Surving as a Mummypreneur - Tips, tips and felt tips

It never ceases to amaze me, how many Mums there are like me, starting up their own businesses while being totally immersed in the often stressful business of  looking after children, partners, pets, trying to cook meals, clean the house, do the shopping.. re- landscape the garden, rebuild the house...I think you get my drift that there really aren't enough hours in the day and yet so many of us seem to be making a success of running a business alongside looking after lots of other things.

So in praise of all things mummyprenurial (I made that up!!) here are my tips for how I have survived the first six months of running my own (be it very weeny) yarn business, and perhaps they may help you:

 - Make sure you are passionate about what you are doing.  That may sound like common sense but it is so much easier to sell your product or skill if you really believe in and are passionate about it.  Back before children when I used to be a proper grown up with a corporate career I was convinced that I was useless at selling.  I never seemed to be able to sell on additonal work to clients and it always came up as a "development issue" on the dreaded appraisal form.  However, when I look back now I can see that I just didn't believe in what I was doing, so why would anyone else??  Now I talk about the yarn I sell whenever I can, as much as I can without boring people and loosing friends (hopefully); I wear garments made from the yarn I sell in the hope that people will say "Ohhh, how lovely is that..please teach me to knit.. so I can make one too" etc etc;

- Research, Research and more Research. Research your market and find out if anyone else is doing what you are planning on doing; if so, how are you going to compete?  On price, quality etc?  How are you going to finance your venture - yourself, bank or other private finance, and if so how do you plan to pay it back?  I decided on a crafty loan from the other half but he is already demanding that I start to pay the loan back and he is always asking to see the accounts  I wish I had looked into other options now!  Also, you need to think about your sales channel - bricks and mortar shop, on line only, or an combination of both?  I have a market stall in our local town, one a week as well as selling online and over the phone.  The market stall has allowed me to test the market without having huge overheads and outlays and it also works really well around the boys as I can do school and nursery drop off and pick up on market day and still get to the market on time;

- Be professional.  Before you actually launch make sure you have everything you need in place such as a dedicated business phone number; ability to take card payments etc.  This is particularly important if you are planning an Internet and mail order business based from your home.  I didn't have a dedicated phone number at first which meant that everyone who answered the phone had to answer with "Good morning/afternoon, how can I help you.."  Bit tricky when your six year old always seems to get to the phone first and shouts "Who is it".."Is that you Grandma"  down the line, regardless of who is at the other end;

..and oh , one final tip, never leave the felt tips hanging around when you are sorting out stock, especially undyed wool..my little "helper" got hold of them and I now have some bright purple blodgy wool.  Perhaps it might catch on as a new way of wool dying but I very much doubt it!


What felt tips?? I really don't know what you mean..