I started a business when pregnant: Anna Ridgway of WaterBaby

Here at Business Plus Baby I have a regular feature called ‘I started a business with a baby’. A few weeks ago I heard about Anna Ridgway who was inspired to start her business before her baby arrived! Anna will be just about at her due date as I publish this post, so good luck Anna and husband Ben, and we all hope you have a wonderful time with your new baby. Here’s the story of their business…

When Anna and her husband Benjamin decided that they wanted to start a family they knew that a regular supply of folic acid was really important for mums-to-be. Despite good intentions during the early stages of pregnancy, Anna found it difficult to take the tablets as recommended because of the  discomfort of swallowing the folic acid tablets, eating before taking every tablet and fitting the tablet into her daily routine. Continue reading “I started a business when pregnant: Anna Ridgway of WaterBaby”

Small business outsourcing: How do you do it?

Today I’m attempting to answer a question from Julia Odgers of KidsTravel2. Julia asks: “It would be useful to know the first best things to look at outsourcing when you are in a growth stage as a young business. I know it will depend on your own skillset but I find it hard to balance growth with the expense of facilitating that growth.”

It’s really important to give some thought to outsourcing if you’re running a small business.

Even more so if you’re running a  business part-time, as many of us are.

It’s tempting to save money and do everything yourself, but this will seriously limit your progress. In fact you might not ever get your business started! There are so many skills you need – copywriting, marketing, PR, bookkeeping, web design, graphic design, customer service to name a few – that it could take you years to learn them all to even a basic level.

Even then, someone who does that type of work all day, every day, could do your piece of work in a fraction of the time it would take you to struggle through it yourself. Once you add in the hours of your own time, outsourcing could be far cheaper, too. Continue reading “Small business outsourcing: How do you do it?”

Mums’ Business Directory: how to get free membership!

Join Us on the Mums Business DirectoryHave you heard of Mums Business Directory?

It was created by a friend of mine, Emma Burford. Emma was running her personalised chocolate gift business when she realised it wasn’t easy for mums in business to find everything they needed all in one place.

Emma says “The whole concept of creating the Mums Business Directory was to support mums in business and highlight the many fantastic websites out there under one roof so they can easily be found.” Mums Business Directory has grown rapidly with over 500 members from across the UK covering all main business sectors.

You can become a member of Mums Business Directory here (price £10 per year for bronze membership).

If you’d like to earn back your membership fee, you can get commission when you refer other business mums to Mums Business Directory. Each referral pays you £2, so five Bronze referrals will cover the cost of your bronze listing for the year. Display badges and links are all available to members on the Mums Business Directory site together with further details about the Affiliate Programme and online instructions. Affiliate links can also be included in emails and posted on Twitter and Facebook.

“I’m launching the Affiliate Programme to reward Mums Business Directory members who choose to advertise the directory through banners and links on their sites. It will help them to earn a passive income to support their business while promoting the directory at the same time.” says Emma.

If you’d like to stay up-to-date with news for mums in business, why not join my mailing list?  Sign up and I’ll send you copy of  my e-book Running a business around a family: 9 steps to success

I started a business with a baby: Amanda Ashworth of Excelsior Recruitment Partnership

Tell us a little about your business

Excelsior Recruitment Partnership is a specialist recruitment consultancy specialising in HR, PR, Sales and Marketing. We recruit in London and East Anglia we were established in July 2011. There are currently 3 of us working for Excelsior and we plan to expand this over the next year.

What was your job before starting your business?

I was working as a business development manager for a recruitment agency in Cambridge.

How did you go from your old career to your new business? Continue reading “I started a business with a baby: Amanda Ashworth of Excelsior Recruitment Partnership”

Gro Clock: Stop your toddler waking up too early


Is your toddler waking up too early? If so, the Gro-Clock Sleep Trainer could give you the precious extra sleep you’re craving!

It can be really tough on you as a parent when your toddler wakes up at 5 o’clock every morning. (Or even earlier!) Early starts make you tired, irritable and it can be hard to concentrate on work during the long day ahead. Even just an extra half-hour of sleep in the morning can make a difference if you’re a shattered parent.

The problem is that toddlers are too young to read clocks, so they can’t tell that it’s too early to get up. Enter the Gro Clock…

The Gro Clock has a glowing screen that displays stars or a sun to show the difference between sleep and wake-up time. The small stars go out one-by-one during the night to show time passing by. The changing images encourage children to stay in bed longer as they learn to stay in bed until they see the sun. If you’re lucky enough for your toddler to still be asleep when the sun appears, they won’t be woken because the clock is silent.

The screen brightness is adjustable, meaning it works like a nightlight during the hours when your child is asleep. The Gro Clock also has an optional digital clock and audible alarm, so you can use it as a normal clock as your child grows up. You can also choose to show the digital clock together with the sun or stars, which can help children to learn how to tell time once they are ready.  So for older children, they can now start to learn digital time, as well as look for the arrival of the sun.

If you’ve ever felt guilty telling your child to go back to bed because it’s too early, the Gro Clock can help you there, too. Asking your child to “watch for the sun” is far more positive and some kids actually get quite excited about it! Before too long, it all becomes part of the child’s routine and s/he should sleep through until the sun arrives.

And if you think it might be a tad unrealistic to expect your early-riser to sleep all the way through until 7am, don’t worry. You can take it steadily and make the sun come up ten minutes later every day.

The Gro-Clock comes with a story book about a very tired pig which helps to reinforce how important a good night’s sleep really is.  It’s mains powered (adapter included) and suitable from age 2 years upwards. Price £24.00 on Amazon.co.uk.

Click here for more about the Gro Clock

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