Marneta of Relax kids

Name of Business: Relax Kids

Your Name and Age: Marneta Viegas  41

Tell us about your family (partner, children, ages, where you live etc: whatever you feel happy sharing)

I live with my husband Stuart in a tiny village in oxfordshire. Stuart and I run the business together.  I come up with ideas and his website, design, recording and video skills make them come alive.

What did you do before coming up with your business idea (previous career, stay at home mum etc) and how was it making the transition?

I ran a children’s entertainment business for 13 years in london.  Over that time I noticed a change in children’s behaviour.  They seemed to be lack concentration and focus and listening skills.  I set about creating a relaxation system using breathing exercises, stretches, games, positive affirmations and visualisations to help children learn these important life skills.   As well as starting Relax Kids classes, I wrote a couple of books of children’s relaxations – for parents to read to their child at bedtime and CDs to play to help children de-stress.

When did you launch?

I launched in 2003.  It took about 2 years developing the Relax Kids system and products previous to the launch.

How did you get started? What research did you do before launching?

I took a variety of business courses and had a mentor who showed me the way.  I spent time researching children’s relaxation products and books (mainly from the USA) and looked into if there was a need in the UK

How have you funded the business?

My mother gave my £45,000 (early inheritance) to buy a flat.  She was not happy when I used the whole amount to set up Relax Kids.  I did go on Dragons’ Den but they did not want to invest as they didn’t see that Relax Kids was a viable business opportunity.  In retrospect, I am very happy as I would not have wanted to give away 50% of hard work to them.

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

I mainly promote online now.  Although most of our business comes from personal recommendation.

What has worked well about your business?

A few years ago, I started training others to teach Relax Kids classes.  I had no idea this would be so popular and to date I have trained up over 400 Relax Kids teachers around the UK as well as other countries.  Each Relax Kids teacher has a license to teach in their area and run their own Relax Kids business.  I also offer parents the chance to sell Relax Kids products.  I offer the same 40% profit as we offer shops.  I just felt that parents should have an equal slice of the pie if they wish.  When parents use Relax Kids CDs and see what a remarkable difference it makes to their child’s concentration, confidence and general behaviour, they tell other parents.  I just felt that there should be something in place for them to actively benefit from telling others.  I have learnt that is pays to be generous and we give an awful lot away for free.  People can download our free magazine, get free downloads and articles and exercises.  This has helped build up a loyal fan base who come back to the website again and again because they see the benefit in what we are doing.

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

I am a creator and love coming up with ideas.  It is putting them into practice that is the hard bit and anything to do with money and organisation is exhausting for me.  I literally would start breaking out in a sweat and going dizzy in meetings with accountants and business advisors.  Luckily I have found the right people to do the bits that I just can’t do.  Once I set up a focussed and positive team around me, my task became easy.

How do you fit in work with the family?

I tend to work too many hours in the day.  As both Stuart and I work from home in our little offices, we end up working all day and all night.  If we go out, we talk about ideas for work, when we eat together it is work talk.  It is incredibly hard to stop and step away from work.  We have had a promise to each other that 2010 will be the year we get a better balance.  There is no point in having a successful business if you feel tired and worn out all the time.

Flexible business opportunity:

If there are parents who are interested in helping their own and other children to relax and learn positive life skills, they may be interested in selling Relax Kids products.  It is easy and inexpensive to set up and if you have the right connections and lots of motivation and enthusiasm you could do well.  One parent distributor in Ireland ordered over £2,000 worth of products throughout one month.  She had to keep re-ordering as she kept running out of stock.  40% of £2,000 is not bad for doing something she enjoys.  Mums can run our Chill and Chat parties where they take other parents through some simple relaxation exercises and listen to the CDs together.  Mumtrepreneurs with websites might like to join our affiliate scheme and earn 20% of all sales that they direct to our website through a banner advert.  This is really easy to set up. www.relaxkids.com/sell

Your website: www.relaxkids.com