Family of 4

How Combining two Businesses Can Work for a Mumpreneur

Tell us your name and a bit about your family? When did you become a Mum and to whom?

Samantha Scott, I am a military wife of 2 boys, Daniel age 6, Brayden age 5.

What’s your business called?

I started my first business back in 2016 running baby and children’s nearly new sales with Mum2mum Market. I then started childminding this year and we are called Samantha’s Little Monkey’s.

Can you describe it in one sentence?

Mum2mum Market are nearly new sales for families to sell their pre loved outgrown baby, children and or maternity bits for a bit of cash back so that other families can come along and buy good value items at lower cost

Samantha’s Little Monkey’s – I look after other peoples children from a home base setting offering exactly that, we play, go to the park, do lots of messy activities and crafts

When did you become a Mumpreneur and what inspired you?

I started Mum2mum Market in 2016 as a way to get a little bit of myself back while it was very handy to work around my family life, especially with my husband being a away a lot I needed to make sure it would still work

I started childminding for a very similar reason but wanted it to become a second income for us as a family too and also with Brayden now approaching school age I would have more free time but I wanted to still have something that worked around my family

How did you fund your start up?

Mum2mum was funded by my very generous mother in law who I get on very well with, Childminding was funded by the Mum2mum Market business

How do you manage working around your children?

Mum2mum Market advertising is done while children are sleeping or in the evenings and I schedule many things in so I bulk spend my time, one you find a routine its much easier, the actual event is a family day out for us, my husband helps when he is here and so do my children, childminding is done from my home so I am able to still look after my own children and house life, its a really good balance

Can you describe a typical day, what tasks do you have to get done, how do you manage your time?

With Mum2mum Market I schedule most of my things from an evening or nap time, unless its an enquiry via email I normally can reply straight away, childminding is a bit more full on, I can have up to 6 children under 8 years old including my own, most days I only have 4 but once a week I am full, we do crafts, play outside, messy play groups etc … while children are nappy I might be able to get a load of washing in if I am lucky hehehe I am still able to sort dinners out while making sure the children are safe and happy

What challenges have you faced in your business and how have you overcome them?

Urm I would say making sure that I keep to schedules and routines, its harder sometimes when my husband is away so much as their isn’t that relief or extra help in the evenings, so just trying to keep it balanced and making sure it still always works for us as a family

What’s the best thing about being Mumpreneur?

Having myself back not being referred to always as someones mum… or someones wife… and being able to be their for my children doing the school runs, going to assembly and plays and sports days, my minded children enjoys all these things too

What are your plans for the future?

With Mum2mum Market, I would love to be able to pass it onto another mumpreneur and help them with them something of themselves, it defiantly helped me, if I wasn’t able to find the right person then I will continue with it myself, as with Childminding this something I will continue till at least my own children have left school if not longer, as long as it fits in with everything else

What advice would you give for someone just starting out in business?

Make sure you are ready to put in the hard work, as long as you do the rewards will come, sometimes it can take longer than other times and also depends what it is you are doing, make sure you have support – my husband and family where amazing at keeping me focused and helping me out when I needed it

Is there anything else you’d like to tell us?

I think one of the important things is that what ever you are doing its something you enjoy and works for you you and your family

Mum2mum Market Hampshire –https://www.facebook.com/Mum2mum-Market-Hampshire-166582593693636/

Samantha’s Little Monkey’s –https://www.facebook.com/Samanthas-little-Monkeys-272405333635788/?modal=admin_todo_tour

Carly has a portfolio career

Mixing things up with a Portfolio Career

Tell us your name and a bit about your family? When did you become a Mum and to whom?

My name is Carly Crawford. I am a mum of two little girls ages 5 and 7, and a step-daughter who is 15. My husband and I have been married for 10 years this year, and we have moved a lot during that time. We met whilst living in the UK, then moved back to Africa where we had out two little girls. We moved back to the UK in June last year and that’s when my bonus daughter came to live with us. We are now a complete family of 5.

What makes up your portfolio of careers?

I am a Parenting & Family Travel blogger at Mom of Two Little Girls, and I also have a Freelance Copy-editing, Blogger Support and Social Media Training business – Blue Media Edit.

Did you start with one and grow or have you always had a few things going on?

When my children were both in school full time, I did a Proofreading & Copy-editing course, and I started my blog. After a while I started offering support service to other bloggers, mainly editing their writing, and teaching them how to use social media more effectively to promote their own blog. You could say that one thing let to the other, but it was a natural progression.

Do you have a favourite within the portfolio?

I love editing other people’s blog posts. I am passionate about not changing their voice to make their post ‘vanilla’ but it is important that blog posts are spelling error free and grammatically correct. Combined with my SEO experience this is a service that a lot of bloggers really appreciate. Most of my clients have a lot to say, but sometimes struggle to make their writing readable or don’t want to have to learn the technical side of post formatting and blogger SEO.

How do you manage working around your children?

I work when they are at school. When you use social media to promote yourself, sometimes it can be hard to keep this perspective in place, but I do try my best to be present when they are around. Time management is critical.

Can you describe a typical day, what tasks do you have to get done, how do you manage your time?

A typical day for me starts with a cup of coffee. I need my “momfuel” before the kids start with all their demands. Then it’s the usual, feed them, get them dressed and get them to school. As soon as I get back from the school run I usually tidy up the kitchen and put a load of laundry on, make another cup of coffee and sit down to work. I manage my daily diary using my Outlook Calendar. I block out time slots for specific work. It helps me to stay organised. I usually bill my clients on an hourly basis to it’s easier to block out time slots depending on the work schedule. I have started treating my blog like a client so I allocate time to it as I would any other client.

The afternoons are focused on the girls and their sporting and club requirements which are many and varied. I try to make sure I get dinner on the table by 18.00 and then it’s bath time and chill. The two younger girls go to bed at about 19.30, and the teenager spends most evenings doing her homework, studying, or snapchatting her friends. My husband and I relax in the evenings watching TV. I don’t often work in the evenings, but if my husband has something on then I might sneak in a few extra hours of work.

What challenges have you faced managing your different roles and how have you overcome them?

Time management is the biggest challenge. Managing my own time, as well as being available to my family is not easy but I like to think I have struck the right balance. Other than that, the thing I struggle with the most is self-promotion of my freelance business. I’m really rubbish at it. It’s much easier to tell other people what they should be doing than it is to put my own advice into practice!

What’s the best thing about having a portfolio career?

My blog is my passion, but Blue Media Edit is what keeps me motivated to improve myself. I love that the parts of what I do compliment each other but are essentially different.

What are your plans for the future? Do you think you’ll stick with multiple roles or would you like to focus on just one?

I can’t see my situation changing for now. Going back to a full-time job is something I would consider, but then I would probably stop freelancing altogether because of the need to balance my family and work life.

What advice would you give for someone who is interested in having a portfolio career?

It has huge benefits if you can manage your time correctly, mainly for my family as I am able to juggle my time to suit their needs. For myself, the variety and different opportunities that it offers helps to ensure that I am never bored or stuck doing just one thing.

Is there anything else you’d like to tell us?

Like I said, I am not very good at self-promotion. If there are any services I have mentioned above that you would like to know more about, please drop me an email or contact me via social media and we can have a chat.

BLUE MEDIA EDIT

Blue media edit makes up one of Carly’s portfolio careers

https://bluemediaedit.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/media_edit

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bluemediaedit/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bluemediaedit/?hl=en

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carly-crawford-3bb52283/

MOM OF TWO LITTLE GIRLS

Carly’s blog is also part of her portfolio

https://momoftwolittlegirls.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/momof2lgs?lang=en

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/momoftwolittlegirls/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/momoftwolittlegirls/?hl=en