business mum's journal edition 8: theo
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The Business Mum's Journal Edition 8TRANSCRIPT
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THE APPRENTICE TO MUM! Claire Young shares her story of
becoming a mum for the first time
An interview with
THEO PAPHITIS
HOW-TO Win awards and what
they can do for your
business
Essential Business Services
OF THE BEST 6
Central Edition
Supported by mothercare
www.businessmumsjournal.com
Business
J O U R N A L MUM’S
the
FREE!FREE!FREE!FREE!
AWARD WINNERS The 4th annual award
winners are announced
Issue No.008
WIN! £50 to spend at
Dorothy and Theodore!
Page 18
THE AWARD WINNING SPECIAL
EDITION
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06-07. Interview: Theo Paphitis;
Dragon & # SBS creator
12 Self Nominating
Do you or don’t you?
14-15. Six of the best...
Essential Business Services
16-17. The 2011 Award Winners
The 4th annual winners are
announced
19 How winning awards can help
your business
20-21. From The Apprentice to Mum:
Claire Young tells us her story
22-23. Small business challenges
26-27. How to:
Win a business award
28-29. What makes a business stand
out? CO
NTE
NTS
CO
NTE
NTS
CO
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Editor: Jane Hopkins Advertising & Editorial: [email protected]
Whilst every care has been taken to ensure that the data in this publication is accurate, neither the publisher nor its editorial contributors can accept, and hereby disclaim, any liability to any party to loss or damage caused by errors or omissions resulting from negligence, accident or any other cause.
Neither the editor, nor The Business Mum’s Journal officially endorses any advertising material included within this publication.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form - electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise - without prior permission of the publisher.
Hello and Welcome! As we leave spring behind and head into summer, it’s a great time to think about
the autumn term... And what the kids going back to school means to us. Having the
summer holidays can be a challenge at times, I know from our online community
that there are some of our mums who plan their year so well that they’re able to
take the whole of the summer off, all but answering a few emails. Ladies I salute
you all! It’s not always easy to do that though so don’t forget support is always
available—the community is open 24 hours a day...
So 2012 has been a busy year for us so far, it started with the rather humbling news
for myself; I was made MBE in the New Year’s Honours list, for services to
entrepreneurship. It was a huge surprise and I was thrilled and honoured and
completely taken aback by the whole experience. Meeting her majesty the Queen
was truly was an amazing experience for me and my family. You can read about it
in my blog ;) But it’s also the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the London 2012
Olympics - what an amazing year!
If you remember the fabulous Business and Baby Show last year, we have exciting
new developments! We have collaborated with Clarion to produce a new
Enterprise Zone at The Baby Shows. The Baby Shows are the biggest baby
exhibitions in the UK and we are thrilled to be working alongside them to produce a
business feature that will continue to provide valuable information right at the
point of when a new mum needs to know her options.
I’ll be at the shows so please do pop along to say hello.
We even have some fabulous opportunities for mums
to exhibit with us too.
In the meantime please do join our mailing list to keep
up to date with ‘mumpreneur’ activities across the UK.
And as ever, you can keep in touch with all of us at
MumsClub; via the forums, on twitter and facebook!
Take care, wishing you every business success
Jane
Jane Hopkins MBE, founder of the mumsclub group www.mumsclub.co.uk
@mumsclub | www.facebook.com/mumsclub
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So Theo, how did your SBS come
about? And what effect did you
expect it to have?
To be honest with you, I’ve not
always run big businesses; I started
off as what I like to call one man and
a dog. I used to plan everything I did
on a Sunday night; I would never go
to the office on a Monday thinking
“what am I going to do this week”, I
wanted to hit the ground running, I
wanted an advantage over everyone
else and for me, Sunday night after
the kids were in bed, it all went quite,
and I’ll be honest there was a glass of
wine poured out! And in those days
we didn’t have a study so I’d go into
the dining room, leave Mrs P in front
of the telly and I would just have a
planning session. It would be about
what I was going to do in the next
week to get new customers and grow
my business and what my
achievements were going to be.
When I started tweeting I noticed
that small business owners were
tweeting me, one of the things they
talked about was getting exposure.
When you’re trading from your back
bedroom or dining room, you want
business; you’re looking for
customers, and it reminded me of
those days sitting in my dining room
and I wondered what I could do to
help.
And I thought I’ve got all these
thousands of followers what would
be great is, and remember I can’t
endorse the businesses on SBS
because I don’t know enough about
them, but what I can do is give them
exposure. And if they waste it and
don’t use it; that’s down to them but
if they want to use it and capitalise
on the name that I’ve been very
fortunate to build up and my contacts
and leverage that out for their
business then why shouldn’t I allow
them to do it? I wish I’d had someone
to leverage me up back in my day. It
was a bit of a gamble because it could
backfire but you have to trust people.
And has it?!
Theo Paphitis is known as the straight talking and approachable Dragon from the BBC hit TV series,
Dragon’s Den, he has also built a reputation of being able to turn failing companies into highly
profitable businesses and he is a mentor to many businesses. But if you haven’t yet made your way to
the twittersphere you may not know how supportive he is of smaller businesses. Thanks to Theo,
Sunday evenings are now known to many tweeters as “small business Sunday”. Our very own Jane
Hopkins MBE, spoke to the man himself to tell us all about it...
BusinessMumsJournal.com - Be your own Boss
An Interview with: Theo Paphitis
“We got our #sbs win in
May 2011 and as a
relatively new business, it
really was a platform to a
wider audience for us. It
has opened doors to new
contacts and recognised
brand names and for that
we will always be grateful!”
@LittleLilyPadCo
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No! The result has been superb. The
first thing the winners do is tweet
about it and some send out a press
release but many have never sent a
press release in their life. So we
support the winners by helping them
to write a press release. The local
papers they don’t always want to
write stories about cats getting stuck
up trees so what a great option to
give a journalist – a local business
being picked out of thousands – it’s
nice exposure; a nice warm story. Get
your name in the press, new
customers, new contacts. And from
then onwards it’s down to how hard
you work.
So how does it help?
It’s giving small businesses a boost
early on, when you’re sat in your
back bedroom or dining room
thinking you’re on your own, nobody
to talk to, you wonder if you’re doing
the right thing; should you give up?
It’s not happening; I’m working hard
so why isn’t it happening? And it gets
to the stage when you think should
you go and get a job somewhere? But
you can’t because you have a family
to take care of so can’t actually go
and get a 9-5 job. So sometimes a
word of encouragement is all you
need to give you that extra spurt to
move forward.
Have you had those feelings of
wanting to give up?
Oh yes, lots of times.
How did you overcome that?
Perseverance, determination, the will
to be successful; to provide for my
wife & family, and my own self
esteem.
Self esteem? That’s usually what
women say to me.
Well, I’ve had to overcome a lot of
difficulties, and my self esteem was
rock bottom. You might look at me
now with all the confidence in the
world, but I promise you it was never
always like that. Being dyslexic and
basically not being able to write or
spell, made me feel down at the
bottom of the pecking order. But
achievement raises that; gives you a
confidence to take yourself forward,
to seek help, to talk to people, to
better yourself.
So that’s why I started SBS. And at
first I got 50 tweets, I sat at the
kitchen table going through them
with Mrs P, picked 6 tweets out,
wrote them down, tweeted them out
and that’s it. Took half an hour and
we made 6 peoples day!
So you do it all yourself?
Yes at first, definitely but it has grown
and I have to say that it has become
so big that now that to get it out I
have drafted in help. But no tweet
goes out without me. I am given a
shortlist based on what I am looking
for in the winners, then I go through
them, look at their websites and if
they haven’t got a good website I will
normally push them to the back of
the queue. But I go to the website,
see if I can understand what they’re
doing, whether I think my tweet will
be helpful to them and whether what
they do will be of interest. I’m also
looking for something quirky and
interesting about them, and then I’ll
tweet it.
Did you ever expect it to get as big
as it has?
Not really, it picked up a life of its
own. Down in the office, we talked
about having an event, the chief
executive of Ryman kindly offered to
sponsor the event and with a bit of
help we have got the show on the
road. The SBS has turned into a little
club now, so I’ll be meeting
everybody, we’ll have a sarnie and a
glass of pop, saying a few words
about what it is, how it should be
used, the benefits of SBS and I will be
unveiling a brand spanking new shiny
SBS website, as built by an SBS
winner. And do you know what’s so
great about it all? I’ve made so many
friends doing this and although I’ve
got sponsorship to pay for the venue,
everything else has been done by SBS
winners, and it’s been brilliant. We’ve
kept it under wraps so you’re the first
to hear about it.
So tell us more about the website
The website is a membership site for
the SBS winners, it has all the tools
they will need to help them such as
writing press releases so if you do
win, a press release will be available
immediately.
So if you are an SBS winner you will
have your own area on the website
that you can populate with your
business details. SEO-wise every
business on there is a link so all the
businesses will link to each other,
plus both Ryman and I will link to
them too. So as far as google is
concerned, your website will appear
popular and therefore will rank you
higher in the search engine results.
Therefore giving the winners some
extra momentum from search engine
optimisation.
An Interview with: Theo Paphitis
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I’m very proud to say that many of
our members have won...
I know! There are so many of the girls
who have won, and I get complaints
from the boys! It’s just that so many
of the girls are trying to balance a
family and run a business, but the
worst thing is that they end up very
much alone trying to do it, which is
what’s great about what you guys do.
Sometimes I’ve seen a disturbed
tweet from someone who’s
struggling and I’ve sent a few words
of encouragement back and I can’t
believe how excited they get from
tweet that was at first despairing and
I think wow look at her now, she’s
really excited and wish I could do that
for everyone.
It’s all about promoting yourself so if
you win, yes there will be business
advice and nuggets of information
but SBS is about promoting yourself
and stop being shy about your
business. We all have a problem in
shouting about ourselves, but I’m
trying to overcome that so more
small businesses are not shy about
promoting themselves, and become
more positive about promoting their
business. Where it goes from there, I
can’t say but its then down to them,
but I intend to give them a good start.
#ends#
Questions from our members
(aka Theo fans)
Is Mrs P entrepreneurial at all?
No! Absolutely not, she has no
interest whatsoever. When we first
met and got married, her ambition
was to be a mum, and send me out to
work in a clean shirt looking
presentable and don’t come home
until you bring the bacon in! And
that’s how the partnership has
worked. There are difficulties in
relationships where you have the
same skill sets, I think the best
relationships work when you share
complimentary skills, and ours are
very different which makes it work.
In decades to come, how would you
like to be best remembered?
To be honest, you come into this
world with nothing, you leave with
nothing and there are people far
more worthy than I who deserve to
be remembered. And unfortunately
they don’t always get remembered.
But if I had to say something I would
like to be remembered for what I am
doing now and use the time I’ve got
on this planet now that are valuable.
Life is short and I get frustrated with
people treading water waiting to get
old & die. We’re on this planet for
such a short period that you should
fill every single day with everything
you can and touch as many people as
possible, and then the lights will go
out. But they’ll go out with you
smiling and that’s the most important
thing.
You can follow Theo on
Twitter @theopaphitis and
visit the new #sbs website www.theopaphitissbs.com
Cover Feature: Theo Paphitis
Tips to win #SBS What to do...
• Tweet about your business in 140 characters or less, directed to
@TheoPaphitis, adding the hashtag #SBS.
• Tweet on a Sunday between 5.00-7.30 PM.
• Use humour and topicality if it feels natural to you.
• Feel free to add a link or web address in your tweet.
• Having a website increases your chances of being noticed.
• Ensure your profile sells your business and has a link to your website.
Include a colourful graphic.
• It helps to know the names behind the business. #SBS is for small
businesses. The personal touch is liked.
• Just tweet once in each weekly time slot.
• Look out for the re-tweets.
• If you are not chosen, don't despair and try again!
What not to do..
• Tweet repeatedly in the hope you are seen.
• Get another to tweet on your behalf or recommend you or re-tweet
in the time frame ..it does not help.
• Forget the importance of your own website. If it is not yet
functioning, it is of little interest to others.
• Nag or whinge if you don't get a re-tweet - it's not a good look!
• If you have won before, don't try a second time! You are stealing an
opportunity from someone else!
Michelle Wall aka @shellibobbins
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Business Awards;Business Awards;Business Awards;Business Awards;
nominating yourself... nominating yourself... nominating yourself... nominating yourself...
Do you? Or Don’t you?Do you? Or Don’t you?Do you? Or Don’t you?Do you? Or Don’t you?
Have you ever considered
nominating yourself for an
award and then decided against
it as you thought it wasn’t the
right thing to do?
Well it may surprise you to know
that many people do actually
nominate themselves. It could be
because they daren’t ask anyone
else to nominate them or they
are scared no one else will.
Whatever their reasons people
do actually do it. Here are some
opinions on why it is ok to
nominate yourself for an award.
Kez Luckett from Mummys Maid
told us, “I think it is ok to
nominate yourself for an award,
because you know your business
inside and out but do feel that it
is better if you have been
nominated by someone else as
the person nominating will be
looking at your business with
fresh eyes and will have their
own personal reasons as to why
they think you should be entered
and win.”
Caroline Sparks of Turtle Tots
has a similar opinion, “Sometimes
it's necessary to nominate
yourself - You, more than anyone,
know what's involved in your
business. And why not? The
ability to self-promote is a key
skill for any entrepreneur!”
Jenny McLaughlan of Gumigem
also reinforces this point, “Yes...
no one knows you better than
yourself, no one else knows the
hours and work you put in... so
who better to tell people than
you!”
Jo from Bookings for You tells us,
“Yes - if you're running a business
on your own, if you don't take
the initiative to nominate
yourself, there is a danger that no
one else will. Others may simply
not be aware of the awards. You
need to ensure that you take the
initiative to get the recognition
that you deserve. However, don't
be afraid to ask other people to
nominate you. Ask them in such a
way that it doesn't put them on
the spot - I suggest sending an
email to people you have worked
closely with, telling them about
the awards and asking whether
they would nominate you. They
will have a fresh perspective on
what your strengths are and you
will give the judges a more well-
rounded perspective on your
business from a variety of
different angles.”
Helen Cousins of Accent Print
shared, "Certainly - you've got to
be in it to win it! Even being
shortlisted helps gain recognition
and endorses what you have
achieved."
So it seems that as long as you
are nominated, it really doesn’t
matter whether it was by you or
someone else, the main point is
that you were, and you’re in with
a chance of winning! Go for it :) Go for it :) Go for it :) Go for it :)
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16 16
As the original mumpreneur
award creators, we continue
to tweak and for 2011, as well
as the old favourites, the
efforts of one particular high
profile entrepreneurial mum
lead us to create a new
category...
From over 300 nominations
for the 5 main categories,
these where then whittled
down to 100 shortlisted,
leaving the judges a hard job
to choose the top 4 for each
category and then the
winners from those. But they
managed it and here are the
winners of the 4th Annual
Business Mum Awards 2011:
The Impact Award Sponsored by
TheMumpreneurShop
Who is a new business who
promises to be one to watch in
the coming years?
Fiona Wood
Naturally Cool Kids
The Innovator Award Sponsored by
YUUworld
Who has shown incredible
innovation
during 2011?
Louise Carr
Safe Dreams
BusinessMumsJournal.com - Be your own Boss
The Business Mum awards were launched back in 2008 and have continued to grow
year on year. We pride ourselves on recognising and rewarding those women who have
started businesses and achieved success in a short space of time. Past winners have
gone on to great success including the ultimate goal for many, in having their products
stocked in high street stores and even more exciting in overseas.
We are now proud to announce the winners of the 4th annual Business Mum Awards, in
association with My Family Club.
Business Mum Award winners
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Advocate Award Sponsored by
YourLittleMonkey
Who is quite simply; a
distinguished supporter of
other mums in business
Suzanne Dibble
Lawyers 4 Mumpreneurs
Resilience Award Sponsored by
MyFamilyClub
Who has overcome the odds
to create an award winning
business
Jenny McLaughlan
Laughing Lamb Creations
Business Mum of
the Year Sponsored by SnoozeShade
Who has excelled in all
areas, is supportive,
inspirational, AND running a
superb business...
Tracey-Jane Hughes
Bras 4 Mums
Nominate for 2012:
Wildcard Award Sponsored by MumsClub
Who may not have met all
winning criteria yet stood out
as a winner
Elaine Lamb
Little Sheep Learning
Personality Business
Mum of the Year Sponsored by MumsClub
A high profile business
woman, with a certain twitter
hashtag was nominated, and
a new category was born...
Jacqueline Gold
Ann Summers and her #WOW on twitter.
Free work at home advice, support, and online networking - MumsClub.co.uk
Business Mum Award winners
THANK YOU! To everybody who took the time to enter or nominate another, it is very
much appreciated. Thank you also to our judges; both past award winners
and our headline sponsor for two consecutive years; My Family Club.
You can now nominate yourself or another mum for the 2012 awards;
Go to www.businessmumawards.com to enter. Good luck!
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awards
You may be wondering what actually winning an award will do for your business. It can have a massive
impact upon your self-esteem and make you feel recognised and appreciated but will it actually make any
difference to your business? We asked a selection of business mums what they had found had happened
to their business after winning awards and how it had helped.
Rachel Jones of Fit N Fun Kids said, “Winning regional
and national awards has promoted Fit 'N' Fun Kids both
nationally and regionally as high quality childcare
providers who value their team, listen to their
customers and show they are leaders in their
industry. It has also helped promotion of myself as a
successful women in business and has given me a
platform to promote myself, my business, working
mums, as well as giving me opportunities to challenge
government on change to help make childcare more
affordable for families.”
Raising a business’s profile is a way to achieve goals
you have set for both your business and personally and
this can be helped greatly by winning an award.
Helen Cousins of Accent Print said, "Winning awards
has raised the profile of my company and given us
credibility with major retailers." Credibility is an
important factor especially if you are competing in a
highly competitive market. It is what could give you the
edge of your competitors.
You may also find that just by being nominated for an
award could have an impact upon your business.
Karen Holden of A City Law Firm tells us, “Being
nominated and then short listed has helped boost the
staff's morale and clients have commented on this so
all in all it has boosted the firm's goodwill and
reputation amongst clients and web visitors but more
importantly helped my team feel appreciated.”
Seeing that others have noticed what an excellent
service you provide and how dedicated you are to your
business can be as much a reward as winning!
Jo at Bookings for You said, “Besides the obvious
publicity that being nominated for an award
generates, just being nominated for an award gives
any new clients trust in the service I offer to them. It
offers an extra 'seal of approval ' on what I do.” It goes
to show that even an award nomination can emphasise
how good your service or product is and give it that
added authentication to attract new customers.
Caroline Sparks from Turtle Tots reinforces this
opinion, “Being shortlisted for two MumsClub awards
and a finalist for the MumsClub Impact award has
increased the credibility of our Turtle Tots brand,
making it even more attractive to potential licences’.
It's something we are very proud of.” Simply receiving
a nomination and also being a finalist can add another
level to a business and has a great impact on the
growth of your business.
So not only winning awards has a big impact on your
business, simply being nominated or even shortlisted
can add credibility, give a feeling of worth and improve
moral for everyone in the business.
Free work at home advice, support, and online networking - MumsClub.co.uk
help your
business?
How can
20 20
Part one: BABY PRE-BIRTH
Please show me any business
owner during the recession who
isn’t working around the clock to
keep their venture thriving! It’s
often commented that I’ve done
well for a relatively young age
and asked for my magic answer.
I’m afraid there isn’t one apart
from the fact that I work
incredibly hard, take calculated
risks, like pushing myself and am
military organised with my diary
& time. Friends do joke that they
have to be ‘scheduled in’, I am
glued to a blackberry and my
racking up of air and train miles
with my extensive travel makes
them feel queasy.
Knowing all of this I suppose it is
understandable how most people
were in complete shock, and
disbelief, at my pregnancy news.
Even I was in a state of denial
until approx. 20 weeks, only
when physical evidence of the
main event started to expand
producing lumps and bumps in
new places did I accept things
were changing. Ironically for
someone who lives to a strict
diary, the thing is my pregnancy
was not planned, I felt a little
tired, maybe run down, flu
approaching, never did I think I
had a new person on board!
As a self-confessed control freak I
think the hardest thing I’ve found
with pregnancy is surrendering
myself to ‘body hijack’ whilst
growing Baby Young enjoys the
spa like facilities and constant
room service. The first 4 months
was like being hit by a train.
Constant sickness, a collapsed
pelvis and a trapped nerve
forcing me into hospital. Being
sick in office bins, supermarket
carrier bags and out of the car
has not been my finest hour!
Despite all of this I’ve only had
two days cancelled of external
work. When you have to do
t h i n g s t h r o u g h s h e e r
determination, grit and will
power you do it!
Now I’m past the halfway mark
my mind is very much focussed
on my June arrival and making
BusinessMumsJournal.com - Be your own Boss
My story: Claire Young, The Apprentice to Mum
As a busy entrepreneur and nicknamed a ‘Rottweiler’ by Lord
Sugar during her apprentice days, Claire Young is often perceived
as a tough, ruthless and focussed business woman. However, she
is also 32, a young woman and constantly striving for better work-
life balance.
Claire‘s first baby is due this summer
so we asked her to share her initial
thoughts on how the transition from
established business woman to a
first time mum will effect her.
From Lord Sugar’s Apprentice
“Rottweiler” to
Dynamic Mum
Claire Young shares her story so far...
21 21 Free work at home advice, support, and online networking - MumsClub.co.uk
plans to ensure things run
smoothly. The first question I am
asked by most when they see my
bump is ‘What is going to happen
to your business’ as if by having a
baby the working world is about
to end! School Speakers will
continue to function. I am slowly
down my personal diary with
limited travel during June, July
and August and relocating an
office to home. Nowadays with
technology you can work
anywhere, anytime so I plan to be
tapping away whilst my new-born
sleeps. I am incredibly lucky to
have a brilliant support network
in the form of super mum aka
Grandma Young and a wonderful
personal assistant Emily.
I am constantly offered words of
wisdom from experienced Mums.
I listen and take on board their
comments, yet also appreciate
we’re all different. Throughout
my career I’ve set my own
benchmark and I plan to do the
same for motherhood. I zone out
of any negativity, scare stories or
general moaning. Call me naïve
but PMA has got me to where I
am today so it’s clearly doing
something OK for me.
I enjoy the satisfaction and
stimulation I gain from running
my business and I’m desperate to
keep my brain active. I am also
desperate to keep my identity as
a professional. I am not a typical
goo-ga-ga kind of person and will
not be spending hours decorating
a nursery or debating which
bunting to buy. The idea of baby
singing classes feels me with
terror! I find conversations about
nappies, milk and vomit very
boring. It’s safe to say you will
not see me as part of the Yummy
Mummy coffee morning club
attended back to back baby
classes. I intend to be a very
modern, independent Mummy. I
believe business and babies do
mix, you can have it all with a
little compromise and a lot of
hard work!
C l a i r e ’ s n e w w e b s i t e
www.dynamicmum.com will
follow Claire's new business life
with baby in tow and we look
forward to hearing more after
her Baby Young makes an
appearance!
Part two: BABY POST-BIRTH will
be featured soon.
My story: Claire Young, The Apprentice to Mum
22 22 BusinessMumsJournal.com - Be your own Boss
Setting up a business and
working for you is a dream for
most people. Being able to do
something which you love and
pick and choose when and
where you work sounds like the
ideal solution to the stresses of
juggling a job and a family, but
this is not always the case.
Starting your own business can
be one of the most stressful
things you do. But it can also be
one of the most rewarding things
too but before you start you need
to remove those rose tinted
glasses and realise there are
going to be obstacles in the way
as nothing ever runs smoothly.
Cash Flow is King
One of the biggest challenges
small businesses face is cash flow.
This is a major reason why a lot
of small businesses don’t make it
past their first birthday. Keeping
on top of your cash flow is
important, Helen Cousins of
Accent Print said, "Without doubt
cash flow has been our biggest
hurdle, especially when a major
distributor collapsed owing us
£30,000. Thankfully I was able to
sell shares to people who
believed in my vision. Their
support was invaluable both
emotionally and financially."
Finding ways to balance your
cash flow issues even if they are
not your fault is what will help
your business succeed.
The work life balance
Another challenge a lot of
women face when starting a
business around their family is
juggling their work/life balance. It
is easy to devote so much time to
your new business and neglect
the reason you probably started
it in the first place, to be around
to spend quality time with your
family. Jo from Bookings for You
had the same worries, “The
biggest challenge for me to date
has been ensuring that I have
managed to successfully launch
and grow a business without it
encroaching on the family.
Having had the luxury of being
able to spend nearly 5 years as a
'stay at home mum' it was vital to
me that I managed the business
around the children and didn't
'eat into' the family time that is
so important to me. I was careful
in choosing a business idea that
would allow me to do this -
having an online business gives
me this flexibility and allows me
to change my work pattern
during school holidays.”
What challenges
do small businesses face?
Jo from Bookings For You;
“The biggest challenge for me to date has
been ensuring that I have managed to
successfully launch and grow a business
without it encroaching on the family.”
Feature: Small business challenges
23 23
Also on these same lines, a new
addition to the family can be a
challenge even without the
added stresses of running your
own business. Alexander Atkins
of the Ultimate Baby Shower
company told us, “The biggest
challenge was when my second
daughter was born and trying to
find the time to run the business
whilst managing a toddler and a
new-born. It was so tough that I
shut the website down for 6
months because I couldn’t cope.
Thankfully I had the resilience to
switch it back on again once I’d
mastered the new routines
although it mainly meant working
evenings when my oldest
daughter was asleep.” Finding a
solution can seem out of sight for
a start but sometimes if you take
a step back and some time to
think, you will come up with
something that can work and
solve the challenge.
Creating a niche
Starting a business in a niche that
is quite new can be a challenge in
itself but also having to contend
with people saying it won’t work
can cause two responses. You can
either admit it won’t work and
look for something else or do
what Kathleen Redmond of Slugs
and Snails did. Kathleen told us
her biggest challenge has been,
“Striving to build a business that
people often chuckled at. It was
very hard at first to admit I own a
"boy’s tights" company and when
it was just an ambition I didn't
know just how much support I
would receive. I think the secret
is if you as a parent need/want or
would use an idea you have then
you can safely assume many
other parents would too.”
Technology
We are so reliant on technology
nowadays that when things go
wrong it can cause major
problems. Sally Hall of Dorothy
and Theodore shared with us a
technological challenge they
encountered, “Our website went
down for over 48 hours due to a
problem with our server. This
coincided with a significant
marketing campaign we had
invested in. Our efforts to build
strong, personable relationships
with other companies were
rewarded when they supported
us and helped spread the word
and reassurance to our
customers that this was purely a
temporary hitch.” This point also
shows the importance of building
strong relationships with other
businesses to help when things
don’t always go to plan.
Defining Roles
Finding your role in your business
can be quite challenging too. This
can become more apparent when
you start to employ people, as
you are not only the business
owner; you have a variety of
other roles within the business
you have to take on, unless you
can outsource some of these
jobs. Kathleen Holden of A City
Law Firm said, “Many businesses
face problems from cash flow to
poor staff to the recession and
we faced it all but we have
continued to grow and develop
because of a strong team. Biggest
challenge is keeping on top as a
business owner as being a small
firm I am HR, Lawyer, Office
Manager, IT engineer , head of
marketing and counsellor - it’s a
hard act to follow”
Confidence
The one aspect that came up
time and time again was whether
we believe that we can actually
do it. Believing in ourselves and
knowing that we can achieve our
goals seems to be the one that
holds many women back. So
learn to trust yourself and your
ability.
So, before you decide to start
your own business, take heed
and if you are aware of the
challenges that could be ahead,
your business is more likely to
succeed.
Free work at home advice, support, and online networking - MumsClub.co.uk
Feature: Small business challenges
24 24 BusinessMumsJournal.com - Be your own Boss
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BusinessMumsJournal.com - Be your own Boss
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25 25 Free work at home advice, support, and online networking - MumsClub.co.uk
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she takes a holistic approach to helping
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26 26
You may be wondering why you
would want to enter awards.
Like others before you, you may
well be assuming there’s little
chance you will win, and guess
what? You’re right if you don’t
even try!
Through not entering awards,
you are starving your business of
not only the recognition for all
the hard work you put in and the
excellent service you provide to
your clients or customers, but
also excellent publicity
opportunities and the chance to
brag about what you do and how
it is different from your
competitors.
No matter what size the awards
you are applying for, an award is
an award, and the recognition
and publicity they can bring will
improve your businesses
exposure and most probably
increase the interest in your
business from potential
customers.
Jenny McLaughlan of Gumigem,
winner of the Resilience award at
the Business Mums Awards
2011, offers these words of
advice on how to win awards,
“you’ve just got to try...enter
everything, be honest, be
yourself”. This is true, the more
awards you enter, the less
daunting they will seem and you
will in turn find it easier to
promote your business. Rachel
Jones of Fun N Fit Kids has a
similar view on how to win
awards, “It’s important to tell the
judges your story, what is unique,
what is inspirational about your
story, your business?”
Your uniqueness is what
separates you from your
competition and is what will
make you stand out when
entering awards.
Kez Luckett of Mummys Maid
has some great points on how to
win awards:
• Apply for an award, you
have to be in it to win it as they say
• Choose business awards
which are relevant to you and your company.
• Try to keep a clear idea of
what your businesses USP ( unique Selling Point) is, what makes you stand out from the crowd and build your application around that
• Review your business in
depth especially if you have not done it for a while. Assess where your business is currently, where you want to take it and how you aim to achieve that within set timelines.
• Ensure you keep within the
BusinessMumsJournal.com - Be your own Boss
How to win awards for your business
Winning awards
...top tips from those who know.
Awards are a superb way to earn valuable media
attention for your business, there are lots for you to
enter so what’s stopping you?
We spoke to some past award winners to see how they
did it.
27 27
How to win awards for your business
Free work at home advice, support, and online networking - MumsClub.co.uk
amount of words asked for when writing your application.
• Include all the information
they have asked for
• Do your re search;
understand who your judges are and what their interests are.
Check and double check for
spelling errors, your application
should be perfect.
Your application is the first thing
that the judges will see; this is
how they will get a feel about
you and your business so you
need to make a great first
impression. Having typos and not
writing what they are expecting
in the application may make
them think that you are not
serious about your business or
not really bothered about
winning. Making a strong first
impression is essential to even
be considered for shortlisting let
alone winning an award. Also
ensure you have read any notes
that accompany the application
as this will tell you everything
that the judges are looking for
and the format in which the
application needs to be
completed.
Kathleen Redmond of Slugs and
Snails say’s “Have a product/
service that is unique or from an
alternative angle that grabs
attention. Utilize social media
because mummy bloggers are an
amazing source of support and
recognition and not forgetting
they are also your target market/
audience so their opinion really
counts.” Social media is a great
way of getting support if you
require voting or nominating for
an award. Blogging and social
media platforms such as
Facebook and Twitter are great
ways to generate interest and
support for your application as
well as letting other businesses
know about awards they can
enter and how to help you gain
votes. On a similar note,
Alexandra Atkins of The Ultimate
Baby Shower tells us, “The best
way to win awards is to get
yourself known to the public on a
personal level rather than hiding
behind a business. These days
people love the personal aspect
so get yourself on as many social
media networks as possible,
especially Twitter and Facebook
and start getting to know your
customers.”
Another reason to enter and win
awards is to progress with new
ideas within your business. Karen
Holden of A City Law Firm says,
“To be honest this has not been
something the firm has focused
on; it has been more about
pleasing our clients to get repeat
business. However, since we have
been fortunate to be nominated
recently for three we have
realised that we have taken
pioneering steps in various issues
so we feel striving for this
recognition will now enable us to
attract the right kind of interest
to further help our promotion of
developing laws. So we will
continue to be proactive and
unique where we can.” By being
nominated and winning awards
you are able to see that your
business is achieving what it has
set out to do and can help show
how to move forwards.
So apart from the recognition of
winning an award and the
publicity that it can give you,
there are a lot of other reasons
why winning an award can help
both you and your business.
Opportunities such as speaking
at events and being seen as an
expert in your niche can also
come hand in hand with award
wins, giving a new dimension to
your business and providing
another platform to attract new
customers and push your
business forward in the future.
www.businessmumawards.com
28 28 BusinessMumsJournal.com - Be your own Boss
What makes a business
stand out from the crowd
(and get nominated for an award?)
There must be some secret as to why some
businesses are always up for awards and others
aren’t. Maybe it is because they all nominate
themselves as they know they are that good or
may be it is because they are that outstanding
compared to their competitors they are always
going to be nominated or even win.
We asked some of our lovely
members to give their opinion
on why they thought their
business was nominated or
chosen as a winner.
Charlotte Jamme of Mai Tui said
on being nominated for awards, “I
think one of the main reasons
that we have been nominated is
that our bags make people’s lives
easier and save people time – and
everyone wants that don’t they?
They bring order to the chaos of a
women’s handbag thereby
making their lives more organised
too. Even if we can save just a few
minutes time when it comes to
retrieving items from their
handbag, people are grateful for
that in today’s hectic world! Add
to this, the fact that our bags can
be used in so many situations,
from travelling to, shopping, trips
to the gym or work, it’s easy to
see why they are so popular.”
Sally Hall of Dorothy and
Theodore told us, “In under 6
months of trading we have built a
business from scratch which has
met and exceeded many of our
expectations and achieved the
support and recognition of a large
number of other companies,
organisations, peers and
customers. We also have a
business which offers something a
bit different and special!”
Caroline Sparks of Turtle Tots
added, “I think Turtle Tots has the
right product at the right time.
We have three important USPs
which differentiate us from our
competition, and we love and live
our brand values.
We offer the opportunity to run a
family-friendly and flexible
business, and prove that it can be
done! Gaby and I both have
young children, and in fact Gaby
had her third child in February!
The UK is in a recession, and lots
of people are being made
redundant - we offer a low-risk
business opportunity for people
who are keen to run their own
business, but using a proven
formula and with lots of support
from people who have "been
there and done it".
Beth from Little Doers shared
why she thinks her business has
been shortlisted for awards, “I am
tenacious and would suggest that
it is because I started a business
in what most people would think
of as ridiculous circumstances. I
am very ill, severely disabled, I
have a baby and a 3 year old who
has recently been diagnosed as
having special needs and yet I still
found a way with my husband
who is also my carer to start and
run a business during a
recession.”
Sarah Bosley of Occasional
Assistants commented on why
she felt they were nominated for
a MumsClub award, “We were
nominated and shortlisted for a
MumsClub award despite setting
up our business just four months
earlier, last November. I believe
the fact that our business helps a
variety of people was the main
reason for us being shortlisted.
Caroline and Gaby of Turtle Tots
What makes a business stand out from the crowd?
29 29
What makes a business stand out from the crowd?
Free work at home advice, support, and online networking - MumsClub.co.uk
We provide a perfect solution for
mums considering getting back
into the work place, without them
having to compromise on the job
they do or the amount of time
they dedicate to their families.
With ‘the cost of a nappy a day’
principle, we have ensured we are
open and available to everyone.
We also help business, in this
tough economic climate, by
providing ad hoc, freelance
workers, which means they do
not have the overheads
associated with employing full
time, permanent staff. The fact
that our members all reached
very high levels within their
chosen professions before they
turned freelance ensures the
businesses using them get the
best possible service.”
Faye Hurley of Eden Aromatics
said of her MumsClub
nomination, “I believe the reason
I was probably nominated and
shortlisted was because of my
passion for helping others
overcome the abuse I had
suffered, which was the driving
force for me to set up Eden
Aromatics. I truly believe in
turning a negative into a positive,
and believe there is great power
in that. Eden Aromatics products
are used to raise the issue of
domestic abuse, signpost women
to relevant organisations, and
support those organisations
financially. Eden will also provide
job opportunities for survivors of
abuse, as the company grows. In
its first few months, Eden gained
an award and recognition for its
positive social purpose. The
products themselves will also help
women to feel great about them
too, as they contain the benefits
of pure essential oils. Love, Joy,
Peace, Freedom and Truth are
things that every person should
have, but unfortunately not all
women experience - Eden wants
to give them back to those
women, but in a beautiful, fun
way - through our products and
our company.”
Finally Jo of Bookings for You
added, “I think the award reflects
the 'extra mile' that I go in the
business, whether it’s the number
of hours I put in which has
ensured a fast but safe pace of
growth, or whether it's the extra
mile that I go to ensure I deliver a
good service to my clients. I
recognise that planning a holiday
doesn't fall within office hours so
I'm happy to deal with
enquiries at 9 o'clock on a
Saturday night if I have to!”
Top Tips!
• Have a product or service that solves a problem.
• Offer something unique; something that no other
business has offered before, or do it in a different way.
• Go that “extra mile” for your customers, make sure your
customer service skills are one of your priorities
• Believe in yourself and your business.
Faye Hurley of Eden Aromatics
30 30
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31 31 Free work at home advice, support, and online networking - MumsClub.co.uk
32 32