Business Mum's Journal Edition 8: Theo

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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

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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

4 4 BusinessMumsJournal.com - Be your own Boss

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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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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


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.


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.


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


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...


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


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.


Feature: Small business challenges


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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


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


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


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?


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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