I’m writing this on a Sunday afternoon, sat in my home office, laptop open, cup of tea going cold beside me. Most of the people I know are out enjoying their weekend right now. But I’m here, working away. That’s not an unusual Sunday for me.
Nobody really tells you this bit when you decide to build a business. They tell you about the freedom, the flexibility, the being-your-own-boss dream, you know the Instagram worthy posts typically aspire to these days. What they don’t tell you is just how much of yourself you have to hand over to make it work.
The Things You Miss
I think about the birthdays I’ve missed. The special occasions where I’ve had to send my apologies because a project simply couldn’t wait. The nights out I’ve said no to because I was still working at 9pm, or the weekends I’ve spent at my desk instead of with the people I love. That’s the real cost of building something from nothing, and it’s rarely talked about honestly.
One of the hardest things about running your own business, is learning the hardest lesson of most people around you will support you at the start. When you’re just starting out, when the ambition is still a nice, tidy, understandable idea, everyone’s cheering you on. It’s when it starts working, when it starts growing, when the hours you’re putting in start turning into something real, that’s when some people stop understanding. They see the hours and assume it’s obsession rather than commitment. They see the missed plans and think you’ve got your priorities wrong. What they don’t see is the years of graft underneath it, or the reason you’re doing it in the first place.
Why I Keep Showing Up
Rebox HR was never designed to be an “it covers the bills” business, people who know me, know that I am all or nothing. Rebox HR was never going to be “just another HR consultancy” and I am proud that we stand out this way. I never built this to sit quietly in the background doing just enough to make it look good. I have oodles (my favourite word!) of ambition and drive to make this business something genuinely brilliant. Something that delivers nothing but the best for our clients. That kind of standard doesn’t happen by accident, and it definitely doesn’t happen between 9 and 5. Everything we do, from our service delivery to how I run the business is done with intention. Being selective and choosing where you show up is important.
I wasn’t designed to sit still. I don’t think I ever could, even if I tried. Some people are wired for balance and calm and switching off at 5pm sharp. I’m wired for building, for pushing, for seeing how far this can go. Neither is right or wrong, it’s just who I am, and I’ve stopped apologising for it.
The Leap of Faith
Building a business takes a leap of faith and a shed ton of resilience. There’s no guarantee attached to any of it, but you get used to making quick gut-instinct decisions, taking risks and learning every step of the way. You give up time with the people you love, you give up the version of life that looks “normal” from the outside, and you do it on the belief that it’s building towards something worth all of it.
I like to imagine looking back one day, properly looking back, once the business is everything I know it can be, and knowing that I was brave enough to chase the life I actually wanted, not the safe version everyone else expected of me. And most importantly that it worked! That the Sunday afternoons at my desk, the birthdays I missed, the weekends spent working instead of resting, all led somewhere.
If you’re in the thick of that sacrifice right now, wondering if it’s worth it, I see you. It’s hard, it’s lonely, and not everyone around you will get it. But if the ambition you hold is real, and the drive is real, keep going. One day you’ll look back and understand exactly why it had to be this way.
Building something ambitious of your own? Rebox HR supports businesses and internal HR teams with the expertise to get the people side of things right — so you can focus your energy on the vision that’s driving you forward. Get in touch to find out how we can help.
Natalie Ellis HR 