Name of Business: www.mummysonlinebabyshop.com

Your Name and Age: Michael Duberry Aged 33.

Tell us about your family: Wife Natasha 34, four children Kayci 12, Aaliyah 10, Jayden 5 and Koby 1. Live in Hertfordshire.

What did you do before coming up with your business idea and how was it making the transition?

I play professional football and have done since I was 17, so at the moment I’m playing football and running the business with the help of my wife Natasha. This will therefore make the transition to go into business fulltime alot easier when I retire from football.

When did you launch?

We launched www.mummysonlinebabyshop.com in November 08.

How did you get started?

Our business and domain name was the first thing we got then started building everything off of that.

What research did you do before launching?

We already had an idea about the competition and what sort of things are out there for our target customer. It isn’t a new idea but we thought we could do it alot better. Natasha used to a fashion buyer so that gave us confidence to go ahead to.

How have you funded the business?

Through my wages.

How do you promote your business? What has worked best?

Advertising, word of mouth, and of recent a pr company. Word of mouth has been good, due to my work I know alot of people who are our ideal customers and they then speak to more people in their circle. Hopefully the PR company will bring alot of success to.

What has worked well about your business?

Everything really, the whole angle of funky, fresh and unique has worked well for us.

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

The biggest challenge has been fending off all the vultures that see your a new business and want to take advantage! Offering you things that are
not possible. Knowing that a new business needs help and might be vunerable and gulable to some of the offers made. We have just said no to anything we are not 120% sure about.

How do you fit in work with the family?

Family first!! we are an online business so we work from home anyway but do have a break when kids come home from school until they go to bed and resume just to check over and tidy things up before we go to bed.

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

Go for it! but make sure your 100% committed as its a hard work and a very competitive area but if you have a good idea it can work.

Your website link: www.mummysonlinebabyshop.com

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