🌞 June Insight: Balancing Effort and Compensation for Sustainable Success 🌞

🌟Breaking the Cycle: Overworking and Underpaying Ourselves

In this feature, we delve into the impact of overworking and underpaying on our health, productivity, and business growth. We discuss strategies to ensure fair compensation and effective time management, and provide insights on how to set boundaries and prioritize self-care. Hear from fellow IWEP members who have successfully navigated this challenge and achieved a healthier work-life balance.

 

🌱Meet Erika Cardenas, Founder of Butterfly Cleaning Services, and Erika Photography, Erika shares her journey of starting Butterfly Cleaning Services, a sustainable products company, and how she overcame the trap of overworking and underpaying herself. Learn about the strategies she employed to value her time and efforts, ensuring her business thrived without compromising her well-being. Let's delve into Erika's inspiring story.

 

"Shortly after moving to Vancouver, from Mexico, my mom became a single mom. She focused on taking care of my younger brother and me when I was in college, my mom decided to start changing our future, and she wanted to work for herself and start her cleaning service. I soon realized that my mom needed help and she couldn’t operate a cleaning service alone. I stepped aside from my passion for television production and into what I thought was going to be a short season of helping my mom, but two decades later I still run and work in my family's small cleaning service here in Vancouver.

​

My dream was to see my mom retire, and this dream came true last year. As she stepped into her retirement, I realized that it was my turn and finally my opportunity to return to my original passion for production and media. As, of last year, I started taking steps to start new too and I enrolled in school for Video Production, photography, and social media marketing. 

 

Having the experience of operating a small business here in Vancouver and understanding the demands and the changes that have happened with Media and our economy, I began looking for help, to update and refresh on starting and operating a small business from scratch.

​

The small business course here at S.U.C.C.E.S.S. has been an epic motivation for me as it has reminded me that I have a passion for being both a creative, resourceful, and an entrepreneur. It helped me remember that I must be organized, and creative with my business solutions. No two businesses are the same and yours will truly depend on these keys:

1, Knowing this season is the season of “Free Technology and Resources”, Templates and creative solutions are at our fingertips!

These free resources are pivotal for all of us who are starting from scratch and have limited budgets.

I encourage you as you step into wearing “all the hats” of operation and administration for your small business to use everything available online for Free.

2: Know your product better than the competition and know your client type –demographic better than your competition. Have the most reliable, accessible, responsible, and professional customer service.

3. And have a “plan” to follow and help you stay focused in each stage.
 

I hope that as you read my story you will be inspired to believe that no matter what our current limitations may be there are no limitations when you start with creativity and passion.

​

My name is Erika and this is the new beginning to my story." -- Erika Cardenas