After the Festival of Quilts posts recently, this one marks a change of direction.
At the start of the year (January 2017), I had made two resolutions and I have kept them pinned up on a noticeboard in our house, so I am reminded of them all the time.
I have heard the process of setting up your own small business described as being like stepping off a cliff and learning to fly on the way down. That resonates with me. There are so many things you don’t know – or you know them, but you need to be doing them much better!
I am working away at improving my photography. Here’s a recent photo session in which I was taking photos of garments made up using some of the fabrics I design. (The fabric here is ‘New Hairdo’, you can find it here.) I’m learning to make sure there is a white background and plenty of natural light, and I now know to use a tripod every time and to set the timer for a delay of a few seconds, so the photo is as sharp as it could be.
Trying to get a really good photo of a quilt with a seaside theme (‘Happy Holidays’ – pattern forthcoming) involved getting into some awkward positions on a pedestrian bridge on a blowy day in Torquay, but I was happy with the finished photo.
The fabrics pictured are: Cornish Sandcastles, Beach Stripe, Farne Islands, Ice-cream please, Candy Floss at the Fair, Lighthouse Windows and Beach Ball (click the title to find the fabric). The pattern is ‘Happy Holidays’ which you can find here.
To actively engage with the second of my two issues, I enrolled on a marketing course with Marketing expert Michelle Rose. I heard Michelle speak about marketing at a business course I did at New College Durham last year (I have been working on filling in the gaps in my knowledge for some time…) and she mentioned in her talk that she runs short courses of four sessions with three to four participants, and she remarked that she mostly works with women. The course was excellent, and if you live in the North-East of England and are running your own business, I recommend that you seek her out.
I am interested in women entrepreneurs, who I think often have a different approach to their business and frequently have different challenges in their work, as compared to their male counterparts. So I thought it would be interesting to ask several of the women I have been meeting recently, who all run their own small business, a series of questions about their story. This week I am beginning with Michelle.
What is the name of your business? Michelle Rose Marketing
When did it start? October 2011
Why did you decide to start a business? It was my second business. I had been self-employed before and loved it. Then I had a ‘proper job’ and I got made redundant. I then had my two boys and decided to set up a business so I could work around them.
What jobs had you done before? I have always been a marketing person. I promoted caravans. I worked for Gateshead council – for example, I looked after film crews who came to work at the Angel of the North. At the age of 23 I set up a mobile gift business.
Tell me a bit about the business! I help women who have their own small businesses get started with their marketing, so that they fall in love with marketing and do it! I am a mentor, I run a ‘Marketing for Mummies’ course and offer a follow-up ‘Marketing for Mummies’ monthly course. I have started working on a range of easy-to-use online resources for marketing. I have a book called ‘Facebook 30’ available on Amazon. I love getting out and speaking to groups of business owners to talk to them about doing marketing in a practical and fun way, for example I give easy-peasy marketing tips. I talk a lot to ‘mumpreneurs’ who are generally overwhelmed by life and business so that the marketing gets neglected.
What things have been difficult for you in setting up/running your business? Not long after setting up my business I had another baby. I had three children: 3 , 2 and a baby. Juggling life and business has been demanding. It has taken time to find my niche.
What would you say to someone in the early stages of setting up a business? Create five marketing habits and stick to them.
What is the best thing about working for yourself? Obviously it’s been good to work around the kids, but really it’s the people I work with – the amazing people this business has brought in to my life.
This is the web address for Michelle Rose: https://michellerosemarketing.com
Thank you for reading my blog. Quilt patterns are here, Fabrics are here, Classes are here
That was interesting, thanks! I’m constantly toying with the idea of setting up a business and, now that an extra income stream seems advisable, I need to take it more seriously. 🙂
Thanks! Setting up a business is much harder than it looks and it takes longer than you think, but I’m glad I did it. I run my AirBnB business alongside the textiles one, so it’s helpful to have that as well.