengths.
- Begin Small, Dream Massive: Start with manageable steps, progressively increasing as you acquire momentum and confidence.
- Embrace Flexibility: Flexibility is essential when balancing household commitments and entrepreneurship. Adaptability helps navigate challenges.
- Prioritize Self-Care: Guarantee to prioritize your well-being amidst the calls for of entrepreneurship and motherhood.
- Search Help: Encompass your self with a supportive community of household, buddies, and mentors who uplift and encourage you.
- Steady Studying: Keep curious and dedicated to studying. Search information in areas related to your small business and private progress.
- Rejoice Progress: Acknowledge milestones and achievements, regardless of how small. Rejoice your journey and embrace the training experiences alongside the way in which.
9. Trying again, is there something you want you had recognized earlier than beginning your individual firm, notably as a mother in your trade?
Reflecting on my journey, there are some things I want I had recognized earlier than beginning my very own firm, particularly as a mother within the trade:
- The Significance of Delegating: Initially, I underestimated the worth of delegating duties. Studying to belief others with duties might have alleviated a few of the preliminary stress and workload.
- Searching for Mentorship: Having a mentor, particularly somebody who has navigated related challenges as a mother entrepreneur in my trade, would have offered invaluable steering and help.
Total, whereas there have been challenges alongside the way in which, every impediment has offered priceless classes and alternatives for progress. Embracing the journey with openness and a willingness to study has been instrumental in navigating the complexities of entrepreneurship as a mother in my trade.
10. What’s your imaginative and prescient for the longer term progress and improvement of your small business?
So far, our most distinguished consumer at Juntero is a property developer who utilized our inside design and 3D visualization providers to efficiently market a portfolio of houses, leading to multimillion-dollar gross sales over asking worth.
Trying forward, I goal to propel Juntero’s progress by forging strategic partnerships with builders throughout the USA. Regardless of this focus, I stay dedicated to working with owners and small companies on smaller initiatives.
I find pleasure in fixing individuals’s issues and can proceed to offer customized service to people and small enterprise homeowners in search of our experience, making certain that Juntero maintains its dedication to each large-scale ventures and particular person purchasers.
11. How can others discover you- as we’re all followers of you now?
This can be a fairly superior story of a husband and spouse duo. We love how they teamed as much as construct a profitable enterprise that works for his or her household. Thanks Chisom for sharing your story with us.
We will probably be following Juntero to see what occurs subsequent. Be sure you try Juntero’s social hyperlinks listed above to search out out extra data.