My top ten tips for mums who have their own business: What are yours?

WHEN I established my business, Musical Minis, over 20 years ago I was keen to fit my business around my family. As a Mum of 3 being a Mum is still really important to me. In fact, I set Musical Minis up for my son, Matthew, when I couldn't find a suitable group to take him to.

Before having Matthew I had studied psychology at University and then became a Play Specialist at Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital. When Matthew was one year old, I was beginning to miss being surrounded by a ward full of children and being at home with just one. This mixed in with my inability to find a suitable music group to attend (and knowing some of my friends were also interested in finding a music group) led to the launch of Musical Minis.

With time, I decided to franchise the business and now have a number of franchisees throughout the UK. Expansion with Musical Minis was purposely kept small, on a level I could manage, as I still wanted to be a full time Mum. 

Over the years I have come up with various tips which I have used to enable me to be both happy working and happy being a Mum. I really do feel as if I have the best of both worlds. Some of these tips don't necessary just apply to Mums with their own business they can also apply if you are a working Mum.

Here are my top ten tips:

1. Research the market and competition.

2. Start small, let the business grow as and when you can cope with expansion.

3. Have a clear idea what you want out of the business.

4. Try to separate work from home. If your business is based at home have a second phone line installed.

5. Have backup. If your child is ill what will happen to your business?

6. Know your limitations. For example, if you have problems with accounts get someone to help you.

7. If there are not enough hours in the day to do everything, do the bits you like (with both work and home life) and get help with the bits you don't.

8. Work out the balance between work and home that you want.

9. Keep time to be a Mum.

10. Set time aside to deal with administration, household tasks etc. If you keep putting it off the task will become huge (for example, hours of paperwork, loads of ironing) - regular manageable chunks of mundane but important tasks will help things flow smoothly.

Please do comment below if you can add to these tips!

Comments

[Linda]

Hi Karen, I think numbers 4 and 8 are the main challenges - learning to have quality time with your children while not being distracted by work and vice versa!

[Helen @ Business Plus Baby]

Be very, very organised! All of the business mums I've spoken to when doing reserach for my blog say being organised is key to their success.

[karen]

Thanks Linda and Helen for your comments. Being organised and disciplined is important - it certainly will help in sorting out the balance between work and home. However, you have to be able to change your plans at the last minute as both work and children are unpredictable and throw little challenges when you're least expecting them!

[Tola]

These are excellent tips. I'd also like to add that it's important to network especially with Mums/ other women in business. This way, you stay fresh with ideas and with industry trends.

[Lisa]

Useful to read this as I'm just starting out. I'm already breaking one of my rules by reading blogs when I should be working! Tut! Tut!

[Justin Lusty]

Excellent tips

Here are a couple more from 100 interviews I did for my book on Mumpreneurs

- Connect with someone who has already started your type of business, they'll tell you the steps you need to take, the pitfalls to avoid and provide great market research
- Keep costs low by swapping your skills with someone who has skills you lack
- Have a local start-up buddy to check in with each day or two - to tackle isolation
- Take full advantage of Childcare vouchers and other government-funded childcare
- Learn to separate criticism of the business from criticism of you personally
- Disconnect from naysayers and people who sap your energy - kids excepted of course! :)
- Become a regular of the competition - learn from them and know their strengths and weaknesses inside and out.
- Network, network, network

Just a few thoughts

[karen]

Thank you for your comments. I'm glad you found my tips useful.

Tola networking is important as I'm slowly finding out. I just wish I knew how to do it better.

Lisa good luck with your business. I hope it works out well for you.

Justin Lusty thank you for your tips. Whilst I do agree it's great to know what your competition is up to it's also key to your business to have your own ideas and not to copy everything your competitor does. It's both unethical and unproductive to just copy the competition. Have your own aims and beliefs to stick to - if they're sound your business will flourish.

[Justin Lusty]

Hi Karen

I completely agree! Copying competitors wasn't quite what I meant - it's being different that sets you apart in they eyes of customers - and I certainly wouldn't condone anything unethical!:) What I meant is that understanding the competition can provide a reality check on the viability of your idea - a benchmark if you like.

[Laura Lowell]

Hi Karen,
I love your list. In fact, many of these ideas are reinforced in my book "42 Rules for Working Moms".

Here are some of my favorite "rules" from the book:
Daycare is not a sin
Outsource everything you can
Eat meals together
Lose the guilt
Have sex (not really a business rule, but a great idea for work/life balance ;-)

Thanks for such a great dialogue. I look forward to reading more of your blog.

[karen]

Great replies again - thanks.

Justin glad you agree. Understanding the competition is important. I wish there was a way of exposing all the unethical businesses - its actually quite shocking how many there are.

Laura thanks for the extra "rules". I think the sex one really relates to sorting out your work and home balance. It's so important to set time aside from work both to be a Mum and have quality time with your children and to give yourself quality time with your partner.

[Susan Odev via British Mummy Bloggers]

Karen, great tips. Hope you don't mind that I posted a link to your blog on the fan page for Mum Ultrapreneur - the book on Facebook. Thanks again for taking the time to be interviewed for it.

[karen]

No problem Susan. I'm glad you found the tips useful.