From Maternity To Mumtrepreneur

A new baby changes your lifestyle

A new baby changes your lifestyle. For most this change is good and for me in particular a new baby brought me a new career, which was totally unexpected. I left to go on maternity leave and ended up starting my own business.

It all started when we sent out our baby thank you cards. My husband at the time ran a digital print company and so we designed and created our own baby photo cards. We sent them to family and friends and the feedback received was amazing. They loved seeing my little girl's face peeping out of the card. She was 5 weeks old and we had propped her up on the couch surrounded by teddies and her favourite blanket.

As a first time Mum I was totally shocked by the number of baby gifts received and felt compelled to personally thank people who had displayed such generosity. I received gifts from people who I hardly new, friends of my parents had taken the time to personally knit clothes for my daughter which were just beautiful.

Having always been the curious type I began (in between sleeps and feeds) researching the personalised baby cards market. To my surprise I found very little existed. There were a few sites offering cards with the baby's name but none with a photo. My already frazzled and sleep deprived brain starting ticking over and I began to talk through the idea with my husband. At this stage my daughter was 3 months old and to be honest as a new Mum I had enough to contend with but this new business idea excited me and I couldn't let it go. I began discussing the website with a developer I knew and enlisted a fellow Mum who was a graphic designer to help me create the cards.

I was excited by the fact I could provide products and a service to new Mums and Dads to help them announce their new arrival or say thank you for baby gifts. I had been there and was excited when we designed our own cards and knew other Mums and Dads would be too. We created pre-designed templates which could be personalised online with the baby's photo, details and personal message and a proof of the card viewed instantly on screen. As a new Mum time is very precious, you only have a few windows of opportunity throughout the day to do your own tasks so the last thing you need is to be frustrated at a computer trying to design your cards.

Like many mothers I dreaded the thought of going back to work and leaving my little one. Now, a new business idea had been conceived (inspired by my baby girl) which would allow me to juggle motherhood and work. It was going to be tough. Starting a new business at any time is hard, so starting a new business with a new baby was ambitious but I felt I needed to give it a go.

Several years later I am so glad I did. The flexibility of running your own business has enabled me to work from home and look after my children. It's hard sometimes to get stuck into things as you work around the school drop off and pick up and sure there are plenty of nights working late into the evening but it has been worthwhile. I have been able to go on a fantastic journey as a new Mum and also venture into the world of business.

by: Jane O'Neill

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