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Savvy mums have it all
7 July 09
Economic downturn, global financial crisis and redundancy.
Just reading those words can induce an inward groan from many.
Not so for three Sunshine Coast mums, who are taking advantage of the economic climate to expand their veritable “motherships”.
Yvette Adams, of creative agency The Creative Collective, Leah Squire, of travel agency BYOkids, and Mandy Hargreaves, of fashion consultancy Shopping by
Appointment, are all in the middle of expanding their existing home run businesses into franchise or license models.
The three businesses are all very different, but share one distinct similarity.
Each can be run from home, just as all three business-savvy mums have done throughout their years of juggling family and work.
Leah has successfully run her business around two children, now aged 11 and 13, while Yvette's are now two and five, and Mandy's are now seven and nine.
Leah's business, BYOkids, is an online family travel information website, which doubles as a travel consultancy specialising in family holidays.
She originally ran her business from home.
And while BYOkids now has a retail shopfront at Tewantin, Leah says the business essentially is still home-based.
Leah said she had found it really difficult to find information on holidays for families.
“Everything on offer in travel agencies and brochures was always for couples and twin shares,” she said.
“No one seemed to understand the special needs of families when travelling with kids.”
And so BYOkids.com was born.
Since then, business has boomed for Leah, winning Best New Business in Australia and the Best New Business in Queensland at the 2007 Champions Small Business Awards.
It was at the awards ceremony that Leah met Yvette, who won the 2007 Queensland Small Business Champions Young Entrepreneur award for The Creative Collective.
Yvette's business offers clients a mix of PR, marketing, website design, development and optimisation, internet marketing, graphic design, photography and more.
The Creative Collective provides clients with the ability to partly or fully outsource the creative components of their business, working with any of Yvette's talented staff, who are contracted from Melbourne to Tokyo.
The Creative Collective also provides a number of educational materials they have created in order to share their knowledge, in the form of audio, eBooks and online programs.
Yvette's company makes a point of being fun to do business with, which must ring true as one of Yvette's clients is now a good friend.
Yvette met Mandy at the markets when she was selling clothes and asked for a business card.
When Mandy said she didn't have one, Yvette saw an opportunity for a new client and the two are now great friends.
“We get together and support each other,” Yvette said.
“Not only do we talk about how the kids are doing in school but we talk about our businesses. We're not your typical mums.”
Mandy's business, Shopping By Appointment, was born at a market stall on the Sunshine Coast in 2005: the same place she met Yvette. The demand for her affordable range of fashion saw her first launch shopping parties, then a fully developed business.
Shopping By Appointment offers clients shopping in a showroom open by appointment, mobile shopping, personal styling, shopping parties and wardrobe consultation services.
Mandy based her business around a desire to empower women to find fashion that made them feel good.
“Our message is to get women to dress for the skin they're in and feel great,” Mandy said.
All three businesses are very different, but each is very successful.
Leah attributes all of the three mums' success to a lot of hard work and dedication.
Mandy said that having like-minded women as business associates and friends was also fundamental to their success. “Having these friendships has encouraged me on a personal level and having that support gives me confidence on a business level,” she said.
“They're invaluable, really.”
Leah also said the three women had seen an opportunity and taken advantage of it.
“Success also comes from being in a position of seeing a need to do what you're doing, and that's the case for all of us,” she said. “It's really a matter of finding a niche.”
And it seems there is room to expand these niches: the three entrepreneurial mums are building their empires by franchising and licensing their working models.
Yvette, Mandy and Leah share the desire to provide others with the opportunity to work from home, as they have successfully for the last few years.
The mums want to build their brands and retire from an operations focus to a more mentoring role within their individual businesses to spend more quality time with their families.
For more information on The Creative Collective and becoming a Creative Collective franchisee, visit http://www.thedaily.com.au/news/2009/jul/07/savvy-mums-have-it-all/www.thecreativecollective.com.au
For more information on becoming a style and fashion consultant for Shopping By Appointment, visit http://www.thedaily.com.au/news/2009/jul/07/savvy-mums-have-it-all/www.shoppingbyappointment.com.au
For more information on becoming a licensed BYOkids travel agency or consultant, visit http://www.thedaily.com.au/news/2009/jul/07/savvy-mums-have-it-all/www.byokids.com.au