Feature Interviews
Surround yourself with people you trust to tell you the truth at all times. You need that support network to help guide you, be a sounding board for you and above all to be a positive influence that you need to take your vision of the company forward.
Names: Cheryl Ryder and Gillian McDonald
Names and ages of children: Sophie 4, Craig 2, Callum 1
Name of Business: Dribble Delights
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Website: www.dribbledelights.co.uk
Crowdfunding website: www.bloomvc.com/project/Dairy-Free
1. Tell us about your background
I’m a web designer and marketer and Gillian currently works in an International bank and has a background on HR. I’ve worked on some major brands in the past and have a real passion for marketing. Between the two of us we have some great business skills. Gillian has always had a passion for cooking and has that amazing ability of walking into a kitchen, having a few ingredients and flinging them all together and making something yummy!
Through having three Dairy Intolerant children and frustration at the lack of Dairy Free choice for baby food we decided to embark on our Dribble Delights journey together in October 2011. We are currently engaged with a top Scottish University to get our products to an internationally recognised Dairy Free standard as we know the importance of building up a relationship of trust with our target audience and hope to launch officially in April 2012.
2. How and why did you start your business?
Dribble Delights has been created to fulfil a need in the Free From market. Dribble Delights want to bring to the market place a range of baby main meals for ages 1 to 3 and a range of snacks, called Dribble Nibbles for ages 1-5, aimed at the parties and treats market.
Due to my personal experience of living with three Dairy Intolerant children I struggled in providing my children with a variety of foods. I fell into the trap of feeding my children ‘safe’ foods that I knew were good for their tummies but lacked variety. It didn’t get any easier for me as each child came along and the signs were there that they were Dairy Intolerant. It wasn’t until my sister stepped in to help that it got better. She has that amazing ability of stepping into a kitchen, flinging a few things together and making an amazing meal! She started to make loads of yummy food that my kids loved! The best was when she made a character princess birthday cake for my daughter’s 4th birthday. Sophie was ecstatic and so was I
3. Were there any challenges? Either when starting up or now?
We’re still at the early stages of our business but with such amazing and exciting opportunities and challenges coming our way, 2012 is planned as the year of our official launch. We want to see our products in local supermarkets to try and help other parents with children who are Dairy Intolerant.
Our plans are ambitious but we know we are aiming high, you have to, and we’re doing this to help other parents and hopefully taking away some stress they may feel over nutrition, variety and taste of the foods they are feeding their children.
The biggest challenge we have right now is time management. There are never enough hours in the day to do everything we need to get done, but we work around this by planning everything to the max!
4. How did you fund your business?
We’re currently embarking on a Crowdfunding venture with Bloom VC. http://www.bloomvc.com/project/Dairy-Free
Crowdfunding is a new way of looking at getting essential funds for your company while offering ‘rewards’ or ‘incentives’ for people to make a promise of funds. The easiest way to look at it is you have a marketing avenue to engage with potential consumers of your products, while getting your marketing message out while raising those essential funds to take your company forward.
There are two ways to Crowdfund, through Venture Capitalists, where people get a share of equity of your company in exchange for funds or the way we decided to go through Bloom VC (Venture Catalyst) where we retain equity but offer rewards for promises.
We need to raise these funds to help for a variety of reasons. We want to engage with our target audience and we’re offering rewards for people to engage with our tasting panels. This is essential research for us and will help us decide what products to launch first.
We’re also offering rewards of actually naming up to 5 limited editions of our Dribble Nibble snacks, and for this we want to reach out and interact with our consumers. We are a company born out of frustration at the lack of foods for children that need to be Dairy Free and we want our consumers to feel ownership of Dribble Delights and to have an active role in making available what they want to see on supermarkets shelves.
7. What advice would you give to other mumpreneurs about funding?
Plan, Plan, Plan….Research…and Research some more. There are lots of opportunities out there but don’t expect them to find you. You need to look for them. Networking will also help in learning from others about their funding situations. Don’t be scared to talk about money, it’s probably the most important part of running a business after coming up with the idea in the first place!
8. How do you manage your working day with your childcare arrangements?
It’s a great juggling act, I have to be honest, but I have a great family network around me that makes all this possible. I also don’t get a lot of sleep! Seriously, though, we know that the hard work and determination will pay off in the long term and the children’s ages help too. Being so young they are great at adapting to situations and will happily spend afternoons at their grandparents and having all the same bedtime it gives me those few hours at night to really get things done.
Meetings can be interesting but I am honest with everyone and with them knowing my situation I don’t feel guilty when meeting’s get cut short as I leave to do the nursery run! I regularly have to answer phone calls then deal with feeding and changing nappies, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. This business gives me the chance to spend time with my children while trying to help others in the same situation.
9. What projects are you working on now/ have you worked on recently?
Being a mother who has lived with Dairy Intolerant children for the past 4 years, I know and understand exactly the feelings, the emotions and the life changes it can have on the family. It’s no longer easy to eat out, or visit friends, planning has become key and knowing where you are going and what food will be available has become a part of life.
Having this life experience makes Dribble Delights different from others as there is no dedicated complete range of Dairy Free main meals and snacks exclusively for ages 1-5. We know what this life is like and we want to help others in the same position. We’re planning to launch later this year.
We’re concentrating on our Crowdfunding at the moment but also keeping on track with our co-ordination of our academic research and gaining our internationally recognised standard of Dairy Free food.
10. Who or what inspires you?
My children are our inspiration and drive to make Dribble Delights a success. They make each day interesting and challenging as life is pretty busy with the ages that they are at. However, they are the harshest critics and if they don’t like the food they are pretty vocal about making sure we know about it!
11. What do you hope to be doing in five years’ time?
We hope to have, in five year’s time, our range of Dribble Delights baby main meals and Dribble Nibbles party snacks in major supermarket stores across the UK.
12. What advice would you give other mums thinking of starting a business?
Surround yourself with people you trust to tell you the truth at all times. You need that support network to help guide you, be a sounding board for you and above all to be a positive influence that you need to take your vision of the company forward.
Dream big, plan small bite size steps to take you forward and execute the plan to precise detail but sometimes you just gotta take that leap of faith!
Believe and Do!
Believe in yourself and have a go. Keep your eye on the finances but don’t over think it or you may never start.!
“To try and fail is better that to have never tried at all”
Your name: Elizabeth Walters
Names and ages of children: Charlie Aged 3
Name of Business: Jellybox
Geographical Location: Monmouthshire, South Wales
Website: www.jellyboxuk.co.uk
Tell us your background
After leaving school in 1989 with good grades, I studied at Art college for several years before embarking on the world of work. Using none of my qualifications gained at school or college I decided on a career in Sales and have been doing various Sales related roles ever since.
I have worked for large London organisations and for some Key luxury brands. It was whilst working for a luxury cosmetic company in London that I met my husband and decided that it was time to settle down some roots and return to rural Monmouthshire in South Wales. I was able to get another Sales position elsewhere which although still in London allowed me to be based at home several days a week. Even after Charlie was born in December 2008 this proved to be a workable solution as it allowed me to drop off and collect him from Nursery at least 3 times a week.
It is now December 2011 and my husband and I are expecting our second little boy in just two weeks time on Christmas Eve 2011. It was when I discovered I was pregnant back in April of this year that I knew I needed to set the wheels in motion for my business idea. I knew it was “now or never” as I needed the funds from my current job to help to make my plans a reality.
How & why did you start JellyboxUK
When Charlie was born in December 2008 I received lots of gifts, as every new Mum to be does & a gift is always lovely to receive but I found I had received many gifts that I would simply not use for various reasons. I wanted to provide an easy & affordable way for friends & family to buy a gift that both Mum and baby would be delighted with. I wanted the gifts to be functional, practical & beautiful.
The JellyboxUK Service allows you to mix and match a range of quality clothing & soft toys into a beautiful Keepsake box and can be posted directly to the recipient in striking packaging. This keepsake box is designed to be re- used for many years to come storing all the child’s early memories and photo’s. All outer packaging is fully biodegradable.
All our clothing products are 100% cotton and 90% of the range is organic jersey cotton . Clothes at this young age should be comfy and soft as all babies skin is delicate as it has not yet been exposed to the environment & for my little boy who suffered with eczema , as many children do ,is was made all the worse. I have found Organic Cotton clothing to be a godsend for his skin and although he is now 3 and his condition has considerably improved we continue to use Organic cotton products as they are incredibly soft and kind to his skin.
Our comforters, blankets, rattles & books make lovely additions to the gift box and provide a nice balance for the gift to be part toy and part clothing.
Were there any Challenges? Either now or when starting up?
Making the decision to start was hard as I knew it was going to be tough to balance a full time job & a toddler with starting a new business , as well as being pregnant. However,I really believed in the concept of what I was doing & decided that it was better to have a go that always look back wishing I had tried and wondering what If?
Once I got started I quickly realised how much I didn’t know about the internet and the world of IT. I brought a book about running an on line business and although it did not have all the answers it did guide me to questions I should be asking and what I should be researching. I took this as my guide and then I took as much advice as I could from every person I came into contact with. This is still the case. I welcome feedback good and bad from customers, suppliers and the general public as it is only by asking other’s opinions that you can make improvements.
My other challenge both now and when starting up is lack of time. During both the set up time and once we began trading dividing my time between all that needed to be done and making sure Charlie did not suffer has been a challenge & has meant many long evening’s working into the early hours. I would be lying if I said I did not have the odd day when I get extremely tired!
Do you use Freelancers?
The business started trading on line on October 1st this year & we have been lucky enough to have had the benefit of good sales because of the run up to Christmas. Although it has been busy, I am the only one currently working within the business although I have enlisted the help of Family and Friends for the “Post office run’s” and Various “Christmas Market’s”
How did you fund your business
The business has been funded from Savings and also from my salary from my main job until I went on maternity leave on November 1st
What advice would you give to others about funding?
Not to invest anything you can not afford to loose if the worst should happen. Also to keep a clear eye on what you spend money on. Is it necessary at this moment in your business or could it perhaps come with time?
How do you manage your business around your childcare arrangements
Charlie goes to a private Nursery 3 days a week and is now home with me 2 days a week. Before my maternity leave started I also had significant help from both sets of grandparents without whom I could not be doing what I am doing.
Once the new little one arrives shortly we will need to re group and find a new workable solution but for the next few months I am looking forward to my new baby as a priority and am expecting many a late night working to stay on top of the business as I am passionate about JellyboxUK and am determined that I can work through the next few months successfully
What projects are you working on now?
We have achieved stage one of our plans by getting the website up and functional and getting trading in time for Christmas. Plans for the immediate future involve pushing for a Corporate gifting Market and also to work on our SEO to promote our site within the google rankings. We are working on marketing in the right places & becoming the place to go for Luxury Newborn gifts at affordable prices.
Who or what inspires you?
I am inspired by a desire to provide the very best for my children . I also hope that they will be inspired by my work ethic and will themselves always strive to be the very best they can be.
What do you hope to be doing in five year’s time
I would hope that within 5 years JellyboxUK is going to be synonymous with the perfect Children’s luxury gift. I would like to be running a successful profitable business.
What advice would you give to other mums thinking of starting a business?
Believe in yourself and have a go. Keep your eye on the finances but don’t over think it or you may never start.!
“To try and fail is better that to have never tried at all”
If you believe in what you do and what you want to achieve, do it, if you don’t you will regret it for the rest of your life. There is no such thing as failure if you have given it your best shot and when things go wrong put it down to experience, move on and make the right choice next time
Names and ages of children: Joshi, 6 and Finn, 3
Name of Business: Quack Quack Moo
Geographical Location: London
Website: www.quackquackmoo.co.uk
Tell us about your background:
Since the age of 18 I had studied fashion and textiles gaining certificates, diploma’s, City & Guilds and a 1st class honours degree in Womenswear Fashion & Fashion Business. Ever since I was young I would customise clothing and make garments so it was a natural transition to want to work within the industry.
How and why did you start your business?
After gaining my degree I thought I would land the perfect job in the Fashion sector however as fate would have it throughout the 3 years of studying I had Joshi in my first year of the degree and then was pregnant with Finn in my final year when I was putting together my catwalk show! I thought that by juggling a degree, a baby and being pregnant as well as a relationship and home life, I showed any potential employer that I was determined, able to prioritise and had the skills needed to work as a Fashion designer, however time and time again I was turned down for jobs. It was only when I denied being pregnant or having a toddler that I was offered a contract; instantly I realised that what I wanted wasn’t going to happen now I had a family; it made me angry, upset and disappointed so I turned my back on womens design and set about going it alone and starting my own childrens brand.
Were there any challenges? Either when starting up or now?
There are always challenges. It doesn’t matter what you do in life if there isn’t a challenge or something to overcome, it will get boring. Having your own business is great because you are doing something different everyday; making mistakes, learning from them and adding another skill to your list. The hardest part is making the decision to throw everything you’ve got, at what is really a whim to start with. It’s realising you’re not just Mummy or a Wife, you’re both of those things and those two things are what makes Mumpreneurs so good at what they do – they’re ‘normal’ down to earth people with a passion for what they do.
As a small business, do you have employees or do you hire Freelancers?
Yes, we hire freelancers rather than full time employee’s as it is more economical and gives us fresh idea’s and new ways to look at things rather than a standard corporate viewpoint.
Would you be able to manage without Freelancers?
Definitely not. Our freelance team are invaluable as they provide us with their knowledge and skills that they have gained by working with other clients.
How did you fund your business?
Initially through mine and my husbands savings. Then when that ran out I borrowed money from my Mum to tide me over before I received cash injection from a private investor in order to test fabrics, buy stock, pay for manufacture and set up offices and the website.
What advice would you give to other mumpreneurs about funding?
Never take on what you cannot physically afford to. It is all well and good seeing the bigger picture and thinking “I only need to put in a little bit more cash and then I’ll make it.” But you need to draw a line somewhere otherwise it could spiral out of control and you’ll end up with a company with huge debt it can never pay off.
How do you manage your working day with your childcare arrangements?
At first it was a real struggle and I worked while having the kids around. It didn’t make for a happy work or home environment as Mummy never really switched off from work mode. However once Finn started at nursery things got easier and now we have just hired a childminder 3 days a week as well as my husband doing two of the school runs, which helps out loads. The main thing as a working Mum is to balance your time effectively and have a support network around you. Friends are great for doing a school pick up and having an after school play-date gives you another few hours to crack on.
What projects are you working on now/ have you worked on recently?
We are currently working on getting Quack Quack Moo out there in the childrens market as a serious brand. We are in discussions with many big players in the field and we are hoping to expand the range greatly over the next year as well being in major retail stores.
Who or what inspires you?
My children have always been my inspiration and always will be, that and my drive to make parents lives easier. I remember feeling like an octopus flapping my arms around and never really getting anywhere when the kids were young yet with Quack Quack Moo’s practical clothing and accessories it doesn’t have to be a juggling drama day in day out – these are simple every day products that are designed to solve every day parental issues surrounding everything from feeding to potty training.
What do you hope to be doing in five years’ time?
I hope to be the managing director of a successful childrens clothing and accessories company with all 180 of the garments I have designed available online as well as in retail stores. It’s going to be a lot of work but with a bit of determination we will get there!
What advice would you give other mums thinking of starting a business?
If you believe in what you do and what you want to achieve, do it, if you don’t you will regret it for the rest of your life. There is no such thing as failure if you have given it your best shot and when things go wrong put it down to experience, move on and make the right choice next time…
“It’s not at all easy coping with being a mum and starting your own business. You need to be realistic and think about what you can achieve with the time you’ve got. It’s no fun at all if the children suffer because your mind is on your business and you stress because you can’t get things done. Just be realistic and take it from there. If you go ahead then believe in yourself and what you can achieve because at times you may be the only one who does.”
Names and ages of children: Maddy age 7 and Miranda age 4
Name of Business: The Ultimate Baby Shower Ltd (TUBS)
Geographical Location: Online business with warehousing in Herts
Website: www.theultimatebabyshower.co.uk
Tell us about your background
I went to university in Exeter and studied Environmental Science and Technology for 4 years. I’d always wanted to be an Environmental Consultant. After graduating I moved to Aberdeen and worked as an Environmental Scientist for 3 years. After that I moved to London and worked as an Environmental Consultant for 3 years. I travelled abroad frequently because I was working on environmental action plans for oil and gas companies. I met my husband whilst working in London and became pregnant with my first daughter. I always thought I’d employ a nanny and go back to work because I’d been doing the career I’d always wanted. Once my daughter arrived my heart literally melted and I couldn’t face leaving her with a nanny while I worked my way up the career ladder. I made the difficult decision to leave.
How and why did you start TUBS?
Over the next few months I saw many new mums struggling to cope with motherhood and felt there was a lack of support and celebration for these ladies whose lives had recently been changed forever. I have many family members in America and saw them celebrating / being celebrated by friends and family and the wealth of support that went with it by way of baby showers. I didn’t like the American image of baby showers as they were portrayed over here ie tacky and rather embarrassing but I loved the support element of it. I decided to begin a company which took all the good parts of baby showers ie the celebration, the support and the advice and wound them together with a British baby shower element ie afternoon teas and girlie gatherings.
Were there any challenges, either when starting up or now?
My main challenge has been support and having to get my head down and truly believe in myself and what I can achieve. Baby showers were a concept that many people in this country barely knew about 6 years ago, including my own family. It was very hard to justify the time I was spending on the business even though I never allowed it to impact the children. Now the business is doing well its much easier to justify where my time is spent but to begin with it was incredibly hard. I’d always ensure the children were my top priority and took a year out when my second daughter was born so I could focus on both of my girls. After that I would split my time, just working as and when I could – mainly in the evenings.
As a small business, do you have employees or do you hire Freelancers?
I set up the business on my own and work alone on a daily basis, but I do need to hire Freelancers on an adhoc basis. I wouldn’t be able to organise baby shower events without the help of freelancers. My time is spent managing the website and dealing with orders and customers. I arrange baby shower events for people if needed and use freelancers to manage the actual event for me.
How do you manage your working day with your childcare arrangements?
My children are both now at school so I have far more time available. I drop the children off and pick them up. Once school is finished my time is devoted to my children until they are in bed. Then I often get on with my work and sort out the enquiries I’ve had since 3pm. My customers are happy because I always answer any queries the same day and deal with all orders within 24 hours. It’s a very personal service, which customers are looking for much more these days.
What projects are you working on now/ have you worked on recently?
I’ve just set up a children’s party section to the website because people loved my ranges so much they wanted a high-end range of birthday party themes as a follow on. I’ve personally selected everything that appears on the website and if any products are poor quality then I won’t stock them. I feel that this sort of service should be more widespread in the UK but unfortunately it isn’t.
Who or what inspires you?
My children inspire me on a daily basis and my husband is my rock – he’s the person I speak to if I need to put my level head on. Its not to say I therefore won’t follow my idea but it makes me stop and think before I commit. I’m very head strong, very determined and have faith in myself. It’s always possible to achieve your dream. Thankfully I don’t feel the need to seek others for assurance – if I did then my business would be a memory.
What do you hope to be doing in five years’ time?
I’d like to keep doing exactly what I’m doing but on a much larger scale. I’d like to expand in to Europe.
What advice would you give other mums thinking of starting a business?
It’s not at all easy coping with being a mum and starting your own business. You need to be realistic and think about what you can achieve with the time you’ve got. It’s no fun at all if the children suffer because your mind is on your business and you stress because you can’t get things done. Just be realistic and take it from there. If you go ahead then believe in yourself and what you can achieve because at times you may be the only one who does.
Research your market and write a business plan to ensure the business is viable, plus it will focus the mind. Initially keep investment to a minimum so you can ensure the idea is big enough before you have blown thousands of pounds…Believe in yourself.
Your name: Katie Malkinson
Names and ages of children: Max, age 5 and Amelie, age 3
Business: Little Big Sports Ltd
Location: Hildenborough, Nr Tonbridge, Kent
Website: www.littlebigsports.co.uk
Tell us about your background:
After leaving university I by chance fell into a career in media. Not the natural progression after a degree in ‘Anatomy and Cell Biology’ but as it turned out a world that was very suited to my strengths. It was all about relationships, persuasion, hard work and organisation.
Over the next few years I worked for several agencies. It was a good time to be in media as clients were spending money and new media channels were starting left, right and centre plus I was young and it was fun!
I then moved client side in a bid to understand more about what was driving the business decisions. Over the next few years I built up a department and when I left I was managing many talented individuals and 70 million pounds worth of expenditure. The role was challenging, fast moving and very interesting. It taught me many lessons that I have been able to apply to my own business.
During this time I married and had my son and daughter. Just before I was due to return to work after the birth of my daughter, she was diagnosed with very severe, life threatening allergies. Getting to the bottom of this and keeping her safe became my priority. So I made the surprisingly easy call to walk away from my nicely paid job and become a stay at home Mum. Focussing on my family gave me the headspace and the drive to set up Little Big Sports.
What made you start your business?
Little Big Sports was established as I found it difficult to find the right sized sports equipment for my sports mad, then 4 year old son. The light bulb moment was when my Mum bought my son a cricket bat he could hardly lift, let alone hit a ball with. In fact when observing other children, many were playing with tennis balls that bounced over their heads or footballs that were too heavy to kick. It was obvious to me that in order to ensure sport was fun and for children to lead an active lifestyle it was vitally important that they needed to play with equipment that was especially suited to their age and ability. It was hard, however to find age specific sports equipment and little advice was given about age suitability by online retailers.
Plenty of research and business plan writing followed. Thankfully it became clear there was a potential sizable market for an online retailer specialising in kids sport equipment. So in August 2011 www.littlebigsports.co.uk was launched
What do you do on a typical day?
Lots of juggling! The majority of mornings I take my son to school and then come back home with my daughter. Depending on my schedule I either then welcome my childminder or I have the morning with my daughter before she goes to preschool. Afternoons and evenings are spent working with a break for kids tea and bedtime routine. We tend to have dinner late and then either collapse in front of the TV or return to work. So very hectic but lots of flexibility and as I am passionate about the business it is enjoyable rather than a chore
What projects are you working on now/have you worked on recently?
My priority at the moment is to continue to expand our product range in line with customer demand. I recently bought my winter stock of snow related gear including snowboots and insulated wellies to keep active children warm during the winter months. Moving forward I have lots of plans to widen our offering potentially into sports like cycling and horse riding as well as introducing some clothing. I am also in discussions about some potential joint ventures.
In addition to the ongoing running and Marketing of the website a big drive at the moment is to grow our affiliate network of sports clubs and schools.
How do you manage your working day with your childcare arrangements?
I have a great support network of my childminder, who is known affectionately as “spare Mummy”, my husband, my Mum and wonderful friends. I tend to plan my diary a couple of weeks ahead. I group meetings together to make best use of my time particularly if they are in London. I ensure I have a couple of long working from home days each week and at least two mornings free with my daughter and a couple of afternoons after school with my son.
What is your greatest achievement?
Business wise it is getting www.littlebigsports.co.uk to market from concept to reality and now making a profit on an extremely limited budget, with the demands of balancing work and children.
On a personal level it is my children. It still amazes me how my husband and I have two such wonderful but different kids.
Who or what inspires you?
My Mum has always inspired me. She has a wonderful work ethic and positivity about her. Working for myself and seeing the business grow and the orders build is extremely motivating and inspiring.
What do you hope to be doing in five years time?
Still running the company and being proud that Littlebigsports is the leading specialist in kids sporting equipment with quality products, service and advice for parents in the UK.
What do you do to relax?
Spending time with my family, socialising, eating, exercising and watching sport but not necessarily in that order!
What advice would you give to other mums starting a business?
Research your market and write a business plan to ensure the business is viable, plus it will focus the mind. Initially keep investment to a minimum so you can ensure the idea is big enough before you have blown thousands of pounds…Believe in yourself!
