SANITY IS EVERYTHING
Four women share how getting out of the corporate rat race — restored their well-being — and set them on a path to freedom!
VUYO DLAMINI, 32, a former magazine writer is now the owner and creative director of Tintfo le Tinhle — a Joburgbased store that sells an eclectic mix of beautiful items.
My biggest motivation: “At my very core, I’m tenacious and found that this spirit wasn’t celebrated in most corporate places. During a media trip, my reaction to a racist incident – which went against everything I believed in – fasttracked my decision to become selfemployed. I first needed to heal, so it took me a year-and-a-half to establish the store. In hindsight, this was the best decision ever because, now, as a mom, I’m able to dictate my hours and that allows me to determine my quality of life. From witnessing me make bold career choices, I hope that as my daughter gets older, she’ll remember me as a woman who pursued what she loved. Whenever the going gets tough, and I find myself tempted to return to corporate, the lessons I’d like her to draw from my life always bring me back to my senses. What I appreciated about being a travel writer, in my past life, was that it opened my eyes to the beauty of various cultures and how people express themselves through art and clothes. I’d always wondered how I’d capture all these lessons in a setting — which led me to buying beautiful items during my travels and housing everything under a boutique setting. That’s essentially how my store came about.
Lessons learnt: I’m not fearful of hitting rock bottom doing what I love. In a job, one gives so much to help build someone else’s dream. There are days when I stress about reaching a daily sales target, then a new customer will randomly walk in and buy items that far surpass the sales goal I’d set for myself that day. There’s no way corporate would have given me such opportunities to exercise my faith. Also, witnessing how money isn’t this limited ‘thing ’ that only lands in my bank account once a month has been a real eye-opener. As an entrepreneur, I’ve come to know money as a rubber band that can stretch as far enough as possible — provided I respect it.”
MAKGOMO MATSHABA, 36, was a call centre team leader at a bank but left it all behind to be a nursery school teacher. She now owns and runs Marang Montessori Pre-school in Soweto.
My biggest motivation: “I worked in the credit card fraud department, a roundthe-clock job where I constantly had to tap into my personal time. For almost six months, I led a team of about 40 call centre agents on my own because the other team leaders had either resigned or been promoted. I had to manage the daytime shift which commenced at 6 am, as well as the night-time staff. The workload kept increasing and I’d always bear the brunt of things going wrong. Luckily, I had enrolled for a Montessori Diploma prior to being appointed a team leader and juggled my practicals with the new position. I couldn’t get leave, so I’d arrive at the nursery school at 8 am and leave at 1 pm to start my 2 pm to 10 pm shift at the bank. I only had one child at the time who spent the bulk of her time at my mom’s. My life was one big rush of feeding, bathing and getting my then three-year-old ready for bed — and my hands-on husband was beside me through it all. I’d always known that my routine was unsustainable. One morning, I sobbed in the bathtub, not wanting to go to work. That nudged me into a different career direction. Fortunately, the school where I’d been doing my practicals, offered me a job even though it meant I’d have to take a major pay cut. I still remember my disbelief at knocking off at 1 pm and 4 pm on alternate days — and having monthlong school holidays to myself. Needless to say, my quality of life went from zero to a million [chuckles].
Lessons learnt: One of the first things I had to part ways with was my ego. It’s easy to link our happiness to our jobs and people’s perceptions of how we should be living our lives. I had to shut out all those voices and concentrate on what would help me attain a sane life. I knew that I could comfortably be a soccer mom — available every step of the way for my three children — so this was a transition I couldn’t pass up. It meant earning a fraction of what I was getting at the bank, but here I am, still standing after years of choosing a simple life.”
TSHOLOFELO MODISE, 34, a former magazine editor who now owns a novelty cake business called Celebrate Moments. She is also a freelance editor, mostly focusing on academic research and articles.
My biggest motivation: “I always knew that I was a homemaker at heart and wanted a big family to go with it. During our pre-marriage counselling, my husband and I agreed that I would slow down once we had established our big family. But I also made it clear that I still wanted to earn some form of income and that I wouldn’t suppress my ambitions. During the restructuring process at the last company I worked for, I was in a disadvantaged position because I was competing for a job with someone who had way more experience than I did — I’d only been editor for a year. I declined any work offers within the company and decided to use the experience as a fresh start. As fate would have it, I fell pregnant with our third son three months after I’d been retrenched and was always in and out of hospital. Things turned out perfectly because if I still worked, I can’t imagine how I would have been able to tend to my health needs, work and still deliver a healthy baby.
Lessons learnt: I always tell people that I didn’t raise my first two sons for the first three years of their lives because I was always working. For instance, as an all-round journalist at DRUM magazine, it meant that I was travelling often. When I moved to MOVE! magazine, the deadlines were so crazy that, one night, I missed out on witnessing my firstborn take his first steps. My kids would cry and go to their nanny or dad — and not to me. I’m grateful for the opportunity to be a present parent — a luxury for most working moms — and creating memories with my three boys gives me so much joy. Women, particularly, like guilt-tripping each other about parenting styles when in fact, everyone does their best with whatever situation life throws at them. You can’t judge the next person for how their life is structured at that moment. With money, I started scaling down and saving more as soon as I learnt about the retrenchment. Plus, it helped that I’d started my cake business prior to being unemployed. So far, it’s been a game of planning finances well in advance.”
LUNGELWA MADUNA, 39, was a Learning and Development Specialist. She left formal employment after 13 years to concentrate on growing her company LM Shuttle Services, whose biggest revenue stream comes from providing transportation services to scholars in the Centurion area.
My biggest motivation: “When I resigned from my job three years ago, I remember being crippled by fear but also feeling a wave of freedom sweeping through my body. The move brought about psychological stability in my children’s lives and my marriage. My job required that I travel fortnightly or sometimes weekly, making me a remote mom whose three kids were being raised by helpers. I had to admit to myself that the ever-increasing workload and my anxiety — mostly caused by the instability within the organisation I worked for — were too much for my already full plate. My health had taken a nosedive — I’d become a regular in casualty units and from time to time I’d be admitted because my hypertension was always shooting through the roof. I’m now on chronic medication. I had registered my business in 2012 while still employed, and two years later introduced the shuttle service. In 2017, I decided to swap the running around for raising my children and growing my business. New to full-time entrepreneurship, the stress of not having a stable salary anymore took its toll on me and yet again, my health was compromised. I was mostly worried that the business wasn’t working out the way I had anticipated. After giving myself a serious talking-to and replaying, in my head, the main reasons why I’d walked away from my job in the first place, I can gladly say that my health is under control. I’m learning to make my business work, without stressing too much about the nitty-gritties that could send my health back to square one. I found the strength to stitch myself back together in my faith, church leadership and the prayer warriors I surround myself with. Lessons learnt: Where finances are concerned, I’m learning to only spend money on the things that top our priority list and to, also, respect company finances.”