The Mother Behind a Design Enterprise that Generated over $400,000 in Income in 12 months
Are you curious about 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 business trip along with her husband, Juntero Design and Junero Expertise.
Chisom tells us in regards to the challenges she faces working her enterprise with two younger youngsters and offers tricks to all working mothers.
She is one busy mama and we’re so impressed with all she has been capable of accomplish!
1. Are you able to inform us about your journey in founding Juntero? What impressed you to begin 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. Nonetheless, I made a decision to begin small by taking over freelance initiatives on the facet.
The journey started humbly. In 2021, I launched the corporate with my cybersecurity specialist husband. Juntero is an included firm that owns Juntero Design and Juntero Expertise. I personal Juntero Design, whereas my husband owns Juntero Expertise. My first gig concerned designing an advert for Certainly.com, which paid a mere $20.
Initially, Juntero Design’s gross sales comprised largely one-off graphic design initiatives. Nonetheless, the corporate step by step attracted bigger initiatives, similar to 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 pleasant and traumatic, albeit in a constructive means. 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 shopper initiatives from 4 to seven within the night or through the early mornings on weekends. Managing this alongside caring for my baby 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 all the things. 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 strategy, I by no means really feel like I’m navigating this journey alone.
3. What does a typical day appear like for you?
As Juntero expanded, I transitioned to delegating a lot of the workload to a group of designers. Basically, it operates as an company the place I oversee a pool of proficient 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 care for the remaining. Today, my position at Juntero primarily includes interacting with shoppers, managing advertising and marketing efforts, and supervising the group’s progress.
Throughout a typical week, I dedicate roughly five to 10 hours to Juntero, making certain that all the things runs easily and that our shoppers 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 continuing state of flux, filled with numerous duties and ever-changing duties.
4. How do you stability 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 usually results in burnout. Sustaining a wholesome work-life stability is essential for skilled success and private well-being.
From my expertise, mastering time administration is vital. For these managing a household alongside entrepreneurship, prioritizing time administration is important.
It takes appreciable group, confidence in a single’s talents, and efficient time administration expertise to maintain all the things in examine.
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 enterprise?
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 rising private revenue, with a good portion directed in 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 suppose are a very powerful qualities or expertise for a profitable entrepreneur, particularly for mothers within the design/tech business?
Probably the most important qualities for profitable entrepreneurs, significantly for mothers within the design/tech business, embrace adaptability, resilience, and efficient communication.
As a mother navigating this field, multitasking and time administration are paramount. Being adaptable to market modifications and technological developments is important for staying related. Resilience helps in overcoming challenges and setbacks inherent in entrepreneurship.
Efficient communication fosters collaboration and shopper relationships. Moreover, creativity, problem-solving, and a progress mindset are invaluable property.
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 enterprise?
My major communication instruments with my numerous group, comprising native and worldwide professionals, are WhatsApp and textual content.
For shopper coordination, significantly with builders, builders, and design-related companies, I depend on Slack for ongoing undertaking requests associated to their month-to-month, quarterly, or annual subscriptions.
Interactions with householders and fellow enterprise homeowners who require one-time fee fashions sometimes happen by way of textual content or electronic mail. For digital conferences, I are likely to depend on Zoom or Google Meets.
Manufacturing work is facilitated by numerous instruments similar to AutoCAD, Revit, Lumion, Adobe Suite, amongst others. To successfully manage and handle initiatives, I rely upon Monday, a complete undertaking administration platform.
This array of instruments ensures streamlined communication, environment friendly undertaking coordination, and efficient manufacturing workflows inside my enterprise operations.
8. What recommendation would you give to different mothers who aspire to begin their very own enterprise?
To fellow mothers aspiring to begin their very own enterprise, I supply these insights that I discovered from my journey:
- Define Your Imaginative and prescient: Clearly define your enterprise targets and imaginative and prescient, aligning them along with your passions and strengths.
- Begin Small, Dream Large: Start with manageable steps, step by step increasing as you acquire momentum and confidence.
- Embrace Flexibility: Flexibility is vital 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 Assist: 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 data in areas related to your enterprise and private progress.
- Rejoice Progress: Acknowledge milestones and achievements, irrespective of how small. Rejoice your journey and embrace the educational experiences alongside the best way.
9. Wanting again, is there something you would like you had recognized earlier than beginning your personal firm, significantly as a mother in your business?
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 business:
- The Significance of Delegating: Initially, I underestimated the worth of delegating duties. Studying to belief others with duties may have alleviated a few of the preliminary stress and workload.
- Looking for Mentorship: Having a mentor, particularly somebody who has navigated related challenges as a mother entrepreneur in my business, would have supplied invaluable steerage and help.
Total, whereas there have been challenges alongside the best way, every impediment has supplied beneficial 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 business.
10. What’s your imaginative and prescient for the longer term progress and improvement of your enterprise?
Up to now, our most distinguished shopper 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.
Wanting forward, I goal to propel Juntero’s progress by forging strategic partnerships with builders throughout the US. Regardless of this focus, I stay dedicated to working with householders and small companies on smaller initiatives.
I find pleasure in fixing folks’s issues and can proceed to supply personalised 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 shoppers.
11. How can others discover you- as we’re all followers of you now?
It is 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 likely be following Juntero to see what occurs subsequent. Ensure you take a look at Juntero’s social hyperlinks listed above to search out out extra data.
