2010 – Page 28 – Business Plus Baby

May 11, 2010May 26, 2010

Inspirational Business Mum: Vikki Horner of Maths Extra

Today, Vikki Horner of Maths Extra tells us how her daughter Charlotte inspired her to start a business to help children with special needs.

My business is a labour of love

My daughter Charlotte has Down Syndrome and wasn’t ‘getting it’ in the classroom. So I developed a new method for learning how to tell the time, breaking the learning down into small steps, making it visual and hands-on.

Because it was so successful, other parents wanted to know what to do to help their child and so Maths Extra was born.

I designed a working kitchen clock which gives children a sense of movement. Then I put together a handbook full of photos and ideas, activities and games to help parents and teachers. The clock and handbook were named after Charlotte, of course!

Learning to Tell the Time with the Charlotte Clock

It took about a year for Charlotte to understand both digital and analogue formats as in “It’s 7.30” or “It’s half past seven.” Not only did she start to use ‘time’ vocabulary, her organisational skills really came on a pace at home and at school.
And Charlotte began to keep her room tidy! Everything in her drawers was organised and folded perfectly. Even her clothes that were ready for washing came down in a neatly folded pile.

Charlotte’s sense of her world increased by learning this crucial skill.

I had many challenges, even more so when I became a lone parent

Suddenly I had to deal with everything myself. Good job we didn’t have a dog too!

Working around my daughter’s schedules and needs was tricky and quite problematic especially during the long school holidays. Charlotte was making good progress with other subjects but maths has always been the biggest mountain to climb. I never gave up. I have always believed that my daughter should gain an understanding of basic maths so she could learn to tell the time and use money.

Children are expected to work with abstract concepts too soon – they cannot find a way in. It’s like we are asking them to decipher hieroglyphs and if parents were given a sheet most would not know how to access their meanings. Would you?

I tried every resource possible, or so it seemed! Everything was too abstract and nothing used in school helped Charlotte progress. It took a trip to New York to learn about the original invention designed to provide children with a structure in a multi-sensory manner – Stern Structural Arithmetic. Here we go! I knew I had found something that would really help.

Charlotte enjoyed learning maths this way and began to flourish

By then she was thirteen and had only three years left of formal education, however, at sixteen she passed GCSE’s at Entry level for Maths, English, Science, and food Studies, with Art GCSE. That’s my girl!

Then our emphasis turned to learning about money.

Where would I like to go next with my business?

Although I am passionate about helping children with special educational needs, I would like to see more nursery settings and schools introduce the children to learning with this system. This will give them a better start and our children with special needs will have the opportunity to work alongside their peers in an inclusive way. (I’m working on it!)

I set up the business because my experiences are not unique, there are many families experiencing the same things. I’ve ploughed through it all and come up with solutions that are worthy of passing on.

People just need to know where to find me, so a big thank you to Business Plus Baby!

Vikki Horner

www.mathsextra.com

You're welcome, Vikki! If you've enjoyed this article, why not sign up to Business Plus Baby's mailing list to get updates delivered to your inbox? See link at the top-right of this page.

May 7, 2010May 7, 2010

Blogs I like: NikkiPilkington.com and Birds On The Blog

I'm a huge fan of small business blogs, but I guess you knew that already! So here are a couple that I'm just starting to read regularly

NikkiPilkington.com – Internet Marketing

Nikki has been helping businesses connect with their customers using the internet since 1994, so she really does know her stuff. And that's refreshing when it seems like half the people on the internet are claiming to be internet marketing experts. (The other half seem to be social media or SEO experts!)

This blog has helpful (non-technical) advice that you can go out and use straight away – I've already learned about a couple of incredibly useful WordPress plugins plus some great ideas for what to write on my Facebook fan page.

Birds on The Blog – Business women blogging – but not just about business…

One day I was browsing around Nikki's blog when I stumbled across Birds On The Blog. And I'm very glad I did. Birds On The Blog is a written by a group of business women, but only some of the articles are about business. It has a wide range of articles – all useful, engaging or entertaining. I do enjoy a good mummy blog from time to time, but it's great to read articles from women who are blogging on other subjects.

May 6, 2010June 7, 2010

Business Ideas For Mums: Beauty Therapies and More

Tell me more…

Do you enjoy working with people and have an interest in beauty? Then you might like…

Beauty therapy
Spray tanning
Manicure and pedicure
Facials
Massage

What are the benefits?

You can work as many hours as you want. Some clients may actually prefer you to work in the evenings and at weekends, which can fit well around a family.

If you’ve always had a passion for beauty, this could be your chance to turn it into a career.

Things to consider…

You can work from home, visit your clients in their homes or hire a room, e.g. in a hairdressing salon – or a combination of all three. If you rent a room, you will still need to market your services. The centre or salon owner may help you to do this, but on its own this will not be enough to bring you a steady stream of clients.
Marketing methods that work well for this type of business are either word-of-mouth or ‘taster’ sessions. There’s nothing like a referral from a happy customer or a chance to demonstrate how good you are.
It’s a good idea to have a website listing your services, but this needn’t cost as much as you think. Health Hosts have website packages for therapists that start at £4.95 per month.
You might like to consider packaging your services, for example a bridal package that gives the bride-to-be all the treatments she needs to look fabulous on her big day. Perhaps you could offer a mum-to-be package for pregnant clients or even a ‘fabulous over 50’ package. Other possibilities are offering pampering parties or hen nights.
If you’re working from home, check with your local authority’s environmental health department as they may need to inspect your working area. Don’t forget to inform your home insurance company that you’re running a business from home. You’ll also need to consider the implications of bringing clients to your home. Do clients need to walk through your home to reach your treatment room? If so, will you be able to maintain a professional image with children around? Even if you work evenings when they are in bed, you may still have to deal with the mess they leave behind!
Make sure you have adequate insurance for the services you’re providing.

Further information

ITEC offers a range of beauty therapy qualifications plus a new business qualification.
Check out your local college for courses.
Healthy Pages has a list of courses and a forum covering a wide range of therapies.

Not convinced that being a Beauty Therapist is for you? Take a look at other business ideas for mums.

photo credit: TaniaSaiz

May 4, 2010May 2, 2010

I Started A Business With A Baby – Cara Sayer, inventor of SnoozeShade

Tell us a little about your business

I have started a company called Really Simple Ideas Ltd. I invented SnoozeShade – a product to help babies sleep in their prams and pushchairs as a simple and secure alternative to draping things over the pram when baby nods off and when they need help getting to sleep when over tired.

What was your job before starting your business?

I have spent most of my career working in PR, marketing and events. I have never worked in retail or product manufacturing so it’s been a real rollercoaster of a journey over the last few months.

How did you go from your old career to your new business?

I left my last job as the hours meant I was never going to get pregnant and went freelance which allowed me the time to relax and then we underwent IVF which was all much easier as I was working from home. We were very lucky and our daughter was born in October 2007. I wasn’t planning on returning to work before she went to school but was getting a bit bored and so was doing a bit of local consulting for free and volunteered with my local NCT. I only officially started the business a couple of months after I attended the Baby Products Association show in October 2009 – a nursery trade show – with an early SnoozeShade prototype and had orders placed on the spot so that meant I had a very hectic Christmas and New Year getting everything ready for launch in February.

What were your reasons for starting a business?

I didn’t really plan it to be honest, it’s just happened and snowballed and turned into a great business that I can operate from home spending maximum time with Holly whilst keeping the old brain cells ticking away.

Did you use any childcare?

My mum has been amazing looking after Holly whenever she can. I have to work a lot in the evenings and sometimes get up early before Holly wakes up to get a few bits done. She goes to nursery for morning s about 4 days a week during term time so holidays are a challenge now but everyone including friends and family are mucking in to help me which is much appreciated.

How did you get your business idea?

I started working on the idea when Holly was very small as I got frustrated with my useless attempts to cover the pram with blankets and coats that would get dislodged at every chance and so I said to a few friends that I wish someone had invented something to help and they said why don’t you do it. (and stop moaning about it). I looked everywhere online and couldn’t find anything that was purely aimed at helping babies sleep – all the sunshades out there prided themselves on the fact that baby could see ou which was not what I needed.

What were your challenges and how did you overcome them?

The main obstacle has been working around looking after a small child and also that fact that I have no experience in retail or product manufacturing. I have however been very lucky with many kind people from the nursery world helping me and giving me advice which has been amazing.

What training, information or advice did you need to get started?

I went to my local Business Link and they sent an advisor round who was great – she had actually worked on a baby magazine and so was particularly clued up on the industry. I also spent a lot of time on the phone to the Intellectual Property Office who were very helpful in helping me protect my rights, get started with the patent process, register a trademark etc.

If you could give one piece of advice to a mum of a baby or toddler starting a business, what would it be?

I have a few pieces of advice I’m afraid – I would say do lots of research on your business idea to see if it has legs – this can be as basic as asking friends and family but ask them to ask relevant people they know who have no bias. Be prepared for criticism and use it as a positive thing, no idea is perfect and criticism can help you improve what you are doing and make it better. Do research on existing competitors or people who think they are your competitors so you have as much information available as possible. Believe in what you are doing, we all have bad days but I always say feel the fear and do it anyway. My final piece is to look at people you admire and ask for their help – you’d be surprised at how helpful people will be – they’ve all been where you are and I have had the most amazing support from some fantastic people.

Cara Sayer

www.snoozeshade.com

April 27, 2010April 26, 2010

What’s My Greatest Challenge as an Aspiring Mumpreneur?

What’s my greatest challenge as an aspiring mumpreneur? Not enough time or money. Oh and not forgetting the lack of sleep (milk in the washing machine, dirty socks in the fridge – you get the picture).

The fact that I’ve had the word ‘aspiring’ in front of my job title for about eighteen months now gives you some idea of how long the research phase takes when you have babies.

But we mumpreneurs face even more challenges than a mere lack of time, money and sleep. If you’re short of cash from being on maternity leave or working part -time, then you need to start a business on a shoestring, which means you might have a lot of competition. And that means your marketing needs to be good if you’re to stand out from the crowd. That’s a tall order if this is your first journey into the world of business.

Most businesses have one main aim – to make money. Most mumpreneurs run businesses with two aims – to make money and to work around their family. This is a tough juggling act, especially if you’re grabbing an hour here and an hour there when the children are napping or at pre-school.

So why on earth are so many of us doing it?

• Because we refuse to miss the first years of our children’s lives by working full-time when they are tiny.
• Because we refuse to be restricted to the typically low status and poorly paid part time jobs out there.
• Because we’ve earned our own income all our lives and don’t see why we should stop now.
• Because we want to show our daughters what women can really achieve. And our sons, too.
• Because we’ve got talent and we want to use it.
• Because we get such fantastic support from other business mums. We don’t compete, we collaborate.
• Because childcare is outrageously expensive so many of us have no alternative.
• Because we want to.

Having children shifts your priorities in ways you cannot imagine until you do it. Of course your children become the centre of your world, but with this can come a huge burst in motivation and creativity. Your time becomes more precious – any working time is time away from your babies – so you want to make the absolute best of it.

The urge to provide for your family is not just for the guys. Mums have it too.

It’s this potent mix of instinct, motivation, determination and (let’s face it) necessity that drives us to start our own businesses at one of the toughest times of our lives.

Watch out, here we come.

(First published on the Start Up Donut Blog, picture by Tie Guy II)