Rebekah Clark – The founder & CEO of Happy Marlo Studio talks about starting a business that’s meaningful to you, the power of introspection, and how a little bit of delusion can be a good thing.
I’ve been working for myself for about 10 years. Then I had a baby and I turned 40 all at the same time. I started thinking about what would be next.
I wanted to explore doing something that was my brief and that was important and meaningful to me.
I was on maternity leave and I started to get really curious about the children’s mental health crisis. Becoming a new mother and looking at my own child made me really scared and concerned about what’s going on.
That investigation and curiosity led me to develop Happy Marlo Studio, a conscious media company empowering 3 to12-year-olds with their emotional well-being.
You kind of need to be a little bit delusional. You need to believe that this is going to happen. You’re going to make the difference. You’re going to build the business of your dreams.
You’re the main person who really believes in what you’re doing. Nobody else knows better than you what it is you’re trying to achieve.
I’m incredibly independent by nature. Having spent a number of years in the early part of my career working for other people, I came to realise that what I really wanted was a level of autonomy and flexibility to create my own destiny. Being a founder enables you to do that.
I always remember in the early days thinking, “if I hold the vision of wanting to really help and empower children with their mental health, then the way that we do that that can be flexible.”
It would be easy to say that the biggest barrier is funding. But over the past few years, one of the barriers, if I’m truly honest, was myself. I’ve been on a real journey to overcome those moments of doubt and build my self-confidence and self-belief.
A lot of people are going to tell you that you’re wrong and what you’re trying to do doesn’t make any sense.
Really trust your instincts and trust yourself.
There’s a moment for real introspection when you’re starting a business, looking at what you’re good at, acknowledging what you’re not good at, and looking for people who can help and support you to fill in those gaps.
People can support female founders by championing them, by buying from them, by telling people about them. There are some great movements out there, like Female Founders Rise, that are supporting women to be the best in business they can be.
Every business is unique. Every founder is unique. Look for ways that you can get behind them and ask questions. “What do you need? How can I help you?”
