Laura Sărdescu

Entrepreneur, Online

It is the most challenging question they ask me. And to be honest, I don't think I'll ever be able to answer fully. Meanwhile, I think I have figured out my daily work and how it's become a part of who I am.
With a passion for online marketing, branding, and consumer psychology, I quickly found my place as an e-commerce entrepreneur. My teammate on this trip is a sales wizard, and I am thankful I could share the journey and split the responsibilities.
We started as a small start-up trying to open a niche that was not so glorious. People say that you must be in love with what you are selling, but first, I fell in love with the process. I believe in the power of online, and I think it can create bridges between brands and consumers, a bridge that is very necessary in these times of automation.
I communicate and try to understand our future buyers' needs and provide information that could help them make decisions. I sincerely believe that online marketing is both a job and a responsibility to your customers, to be honest, and to be in tune with the times and their needs.
In summary, I co-founded and managed online marketing activities for two online stores, delivering more than 10,000 orders and addressing more than one million visitors each year as leaders in their industry.

I have always wanted to be an entrepreneur. Marketing and e-commerce came later as a second love. I became an entrepreneur because I wanted to find something that could become, even for a small online session, part of people's lives.
So, it was not a shock, for me, that I was already on my feet, with a company in motion. Slowly. One of the lessons I have learned is that you need to give it time, in addition to all the other resources. It took almost 4 years for the company to have a growth model finally, and we managed to support a decent wage for ourselves.

Kids are great. But being a mother changes everything. Even time seems different. Before I had my baby, I had a routine and at least four hours of sleep every night. When she was born, my priorities were affected in ways that I never knew were possible.
Being an entrepreneur also means that each day is different.
Having a child, running a business on a continually evolving Internet transforms your life completely into a roller coaster. Joggling deadlines, bottles, and nappies were just some of the immediate challenges.
In a difficult way, I learned that motherhood is a mental state that never takes a break. Sometimes a two-hour break so you can write that email or make a phone call is merely impossible. On the positive side, it improves every day by doing many things at the same time. It is beautiful, but even in the 21st century, it's hard to be a mother and have a career, no matter what society tells you. People may not admire any of these, can judge or have different opinions, but there is another thing I learned about having a baby - you can raise a child as you want only if you are okay with yourself and who you are. If you give up your career when it means something to you, it will eventually affect you and your relationship with your baby.

The balance between work and life does not exist. You are more present at home at times, for example, when your child has the flu, and other times you are all in at work because you have the campaign to launch.
I do not think there is a balance daily, and the balance does not exist. But when you look at things from afar, from a perspective, you should see that sometimes you were 100% with your child at times and that you gave 100% at work at other times.

Honestly, I am not sure what this means for me. I think women, in general, are the second ones on the line when we talk about careers. Social pressure is enormous, and sometimes it feels that nothing you do will ever be enough to please everyone.
Women allow their needs for a career last because that is what they think they are supposed to do when a child enters the family. But that is not true, and it must not be something that prevents them from doing what they like. If there is anything I would like to do as a mentor, it is to support women who want a career, regardless of their family status.

You can do this! Even though no one else believes in you. Although it seems impossible, you can make it possible. You can have a family and a career, and you can enjoy life with a child and your job at the same time. There is nothing wrong with this.