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Launch Interview: Motivating Mums Launches their Mumpreneur Mentor Scheme
Clare Oliver, Laura Tenison and Alli Price
After mumsnet hosted live webchats last month with Gordon Brown and David Cameron, it is believed that the site can greatly improve people’s participation in politics. So it seems the Prime Minister has recognised the rising power of geek mums as they work together in communities for the greater business good, and just looking at the wealth of support coming from, and going to mums on the net, he is spot on.
Today Alli Price, Founder of Motivating Mum, launches the Motivating Mum Mentor Scheme for businessmums. Aimed to prevent the reinvention of the wheel, the scheme is amazingly cost effective and has some high-profile mentors already signed up, including Laura Tenison of JoJo Maman Bebe. Here, Alli Price talks to The NextWomen about the potential isolation when starting a business on your own, the importance of mentoring in the 21st century and how people should learn to ask for what they want.
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Tell us about yourself – your background and education
I have a Bachelor of Business in Hotel Management and Catering and initially worked in the marketing department of a 4* hotel in Melbourne, working my way up to Marketing Manager. After a few years, I returned to school to study Film and TV and then worked as a Production Manager in a Production Office, also in Melbourne, making TV commercials, corporate videos and pilots.
After years of talking about wanting to travel, I finally left in 1998 aged 28 for a trip to Sweden to edit a film for a friend. The film didn’t work out but the backpacking bug had well and truly bitten and five years later I had been to much of Western Europe, America, India, Nepal, Fiji, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Slovenia and Poland. Although I had worked a lot in the corporate sector, I realised that I was only truly fulfilled when helping people so trained to be a life coach. I completed my training at the same time as giving birth to my daughter and launched Motivating Mum.
What is Motivating mum? When did you launch and what are your objectives for the next three years?
Initially, Motivating Mum was a coaching service for mums, whatever stage of pregnancy, launched in 2006. However, running a business from home, coupled with looking after my daughter full-time quickly revealed how lonely and isolating it can be, being a Mumpreneur. In the belief there must be other mums out there like me, I launched the Businessmums’ Networking Lunch, a chance for mums to get out of the house, network and rest assured they weren’t the only crazy ones. The first lunch attracted 45 mums!
Following three years of mixing with Businessmums, I recently relaunched my service as a website offering support and advice to Mumpreneurs. The site consists of mentoring with established businessmums, a forum, articles and features and details of events now being held across London.
My objectives for the next three years are to provide Mumpreneurs with a service tailored uniquely to them. This includes providing mentoring and events for an exceptionally good price (as mums in business traditionally don’t have a lot of disposable income), having events offered across the UK (as although online support is great, it doesn’t combat the isolation), developing the forum to a point where mums can connect, network and help each other succeed and have each and every visitor to the site or an event walk away with whatever it is they need: a connection, information, inspiration. Lastly, it is to always be accessible. My pet hate is trying to contact businesspeople and their websites offer plenty for you to buy, but no details for contact.
What is your business model and how do you differ from your competitors?
My business model is to help Mumpreneurs. Everything I have done to date has been a case of trying to help fill a need or offer a service and I have had success with this approach as a result. I feel I differ from my competitors in that I always try to maintain approachability no matter how busy I get, I don’t charge membership fees for my services and I encourage face-to-face meetings in addition to online connections. I like to feel that my site is set up to offer support and advice, first and foremost, not to simply make as much money from people while I sleep.
What were your start-up costs and how were they funded?
My start-up costs were minimal as I only needed a website and business cards. The re-launch of my site and other investments have all been funded through money raised by the business. I am lucky in that the most expensive thing required of me for the success of my business was my time.
You are about to launch your Motivating Mum mentor scheme for businessmums and already have some great names onboard like Laura Tenison of JoJo Maman Bebe. How important do think mentoring is in the 21st century and how have you secured your mentors? Read more
Bespoke Shoe Design Site, Upper Street, to Launch March 2010
Having the option and ability to design your own little piece of fashion is becoming ever more popular. Nike began the craze with their Nike ID range, enabling sport lovers to personalise their trainers. More recently, companies are taking the concept online, and it seems the competition is building.
Due to launch March 1st 2010, Upper Street is:
‘The made-to-order footwear label that lets you create your ultimate pair of designer shoes. Choose the style, all the detailing and the finish, then sit back while our craftsmen create your one-of-a-kind pair, delivered right to your door. Upperstreet.com – the perfect way to unleash your creative streak or simply create the shoes you’ve always searched for.’
Co-founded by sisters Julia and Katy Grinham, the site has the potential to be very slick and already has a sneak preview of the immense options to come on its facebook page. With sizes ranging from a UK 2 – 10 (I know a lot of women that will be excited by such broad offerings), there is reported to be hundreds of materials, colours and embellishments – including Swarovski gems – that can only signal shoe heaven for those of us who just cannot resist. With seven basic style choices – including courts, sandals, gladiator heels and round toe platforms – users can design a shoe for any occasion, even for their wedding day.
Bridal Shoes (all pictures from upperstreet Facebook page)
The site already gives a written teaser for what is to come. ‘The Rise of The Killer Heel’ talks about ‘delicate pieces’ and ‘foot confection’ which only strengthens the notion that women and shoes are like children in a sweet shop. It goes beyond providing a platform for simply designing shoes, however, presenting fashion trends and celebrity inspiration: Read more
The Clinton Global Initiative is Empowering Girls and Women Through Information and Communication Technologies
![Laptops for children in Africa cc: Flickr Lil[Kristen Elsby]](http://thenextwomen.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/laptop_flickr-LilKristen-Elsby.jpg "laptop_flickr Lil[Kristen Elsby]")
Laptops for children in Africa cc: Flickr Lil[Kristen Elsby
Since 2005, CGI has:
- Brought together more than 100 current and former heads of state, 10 of the last 16 Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, hundreds of leading CEOs, heads of foundations, major philanthropists, directors of the most effective nongovernmental organisations and prominent members of the media.
- Made more than 1,400 commitments valued at $46 billion
- Improved the lives of more than 200 million people in more than 170 countries
- More than three million people have better access to information technology
- More than $600 million has been invested in or loaned to small and medium-sized enterprises
- Almost three million micro-entrepreneurs have been empowered through microfinance
The 2010 CGI ation areas include: Empowering Girls and Women; Strengthening Market-Based Solutions; Enhancing Access to Modern Technology and Harnessing Human Potential. Of the 12 new initiatives/commitments in place to empower girls and women, 4 focus on the advantages of information and communication technology:
Plan USA and its Partners
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Commit over the next three years to:
- Train 140 adolescent girls from Ghana in media production and journalism skills, Read more
Startup Interview: Sonia Hully of The First Exclusive Dating Site, Love Definitely
If you have a read through the archive of our posts over the last year, you will find many articles related to online dating. From mysinglefriend, where friends compile profiles; to the original online dating site, Match, to dating for the rich and beautiful on Seventy-Thirty and toyboys on toyboywarehouse, and even finding a founding business partner through FounderDating, you wouldn’t believe there were any variations left. Yet here, Sonia Hully, founder of Love Definitely talks about producing the first exclusive dating site, getting her website built and her plans for the coming year.
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How did you come up with the idea of your start-up?
About a year ago, I was looking for a new venture.
Having worked in capital markets for 7 years, 3 years in the film industry followed by a bit of property development, I developed a taste for new challenges and working for myself. Two years ago I tried online dating myself and realised there were no sites for eligible bachelors. That’s how my idea took place. It took me about two months to find the right developers and programmer to build my site. I didn’t want to build something from a template as I wanted a differentiated site with a feeling of quality. Six months later, in June 2009, Love Definitely was launched.
How did you form your team?
I am lucky to be well connected from my previous jobs. Apart from two shareholders, a few interns and me it is a one woman show at the moment. I take regular advice from my friends entrepreneurs, lawyers etc… and I am actually starting to build an advisory board. The site, PR and other usual administrative duties are outsourced. I have also just negotiated a deal with McCann Erickson, a leading advertising agency, to manage my account. They will be developing my campaign for 2010. It is very exciting.
How did you fund it, with how much money, and what is the business model?
I have done quite well over the past few years, I was working in property development and decided to leave in 2008 before the crash. I founded most of the company myself with the help of two friends who also advise me on the financial side of the business. Since starting we have invested £55 000 into the business and launched an invite only membership section of the site called the Lounge.
The income is coming from registration fees even though it was free until very recently. It is £20 per month, £40 for 3 months and £60 for 6 months. I don’t believe in having advertising on a site especially a high end site. I always find it confusing when you have too many adverts on a page. I like the site to be simple and elegant.
As I was mentioning I have also a newer membership called the Lounge, by invitation only. This one will be more expensive eventually but at the moment it is free for the people invited.
What differentiates you from other players in your sector?
The idea is to be exclusive, elegant and fun for the eligible single. There can still be a stigma about online dating and that is where I am hoping to break the ice.
I also realised that many of us find it difficult to write about ourselves, really enjoy meeting friends of friends, but lack time and prefer like-minded crowds to mass gatherings.
In that respect I decided to involve a friend to help users register and write their profile. If you wish, he can even set you up for a blind date which is innovative in the world of online dating and makes it really fun. The Lounge, which is the premium membership section of our site, is by invitation only and has a calendar of events organised by the members themselves or by Love Definitely and other exclusive event organisations.
What was your biggest challenge during the development process and how can other start-ups learn from that?
I still consider the business as being in the development stage. Read more
MOTIVATING Mum to Launch Nationwide Mentoring Initiative for Businessmums
It was only last month that we featured an interview with Iveta Tancheva of Mums Like You – a venture geared towards mothers – highlighting the massive draw the internet has for women. In the same vein, a mentoring scheme to support businessmums across the UK is to be launched on March 15, 2010 by Allison Price, founder of Motivating Mum. This exciting new initiative will enable mums already in business, as well as those wanting to start up, to obtain affordable support and advice to help them achieve their dreams.
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Launched three years ago, Motivating Mum was set up by Allison Price, professional life coach, mumpreneur and mother of one, for mums who needed help with the everyday challenges they faced. It now helps mumpreneurs across the UK succeed in achieving their business dreams through the provision of support and advice.
Increasing Numberss of Mumpreneurs
An increasing number of mothers are setting up their own businesses, however many of them lack knowledge and/or experience and face difficult challenges right from the start. The Motivating Mum mentoring service will connect mums needing professional guidance to mums who are experts in their field. It will cover all areas of business from law and accountancy to marketing and PR, in addition to getting ideas off the ground.
The Who’s Who of Business-mums
High profile business-mums already signed up as mentors for the launch include Laura Tenison, MD at JoJo Maman Bebe, Rachel Jones, inventor of Totseat and Wendy Shand, founder of Tots to Travel.
When talking about the launch, founder Alli Price said: Read more
Business Dating for Entrepreneurs: FounderDating.com
It’s a conundrum that many people face when starting a business – how to meet the right partner. For those lucky entrepreneurs amongst us, this has never been an issue. You had a friend or a business associate who shared the same passion or business idea as you and your venture was born. For some of us, however, beyond the great idea is the need and desire to have that partner who shares the joint vision.
The solution:
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Co-Founders, Jessica Alter and Saar Gur, recognised the hole for this new niche in the dating industry:
‘Like so many good ideas, FounderDating was born out of a cup of coffee (or maybe it was diet coke) and personal frustration. We have met countless uber talented people who want to become entrepreneurs, but haven’t yet found the right co-founder(s)/team or idea to work on. We started FounderDating to help introduce smart, dedicated and inspired people, start making matches and lower the hurdles to company creation.’
Identifying a person who brings with them a killer combination – say, coding skills or other the traits that would make a strong co-founder – is challenging, especially for people without established connections from say, previous work in business development at Bebo or business school. So in partnering with venture capitalist Saar Gur last year, Jessica co-founded an event series that works to bring people passionate about starting their own endeavours together with other entrepreneurs displaying complimentary skill sets.
The process is very simple, with three basic rules:
- Be Committed
- Don’t Meet and Tell
- Be Prompt
Currently running in San Fransisco and Seattle, they are soon to go global, starting with Israel.
Blast Off Strategies to Get You Inspired and Reach Your Goals
Allison Maslan has been an entrepreneur for the past 25 years and has a vibrant array of nine successful businesses to her credit. She is an author, life and business coach, homeopathic physician and international speaker. Allison is the president of The Blast Off Life and Business Coaching where she specialises in helping people tap into their passion and purpose and launching them into a new business and the best chapter of their lives.
Launching her new book – ‘Blast Off! The Surefire Success Plan to Launch Your Dreams into Reality ’, today, January 19th 2010 on Amazon – here Allison provides a sneak peek into her book with a guest post on strategies to ‘Get Inspired and Reach Your Goal’
What are some of your bigger goals or dreams that are sitting on the shelf…
…because life has gotten too busy for you to even think about them? You might be thinking, “I will get to them next month, next year.” Well, we know how that goes. The year passes you by and those desires are still sitting on the shelf, collecting dust. And then the frustration begins to creep in again because there is a deep longing inside you to bring these dreams to life.
Maintaining the Momentum whilst Continuing Life as You Know it
Week One: Clarify what it is you want
Nothing will happen until you get clear about your goals. Find 30 minutes of private time during one day this week and take out a pad of paper to do some creative scribbling, drawing, or journaling about what you would like to see unfold. Maybe you would like to take a trip to Portugal, learn another language, plant an herb garden, write a book, or remodel your bathroom. Perhaps a lifestyle uplift by taking more alone time for yourself, or beginning an exercise program.
Week Two: What are the large steps that need to happen to reach your goal? Read more
Claire Lemer and Emma Stanton Hope Their Social Enterprise, Diagnosis, Will Help Improve the NHS
Claire Lemer and Emma Stanton
In 2009 NHS junior doctors, Claire Lemer and Emma Stanton, edited a book called “Clinical Leadership: Bridging the divide” (Quay Books), which documents the increasing appetite amongst junior doctors to learn about healthcare policy and management, alongside treating the patient sitting in front of them. Despite this passion, Claire and Emma have found that many junior doctors lacked the opportunity to put this energy back into improving the healthcare system.
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‘As individuals, these doctors felt they lacked the power to make change happen. When these agents for change tried to improve things, too often there was little recognition, encouragement or support from the system.’
To fill this void, in December 2009, Claire and Emma set up a social enterprise called Diagnosis. In January 2010, they secured their first six-month contract for a strategic review of a national healthcare charitable foundation. Diagnosis positions itself as a healthcare consultancy for organisations such as the NHS, Department of Health and arms length bodies such as the Health Foundation. Rather than employ staff, Diagnosis invites high potential junior doctors, medical students and allied health professionals into a virtual talent pool. Individuals are paid a daily rate to contribute towards a portfolio of projects that can be carried out alongside clinical and other professional commitments.
The Nature of Embryonic Organisations
As with all embryonic organisations, Diagnosis is currently operating on a shoestring. They are exploiting Read more
Expert Interview: Opportunistic Female Entrepreneur Georgia Hall On Mixed Marketing Strategies
In a rapidly growing Digital world we shouldn’t forget the powerful marketing tools provided to us by offline mediums. People still walk past buses, sit on tubes, read the paper and watch television. Here, self-proclaimed ‘opportunistic entrepreneur’ Georgia Hall, formerly of Zinc Digital Agency, Yo! Sushi and now Searcys, highlights how on- and offline marketing strategies are not mutually exclusive, and how her first child was the catalyst she needed to make a very dynamic career move.
I am definitely an opportunistic entrepreneur, I like to take an existing project on and then really make it work.
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When you started Zinc in 1996 did you ever think the business would grow to over 100 staff and have clients such as Virgin, Microsoft and Vodafone?
When I first started Zinc, I set it up in partnership with one of the UK’s leading direct marketing agencies, Evans Hunt Scott, who had clients including Microsoft, BMW, Tesco etc. So my brief was to introduce their clients to digital media and the business plan was to organically grow the business. Within the first 6 months it became very apparent that the business was on a fast moving curve, in tandem with the digital revolution beginning back in 1996, and yes I absolutely knew that the company would be successful with such a great business backing and access to a great portfolio of world class clients.
You originally studied fashion before running advertising campaigns for the likes of Max Factor, joining Tower Records as Marketing Director and finally selling touch-screen music kiosks with Ken Frakes. Where did the idea for Zinc eventually come from? Were you fuelled by a desire to be an entrepreneur or by the online revolution you could see ahead of you?
I was fuelled by the desire to push this new medium into a major interest. My first job ever after completing my fashion degree in Newcastle was as a designer for a trend prediction company in New York. I have always wanted to do new things, work in untried areas and work on projects that are ground breaking.
I first met Ken Frakes when I was Marketing Director for Tower Records, I was his client and he came to see me with an idea to launch interactive multimedia kiosk systems into retail stores. He was working, as a designer, with multimedia designers and an IT company who had a range of touch-screens. This was back in 1993 and it was so exciting, internet and email was still only an academic communication tool and the concept of showing video, audio and information on a touch-screen to the mass market via the internet had not been conceived at all.
I started talking to all the record companies I knew about this idea and they all expressed a huge commercial interest. I joined forces with Ken and we set up some prototype kiosks in Tower Records, soon after Coca Cola, HMV and other major corporates wanted to trial this technology. I resigned from my day job at Tower Records to market and launch digital media and was then asked by Terry Hunt, the chairman of Evans Hunt Scott, to set up a digital agency for him which I named Zinc.
Did you have an extensive online and/or technical background before setting up Zinc – an interactive consultancy – or were you a forward thinker who could see the need?
I am simply a marketing person who can identify a gap in the market and likes to work on new concepts and challenges. Digital growth over the last 15 years is one of the most exciting communication revolutions we have ever experienced and I am very proud to have been one of the innovators.
Considering you had only just had a child, did you think twice about entering the world of start-ups or did the agency Evans Hunter Scott provide you with financial security and support you required? Read more
Start-up Interview: Female Entrepreneur Katie Lips of Virtual Gift Store, Little World Gifts
Since Apple first announced the iPhone on January 9th 2007 they have grown in popularity. With users growing into their millions, the race to build the best app has increased in momentum, after the announcement in June 2007 that the iPhone would support third-party web applications. Here Katie Lips, serial entrepreneur and Co-Founder of the recently launched Little World Gifts, talks about her fascination with the web, delivering virtual gifts and the desire to create something infectious.
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Tell us about yourself?
In June 2009 I began work on Little World Gifts – a new venture in an exciting time in the evolution of mobile and its convergence with the web. I’ve been working with mobile for a while; recently as a consultant to brands; devising iPhone and mobile 2.0 strategies. I have been watching, and often write and speak about the App Store phenomenon and its effect on the rest of the mobile industry. So I’ve been involved in mobile for many years and previously cofounded Treasuremytext.com a popular SMS archiving service as early as 2004. Prior to that I was fascinated in all things web and began my career in digital agencies.
What is Little World Gifts and how did you come up with the idea?
Little World Gifts is a mobile virtual goods startup. We’re aiming to redefine digital gifts by making them mobile, 3D, interactive, and well, just way more gorgeous than what has gone before. Little World Gifts has just launched its first app on iPhone which for the first time brings interactive 3D mobile virtual gifts to users. The business delivers Gift Stores full of exciting content to users on iPhone and Facebook, and offers a compelling platform for brands to deliver branded virtual gifts to mobile and web users.
Do you have any direct competitors?
There are several very interesting players in the online and mobile virtual goods space; companies we watch closely. For example companies like Zynga and Playfish delivering social games on the web, whilst not direct competitors, are very interesting to us in terms of monetizing social gaming on third party platforms. They also show just what can be done if you can get it right in the virtual goods space. In terms of mobile, we are absolutely the first to deliver 3D virtual gifts on mobile, but of course there are other players exploring location based and reward based mobile content business models. It’s a young, multifaceted, and rapidly developing market.
Who is your product aimed at? Read more
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