Mumpreneur Profile: Sarah of Families Leeds

Name of Business: Families Leeds  

Tell us about your family: I’ve been married to Daniel for 7 years. He is an Insolvency Practitioner and spends alot of time working away. I have 2 children – Isobel 5, and Eliza 2. We live in Leeds. 

What was your career before setting up the magazine?
I began working at the BBC in 1997 at Radio Leeds as a journalist. It’s a job I loved. I then moved into television working for the BBC in Manchester and then back in Leeds at the regional news programme Look North. When I left to have my first daughter 5 years ago I was a producer and reporter. I did return to work briefly after Isobel was born, but TV journalism demands long hours that don’t fit into traditional childcare arrangements. My husband was working away alot so the weekday childcare became my responsibility. After 2 months, I decided to resign and concentrate on being a full time Mum

When did you launch?

I launched the magazine this month! I bought the franchise in April and have spent 2008 building up to it.  

How did you go about getting started?

I found out the franchise was up for grabs last year and then decided to find out as much as I could about the Families group of magazines – there are 27 around the country. I talked to existing editors and to the founders and liked the ethos of the company. As a journalist, it was important to me that I wasn’t going to turn into a glorified salesperson….and I’m not. I can only sell 40% of my magazine’s space. The rest is mine!

What has worked well about your business?

Using the knowledge that I have built up over the past 5 years being a Mum in Leeds means I know lots about parenting in the city. I’m able to pass that onto my readers. I believe there was a massive gap in the market in Leeds for a magazine that combined really useful information and a personality. Families Leeds is just that.

What has been your biggest challenge so far? How have you dealt with it?

Because my background was as a journalist and not as a sales person, I have been naive about the way people operate in the world of advertising sales. The only way I can deal with it is by conducting myself, and my business in a way that I’m proud of.  I’m a big believer in ‘what goes around, comes around’!

How do you fit in work with the family?

I work 3 days during school hours – my youngest daughter attends nursery on those days until 3pm. I work most evenings – except Friday and Saturday. I only work weekends when it’s distribution week – I have to get 13,000 magazines into schools, nurseries, toddler groups, retail outlets in a short space of time – and the weekend after copy deadline when we’re trying to get it to the printers.

What advice would you give to someone else wanting to work in this area?

Check out your competitors and get to know them inside out – not just what they do but the way they work. Don’t turn down any offer of help or contact – you never know when it will come in useful. Be cheeky and ask friends/ friends of friends for favours. People like to help and be involved in a successful project.

How do people find out more about a Families franchise? Visit www.familiesmagazine.co.uk

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 1st, 2009 at 4:52 pm and is filed under Mumpreneur Profiles, media mums. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.