We were lucky to catch up with Nici Craft recently and have shared our conversation below.

Nici, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear your thoughts about family businesses.

Starting a family business has been quite the journey! With “balancing” your business and home life, don’t expect perfection. At least not in the sense that everyone defines perfection. In this case, perfecting balance means finding harmony between running your business, managing your close relationships, running a household, and taking care of yourself; and knowing that all of this cannot be tended to every day.

What I’ve learned these past 4 years is that balance is not always the same every month, week, or even day. We only have a set amount of hours each day. Some days these will change from focusing more on business to focusing more on home life, and vice versa.

We started Craft Tree Care, a tree service company in North Idaho, 4 years ago. At that time, I just found out I was pregnant with our first born. Inherently, we had more time to dedicate to the business. Fast forward to today, now we have 2 littles and 2 businesses: Craft Tree Care (going strong!) and Mamas in Business (I run this one). Finding that time is so valuable as you become a parent, you learn to prioritize everything you do.

It is hard, but it is rewarding. We get excited when we come across other family businesses because we understand through the business’ eyes. There are so many struggles that come with running a business, and even more when you’re running your business with your spouse. The more money you make, the more struggles come your way. However, that doesn’t stop us because we know we will get through these challenges. It will be hard, but worth it. I’ve learned to be comfortable with the uncomfortable because that means good and necessary change is coming.

If you run a family business, don’t give up when times are tough. Reevaluate your priorities because it probably means that need to adjust during that time. Never stop learning because that will help you so much as you go along the different phases in your business and your life. I started reading books again as of last year and I’m so grateful I am because it has helped me immensely with all aspects of my life. Give it a try and keep an open mind.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Nici and my main career has been event planning. Before moving to North Idaho, we resided in Northern California where I worked in Sacramento, I work for an Association Management Company, then moved on to an Association. I had been passionate about bringing people together since I was a teenager. Pursuing an Event Management career was thrilling, challenging, and very rewarding.

My husband and I were ready to take the next step of starting a family, but we know California is not the place we wanted to raise our kids. After doing some research and vacations, we landed on North Idaho and it was the best decision we had ever made,

There was no in-house event planner positions in the area, so I had to broaden my horizon. I ended up doing Marketing for a local manufacturing company when we first moved. Then shortly after my husband said he wanted to start a tree service company. He had done it on the side over the past few years and my Dad did it as a career growing up. So, I was well-versed in the industry. I said, let’s do it, being the entrepreneur I am.

After our daughter was born, I left the manufacturing company to be able to commit my time (any time that I did have) to helping our family business, second to raising our daughter. It was hard to find any groups where I could network for the business and bring my baby. I thought, “I can’t be the only one feeling this way.” So, I started Mamas in Business. We are a local networking group dedicated to helping Moms running businesses that allow kids to most events. Raising a family is hard enough, why make it harder when you’re also trying to run a business? `

What sets ourselves apart is that we allow children at most of our events, with no judgment when they are crying, disrupting the mom, etc. This is life and life is not perfect, but it is perfectly beautiful. We recognize the real world and do our best to be as supportive as possible.

With our own family business, Craft Tree Care, growing stronger every year, we still have the core value of family and local. We hope to continue to make a different in our community by participating in parades, sponsoring events, and more ways to stay engaged with the locals.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

Yes! I have been reading a lot in the past year and a half. Here are some books I highly recommend:

-“You’re a Badass” by Jennifer Sincero; Learning to be okay with uncomfortable started here. It’s a part of the growth process that you WANT to experience. Her other book, “You’re a Badass at Making Money” is also a great read and highly motivational.

-“The Platinum Rule” by Tony Alessandra and Michael J. O’Connor; This really helped me understand the different types of people out there and the best way to communicate with them. Adjusting the way you communicate with people doesn’t mean you are changing your identity. Rather, you are learning how to work with different types of personalities. We were all taught the Golden rule growing up. However, this book challenges that perspective. Instead, treat everyone how THEY want to be treated.

-“Nine Figure Mindset” by Brandon Dawson, is the book I’m currently reading. This is a leadership book that talks about real life and how you can adapt a better mindset that betters yourself all the way around. Leadership in your business and your life is super important. It even has a chapter on working with your spouse which is super helpful to me! I highly recommend this book to EVERYONE.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

This story is now. Every so often, I realize what I want in my life and what I need to do to get there. My callings change all of the time and right now, I am called to focus on raising my girls. I will taking a step away from the work force, so I can homeschool our 3.5 year old and run the household. I will still have a finger in our family business. As for Mamas in Business, I’m actively looking for a trustworthy partner in our area to take an active role in running Mamas in Business over the next 5-7 years. In 5-7 years, I will know more of the path that I will take with Mamas in Business.

Being an entrepreneur has been a part of my identity, but homeschooling my kids has stood out to me more and more as the days go on. I’m so thankful we have a successful tree service business where I can step away and refocus my efforts. I will continue to be available to my moms in business and I’m always happy to share my experiences that may help better their businesses or theirselves.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.crafttreecare.com & www.mamasinbusiness.org
• Instagram: @lifewiththenics

Image Credits

Kait McKay Photography
LEAP Photography