Business Plus Baby

December 2, 2010December 8, 2010

Business Mums Blog Carnival for December

Are you a mumpreneur with a blog? Join in the last Business Mums Blog Carnival of 2010 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 Tola Popoola of Chocolat A Toi.

To enter, email the link to your post to tola (at) chocolatatoi.com by Wednesday 8th December.

The carnival will be posted on on www.chocolatatoi.co.uk/personalisedchocolateblog on Wednesday 15th December.

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!

December 1, 2010November 29, 2010

I started a business with a baby: Ipshita Chatterjee of Minor Edition

It was over a year ago that I started contemplating starting a business of my own. After many years of making use of a science brain, I thought it was time to be more creative. My 2-year-old daughter was a stimulant. Stitching dresses and knitting hats for her made me happy.

So what was holding me back? Well, FEAR – fear of not having any money, losing all the money, being ridiculed, not having a MBA degree (that’s what entrepreneurs’ are equipped with – right?).

All I wanted to do was to design dresses for little girls. Dresses that I can’t find on the high street, designs that will make the tots look different yet very stylish. I love cotton and silk fabrics especially those from India. The quality of the fabrics is to die for. After much thought, I decided to jump the arena. I booked a trip to India in search of fabric suppliers last winter. Now 6 months later, I have a company of my own now, selling limited edition of dresses for little girls. I am looking forward to the winter collection in silk. They will be a bit expensive compared with the high street giants, but I think limited edition comes at a price. I am confident that the quality will match the price and so good value for money.

The last 6 months have been very stressful. I learned a lot on the way. I could never imagine opening a business bank account, doing a website myself with the help of Create, or be able to deal with suppliers and negotiate and bargain with them. The most enjoyable bit has been the designing part and seeing the end product. Thanks to those who have appreciated me so far.

I am not a natural seller but I am learning. Various workshops and discussions have been helpful. I have made a lot of mistakes already and have learned a good lesson from each. Please wish me luck in my venture!

Ipshita’s website is minoredition.co.uk and you can catch up with her life as a mumpreneur at her blog.

Good luck Ipshita! If you’re just starting your own business, I’ve shared my favourite small biz resources on my new resources page. No MBA needed, honest!

November 30, 2010November 29, 2010

Announcing My New Sponsor for Cybermummy: SmartTalkers Pre-School Groups

I’m really excited that SmartTalkers Pre-School Groups are sponsoring me to attend Cybermummy 2011 on 25th June!

Smart Talkers Pre-school Groups are a fun way to stimulate children’s spoken language development. They were set up by Libby Hill, who is a qualified, independent Specialist Speech & Language therapist with many years experience. Libby says “We take the development of communication for granted but it is actually the best achievement of our lifetime. We spend time on learning to be better readers, writers or dancers but we can all be better communicators too.”

Thank you Libby, I’m really looking forward to working with you!

I’ll be writing more about SmartTalkers between now and June next year, but just wanted to let you know that my Cybermummy pitch last week had been a success! I’d also like to thank Erica and Antonia of AceInspire who gave me the prod I needed to get my pitch out there, plus help with writing the pitch itself.

So if you’re a parent blogger thinking about getting sponsored, just give it a go. There may be a company out there who would love to work with you but you’ll never know unless you try!

November 29, 2010December 5, 2010

Mumpreneur Monday Challenge: Give Yourself a Pay Rise

It’s Monday Challenge! This is going to be the last Monday Challenge for a while because let’s face it, we don’t need anything else to challenge us in December! I bet your to-do list is big enough already?

(By the way, here are the previous Monday Challenges if you missed them.)

So today’s challenge is (drum roll please…)

Give yourself a pay rise!

Here’s how you could do this…

Check to see if you’re under-charging

Is a lack of confidence keeping your prices lower than they should be? Have you kept your prices at the same level for a while and never had the courage to raise them? This week take a really honest look at what you charge.

Get a grip on your finances

Are your books less tidy than they should be? Is it hard for you to keep track of money coming in and going out of your business? If your bookkeeping and cashflow were up to date you could see where you were making the most money – and do more of that activity. You would also spend less time sorting your books out at the end of the year – time you could spend on activities that generate income.

Talk to your customers

Do a survey, ask them what they really want. Perhaps you could provide that little extra product or service that would increase your profits without too much more effort.

Think (and act) bigger

Is there one thing you could do that scares you, but that would give your business a boost? Maybe it’s sending a press release to a higher-profile magazine than you do usually. Perhaps it’s having the courage to speak at an event. Do it this week.

Plan

Decide you’re going to make more money in 2011. Sit down with a pen and paper or a spreadsheet and crunch those numbers. Set yourself a target that you want to earn in 2011 and plan out exactly how you’re going to do it.

Leave me a comment and let me know how you got on!

If you liked this challenge, take a look at my Earn What You Deserve as a Mumpreneur E-Course. Sign up for more info and you’ll be able to download my e-book: Price It Right: Five simple steps to choose a price for your product or service.

November 26, 2010November 26, 2010

Can You Help Build a Better Future for Mumpreneurs?

Business mums are a varied crowd. Some are happy to be called mumpreneurs, others hate the word. Some are making a few pounds here and there to top up the family budget, others are making many thousands.

But to reach, support and help promote mums in business it’s important that there are solid facts and figures to work with.

Jane Hopkins of MumsClub says “The only known statistics for mums in business are from the 2008 Yell.com survey and the 2009 BT Business survey”, so she’s just launched the Mumpreneur Census 2010-2011 to gather up-to-date information. Jane would be be very grateful if you could spare a few minutes to fill in the survey – you’ll also be entered into prize draws, plus she’ll be featuring various mums throughout the campaign.

You can take the Mumpreneur Census here

Antonia Chitty and Erica Douglas of Become A Mumpreneur are also on a fact-finding mission. Antonia says:

“It has become apparent that many mums have no idea how to start earning flexibly or the most effective ways to create a profitable business. I spend a lot of time explaining business basics to people and I feel it’s an area many could use assistance with.

So Erica Douglas and I have decided to launch a beginner mentoring program. The focus will be on how to make money flexibly from home, how to take a business from idea to reality and what to do to make your business succeed.”

Before they launch they want to be sure they are offering exactly what aspiring mumpreneurs want. Plus they are offering lifetime membership of the programme to the person who gives the best feedback. It doesn’t matter if you’re beyond the stage where you need a beginner programme, your feedback will still be really valuable.

You can take the Become a Mumpreneur survey here

As you probably know, I co-wrote Start a Family friendly Business with Antonia so I know just how much she and Erica have to offer mums who want to escape their 9-5 jobs and build a better working life around their families.

photo credit: jronaldlee