Business Ideas For Mums

February 4, 2010June 4, 2010

Business Ideas for Mums – Life and Business Coaching

Tell me more…

A coach listens intently to understand what is important to her client and what may be holding her back. The coach helps the client to define her goals, then works with the client to make sure she takes the steps to achieve those goals.

What are the benefits?

You can choose how many hours you work
You can work from home by phone
You can branch out into other areas such as writing and running workshops

Things to consider…

Coaching is a difficult service to sell, especially if you have no experience in marketing. It's not easy to describe what the client will get or what the end result will be. If you decide to begin a coaching business, allow for a lot (often more than 50%) of your time to be spent on marketing in the first few years.

The good news is that you can work over the phone from anywhere. The bad news is that you're competing with every other coach in the world who can do the same! It's highly unlikely that you'll be able to build a business as a general coach – you will need to specialise. When choosing your specialism, make sure you pick one with clients that can afford to pay for your services. For example, people who have just lost their jobs may need your services, but they probably won't have the money to pay for you.

You are much more likely to succeed in business coaching if you already have a background in business. Some coaches argue that the core of coaching is the listening, and that you don't need business experience to do this. However, experience in your specialist area will give you credibility in the eyes of your clients and make it easier for you to understand them.

Before paying for a coach training course, investigate the training provider and course thoroughly. While many are reputable, there is nothing to stop anyone starting a coach training company, so it pays to do your homework. Courses come in a variety of lengths and prices, so weigh up exactly what you want from a course and if you're getting value for money. Ask to speak to recent students who have succesful coaching businesses.

Further information

Examples of coaches who have specialisms

www.thedivorcedoctor.co.uk (relationship coaching)

www.candocanbe.com – (marketing coaching for small business owners).

Some coach training organisations (there are others)

Noble Manhattan

The Coaching Academy

Coach Training Institute

Coach U (I trained with Coach U)

Coaching information and resources

Coachville – resources for coaches, some free.

Lifecoach Directory – aimed at people looking for a life coach, but check out the FAQ page for helpful description of what coaches do, plus the experience and qualifications they need.

New Coach Connection – a Yahoo group supporting new coaches.

Not convinced that life or business coaching is for you? Take a look at other business ideas for mums.

December 14, 2009June 4, 2010

Business Ideas For Mums: Complementary and Sports Therapies

Tell me more…

Many mums have always wanted to work in health or sport, so take opportunity to retrain as therapists when they have children. There is a huge range of therapies to choose from, including:

Sports massage, sports therapies, teaching yoga, pilates and tai chi
Herbal, homeopathic, aromatherapy, flower remedies
Reiki, energy healing, spiritual healing, crystal therapy, teaching meditation.
Hypnotherapy, counselling, psychotherapy, neuro linguistic programming (NLP)
Chiropractic, osteopathy
Reflexology, hopi ear candles, stone therapy, Alexander Technique
And many more!

What are the benefits?

You can choose how many hours you work
You can work weekends and evenings
This could be the chance to do the type of work you've always wanted to do

Things to consider…

-You can work from home, in other people's homes or rent a room from a clinic, natural therapy centre or hairdressing salon. If you work from a clinic, centre or salon, you will almost certainly have to do some , if not all, of your own marketing. -Marketing methods that work well for this type of business are –

Taster sessions (perhaps as part of a pampering evening) often run as fundraisers for schools.
A leaflet campaign backed up by a website which gives people further info – leaflets could got through local people's doors, be left in business centre receptions, GP surgeries, libraries, railway stations, gyms or handed out to everyone you know.
Local websites such as gumtree.com
Postcards in local shop windows.
Get an article in a local newspaper.
Use your car – put a sign in the back window or magnetic adverts on the doors (check out Vistaprint.co.uk).

-This article covers a huge range of therapies, so the time and effort needed to get qualified varies enormously from a weekend to a five year degree course. The first place to look for training would be your local further education college or try Natural Therapy Pages. -You can do some training by distance learning, although you'll need to weigh up how effective this is for learning 'hands on' skills. You can study subjects such as anatomy and physiology successfully, though.

Further information

Healthypages is a mine of useful information and a place to advertise your services ITEC – exam board for beauty and complementary therapies as well as yoga, pilates etc. Not convinced that complementary or sport therapies are for you? Take a look at other business ideas for mums.

November 30, 2009April 17, 2015

Become a tutor: Business ideas for mums

(Updated March 2015)

Tell me more…

If you enjoy working with children, why not become a tutor? You could tutor them outside school hours in subjects such as maths and English. You can either work for an agency, find your own clients or both. You can work in your own home or in your clients’ homes, although it’s usually more cost effective to work from your own home as it saves travelling time and expense. You can work with individuals or small groups, primary school children or secondary.

What are the benefits?

You can choose how many hours you work
You can work weekends and evenings
It’s very satisfying work if you enjoy teaching but find the thought of being a classroom teacher too bureacratic or stressful!

Things to consider…

Make sure you really enjoy working with children!

Teaching methods will almost certainly have changed since you were at school. Unless you’ve been a teacher very recently, you’ll need to learn how your subject is taught in schools now if you’re going to avoid confusing your clients.

Although there’s no legal requirement, parents will usually want you to be DBS (previously CRB) checked. You can’t apply for a DBS check as an individual or self employed person, so you’ll need to get this through an organisation. You could do this by signing up with a tutoring agency, although they may make you pay for this. Or you could do some voluntary work, such as running an after-school club at a local school. This would also give you useful experience and may help you make some contacts. (Applies to UK only)

You may find it easier to tutor children who attend the same school because you’ll have only one syllabus to work with.

Allow at least half an hour preparation for each hour of tutoring.

If you’re signing up with a tutoring agency, look for one that advertises regularly in the area where you want to work.

You can advertise in your local newspaper, by putting up a card in local shop windows, on free websites such as gumtree.com. You can also send your details to local schools – if parents ask for teachers for extra tuition, they may pass on your details. Once you get started, you should be able to get work by word-of-mouth referrals, so make sure you have some business cards printed that clients can hand out to friends.

Be clear about your expectations when you sign up a new client – how much notice do you need for cancellation? What happens if the child doesn’t do their homework? What materials do you provide? What happens if you or the child are late for a session?

You don’t necessarily need a teaching qualification, although this is a big advantage. The need for a teaching qualification will often depend on supply and demand in your area. E.g. if there aren’t enough qualified maths teachers to go around then you will be able to find work without a teaching qualification

There isn’t a steady stream of work throughout the year – work increases on the run up to exams and decreases over the summer holidays.

Recommended resource:

If you want to get to grips with the business side of being a tutor, including pricing, I recommend this course:

How to start a highly profitable tutoring business by Vicky Olubi

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

(contains an affiliate link)

November 23, 2009August 12, 2010

Business Ideas For Mums – Running a Community Magazine

Tell me more…

You can start a business that produces a magazine for your town or local area. You would earn money by selling advertising space in the magazine.

You can either buy a franchise or start your own magazine from scratch
Your magazine could be aimed at anyone in the local area or could be for a specific group of people like parents or business people.

What are the benefits?

You can choose your working hours to fit around your family.
The satisfaction of producing your own magazine
The potential to earn a decent income from a part-time business, although it will probably take several years of hard work to get there.

Things to consider…

You will probably have a heavy workload on the run up to the publication deadline. How will this fit with your family commitments? Can someone else handle the childcare if you need them to?

Chances are you’ll have to chase some advertisers for payment. You’ll need to be persistent and not afraid of phoning people and asking for the money you are owed. It may take a while to get payment, so you’ll need to make sure you can survive if several advertisers don’t pay up for a few months.

If you’re not going down the franchise route and are just starting your own magazine, advertisers may be reluctant to part with their money as you won’t have a track record. Before you approach advertisers, think about how can you convince them that their advert will reach their potential customers.

If you’re considering buying a franchise…

Don’t take the franchiser’s word for it in terms of how many hours you need to work each month. Talk to someone who is already running a community magazine.

As with all franchises, be clear about exactly what you’re getting for your money and weigh up if this is good value. Talk to people who have already bought the franchise and learn from their experience. Write a business plan and make sure you can make a profit – don’t take the franchiser’s word for it, do your own homework.

Franchisers will often give you exclusive rights to an area, but this doesn’t stop someone starting a rival magazine from another franchise or an independent magazine. Check out your competition, there may already be several magazines in your area.

Further information

Some franchises that you can buy are Raring2Go, Community Times, Family Grapevine.

Ouse Valley Living is my local independent (i.e. not a franchise) community magazine – check out their website for inspiration.

How about running a website instead? If your community is made up of people with a shared interest that is spread across the country or the world, you could create an online magazine. See Business Ideas For Mums – Running an Information Website.

Not convinced that running a community magazine is for you? Take a look at other business ideas for mums.

October 19, 2009September 15, 2012

(This post was last updated on 9 June 2011 – see note at the bottom)

I’m writing articles (like this one) that aim to give you a snapshot of a business idea. This is exactly what I wanted when I was on my first maternity leave, but couldn’t find. I had an idea that I could run a business around my family, but no idea what I could actually do or how it might work.

This is going to take me a while to complete, so in the meantime I thought a list of businesses that you could run as a mum would be useful. I’ll link each idea to the posts as I write them.

Bookkeeper – In the book Start a Family Friendly Business

Web Designer

Graphic Designer – In the book Start a Family Friendly Business

Writer

Business coach

Public Relations

Virtual Assistant

Marketing Consultant

Interior Designer

Private Tutor

Personal Trainer

Childminder

Personal/Life Coach

Running a Pre-School Group

Running Children’s Parties

Running an Information Website (blogging, directory, membership site, information products)

Running an Online Shop

Proof Reader

Journalist – In the book Start a Family Friendly Business

Ironing, Dog walking, Cleaning, Gardening, Pet Sitting, services around the home

Babysitting Agency

Equipment Hire (buggies, baby equipment that parents can hire when they arrive at their destination)

Wedding/Event Planner

Photographer

Travel Agent

Running a Community Magazine

Direct Selling and Party Plans

Selling on eBay

Developing and Selling a New Product – In the book Start a Family Friendly Business

Making and selling crafts etc – see Turn your creative skill into a business

Holistic/Complementary or Sport Therapist

Beauty Therapist

Antenatal teacher or therapist (also Doula)

Update: 9 June 2011

This post was the seed that grew into the book Start a Family Friendly Business! Some of these posts became part of the book and my co-author Antonia Chitty added many more of her own. I’ve also added links to articles that were posted here on Business Plus Baby after the book was published.