Erica Douglas posted an article on the Become a Mumpreneur blog this week about The Doubt. The Doubt is Erica’s name for the fear that you get when you try something new. What if you’re not good enough? What if it all goes wrong? What if you look a fool?
I know what she means because I’ve been battling my own case of The Doubt just lately. Continue reading “I Suffer From ‘The Doubt’ – Do You?”
E-Voice Speech Recognition Limited is a leading provider of Dragon NaturallySpeaking (Speech Recognition software), TextHelp Read & Write, and mind mapping software solutions in the workplace, for individuals with literacy difficulties, or for those that require hands-free approach to computing due to RSI (Repetitive Strain Injury) or other medical conditions. In addition, we provide one-to-one, customised training as part of our solutions, all of which can be purchased with funding by Access to Work along with a wide range or ergonomic mice and keyboards, microphones, and digital recorders. Dragon NaturallySpeaking can also be used for individuals wishing to improve productivity, by speeding up repetitive tasks, replicating keystrokes with voice commands, and enabling the user to dictate three times faster than most people can type.
Prior to E-voice, I worked for a company called The GeoInformation Group as an Aerial Photography Data Specialist. I worked with the company for over 13 years starting in an administrative role and then went on to work within the production team to produce high-resolution digital aerial photography including some of the imagery you see on Google. Continue reading “I Started a Business with a Baby: Julie Davenport of E-Voice Speech Recognition”
Fancy winning a ticket to the first ever Mumpreneur Idol event?
It’s happening on Saturday 9th April 2011 at The Imperial Hotel, Russell Square, London, WC1B 5BB.
The aim of Mumpreneur Idol is to inspire more mums to start home based businesses and provide support, information and full resources for mums to be able to create their own flexible working environment.
Four finalists will battle it out to become the next big Mumpreneur. Each one will prepare a 20 minute pitch to a panel of five judges who will then select the winner to be announced at the end of the day. The lucky winner will get the ultimate business start up prize which will include a collection of must have items and services that will guarantee a quality start to any business.
For people attending the event, it’ll be an opportunity to talk to some top UK entrepreneurs, network with a whole range of like-minded people, listen to the finalists’ pitches, be involved in the judges’ Q&A time, listen to the keynote speaker and take away some practical tips and advice from the afternoon workshop.
And I’ve got a ticket worth £45 to give away!
To enter the give-away, leave me a comment below and tell me why you’d like to go to Mumpreneur Idol by 8pm on Friday 11th March.
(I’ll pick a winner at random and will be in touch by email).
Good luck!
I’ve made jewellery since my early teens, and as stay at home mum on a career break from teaching English in a secondary school full-time, decided that this was my now or never time to take my hobby craft business further. I have always loved creating jewellery and dreamed about running my own business. With the additional motivation of wanting to be with my young family longer than I might otherwise without an additional income to my husband’s, I launched Poppy Sparkles in March 2010, creating special occasion jewellery from Swarovski crystal, Freshwater Pearls and sterling silver.
I soon learnt a business lesson about being flexible and realised that my small range of charm style jewellery for little girls was most popular. Then I had a few ‘eureka!’ moments as I discovered my niche with birthstone jewellery and my USP (unique selling point) with my charm system. So, now I specialise in Birthstone Charm Jewellery.
A lot of my challenges I share in common with other women who are juggling motherhood with a business – fitting things in around children is hard. Beads and babies do not mix, so all jewellery creation has to take place in the evening. And, whilst some tasks can be slotted in around my children in the day, such as a spot of tweeting on twitter or a blog post draft, a lot of tasks require full concentration.
I’ve established Poppy Sparkles with no funding. It’s been a challenge, but I’ve harnessed the power of Social media for free advertising, as well as valuable networking. Unable to out-source things, I’ve had to learn lots of different things from writing a press release to basic web design. However, having no money does make you think very carefully about business decisions and how to re-invest income from sales.
Establishing a business is hard, but factor in establishing a business whilst also fulfilling the demanding role of being a mum, it can become quite a challenge. Surrounding yourself with supportive people is important. Having support from family and friends is essential, as at times you may need to call on them to help manage childcare, but support from other business mums or people in your chosen field is also very valuable. Twitter has been an excellent resource for me and helped me create a supportive network around me – there are people that share my interests (eg handmade items, Etsy etc), as well as other mums seeking to establish a business and it’s great to share tips and encourage each other.
Get 10% off at NappyHead when you enter SAVE10 at the checkout
Hi, I’m Jo Fazel and I run www.bestbabyshower.co.uk, an online company that specialises in baby shower party supplies such as decorations, tableware, games, favours and gifts. I aim to be a totally comprehensive site where you can purchase everything you could possibly want when hosting or attending a baby shower so that you don’t have to spend hours shopping around.
I try to add extra value for my customers by offering a free baby shower guide to newsletter subscribers, giving lots of advice and tips on how to host a baby shower, the etiquette and history of baby showers plus lots of theme, recipe & game ideas. I also have a blog where I encourage ‘crafty’ guest writers to give mini tutorials on making various items that would be appropriate for a baby shower, so that customers can even make some of the things themselves if they wish.
Before I started the business I was an HR Manager for a TV production company in central London. I enjoyed it mostly except that HR always have the horrible tasks such as making redundancies and disciplinaries to carry out. When I got pregnant I fully anticipated taking the year off and then returning to my old job however once my daughter was born I started to see really quickly that it wasn’t a scenario that I was especially comfortable with. Apart from the fact that after huge childcare fees there wouldn’t be that much left over from my salary to make the long hours, cramped tube commute and lack of time with my daughter in any way worthwhile. Luckily the business was going through some change and it was an ideal time to approach them about an amicable exit from the business. So I managed to negotiate not returning and used the exit money to fund the new business. I had decided that if I was to do any work it would need to be something I could do from home and an internet business seemed logical.
…after huge childcare fees there wouldn’t be that much left over from my salary…
I was already so immersed in the world of babies that having a business that was also baby-related in some way made sense as well as I would have a real understanding of what my customers would be looking for. There were so many sites out there already selling baby items but hardly any where you could get baby shower party products, and almost nowhere that you could buy them on the average high street in the UK. I figured this would be a good time to get into a niche that was just starting to get popular and it grew from there.
I spent months and months researching and sorting out a website, suppliers & stock, legal matters and so forth. I incorporated the Limited company just as my year’s maternity leave ended and I started selling to the public about 6 months later. Since then I’ve gone on to have another little girl and my children are now coming up 4 (in March) and 2 (in May). A lot of the research and learning was done through laborious Google searches but I also found a lot of helpful information in places such as business link and invaluable support on forums like mumsclub.co.uk. I also bounced so many ideas off friends and family constantly – in fact it’s something I continue to do today as sometimes when you are surrounded by your business it’s difficult to see the wood for the trees and a fresh pair of eyes can pick up something you’ve overlooked.
Life is too short to regret not taking a chance.
I mostly manage my work around nap times and in the evenings when the children are asleep. When my eldest was 2 ½ she started 3 mornings a week at a local nursery which was great for her confidence and making friends. However I didn’t gain any extra time to run the business as I had also just given birth to my youngest daughter. It was hard at that point continuing to run the business and make orders up whilst looking after a newborn and a boisterous toddler on very little sleep but I never felt overwhelmed by it.
Looking back I’m not sure how I managed to do it but I think if you have enough passion for your business it becomes another ‘baby’ to you and so you just put in the hours because you can see through to the longer term. Now my youngest will be soon going off to the same nursery when she turns 2 although this time it will be for 5 mornings a week. For the first time since I started the business 3 years ago I will have a block of child-free hours each morning to get on with the business! I am very excited about what I can achieve with the extra time I’ll have, although I no doubt will still be working evenings and weekends to get everything done for some time to come!
Along the way there have been so many challenges including learning about websites & retail from scratch, teaching myself about product photography & editing, trying to find the right balance between family & the business and having to continue to run the business straight after giving birth to my second daughter. I don’t doubt that there are numerous challenges still to come but I look forward to them – part of the reason I set up the business in the first place was that I felt I would need the additional challenge that running a business would offer, so that I had something that made me feel like ‘me’ – a person in their own right and not just someone’s mummy.
If I could give any advice to a mum thinking about setting up her own business it would be to thoroughly investigate your idea first – talk to your friends and family and have a clear idea about what you are aiming to achieve and then go for it! Life is too short to regret not taking a chance.
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