Featured – Page 44 – Business Plus Baby

February 13, 2011February 10, 2011

It’s the Business Mum’s Blog Carnival for February!

Are you a mumpreneur with a blog? Join in February’s Business Mums Blog Carnival and get yourself more readers and comments!

You don’t even need to write a post for the carnival, just pick your favourite from the posts already up on your blog and send the link to the carnival host. This month your host is Jo at Cuddledry.

To enter, email the link to your post to Jo (at) Cuddledry.com by 18th February.

The carnival will be posted on www.cuddledry.com/wordpress on 25th February.

If you’re not sure how it all works or what kind of post to enter, you’ll find everything you need to know on the Business Mum’s Blog Carnival page. And you can get your own blog carnival badge there too!

February 11, 2011February 13, 2013

Fear of Failure: Is it Holding You Back?

UPDATE Feb 2013: I wrote this article after I was a guest speaker for Become a Mumpreneur, a training programme which has since closed.

I had a great time being the guest speaker on Become a Mumpreneur’s Expert Webinar this week. I’m a trainer by profession and after eighteen months of basically being a writer I only need half an excuse to get talking again!

During the webinar Erica Douglas (co-owner of Become a Mumpreneur) and I were talking about getting started in business. I first started out as a freelancer back in 2000, so I’ve had a lot of ups and downs as a self employed person. One of things Erica and I discussed was failure and how it’s really nothing to be ashamed of if you’re in business. In fact it’s pretty much inevitable that you’re going to fail at some stage.

If you’re being held back by the thought of failing, or if you’re trying to come to terms with failure in the past, here are five tips that might just help.

Don’t be so British!

The USA has a higher proportion of entrepreneurs than the UK, partly because the American attitude to failure is much more positive there than in the UK. For us Brits, failing in business is something to be embarrassed about whereas in the US it isn’t. If you want to be an entrepreneur, it could really pay to lose your stiff upper lip!

Failure is an essential part of the learning process

If you’ve watched your children learn to walk, you’ll see them stand up, fall over, then stand up again. Over and over again. Sometimes the only way to learn is to try, get it wrong, then try again until you get it right. We don’t expect babies to get it right first time and we shouldn’t expect ourselves to get it right every time either. The best lessons I’ve ever had in self employment have been as a result of screwing something up!

Fail fast, then move on

Now it makes sense to avoid failure if you can, but when it does happen just accept it and move on. Don’t linger on your failings, learn the lessons that need to be learned and get on with what comes next.

You should be failing sometimes

I would even argue that if you never fail, you need to get out of your comfort zone. If you never take a risk you’ll never give yourself the opportunity to try new things, to learn and to develop.

Of course you need to be sensible in the level of risk you accept (don’t risk money unless you can afford to lose it, for example) but a little risk could open up opportunities you simply won’t see otherwise.

Each failure brings you closer to your end result

This is Erica’s attitude to failure and it’s just brilliant. Each time something goes wrong it shows you’re one step closer to where you want to be.

photo credit: Jekkone

February 9, 2011February 8, 2011

I Started a Business With Toddlers: Michelle Williams of The Craft Ecademy

Tell us a little about your business

I run www.thecraftecademy.co.uk which offers a range of craft workshops aimed at helping other women to start their own craft-Business. My workshops include a growing series of Jewellery making, Life Casting and Ceramics Courses, which are typically held at my studio in Hampshire.

Due to the large number of enquiries I receive from overseas, I now also offer a series of ecourses which allows people to study with me any time, anywhere over the internet! This is proving very popular, even from people within the UK, who want to come on my courses, but can’t travel due to child-care issues.

What was your job before starting your business and what motivated you?

I spent 15 years in IT marketing in a job I had no passion, I was desperate for a change and started my Business initially as sideline.

As a single-parent of two active boys, my life was chaotic and I desperately needed more flexibility. I took the decision to abandon my job in IT to focus on the business full-time and I’ve never looked back. I wouldn’t swap the freedom and flexibility that running your own business offers with anything!

What do you enjoy most about running your own business?

The huge sense of personal satisfaction! Running your own business is a challenge – but an extremely rewarding one! No day is ever the same and you constantly learn new things. Most of all, as my business involves helping other women set up in business, I get a real buzz from helping other women realize their potential.

What were your challenges and how did you overcome them?

The highs are helping other women to fulfill their dreams and the lows are the inevitable problems that any business is likely to face along the way. However, I believe it’s important to learn from any problems that arise. I never view such obstacles as a reason to give up – but a chance to find solutions that will help improve the business and make it stronger.

How have you managed to stay on top of your career with the demands of motherhood while running a business?

Starting a business as a single-parent is not easy! However, I am lucky that I can tailor my working day to ensure I am always there to take my children to school and collect them at the end of each day. I would never want my status as a single-parent or business Woman to compromise these ideals. The downside has been many late nights and early starts to ensure I can fit the demands of the business around my Children.

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

Everyone’s circumstances are different, but if I can do it as a single parent – then there is hope for everyone! I think it’s really down to attitude and how much you want something to succeed. However, it’s really important to have balance – to separate your home and business life and ensure you make time for your family.

February 4, 2011February 2, 2011

Starting a Social Enterprise: Siobhan Robertson of Trela

Many women starting out in business are motivated by more than just making money or even being able to work around their children. That means that a social enterprise could be a good choice for many mums starting out in business.

Here’s Business Link’s definition of a social enterprise…

A social enterprise is a business with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are principally reinvested for that purpose in the business or in the community, rather than being driven by the need to maximise profit for shareholders and owners.

Siobhan Robertson launched her social enterprise, Trela, just a couple of weeks ago on 10th January. Today Siobhan tells us about Trela and why she chose to start a social enterprise.

Tell us a little about Trela

Trela aims to bring creative people together to create, learn, network and source supplies. We also aim to work with the local community advancing the understanding of mental health issues and offering a way of using creativity to relieve stress.

Why did you start a social enterprise rather than a traditional business?

I started business as a graphic designer though have had the idea of Trela in the back of my mind for a long time. The plans have grown over the years and now I am finally at the point where I feel I am ready to go ahead with them. The ideas I have are all based on working with the community and after searching around I found out about social enterprises and realised that my idea fitted in with this business structure. It meant that I could do what I enjoy while making enough money to live on. I have suffered from fibromyalgia from a young age and this has made it very difficult for me to work full time out of the house. Working from home means that I can work when I feel up to it and around my daughter. She goes to nursery 3 days a week at the moment though I find myself working at night as well when she is in bed.

Is it harder to run a social enterprise? Or does it actually bring business benefits as well as social ones?

I would say it does bring business benefits. Having searched social enterprises I came across Firstport. They support social enterprises with free business advice and start up awards. I think being a social enterprise will bring more interest to the business as people will see that it isn’t another money grabbing scheme. It is a business set up that the community can get involved in and can really be a part of.

What would your advice be for a mum thinking of starting a social enterprise?

My advice for other mums looking in to setting up as a social enterprise would be to get in touch with Firstport or Business Link. Research is also a great help when you are making plans, looking at what other similar ideas have to offer and how they go about it. I have lists and lists of ideas that I am slowly working through. Take it a step at a time and you will get there.

If you’re a mum running a social enterprise I’d love to hear from you.