Name of Business: The Great Little Hamper Company

 Tell us about your family: I live with my partner Chris who is a sound supervisor in television – he’s currently working on Great British Menu. We have twin boys who are 19 months old – the result of IVF (first time!!!) We live in Harrow. I’m 40, he is 37.

What did you do before coming up with your business idea and how was it making the transition? Before having the boys I was a puppeteer and actress on Children’s television. I was Rosie in Rosie and Jim and Barnaby Bear (which is currently on CBeebies and BBC2)

When did you launch? We launched October 2008

How did you get started? By accident! We both were looking for something to do after the children had arrived and we knew we couldn’t go back to t.v. just yet as the children were too small – the hours in t.v. are very long

What research did you do before launching? We wanted to do something for children and babies and we looked into all sorts of things until we realized no one had done hampers for children with toys in them

How have you funded the business? A loan from my business partner’s husband

How do you promote your business? What has worked best? We had no money in our small start up money for PR – but Penny and I are very creative and wrote to every magazine and newspaper. We sent jpegs of our hampers and several press releases that we’d written. So far it’s all been very positive. Pestering people has worked the best – plus they like our products and that really helps!

What has worked well about your business? Being able to do it from home when the children are in bed!

What has been your biggest challenge so far? How have you dealt with it? Our biggest challenge has been getting people to know about our website – it is an on going thing that we work on everyday – PR is everything and we are still dealing with it!

How do you fit in work with the family? It’s harder for me at the moment as my twin boys are only 19 months old so I check emails and make calls when they have their lunchtime nap. Then I do everything else after 7pm. Penny can work during the day as her boys are at school – so between us we get it all done. At the moment though she does more than me.

What advice would you give to someone else wanting to work in this area? It’s hard work running your own business – but SO rewarding…if you have an idea – just go for it. Life is too short and you never know what might happen. Be brave and if possible do it with someone – it helps to have a partner to share the hard times with – and the good ones!

Your website link. www.thegreatlittlehampercompany.co.uk