Emma Jones says:

“There’s never been a better time to take the first steps to becoming your own boss. You can start whilst keeping the day job, on a bootstrap of a budget and in the knowledge you’re not alone; the number of people searching for the term ‘start-up’ has increased by 25% over the last three months and Companies House are recording month-on-month increases in the number of people forming a new business.”

Produced in partnership with Country Living Magazine, this book is for anyone who has a passion, skill or hobby and an interest in turning it into a business.

Readers will discover how to:

• Make sales beyond friends and family
• Promote their brand and become well known
• Register the company and manage finances
• Embrace technology to save time and money
• Convey a professional image both online and off
• Create a support network and work with partners

Plus, it includes great case studies from small businesses such as Alex Gooch who is winning awards for his artisan bread, to Jane Fielding who is selling cushioned love letters across the globe. Above all, it shows readers how to make money from doing what they love!

Emma continues:

“People are rapidly realising you can start a business in your spare time and on a budget of less than £100, with the end result being freedom and flexibility to choose when, where and how you work. If being in control of your working life and earning from doing what you enjoy sounds attractive, this book is for you.”

HOW TO WIN

Leave a comment after this post telling us which talent or hobby you would turn into your dream business?

Competition closes 8pm on Friday 20th January 2012. The lucky winner will be emailed directly after this date. 

About the author

Emma Jones is a business expert and author, and founder of small business support company Enterprise Nation. Her books include Spare Room Start Up, Working 5 to 9, Go Global and The Start Up Kit.

Following a five year career at an international accounting firm, Emma started her first business at 27, from a spare room in her Manchester apartment. That business was sold 18 months later, and the experience led to Emma’s next venture, Enterprise Nation. Its website (www.enterprisenation.com) was launched in 2006 and became the most popular for home business owners in the UK, attracting over 100,000 visitors each month.

Enterprise Nation has evolved to help even more would-be entrepreneurs. It now produces books, kits, online tools, video clips, friendly forums and weekly classes for anyone wanting to start and grow a small business. Emma is also a co-founder of national campaign, StartUp Britain.

@e_nation
@emmaljones
www.enterprisenation.com

Like so many women, I struggle with my weight. Having spent my teens and 20s quite effortlessly slim I started putting on weight gradually in my 30s. Then once I had children the weight started to creep on more insidiously until I am now the heaviest I have ever been.  Some of the reason for this is I am far less active than I was before I had children but I can also see that much of my weight gain is due to eating through boredom, to ‘treat’ myself or for comfort.

What I immediately like about Beyond Chocolate was its frankness and honesty. It is written by two sisters, Sophie & Audrey Boss, who have both spent their lives yo-yo dieting, losing the weight and then putting it straight back on (plus some!).

Let’s get this straight from the outset – this book is NOT a diet book and most refreshingly NO food is forbidden. It’s a book about changing habits and re-tuning into your own body. Their argument is that diets don’t work because they are too prescriptive and no one set of rules suits everyone.  In just the same way that no-one else can tell you how often and when to go for a pee, no-one else knows how much food you need and when you need to eat it. Instead we need to retrain ourselves to respond to the signals our body is trying to tell us.

The book has strategies to help you to:

• Eat the foods you love without feeling guilty
• Think about food only when you are hungry
• Stop overeating
• Deal with cravings and comfort eating

It also encourages you to accept yourself as you are now, find ‘ways to move’ that you enjoy rather than approaching exercise as a means to losing weight and most importantly to sit down and really ‘focus’ on the food you eat – the taste, the sensation, how it makes you feel, how full you are getting – without the distraction of the TV, books, computers etc.

I found the tone of the book very friendly and encouraging. There are no eating plans – just a series of general rules through which eating can begin to become a pleasure rather than a minefield of deprivation, measuring, denial, bingeing and guilt.

So much of a woman’s relationship with food is emotional and based on how she sees herself so I really liked the fact that this book tries to tackle the issue from the viewpoint of changing your ‘habits’ rather than changing what or how much you eat. Children are naturally very good at regulating what they eat – they have hungry days and not so hungry days – and are not as conditioned as us adults to eat at set times of the day.  As a parent I have always felt a real responsibility not to pass on any of my bad habits to them. But in actual fact, it may be them who have a lot to teach me about tuning into my actual appetite rather than my conditioned one.

For me, September and the start of a new school year is even more motivating than New Year for making resolutions so I will certainly be trying out the many exercises in the book in the weeks to come in the hope that, through a more natural relationship with food, I will lose some of my excess weight without it feeling like a battle.

For more infomation about the Beyond Chocolate philosophy and details of their workshops and online support community please visit http://www.beyondchocolate.co.uk

With a title like that I had some pretty high expectations when I picked this book up!

In the fast paced and ever changing world in which we live and work it can sometimes feel that we are constantly meeting challenges and demands on our time – which can lead us to feel stressed, unwell and negative. Feeling negative can have a big impact on how you function in all aspects of your life, but also can radiate outwards and influence others around us and their reaction to us.  Being able to remain calm and in control when things are going wrong and finding a solution is to be in a position of strength.

This is a compact and punchy book which is clearly and positively written. It is very direct and leads you by the hand to examine what makes you tick, what makes you feel negative and what you can do about it. It gives you questionnaires, exercises and advice that are all very realistic and achieveable.

The early chapters start by looking at why we should be positive, how to cope with negative feelings, understanding stress and knowing yourself – all key in then being able to make a change. Chapter 5 is one of my favourites as it looks at assertive, submissive and aggressive behaviour and what it looks like,  why we and others behave in those ways and how we can change our own reactions.

The next few chapters cover the important issues of self esteem, projecting a confident image and body language. Chapter 11 has a fantastic framework in which to tackle a difficult situation or person along with lots of examples which everybody would be able to identify with and relate to situations in their own life.

The final 2 chapters look at how to handle put downs, criticism, aggression and conflict. These are all situations where you cannot control what people do or say to you – but what you can do is control how you feel about them, and also how you respond to them.

Whilst all the topics covered in this book have whole books dedicated to them, I think this is a great compilation of the key issues and a really great ‘pick me up’. The advice at the start of the book is to read it through and then come back to sections as and when they apply – a very worthwhile read.

Pauline Rowson has many other titles available as audio and eBooks at www.rowmark.co.uk  or to find out more about her, and her successful crime writing career visit her blog at www.paulinerowson.com

Co-author of this book Helen Lindop came to our first ever Mum’s The Boss meeting with her baby daughter knowing that she didn’t want to go back to work and looking for ideas. Two years later, Helen still regularly attends Mum’s The Boss meetings, has had another baby and has turned some of the content of her blog into a book - 

We have been delighted to watch Helen on her journey from the early days of motherhood, trying to figure out how she could juggle being mum with a business, a dilemma which hundreds of mums face each year, to finally becoming a published author!

Another more recent visitor to our meetings is Sara, a mum of 2 young children who has recently been made redundant. Sara is searching for a new business idea so we leant her Helen’s book which she kindly reviewed  for us.

“This book is a great starting point for any mum thinking of setting up their own business who is unsure of what they want to do. Written in an easy to read style (not too intense and heavy going like some ‘start your own business books’ !), the format works really well with the manageable chapters/sections making it easy to dip into when you have a spare 5 minutes. The A-Z of flexible work ideas is really useful, giving relevant and inspiring ideas which open your mind to different opportunities that you may not have previously thought of - I particularly liked the comprehensive ‘Further Information’ sections which recommend websites and books to expand your research on the subjects.

The only downside is I would have liked it to have been a bit longer and to have expanded more A-Z ideas - it left me wanting to investigate more ideas, but this is  definitely a positive downside!” 

Helen and Antonia Chitty of Family Friendly Working collaborated on this project having never met until after it was published – a testament in itself to the digital age in which we live and the ability of mums to achieve their goals around a family and use technology to work remotely.

To find out more about the book or other ideas for businesses which fit around your family visit www.businessplusbaby.com or www.familyfriendlyworking.co.uk

This is the third Pauline Rowson book which we have reviewed on the blog – and like all the others is a well written and informative read. It has a good range of practical advice and ideas and is a good place to start if you feel that your marketing strategy could do with a fresh approach.

Part 1 of the book is an Introduction to Marketing and examines exactly what marketing is. Many people have an idea of what some of the most common marketing activities are, but before that you need to take a step back. As with anything in business it’s all about the customer – without them there is no business. So the most fundamental questions are covered – who are my customers and what are they buying and why? Once you know the answers to these then you can start to develop products and services that will sell and look at how you price these so they sell in a competitive world. It is only at this point that you can then decide on a marketing strategy.

Part 2 of the book has chapters devoted to some of the most common marketing tools and takes you through such areas as mail shots, emails, newsletters, online marketing and exhibitions.  In each of the chapters there is helpful information with regard to any legal issues surrounding direct marketing, the pros and cons of each approach, advice on how to build a successful list, and making the content appealing and ultimately doing its job – creating new customers and business. There are also helpful action points, top tips and summaries.

The message which is constantly referred back to throughout the book is to build in regular reviews to all the marketing activity you do. If you aren’t getting a response from a certain type of marketing then you need to try something else – your message is not reaching the people you want it to.

Pauline Rowson has many other titles available as audio and eBooks at www.rowmark.co.uk  or to find out more about her, and her successful crime writing career visit her blog at www.paulinerowson.com

Arguably one of the most important part of a business is the customers; without your customers you have no business, which is why getting your customer service right should be a high priority. From a purely business point of view it is much more cost effective to retain a customer than to find a new one – so getting your customer service right is a key factor in this

Pauline Rowson is author to several business books, and this like the others is clear, informative and packed full of useful information and action points.

This book is very clearly and equally weighted in 2 sections – with the first section focusing entirely on ‘Creating a Culture of Excellent Customer Service’. The principle behind this is very simple – you have to start at the bottom, and from the inside to get the systems in place and the attitudes of all your employees right if it is going to carry through to an effective customer service. This book leads you through all the key areas. You have to know who you customers are, what they want and how you can reach them. You need to set your standards with a customer service philosophy and then train and support your staff to meet those standards. The other very important part is to continuously measure and monitor levels of customer service.

The second section of the book deals with the most common practical aspects of customer service, such as voice and telephone techniques, body language, listening and questioning, assertiveness and dealing with difficult or angry customers. Communication is a key word which crops up all the way through this book – and probably lies at the heart of customer service. As a business you need to communicate effectively with your customers. Most people who have had a bad customer service experience will cite poor communication as one of their key frustrations – people like to know what is happening – even if in situations where something has gone wrong. 

Most of the points covered in this book are straight forward and make perfect sense. Like all areas of business, whatever  stage you are at, however big or small your business is, it is always worth looking at specific areas of your business regularly and reviewing them to ensure they are operating how you would like.  

 Pauline Rowson has many other titles available as audio and eBooks at www.rowmark.co.uk  or to find out more about her, and her successful crime writing career visit her blog at www.paulinerowson.com

A couple of months ago we teamed up with Dream Town and gave away a Rose Petal Cottage in one of our Freebie Friday giveaways. At the same time, I was asked if my girls would like to review their new pet inspired property, Puppy Lane Cottage, which we were thrilled to accept.

The perfect place for a little girl to look after all her pets, Puppy Lane Cottage comes complete with Candyfloss, a very fluffy puppy, plus a Kennel, Collar Tag and Lead, Brush, Bowl and Bone. We were also sent another accessory pack including Coco the Kitten, plus a fabric covered Sofa and pet accessories.

Further pets and accessories are available including a Kitchen Set which comes with Pip the Mouse who lives in the cooker and a fabric Garden with Nutmeg the Bunny and gardening accessories.

Asthetically the Puppy Lane Cottage is very pretty, and the attention to detail is really beautiful. A stone cottage, with thatched roof, a picket fence, flowers  creeping up the walls and even a butterfly settled on the roof, all makes for the ultimate girlie hideaway. The cottage also has a stable-style door with magnetic clasps, pretty curtains and lace edging around the roof.  So if you have a real girlie-girl as a daughter, she won’t fail to fall in love with this playhouse.

From a mum’s point of view, the cottage was simple to assemble and the instructions were very clear. The frame of the cottage is made from plastic poles, meaning the house is lightweight to move around, and when not in use can quickly be broken down and stored back in the box. But if you don’t want to disassemble the cottage, you can store one half of the cottage neatly inside the other slightly larger half, stacking the accessories inside.

My girls loved playing in the cottage, but what really made it for them were the pets. They fell in love with Coco and Candyfloss and loved playing with them and all their accessories, quickly announcing that they wanted Nutmeg the rabbit and Pip the mouse too!

So, if you’re thinking ahead to Christmas already, and have a very girlie daughter who loves animals, you won’t go far wrong by asking Father Christmas to bring her a Puppy Lane Cottage on 25th December!

For stockist details and more information on the complete Dream Town range, call 0800 389 8591 or visit www.worldsapart.com

Visit the Dream Town Club – www.dreamtown.co.uk – for exclusive games, downloads and chances to win!

There are more pregnancy and motherhood advice books on the market than you can shake a Clearblue stick at! Most of them are earnest, some of them are finger-wagging, and others seem designed to make you feel guilty every second of the day. This is not one of those books.

Written by Zoe Williams, the Guardian journalist behind the hilarious ‘Anti-natal’ column, Bring It On, Baby is a straight-talking corrective to the sea of advice that engulfs pregnant women and new mums. It considers such issues as the overbearing public guidelines on what not to eat or drink, ‘women shouldn’t be treated like three-year-olds, airily instructed in the way of things with no proper explanation,’ weighs up the relative merits of different childcare routines, ‘It doesn’t make any sodding difference. There are easy babies and difficult babies, and, before you know it, they’re no longer babies,’ and even considers the correct response to the question, ‘Who’s fatter, my sister or me?’

I am often sceptical about books like this as they promise a great deal but fail to deliver – however this had me laughing out loud in the first chapter! It really does shout out loud from the roof tops all the things that a mother (or parent) often thinks, but wouldn’t actually say – unless to a very good friend whilst under the influence.  What I think is most striking though is the balance that Zoe has achieved. She manages to be this angry, accidentally pregnant woman who looks for an argument in every comment and piece of professional advice, but then does some solid research to show up where all the myths are. She is very honest about her lack of any sort of maternal feelings and preparation for being a mother and yet happily and honestly describes her instant and over whelming love for her baby. Despite this love she can still talk candidly about the depths of the lows that parenting brings and the changes you go through and the illogical nature of all things connected to being a mum.

I would be careful about recommending this to a mum-to-be – yes it would save them some heartache and be an honest perspective – but mostly because they simply wouldn’t be able to enjoy how honest it is – and I think it is source of great humour for mums everywhere. 

To celebrate the release of Bring It On, Baby by Zoe Williams, we have 5 copies to give away.

To enter simply answer the following question:

Where does Zoe Williams live?     Hint: Look in the About the Author section in the right hand column

Email your answer with BABY as the subject to info (at) mumstheboss.co.uk. Competition closes at 7pm on Friday 30^th July and winners will be notified by email by Monday 2^nd August.

And if you aren’t lucky enough to win you can get your hands on a copy of the book now at www.guardianbooks.co.uk

For this week’s Freebie Friday we have teamed up with Little Dish who have recently launched a new range of fresh baby purees. Mum’s The Boss member Helen Lindop, owner of

“Little Dish’s fresh baby purees arrived at my door by courier in a cute baby rucksack that my toddler immediately grabbed for herself!

There were six purees, three sweet and three savoury. The sweet ones were mango and banana; strawberry and apple; and blueberries, apples and bananas. The savoury ones were butternut squash, carrots and apples; peas, pears and apples; and sweet potato, parsnips and leeks. The purees are chilled, but you can freeze them too.

Baby Tom loved all of them, but the sweet ones went down so fast they barely touched the sides! He’s ten months old, so usually eats mashed food rather than purees. This wasn’t a problem, though as I served the savoury meals up as side vegetables and the sweet purees with yogurt or custard.

My two-year-old insisted on trying some, too. She had the sweet potato, parsnip and leek puree and decided to use it as a dip for her other vegetables! When she had eaten it all, she asked for “more squirty” but sadly her little brother had already eaten it all.

I do buy baby food in jars from time to time, but I don’t like to use it too often. I’m concerned that the high temperatures used to cook jars take away some of the nutrients and that if babies get used to the bland ‘canned soup’ flavour of food in jars they won’t learn to like the taste of real food.

What was great about the Little Dish purees was that they tasted like real food. The berry purees I could have happily eaten myself with a nice pot of Greek yogurt. They really did taste that good. The savoury purees cleverly combined fruit and veg to give a mildly sweet taste and that my little ones loved.

In short, a glowing review from this mum, baby and toddler!”

Today we are giving away 3 Little Dish rucksacks, each with a set of purees in. To be in with a chance of winning, you just need to answer the following question:

Q.   What are the names of Little Dish’s 2 chief tasters?

Email your answer to info@mumstheboss.co.uk by 7pm today (9th July) to be in with a chance of winning.  Please write LITTLE DISH in the subject line of your email. Winners will be emailed directly by Monday 10th July.

For more details of the full Little Dish range and stockists please visit www.littledish.co.uk

Make It Your Business 

The book starts by saying ‘that the majority of self-employment books to be found on the shelves today are written by men, for men, about men and when we were looking for help and inspiration, they could easily have put us off’. This book aims to go beyond the facts and figures of starting a business and look at what it’s like to be a woman business owner, the barriers you might encounter and how to do it without sacrificing other aspects of your life.

One minor criticism of the book is that the legal and financial aspects of business were covered in one chapter, ‘Business Basics’. The authors start the chapter by saying that this, understandably, might have been the section of other business manuals that ‘put you off’. I felt they could have addressed this by giving more attention to this crucial area, rather than trying not to scare off readers. A business has to have a solid financial foundation before all of the other aspects can be built on top and this is easily overlooked by people who are new to business.

Make it your business achieves the tricky balance of talking from a woman’s point of view, but without ‘man bashing’ or being  patronising. I liked the authors’ positive and empowering yet realistic approach.

If you are a woman thinking of starting a business, this would be a great introduction as it covers everything you’d need to consider. However, it covers a huge range of subjects and so can’t cover them in depth. This could actually be an advantage, as too much information too early could be overwhelming. As Nicola Horlick says on the back cover, this is ‘a comprehensive introductory tool for any woman looking to take the first step in establishing her own business’.

Reviews by Helen Lindop of www.businessplusbaby.com - a website dedicated to getting started as a mumpreneur