They say that being a parent is a full-time job. So, when you launch a business as a solopreneur on top of your parenting duties, suddenly there’s a lot to balance. Small Business BC connected with Emma Gray, the founder of Julo Mortgages, to learn about her experience. Emma shares how she started up, the support she had to succeed, and strategies she relies on to get it all done in a day.
How She Started Her Business
Before Emma became a business owner, she worked for several years at a small mortgage company. In a way, Emma says the experience was like an apprenticeship where she learned the ins and outs of running a mortgage company.
Started her business after her second maternity leave. “The timing personally aligned for me to give it a go,” said Emma, and she started the process back in November, 2023.
It took a while to come up with the name, but she ended up with Julo Mortgages, inspired by her two children, four-year-old Jude and one-year-old Lola. After the name was decided, Emma had to decide on a business structure, register her business, and get her license transferred from her previous employer to her new business. There were quite a few hoops to jump through and Emma says it was hard to find information on how to do it all online. But finally, on February 1, 2024, Julo Mortgages officially launched – the same day her daughter Lola started daycare!
Support for Balancing Parenthood and Entrepreneurship
“I wouldn’t be able to do it frankly, without daycare,” said Emma. Her family uses two daycares, both of which are a 10-minute walk from her home and one of the daycares is in the $10-a-day program. Daycare allowed her to start her own business.
In addition to support via daycare, Emma uses at-home support from a cleaner and a nutritionist who comes often to cook and shop for groceries for the family. These supports help take a mental load off of Emma so she has energy and time to devote towards her family and her business.
And life gives them lemons, like when both kids are home sick from daycare, Emma and her partner lean into their communication skills to make it work. They have a conversation and see who’s day is more maneuverable, who has meetings that can be rescheduled, and who is more flexible.
“A couple of weeks ago, I took the whole Monday off and took care of Jude and then he took the whole Tuesday off and took care of Jude. So we split kind of 50/50,” said Emma.”
“It becomes more challenging when both of us have something that we can’t or don’t want to move” said Emma, situations where a child might sit down with an Ipad during a meeting.
“We’ve done what we’ve had to do sometimes to survive, maybe not thrive, and knowing that those things are short term,” she said.
Partners in Life and Supporters in Business
Emma and her husband Joe, who is also a busy entrepreneur and a shareholder at his company, support each other by having clear communication. “We are learning how to play to each other’s strengths,” said Emma.
The pair have had individual and couples counselling, and use a tool called the Fair Play Deck to distribute household chores and responsibilities. “I know what I’m responsible for…he knows what he’s responsible for – at least we know, you’re not assuming the other person knows.”
Emma says that they also prioritize having individual time. For Joe, he loves to play soccer while Emma likes to play netball and volleyball. “That helps both of us recalibrate, reset, and come back and be better partners, better parents, better business owners,” said Emma.
Advice for Entrepreneurs Raising Families
Emma says there are lots of things that have made her transition into entrepreneurship possible. Mainly, securing daycare allowed her to start her business, but she also strategically reduced financial stress before she launched.
For example, her partner is the owner of an established company where he has a guaranteed income which, while she launches her business, has been supportive. “And we came into it with savings, too.” said Emma. Being so early in her first year of business, Emma has yet to recover her relatively low start-up costs.
After three months of work, Emma has gotten one modest paycheck. She expects it could be up to six months before she makes back what she put into her business. “I think trying to become a business owner whilst raising young kids and having financial stress would be incredibly challenging,” she said.
Benefits of Starting a Business
While there have been challenges, Emma is happy with her move from being employed to employing herself. She started her business because she wanted more flexibility. “Not having to work 40 hours within a nine to five, Monday to Friday bracket…I can do my hours in a different setup,” said Emma.
She also wanted to start a business to have more control of her own destiny and align her work with her values, for example, she is donating 1% of her revenue to a cause of her choice. “I’m not working for someone who distributes profits and dividends how they see fit ” said Emma.
Mentorship and Realistic Advice
When Emma wanted to branch out and start her business years ago, a mentor advised her to wait – especially if she wanted more children and to take a full maternity leave. Her mentor, also a mother working in the mortgage industry, said she should wait and take maternity leave, revisiting starting a business down the road.
“She said you can’t start a business for a year and then take a year off and expect the momentum to be able to pick up again,” said Emma. “I was disappointed to hear it but it was solid advice,” said Emma.
“Now, with 20/20 hindsight, it was absolutely the best piece of advice I got because the timing was wrong. I would have had a baby – incredibly stressful, and I would have tried to start a business – incredibly stressful at the same time.”
The Future of Julo Mortgages and Emma’s Family
Emma hopes that her kids can broaden their horizons for what they think is possible by watching her start her own business. “I hope that they both realize that there’s more options than what I grew up knowing.”
“In my school and career guidance, it was graduate school, go to university, and join a corporate grad scheme. That was the gold standard, I think there are more options than that that aren’t very well presented or well known when you’re in those formative years of late teens and early twenties, deciding what to do.”
Emma would like to make use of the flexibility afforded by her and her partner’s jobs and take some trips with the family, making memories. Later, she has a goal to speak at conferences and offer workshops in schools, offering personal financial education, including mortgages.
“I feel strongly that you should know what a mortgage is and how it functions and what things you can do when you’re younger to set yourself up for getting one,” said Emma.
She would also like to start an East Van podcast, potentially talking to women business owners in the neighbourhood. “It’s not a revenue-generating activity for me as a mortgage broker, it is more of a passion project.”
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