Tegan Carakitsos | On Embracing the Shift and Finding Comfort In Asking for Help
by Neha Ruch
Tegan Carakitsos and I first met almost four years ago when we were in the early years of babies and planting the seeds for something for ourselves alongside using Instagram. Tegan talks about how Instagram was her networking tool when she decided to pause fully between her previous career as the owner of a beloved Australian salon and then starting up again on a new venture after her third child grew more independent - Tiny Tea Kids. Hers is a story to remind everyone that paths are non-linear and we can constantly revisit our versions of balance to redefine what works for us and our family. Read from Tegan below on how she’s arrived at her current sense of purpose, schedule and creative work.
1. Currently, new friends will meet you as an entrepreneur but I know you and I shared confidence in our career pauses for family life - what was your career path prior and what shifts did you make to make room for family life?
Entrepreneur!! I hope my children see my fight for this stage as a skill. It's not an easy path, but it’s very rewarding.
Prior to family life, I owned a little beauty salon in South Yarra, Melbourne.
I started this at the young age of 21 with no experience of running a business nor much knowledge of the beauty world itself. This idea came from a crazy impromptu decision with a friend to open a salon of our own after working together for one year; I say it was the youth aspect that created no fear! We started small with just the two of us and did quite well for ourselves. A few years later, she decided she wanted out of the business, so I bought her out. I then went on to hire a team under me and doubled the size of the salon and we relocated down the road to Prahran. The salon is still running today, 10 years on.
Having this salon allowed me the freedom of becoming a mother but also having something of my own, which I found empowering and important to myself.
I was back at work a few months after birthing my first child, Zara, it was hard for me to let go. Skip forward four years and pregnant with my second child I decided to take more time off and just enjoy wholesome time with my newborn, Hunter. This is when the shift happened, and I decided it may be time to move on and solely focus on my children. I sold my business and became a full-time mum, which was a little scary, but I felt it’s what my family required at the time.
2. Starting your own company alongside motherhood is exciting and can feel intimidating to some. What helped you get confident in taking the leap to start Tiny Teas?
Yes, very intimidating!! To this day, I still have days when I think I have life all figured out than other days when I wonder what the heck I am doing!
I've always had a very creative, busy mind - it was after my third child, Pia, who is now less dependent that I have more time to think and get those creative juices flowing again.
In my older years, I have become very passionate about healthy living. I grew up with undiagnosed anxiety and it was the later years when I put it down to a lot of my lifestyle choices and bad eating habits. With not much awareness or education around this topic and subsequently wanting to help educate kids about their lifestyle choices. I've always struggled to find a healthy drink alternative, other than fresh juice, smoothies, or milk.
So, this is how Tiny Tea was born.
I am a big tea drinker myself and my kids started asking me if they could join in my tea drinking practice. This got me investigating (or google-ing some may call it!) online and I realized there is not much on the market in this category, and three years on with the help of my little ones we have Tiny Tea! My kids really gave me the confidence to create this amazing product. And of course, my husband supporting me the whole way (even though he openly says he’d love me to remain a stay-at-home mum *insert cheeky face*).
3. What does the week to week look like in making room for the business while also holding room to be home with your three girls?
Tough question as each week never looks the same. Going into this, I thought I would have my schedule sorted, I'd pencil in workdays and the other days I would dedicate to my children. But as any mother knows you don’t know what each day will bring so this quickly changed! I was hoping to work full-time again and decided to put my three-year-old daughter into full-time care. This decision did not come lightly, and there were days I had severe mum guilt, feeling like I was the worst mother for not choosing to stay home. But I felt to be the best mother possible I had to make myself happy as well (which was deciding to go back to work again), to give them the best version of me.
Four months in I’ve realized that as much as I'd love to dedicate five days a week to Tiny Tea, in my soul it doesn’t feel right. So, I’ve had to find a better balance, and allocating three days a week and knowing that depending on what comes about in this week I need to be flexible and available to my kid's needs and I still want to be present in their life and activities. So, Tiny Tea will always be second to me over the girls, but it doesn’t mean you cannot run a successful business concurrently.
It has taken me a while to get used to the idea of my house not always being as tidy as I'd like, and piles of washing to be folded, that’s ok because I'm doing the best job possible even though some days it drives me a little crazy.
4. What tools or resources have been most impactful to you in launching and managing a small business in this season of life?
The Instagram platform has been fantastic, the reason for my page ‘tegan__jane’ was networking purposes for the day I decided to launch Tiny Tea. The majority of my sales to date have been from other influential people I have connected with on Instagram, along my journey. I am very grateful for these relationships, not only do I love connecting with like-minded women, but I also love supporting others where I can. I believe it’s so important to lift others up, where possible.
I listen to a lot of business and wellness podcasts, and I’ve read a few business books. It’s what I prefer to do in my spare time, my husband thinks I'm boring now as I’ve given up watching tv with him and taken this on as my new hobby haha.
5. As you know, I am a big advocate of women being transparent about help to lessen the stigma - what has your village looked like at different periods in recent years?
I always say never be scared to ask for help, even if it offends your ego.
I had a lot of help from my mother and mother-in-law the first time around, I was very fortunate. Even if you can get help with washing clothes or cooking food. Whatever it is you should never feel bad to ask. As much as we'd like to think we can do it all (which we can) it will take its toll on our bodies. You'd be surprised how many people would love to help in these times!
After my third child, I was not shy to organize help when I needed some time off from the repetitiveness of being a stay home mother. I would get someone in once a week for a few hours off just to help with my mental stability postpartum and dealing with post-natal depression.
I struggled with it each pregnancy especially the first one being only 26 years old when giving birth and not many of my friends around me were having children. By the third child, it wasn’t as severe, as I was much more confident in dealing with pregnancy the third time 'round, as I’d figured out what skills I needed to guide me through those tough moments.
Quick Chit Chat:
+ Product you'd gift every mother: 4 moms Mamaroo Infant Bouncing Seat. We used it for all of our children, to allow a little free time for us. We have now passed on to at least four other families and it’s probably been used by 10 kids in total!
+ Most meaningful advice/learning: There always will be highs and lows but the lows just make you stronger. Always be considerate of each other’s feelings and thoughts and take time to listen and hear each other out even if we do not agree. DATE NIGHTS ARE A MUST!
+ 3 Instagram accounts that inspire you:
And you of course!! @motheruntitled
You can follow more from Tegan on Instagram and Tiny Tea.
Read More:
