INTERVIEW
From the very beginning, Riikka Pajunen has built her company on a sustainable basis. In practice, it means 3–4 working days a week and long holidays. Pajunen wanted to show herself that entrepreneurship can be about something else besides the traditional story.
- I decided that I won’t be an entrepreneur who never takes a holiday and finally ends up exhausted from all the work. I counted how many coaching sessions I should do to be able to take an autumn holiday, a month-long Christmas holiday, a winter holiday and a two-month summer holiday. I calculated how much it means in concrete numbers and based on that, set the goals for myself. I have worked this way for almost 12 years now, says Pajunen.
Riikka Pajunen’s passion is to help everyone to create an individual and happy working life, and to help companies thrive. In 2010, Pajunen founded Montevista Oy. Nowadays, in addition to company coaching, she holds online career change groups for those changing their field, the developers of their own work and those who want to become entrepreneurs. She also arranges holistic well-being retreats on Kemiönsaari.
Freedom is the greatest value
Pajunen considers freedom as the greatest value of entrepreneurship. The best thing is being able to define the time and place of doing the work. Sometimes she sleeps late and sometimes decides to have an efficient working day. Pajunen can run her own and her child’s errands during her working day.
- Along with the freedom, I couldn’t even imagine having a salary job any longer, having someone else to dictate my working days and all other conditions. I’m so used to my own pace in which I implement my ideas.
Due to an earlier burnout Pajunen has realized when she should take a break. She emphasizes that taking breaks from work is important and only very few take them until it’s absolutely necessary. Pajunen recognizes from the smallest of signals when she’s going too fast. Then she takes a day off and goes off to nature for several hours. After that, she can reconnect with herself. The freedom of an entrepreneur enables these breakaways.
It hasn’t always been easy
Even though Pajunen enjoys a serene life nowadays, the situation has not always been this sunny. Pajunen went through a separation when her child was less than a year old. After that, she has worked as an entrepreneur and been a single parent to her child. Her daughter spends a couple of days a month with her father. Back in the day, Pajunen’s former partner encouraged her for entrepreneurship. Pajunen founded the company before she got pregnant. After the child was born, she put the enterprise on hold.
- I started the company and had a little turnover, about 25 000 euro, when I got pregnant. I went to maternity leave straight away, even though I had gotten off to a small start. I did exactly what you shouldn’t do: left the world of work for a couple of years.
Pajunen was nervous about returning to her company. The existing customers had sometimes called and asked when she would return from maternity leave. They provided some security for Pajunen upon her return to work. Pajunen felt that the customers wanted her back. She returned to work little by little when her child was 1.5 years old.
After the separation, Pajunen has encountered lots of challenges. Along with the separation, a new period started in Pajunen’s life in terms of spiritual growth. The years as a mother of a small child, a single parent and entrepreneur have witnessed several setbacks.
Pajunen bought a house damaged by mildew and the subsequent illness and financial crisis were challenging times in her life. One summer Pajunen got Lyme disease from a tick bite, and full recovery from the illness took a couple of long years. Amidst all the crises Pajunen’s company has supported her and her child financially, but also mentally. Pajunen feels she’s in her dream job.
- I’ve encountered all sorts of things along the way, and yet I’ve worked in my dream job as an entrepreneur throughout it all, getting enormous amounts of joy and relevance from this work.
Pajunen says that she hasn’t regretted becoming an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship is the most challenging when she does her bookkeeping and taxes. Then she thinks that when you’re an entrepreneur, you must take responsibility for everything yourself, even if you have supporters. However, amidst all the difficulties, moments of joy have always occurred in Pajunen’s life.
- These 12 years have witnessed awesome things and great relationships. Crises and the joy of life go hand in hand. It’s not either or. Crises are gates to oneself and one’s own truth. Through them we learn a lot about ourselves. Crises force us to stop.
Pajunen thinks that against the common belief, she has more people who care about her than when she had a salary job. Pajunen feels that now she is taken care of more. It’s also a consequence of that as a sole entrepreneur, Pajunen has learned to accept support.
Setbacks yield competence for entrepreneurship
Along with everything she has learned from the setbacks, Pajunen is better capable of coaching people struggling in the middle of changes.
- If I hadn’t gone through anything myself, then my message would just be that everything will turn out well. Now I know what true despair and loneliness mean, what it’s like to process trauma besides motherhood and other parts of life, what it’s like to take care of everything by myself and at the same time live a good life that looks like me.
Pajunen encourages seeking support from communities.
- You don’t have to be left alone in the everyday life and wonder what to do: I recommend that you seek peer support. It’s useful to talk to different people, interview them and seek the company of people you find inspiring. I’m glad there are communities such as MiB, in which mothers can share experiences concerning work and motherhood. Life is unique and every second is important.
Riikka Pajunen
Compiled based on the interview with Riikka: Katja Pietarinen
Photos: Tommi Loimovuori
Through her company, Riikka Pajunen wants to support other entrepreneurs in creating a happy working life and individuals in finding a working life which suits them best. She has written a book on the topic called “Omaa tehtävää etsimässä – löydä vahvuutesi ja intohimosi”. In addition, Pajunen organizes web-based coaching and retreats related to the theme. You can read more about the topic and upcoming courses on Pajunen’s website.
https://www.riikkapajunen.fi/
https://www.montevista.fi/
