Business Plus Baby

March 9, 2011April 15, 2012

Join The Revolution and Help People to Change Their World

Every year The Co-operative supports thousands of initiatives both in the UK and the developing world, helping people to change the world around them. The Co-operative now aims to inspire even more people to get involved and make a difference to their world.

The Co-operative proves that you don’t have to be small to be an ethical business. It’s different from other major retailers in the UK because it’s earned not by a small group of shareholders, but by more than five million consumers. Today it has 5,000 outlets across its family of businesses including food, financial services, travel, pharmacy and funerals, serving more than 20 million customers per week.

Ethical business is not a new idea. The Cooperative was started in 1844 by the Rochdale Pioneers who founded a new kind of business – one that would be based on democratic principles, owned by the customers and would reinvest in the community it served. And it’s still going strong 167 years later.

The Co-operative has helped communities and individuals both here in the UK and around the world to make a difference. It has invested in projects from protecting inner-city bee populations to starting a film academy for young people, to helping Kenyan tea farmers form co-operatives. This is done by members agreeing to donate from their share of the profits.

My interest is in developing young people, though, so I was really pleased to hear the difference that the Co-operative had made to a community play group in North Wales. Play Montgomeryshire provides families with free or low cost activities that give children greater opportunity to learn through play.

One of their services, the Machynlleth Toy Library, came under threat of closure when its existing funding was cancelled. The library is a well-loved part of the local community, and the Play Montgomeryshire team were determined to save it. The group approached The Co-operative and secured a donation of £2,000 and they are now confident that the library will continue to serve local children.

Have you heard of the Co-operative’s Green Schools initiative? It’s the most wide-ranging sustainability programme in UK schools. From helping to organize walking buses, to providing visits to green energy sites, and to farms to see how food is grown, the Co-Operative engages pupils with a broader spectrum of projects than any other UK business.

The Co-operative helps individuals too, including offering mentor training to young people. It provides sporting activities in communities where they may not have been available previously, and lets the volunteers explore new possibilities and gain new qualifications.

One such volunteer was Jamie, a teenager from Northumberland, who has used her love of dancing to map out her future career path. After becoming a StreetGames Volunteer, Jamie now teaches urban dance 5 times a week to younger children at her local dance academy – Factory Dance Academy.

Jamie’s expectations have been transformed. Instead of leaving school at 16 as she first intended, Jamie is about to start a BTEC in Dance, Health and Social Care and Business, with the aim of pursuing a career in community dance.

I’m always on the look out for parent-run businesses that give something back to their communities here at Business Plus Baby. So it’s great to know that an ethical business can grow to be so big and last for so many years. That’s really something to aspire to!

The Co-Operative now want you to Get involved and Join the revolution! They are looking out for the best revolutions up and down the UK. Submit your initiative on the Join the revolution page with a brief description of what it’s all about, and the most popular revolution from each region will receive a £5,000.

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March 8, 2011March 11, 2011

Win a Ticket to Mumpreneur Idol!

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!

March 7, 2011March 6, 2011

I Started a Business With a Baby: Viv Smith of Poppy Sparkles

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.

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March 3, 2011March 7, 2011

I Started a Business With a Baby: Jo Fazel of Best Baby Shower

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.

February 28, 2011July 6, 2011

How To Brand Your Mumpreneur Business

Last week I wrote about why branding is so important in business, even if you’re just running a little business from your kitchen table.

Today I’m reviewing a product that will help you to create your stand-out brand.

That product is called Build a Brand and it’s by Australian-based mumpreneur Karen Gunton.

Karen is a Canadian living in Australia and we got to know each other because her blog Build a Little Biz is just so close to what I’m doing here at Business Plus Baby. (…Except she says “awesome” and “badass”. Somehow that doesn’t sound right coming from a Brit like me and frankly I’m a bit envious!)

Anyway, I’ve loved what Karen does at over a Build a Little Biz since the day I first found her, so I’ve been eagerly anticipating her first product for mumpreneurs.

And I have to say it really is fabulous.

Build a Brand grew out of Karen’s experience of starting her own photography business:

after 2 years of struggling to stand out in the crowd of little mum-run photography businesses i realized that if I was going to be competitive and make money doing what i loved, i needed to get serious about my business and find a way to stand out and look professional.

She decided to start afresh with her brand but had to spend hours trawling the internet and the library searching for what she needed.

i applied the methods of the big corporate identities and adapted the instructions from the online marketing gurus and until i had something that would work for my little, mum-run, at-home business.

To get branding right, you need to understand what’s unique about your product/service, then get that message across in every interaction you have with the outside world – your logo, colour scheme, tagline, business card, Facebook page, the room where you meet your clients, everything.

It’s a tall order but Build a Brand takes you through all the steps beautifully, from making sure you understand what a brand is, to taking you through the creative process of finding your own brand, then deciding on your logo, business name and tagline, to putting it all together into a seamless brand. At the end of the workbook is a practical and detailed checklist of how to implement your brand on your blog, website, business cards, Facebook page, Twitter, email, newsletter and every other place it need to be.

And if you’ve already got a brand that isn’t working for you, there’s advice on whether to change it or refresh it. Plus how to create a buzz around your brand’s launch (or relaunch).

Karen wisely encourages you to get a professional designer to create your logo for you as you can usually spot a hand-made logo a mile away! But working through her steps on logo design will mean you arrive at the designers’ door with a clear idea of what you want, which saves time, hassle and of course money. There’s even a directory of designers where you can get a discount as a buyer of Build a Brand.

(One of the designers in the directory, Kim of Boutique By Design, has just designed the new logo for my Earn What You Deserve as a Mumpreneur e-course and I really recommend her – she was brilliant to work with.)

But what I like most about Build a Brand is that it takes a confusing and complex subject and tells you precisely what you need to know as a busy small business owner. Then it takes you through branding your business in easy-to-follow steps. It’s so easy to get overwhelmed by branding, but Build a Brand cuts right through it all, giving you exactly what you need to know and do.

If you’re concerned about Build a Brand being from outside the UK, don’t be. The information inside would apply anywhere in the world and as we’re all heavily reliant on the internet there isn’t that much difference between living in Aberdeen or Adelaide these days. (Kim of Boutique by Design is in Canada, which was actually an advantage as she was working on my logo while I was asleep!) The workbook is an instant electronic download, so there’s no waiting for delivery.

Build a Brand is $67 Australian (about £40 or US$67 at time of writing this post) for the e-workbook, plus you can buy packages that include access to a members-only brand building forum and 1-to-1 coaching too.

That’s a fraction of what a marketing coach or consultant would cost. And when you think of how much branding mistakes will cost you, both in lost sales and in printing/website design when you have to rebrand later on, I’d say this is a good investment. And that’s not even counting the time and money you save by using the logo designer directory.

Click here to buy Build a Brand…

(I’ve seen just the workbook, but one look at Karen’s blog or Facebook page shows just how much she knows and is happy to share with other mums in business, so I’ve no doubt at all that her forum and coaching will be top quality).

This post contains affiliate links.