Featured – Page 39 – Business Plus Baby

May 11, 2011February 1, 2013

How to Earn What You Deserve as a Mumpreneur

UPDATE, Feb 2013: I wrote this post as part of the launch for my Earn What You Deserve as a Mumpreneur e-course in May 2011. The course is no longer available, but this post has some fab advice, so enjoy!

Being a mumpreneur is tough. You’ve got all the usual business balls to juggle, but you have to fit them around toddler tantrums, sick children, broken sleep, piles of laundry and everything else a mums does. Mums in business are often motivated by needing family-friendly work rather than an entrepreneurial urge and our learning curve is a steep one.

With the business and your clients, partner, friends and children all demanding attention it’s easy for the money-making to slip down your to-do list.

I’ve asked successful business mums and small business experts for their top advice for earning what you deserve.

Here’s what they said..

Focus on what you do best and outsource the rest. Surround yourself with a network of peers and partners who can take on the tasks you don’t want to do. This could be anything from admin to accounts, sales or technology but handing it to the experts will help you grow whilst keeping overheads low.

Emma Jones, founder of small business support company, Enterprise Nation www.enterprisenation.com

Whatever business you decide to set up, make sure it makes you HAPPY!

Adriana Lokman, Director of Enterprise Start-Up & Development Association (www.esuda.co.uk)

One of the reasons why I see mumpreneurs not making enough money from their home business is that they are not presenting a professional business to customers, and not yet behaving like the boss of a professional business (which they now are) To be taken seriously by prospective customers and the wider business community I believe that us mums running businesses from home have to set a high standard, invest in ourselves and show everyone that we can make ‘home made profits’! No more dabbling…for serious results take your business seriously.

Mel McGee, founder of www.supermummy.com – online community for business mums and author of ‘Millionaire Mumpreneurs’ For FREE membership visit supermummy.com

My tip is to value yourself and what you offer. Too many mums in business pitch their products and services at the cheaper end of the market. Do your sums properly to work out the costs of running and promoting your business. Listen to the thanks and compliments you get from clients or customers. Truly value what you do, set your prices accordingly, and you’ll find others value what you offer too.

Author and award winning entrepreneur Antonia helps mums get into business at Become a Mumpreneur.

Planning is a key part of any business especially when you are combining it with a family & marriage. Ensure you plan your work time and play time that way everyone knows what is happening and when but also plan for the future for your business – unless you know where you are going how will you know how to get there? Set yourself goals/targets for 3/6/12/24 months and keep reviewing them remember to include within this your marketing plan otherwise you will be aggressively waiting for the phone to ring rather than being proactive.

Debbie Mann Founder of Independent Property Inspections and Manager of The Mumpreneurs Networking Club.

Invest in a good email marketing system and offer a newsletter or opt-in report. The better relationship you build with potentially interested customers, the easier it will be to earn their trust … and their custom!

Karen Skidmore, marketing mentor at CanDoCanBe and creator of the Web Tech Club, the marketing club for technophobic business owners

Stop thinking like an employee and start thinking like an entrepreneur. The average hourly rate for everyone else may be £10 an hour, but you’re not everyone else. When you’re the boss you decide what to charge and how much you want to earn, it’s a perk of the job! I like to work backwards from my goals. I figure out how much I need to realise my goals and then how much I need to earn per month/per week. I create and sell products that help me achieve that income and in turn my life goals. In short where you can, stop selling time for money and where you can’t ensure that you’re selling it at a rate that makes it worthwhile. Time is the scarcest commodity we have, treat is as such.

Erica Douglas, ACE Inspire, winner of Best Start Up 2010 at the Mumsclub Business Awards

When you create a new business, look carefully at what’s already out there. Copying someone else’s idea only works if you know you can do it bigger, better and (ideally) cheaper. It’s far better to try and carve out your own niche and identify a brand new opportunity if you can – and the chances are you’ll feel far more passionate about it.

Sally Whittle, Founder, Tots100

we need to remember that pricing is part of our brand. our price sends a message to the world about the value of our products & services. we must value our own expertise, talent and experience if we expect others to, and we must price our work so that it matches our brand message & the values of our ‘ideal clients’.

karen gunton of build a little biz and author of the workbook build a brand.

“They say that 80% of your productivity comes from just 20% of the work you do, so for every ten items on your do to list, just cross of the eight least important! You’ll be amazed how it focusses your mind…”

Jo Middleton, freelance journalist and writer of the award-winning blog Slummy single mummy.

Work out what makes you special and then tell everyone about it. Don’t be shy – you are capable of much more than you think.

Amy Taylor, Founder of Amy Taylor Accountancy, specialising in accounts and tax services for Mums in Business. www.tayloraccountancy.net

Don’t hide your face behind your business. People buy People so let your customers know who you are

Laura Morris, Founder of www.rentabuggy.co.uk and Business Mentor at www.mumtomumpreneur.co.uk.

We often don’t recognise our skills as valuable. Because we may find something easy to do – it’s hard for us to believe that someone else will pay us to do it for them. If you want to put a real value on your time, start by working out what it would actually cost to replace you in the home. It’s quite an eye-opener.

Heather Bestel – Award Winning Business Mentor for Mumpreneurs, www.mumsgotabusiness.com

Be open to doing things that don’t seem to have an instant payoff. Twitter is a lot of work, but it’s brought me one big client and several smaller ones. I never know it would be so lucrative for me! So don’t dismiss things just because you don’t know or understand them.

Liz Weston, providing Marketing, Comms and PR solutions through Weston Communications, www.westoncommunications.org.uk

Force yourself to stay focussed on profits at all times – it is easy to get caught up in exciting ideas, but if they won’t show a return on investment that is really worth the time and effort you put in, they are not good business sense.

Polly Marsh, Director of Cuddledry, makers of the award-winning Cuddledry apron towel

Be bold in making changes – don’t hang onto a product, service or idea just because you like it or ‘it’s always been there’ – if it doesn’t make money, you have to ditch it.

Helen Wooldridge, Director of Cuddledry, makers of the award-winning Cuddledry apron towel

Don’t be afraid to use a lifeline and call a friend or email another Mumpreneur and ask for help or advice. I found being brave and connecting with like minded business women has really helped my confidence and direction with my businesses.

Emma Burford of www.mumsbusinessdirectory.com and www.sayitwithchocolate.co.uk

Celebrate all your accomplishments and achievements – no matter how small they may seem, this could be a vital turning point for your business and believe in yourself and your product as if you don’t, no one else will!

Suzanne Borrell, Director of PR, Communications and Marketing, What’s on 4 Ltd and Event Director, BabyExpo Babyshows
What’s on 4 Ltd – www.brightonbabyexpo.co.uk/baby-show

Don’t be afraid of technology. Even if it seems daunting, it CAN help. It’s worth getting up to speed with what’s out there, especially what’s available using ‘the cloud’ (i.e. web based!). Using specific tools and apps (often free) really can help you work smarter. Do invest a little time up front to find what could help you in the long term. It’s also great for business continuity should something unexpected happen!

Jane Geldart – Owner of PlantPure Candles (www.plantpure.co.uk), Group Leader for Mum’s The Boss Avon and Somerset.

Choose a business that suits your personality and passions. DO you like to work indoors or out? Do you like to work on your own or with a team. DO you like to meet lots of people. Do you like set, regular hours and tasks or a varied, flexible life. Is there anything in the world that you really love doing, and anything that you really really hate? Write down your answers to all these questions and any more you can think of then compare them to how you would need to work in the business you are thinking of starting – does it work for you?

Debbie O’Connor, Motivating Mum UK

Pitch yourself as an expert in your genre, write a blog giving some tips away for free and charging for your ‘expertise’ … this will help with PR, marketing for your business and not cost you anything. I now have local radio stations call me all the time about mum/business related topics

Joanne Dewberry Dorset Business Mum of the Year – www.joannedewberry.co.uk

May 5, 2011September 6, 2011

Business Blogging: 9 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started Out

Two years ago I decided I wanted to earn a living online. It was the only type of business flexible enough to fit around my chaotic family!

Back in 2009 I didn’t really know how to earn good money on the internet, so starting a blog was my way of diving into this world, getting to know people and learning as I went along. Back then my blog was hosted by WordPress and I moved over to businessplusbaby.com in July 2009.

I’ve learned so much in the last two years (copywriting, search engine optimisation, getting published, social media, internet marketing…), I’ve written a book, I’ve got to know some amazing people, I’m a regular writer at My Family magazine and next week I launch my first e-course, Earn What You Deserve as Mumpreneur. Oh and I had a baby! It’s been quite a journey.

So if you’re starting your online business or hoping to make a decent income from your blog, here’s what I wish I’d known back in May 2009… Continue reading “Business Blogging: 9 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started Out”

May 3, 2011April 30, 2011

I Started a Business With a Toddler: Li-ling Ooi of Xelium

Tell us a little about your business

We run an IT educational consultancy, Xelium. I believe the fancy term is ‘education technologist’, in essence we help schools, the school management and teachers work towards incorporating and applying IT into their lessons and try to encourage schools to move towards more technology—based methods of communication (e.g. emails, twitter). We specialize particularly in building, creating and supporting Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) and building and maintaining websites. We are currently working on a set of navigational tools which will allow easier navigation within VLEs.

What was your job before starting your business?

I lectured in Structural Chemistry at University. This was where I had my first foray in to VLEs both from an academics and a students perspective. I also worked on a teaching and learning qualification here, which got me interested in how teaching and learning could be made more attractive to students.

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

Going back after maternity leave was very difficult, because the work environment simply was not supportive at all. I stayed there for about a year, before finally resigning. It was a big, big move and some personal experiences had helped to put things in to perspective. Between quitting work and starting a business, I wrote an undergraduate textbook on my specialism, Principles of X-ray Crystallography, published by OUP in Dec 2009.

What were your reasons for starting a business?

The business started as a natural extension to what we had been asked to do for some schools. We had for the past few years been supporting and maintaining some website for schools, and we were asked to work on VLE implementation and training for these same schools.

We progressively moved towards formalizing that relationship and started to take on more clients. I started the business on my own first, and then later on, managed to persuade my husband that we could do it together and make it work better. Unlike a lot of mums, I did not quit work to spend more time with my child, in all honesty I felt as if I was ‘backed in to a corner’ with no other way out apart from leaving.In hindsight though, I am really glad I did it, because I would have missed out so much with working fulltime and a child in nursery all day, every day. I must say though, staying at home, with a child, is so so so much harder work than actually ‘going to work’, although juggling work and child-care is an immense feat in itself! Hats off to all mummies out there!

An amazing wonderful plus, to working from home is having the flexibility and the ability to define our own working hours. Having said that, we only ever work at 50% capacity whenever G is at home. She’s used to having someone ‘entertain’ her.

Did you use any childcare?

When I was writing my book, she went to nursery 1 day a week, and the rest of the book was written in her nap times and at night after she went to bed. Now that she’s at school, we work the hours that she’s at school and continue after she goes to bed.

How did you get your business idea?

We were in part already offering these services to some clients who had requested them prior to us becoming a business.

What were your challenges and how did you overcome them?

I think one of our challenges, still a challenge, as a business, is getting word out, about what we do. We have grown very organically mainly through word of mouth and requests, with clients passing on our information to other prospective clients. In an ideal world, I would love to have the business grow exponentially, but it has worked well so far and we have very good relationships with all of our clients.

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

I looked up masses and masses of information online, particularly about starting up a limited company, and learning about taxation, returns etc. Surprisingly, the HMRC helplines are very helpful and businesslink.org.uk contains a lot of very helpful information. Whenever I have a question about something, I usually google it, and often find my way to some business forum, where I can lurk about and eventually find the answer to my question. It seems quite rare to encounter an issue that has not been asked before.

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

I think the advise I wished someone would have been able to give me early on, was that as mums, we often are so used to juggling so so many things, and our to-do lists are infinite and down right scary! It’s so very important, to be able to take stock each day of how much you’ve accomplished in that day, regardless of how many to-dos have or have not been ticked off. Every day is a success, and even if you’ve managed to just do one thing for your business, you would have done so much for your children and family, whatever it is, it’s still an accomplishment.

I’ve also found it really really important to learn to ‘let go’ and live in the moment. For example, if I’m with Georgia at the park, I used to keep thinking about all the things I hadn’t done for work, but I’ve since learnt to just live in the ‘present’ and enjoy the time I spend with her or our time as a family.

April 29, 2011April 27, 2011

Are You a Judger or Perceiver?

Have you ever wondered why some people seem to break out of the norm to create the life they dream of and some don’t?

During World War II Katherine Briggs and Isobel Myers developed a personality test to work out which types of jobs women would be most “comfortable and effective” doing whilst the men were off fighting. There were a number of different personality traits that they used from previous research by psychologist Carl Jung but during their research they developed an additional trait – judger/perceiver.

According to the ladies a perceiver adapts to the world around them whereas a judger adapts their environment to suit themselves.

Does this explain why some women after becoming mums will accept low paid, part-time, temporary work whilst others will either develop new businesses or push for flexible hours? Continue reading “Are You a Judger or Perceiver?”

April 28, 2011May 11, 2011

Advertising Ideas For Mumpreneurs

If you’re a new business owner, the chances are that advertising is the first marketing tactic that comes to your mind.

That’s partly because we’ve been exposed to TV and print advertising all our lives and we’re already really familiar with it. But it can feel strangely comfortable too, because it’s hands-off. It takes confidence to stand up and talk about your product, but if it’s in print then you don’t have to speak to anyone!

The trouble is that advertising can be expensive if you’re a tiny business. Very expensive. And I’m not just talking about the cost of placing a single advert, either. The chances are that one advert probably won’t do the trick because it needs to be part of a campaign which builds familiarity and visibility. Continue reading “Advertising Ideas For Mumpreneurs”