Sometimes I don’t know why I own a babysitting agency with all the babysitting I do, and I’m not talking about children. Babysitting children is the easy part of my role in owning, and operating my own business. It’s the MANAGING adults that is the most challenging.
When I hire a babysitter to be part of my team I look at resumes, then if that passes mustard, I schedule an interview, sometimes that pans out, and sometimes it doesn’t (let’s face it; a lot of people think they can babysit because they think it’s all about just sitting around all day, and if you’re on my team it most certainly isn’t that), then I perform a background check if they pass the interview process, and then if they pass that I check their references. It’s a lot of work but none of that work tells you whether or not they want to work or, more importantly, they need to work. It is frustrating when you interview and they all say, yes they need to work, and they are open to work all the time, but when it comes down to it that’s rare.
So why do I own a babysitting agency? Well we know it isn’t because I love managing people, it isn’t because I adore doing my bookkeeping but I do love creating community.
I LOVE being part of the development of children, watching parents grow a beautiful relationship with their children, playing, planning activities, being outdoors in the summer, and not being tied to a desk!
Babysitting is such meaningful work for me. Being part of people’s lives, focusing on the values I find important like volunteerism and, hopefully, being a compassionate leader and boss gives my life a purpose that I put a lot of value on.
Yes, owning my own business is harder than I ever thought it would be, and I thought it was going to be hard (I never really wanted to own a business because I thought I lacked drive to be successful at it), it is complicated, and never ending but when I think about the alternative I feel deflated, and beat down.
I guess I own my own babysitting agency because I want to be of service to parents in a way that is meaningful to them, my babysitters, and myself. I am passionate about providing excellent care, and being a good role model.
