By Flora Davidson, Supplycompass
If you’re starting a fashion, accessories or homewares brand, at some point you’ll need to choose the type of manufacturer to partner with. Should you go for a Cut Make Trim (CMT) partner or a fully-factored partner abroad?
CMT partners
 Cut Make Trim [CMT] units cut the material, make the garment and add the trims. It’s is a good option for brands starting out because they can cater for much smaller order runs. Strong tech packs, pre-made patterns and experience procuring fabrics and managing supply chains all help make …

Hi, I’m Shirley Goodgroves, 44. I’m married to Roger and I have 2 children age 19 and 13 plus 2 older stepchildren and a loopy cocker spaniel called Baxter.  We live in a village in South Buckinghamshire.  I run Two Birds London which specialises in practice wear and club uniforms for performance sports such as ice skating, roller skating, gymnastics, swimming and more.  Before  I set up this company, I had a wide and varied working life doing everything from customer services to project management for a telelcommunications company to interior …

Tell us about yourself
My name is Eimear Kelly and I am the owner and Managing Director of Darcy the Dingo. I’m married and proud mum to our son age 6, and his little sister who is 4.
What did you do before coming up with your business idea and how was it making the transition?
Prior to becoming a mum, my background was in hospitality, recruitment and administration. When our eldest was born we made the decision that I would become a stay at home mum. While it was a difficult one …

Hello, my name is Samantha Sullivan and I am 43 years old. I am an Independent Partner at Flamingo Paperie running my own greetings card and stationery business around my busy family life.
I home educate my four children, one girl and three boys, who are aged from four to twelve years old. My husband and I emigrated to New Zealand fifteen years ago. Our first three children were born in New Zealand whilst the youngest was born in Australia. My husband tends to pick up short-term environmental contracts so we …

A third of Britain’s side hustlers have admitted withholding their earnings from HMRC according to OddsMonkey.
New research commissioned by Oddsmonkey reveals that Brits are using side hustles to help cover the cost of living.
As the annual inflation rate doubled from 1.2% to 3.1% in the past year1, the average monthly wage of £1538.97 is not enough to cover the cost of living for almost a quarter of Brits (24%).
Because of this, 25% of working employees have resorted to a side hustle to earn extra money with 36% of those having 3 or …

Many entrepreneurs have turned to the self-help industry for inspiration – and for some it has certainly been a good move. But unfortunately, like any industry there is good and bad within it. The 2016 CNN documentary ‘Enlighten us’, on the deaths of three self-help devotees, issues a warning: beware the self-appointed guru on a giant ego trip.
Increasingly accused of exploiting the vulnerable and the weak, the self-help industry appeals to a fundamental desire in all humans: to find meaning, gratification and simple solutions to life’s complexities. So potentially, almost anybody can be drawn in.
Given the …

UK women are losing out on nearly £140 billion a year in wages due to the gender pay gap – or £9,112 each.
This year we celebrate 100 years since the Representation of the People Act gave the first UK women equal voting power – but they still do not have equal spending power.
On average, men working full-time earn £39,003 a year, compared to women’s average full-time wage of £29,891. This is because male employees tend to be paid more, reach higher positions and are more likely to work in higher-paid …

My name is Dora, I am a mum of two and I have been developing a unique baby product for a few years. I came up with the idea when I struggled to give medicine to my children when they were babies.
I found 15 types of medicine dispensers: soft syringes, dummy dispensers, syringe bottles and many more but none were good enough. Some were too messy, some too difficult to use, some not suitable for babies that don’t take dummies or bottles, some simply ineffective. That’s when I came up …

Watch our video with productivity guru Charles Duhigg to learn how a few simple steps can transform your day…and your life!
We all know that feeling of getting to the end of the day and feeling like we’ve achieved nothing. And when you’ve got 101 things on your to do list both in your personal life and at work, it’s understandable that things may get away from us.
But we also know those women who seem to be able to achieve so much in just 24 hours, from running a business to …

Having a new baby or young family can be overwhelming, and starting a new business is all consuming. So why do so many mums do both? Despite developing flexible working legislation, many jobs still don’t offer sufficient flexibility, and some mums want the freedom of being their own boss to allow them to prioritise time with their family. Starting a business when you have baby or toddler can be a big challenge, but it is entirely possible too. Here are some pointers from Antonia Chitty of Family Friendly Working, to …