Name of Business: Ella Announcements & Ella Events

Your Name and Age: Amanda Farren, aged 22

Tell us about your family: I live in Coventry with my husband Chris and three children Ella, Joey and Isabel

I had my first child at 17 whilst I was studying for my A Levels. When my daughter was 6 months old, I felt that I was missing out on being her mum. I made the decision that my education could wait, but being a mother could not.

When launching Ella Announcements in 2007 at the age of 19 I had no previous work experience, and definitely no experience in business. I had spent the previous year teaching myself graphic design and web design, simply as a hobby. I was a stay at home mum to two young children and having something to keep myself occupied kept me feeling somewhat human. It was this hobby which materialised into a business. I began by selling a few announcements and invitations on ebay, and the demand was huge. With no funding required to start up, a little web-design knowledge and nothing like it in the UK, my business was launched

Ella Announcements has grown considerably over the past 3 years. My main “marketing” has been through word of mouth The only other form of marketing I do is exhibiting at events, but this is also important to me to be able to network with like-minded people.

After exhibiting at many events, I found that we were having to travel hours to attend the nearest shows. There had never been a baby and toddler event in Coventry. In 2008, I set about organising The Baby Fair. I learnt a lot from exhibiting at other events, and from talking to event organisers. As a mum and a business, I felt I had all the abilities to create a successful event for small business and local parents. In June 2009, The Baby Fair saw 54 companies exhibit with 1000 mums and dads coming through the doors. Ella Events was born.

A few years ago I would never have seen myself as an event organiser, but not only do I have many skills to enable me to organise successful events, I thoroughly enjoy it. In 2009, I teamed up with Laura Rigney, to help run Ella Events. It was around the time I met Laura, that I realised exactly how beneficial to ones business life and personal life networking with other mums in business can be. Working from home can be isolating at times, but with online communities and local events, I found that the more like-minded women I met the more confident I became, and my original feelings of loneliness were gone.

With this in mind, in October 2009, Laura and I organised The Mumpreneur Conference and Awards, which launched the first Business Mum Week. Watching over 80 “mumpreneurs” chatting to one another, learning about business, talking about each others achievements, and celebrating them with the awards was a turning point for me. I recognised how hard it can be to juggle family life with running a business, and realised the true importance of providing business mums from around the UK with one day where they can all get together, find support, be celebrated and have a fantastic time. We are now hard at work on the 2010 which is shaping up to be even better.

Finding that perfect work/family balance is tough. I often find myself working when I should be spending time with the family but I ensure I set aside specific times in the day to be mummy. I utilise naptimes and bedtimes and times when daddy is around to get important work done. I am lucky to have a very supportive husband who deals with the typical house-wife duties whilst still working a full-time job.

My advice to other business mums looking to organise events is to be aware of how much time it takes. Although I went into event organising with my eyes open, the amount of time and attention this requires still caught me off guard a little. Be sure that, especially if you have another business, you have a lot of time to spare.

To all mums wanting to start a business, I’d stress the importance of networking with other business people. You will meet people who can help you develop both personally and professionally. You will meet people who inspire you to do more. You will meet people who you can help. You will meet people who blow your socks of with all they have achieved. You will make friends and prevent yourself from feeling isolated.

Website Links: www.ellaannouncements.com

www.themumpreneurconference.co.uk
www.baby-fair.co.uk
www.mumsmission.co.uk