Tell us your name and a bit about your family? When did you become a Mum and to whom?
Abbie Coleman I have a family of 5 which consists of my husband James a
chartered surveyor, my little boy who is 3 next month Kimi (Yes we have an
F1 fan in the family!) and two jack Russel’s called lily and Keith.
What’s your business called?
MMB Magazine
Can you describe it in one sentence?
The modern working mothers website
When did you become a Mumpreneur and what inspired you?
I think the day I had my son as I had been a entreprenuer so once he was
born my business thinking had to fit around him.
How did you fund your start up?
Self-funded through my other business a recruitment company that I started 6
years ago.
How do you manage working around your children?
At first I didn’t, I love being at work and felt comfortable being there as
I know my little boy goes to the most fantastic nursery and enjoys his time
there. I also ran my own business so was back in the office after an
emergency C section within 8 weeks so had to adapt quickly. But I didn’t
find my groove for 15 months, as like most find childcare is expensive and
we didn’t have family close by. My issue was that I didn’t separate my time
effectively trying to do everything all the time and work started to
override my time with my son.
When he was a baby it was great he could come to meetings and to be fair
slept through them, or slept in my office while I worked but try taking a 2
year old to a meeting or in an office…………. I finally just broke
down. I had been all geared up to take Kimi out to a special play date and
a work call came in so all plans cancelled. I felt so torn between work, and
not giving or having time with Kimi and god forbid any time just for me. It
was then I took a step back and separated my time, I now work Monday to
Thursday and Fridays are me and Kimi days and I haven’t lost a single client
from saying sorry I don’t work Fridays. But I have gained peace of mind and
quality time with my son.
Can you describe a typical day, what tasks do you have to get done, how do
you manage your time?
I am up and out by 7am to the office and my husband drops my son off at
nursery. Yesterday I caught up with Gail Emms the Olympian who had just
talked at our senior MMB forum event in Leeds and posted her interview with
us, handled our social media and mmb card request from our readers. Then I
attended the Women In Sports conference at Leeds First Direct and met Sean
Jarvis Director of Huddersfield football club, Rebecca Gallantree, GB diver
back from Rio, Kadeena Cox World record holder and Paralympic champion. And
got involved in the debate about women in sport and championed our bloggers
who were on the panel discussion. I then rushed over the other side of Leeds
for a meeting about a senior peer to peer group we are setting up with MMB
and spoke with two amazing business people in their field on how we make
this happen. Back at the office I took two jobs for my recruitment business
and placed two fabulous candidates. Filmed spraying spray nail varnish for
our article on working mum beauty hacks by Harvey Nichols, the office is now
a sort of gold shimmer and so is Liz my colleague……….don’t ask!.
Emailed to check all our attendees had details for our Space NK MMB night
this Friday. Went in to meet a fabulous international law firm about coming
on board with MMB magazine for career part time roles. Got some dates set
for a business in the North part time conference we are running in 2017.
Grabbed the bus home played dinosaurs danced to octanaughts, tucked my
little boy up then started writing my speech for an event on working mothers
rights in the work place and career progression and on an article for a fab
new child safety product we have just found out about and love!!
What challenges have you faced in your business and how have you overcome
them?
Starting an online magazine was brand new to me with a lot of learning
curves. I guess for me keeping my eye on the goal and not getting distracted
from our end goal, I did this by having a fabulous network of strong working
women by my side who may challenge me but never doubt my ability to do
something. I would also advocate having a fabulous mentor in business and in
your personal life.
What’s the best thing about being Mumpreneur?
Independence as a woman
What are your plans for the future?
To keep growing our brand, we want to get more and more MMB card
subscribers and readers so we can ultimately change the landscape of part
time jobs into part time careers and get more businesses on board with us
and talking to make this happen. I would love to be a part of changing the
term working mother after all how often do you hear the term working father?
What advice would you give for someone just starting out in business?
Do your math, know what you have to bring in to survive and cover your costs
then physically write down how you bring that in and what it takes. Saying
you need 5k a month or you want your business to do 200k in its first year
is great but good business is knowing how you physically achieve that and
where it will come from. By doing this it sometimes opens up new revenue
ideas or stops you making a very expensive mistake.
@leedsworkingmum
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