When a small business is started, it can sink or swim on the availability of capital. The money that you need behind you in order to get a project off the ground can be critical in its success. You might be lucky in that your idea either requires no initial investment, or that people are falling over themselves to throw cash at you. But, for the vast majority of people, there will come a time where you need to present your idea to a cash-rich investor who will give you …

Book Review: Accounts Demystified by Anthony Rice

Date of Review: 11th June 2011

Hello, my name is Sarah Rasmussen, age 34, and together with my husband, Mark, we’re the owners of Buy4BabyDirect — an online baby store.
Buy4BabyDirect is a family business specialising in practical baby products.  Established in May 2010, our focus is on bringing practical baby products right to your door. We offer secure online shopping and prompt delivery to the UK, New Zealand, Australia, US and all around the world.

Antonia Chitty is an award winning entrepreneur and author. She offers help and mentoring for mums with businesses through www.themumpreneurguide.co.uk
Have you thought of going into business? If so, you are one of a rising number of mothers who are becoming business owners and entrepreneurs. According to a survey by Phoenix Trading, more than three in four mums who don’t currently have a business would like to start one. But being a mother and a business owner brings its own challenges.

Move from mum to mumpreneur in a MONTH!
Ever thought that:
“There has to be a better way of providing for my family”
“Where can I  find a job with flexible hours?”
“How do I know where to  start working for myself?”

It was great to be at the mumpreneur conference this weekend. If you couldn’t make it we have some video clips coming up over the next few days so you can get some of the vibe and find out what people learnt to help them start or developtheir business .

Did you see Family Friendly Working in this month’s Mother and Baby magazine? I was giving advice for mums who want to change career. If you didn’t see the article, here are my top tips:

Check out your local college and see which courses are on offer this September.
Look into childcare at an early stage: college nurseries get booked up fast.
Visit your local enterprise agency (if it hasn’t been cut!) for business start up ideas.

If you run a wedding business, did you know that media coverage could be worth thousands of pounds to your business? And if you do your own PR you can get your products seen by brides-to-be who are looking for just what you offer?
Make sure that writing and sending press releases and quick updates about your business is a regular part of your business promotion. And to make it easier, use the Wedding Media Contacts database, which puts details for all the leading national and regional wedding magazines and websites …

If you run a wedding business, here are some simple tips to help you promote it and get coverage in wedding magazines worth thousands of pounds:
1. What’s new? Choose a new product or service, ideally something that’s unique to your business. ‘New’ always makes better news!
2. Pick Your Media. Think about which media your business might appear in. Look at blogs, read national wedding magazines and find out about local wedding magazines.  For a quick way to get lists of wedding media, check the contacts in the Wedding Media Database.

What do you think of when you hear the word ‘Mumpreneur’? A mum with a webstore selling baby gear? That’s one stereotype, but it sells short the many women who own all sorts of businesses who are also juggling a family. There is an article in the Times which outlines some ‘mumpreneur stereotypes’ which also perhaps don’t help the cause:
“Green mum: Makes biodynamic herbal body cream for mother and child. Qualifications Home aromatherapy course. Funding Not much needed. Herbs are grown in the garden; packaging is recycled pesto jars; her …