Meet a Mumpreneur - Introducing Alli Price
Amanda Jesnoewski Posted on Mar 25, 2013 Through the 'Meet a Mumpreneur' series you get to have a sneak peek into the lives of fellow mumpreneurs to see how they manage mumpreneurhood and what works for them. Today I am very pleased to introduce you to Alli Price from Motivating Mum.
Tell us a little about yourself and your family
I live in Melbourne with my boyfriend and two little minxies who are six and two. We moved back from London two years ago and I have been deliriously happy ever since as I was dying to get back to Melbs! When we have spare time (which isn’t often) we get to the pool or beach as often as possible. My eldest started school last year and I met an amazing group of mums so now I have fab mums to go out dancing with and fab mums to work with – it doesn’t get much better!
Tell us a little about your business
Motivating Mum is a website and events service offering support and advice to mums in business (or those wanting to be). Mums can get inspiration and education through phone mentoring with established mums in business, articles and features, an online forum, a job and business board and more.
Events are made up of Businessmums Clubs, brainstorm sessions, networking events, workshops and more. They are currently held in many locations across Melbourne and are also in Sydney, Ballarat, Brisbane, Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast and Geelong. All events are affordable, informal, welcoming and child-friendly.
What inspired you to start your business?
After working in Hotels and as a Production Manager (making commercials for big companies etc), I decided I had had enough of working for the man and making ‘him’ a whole heap of money. I knew I would be infinitely more fulfilled helping people and, so, decided to train to be a life coach and have my own coaching practice. I started out full of beans but quickly realised how lonely and isolating being a work at home mum can be – this was when I developed my first event as, I reasoned, there must be others out there like me. Thankfully there were and I have never looked back!
What do you love about being a mumpreneur?
I love everything about being a mumpreneur! Being my own boss, making money for me and being able to be so proud of myself that I am doing it, being around for my kids, being required to give equal amounts of creativity and organisational ability (both of which I love doing), meeting other mums in biz and connecting with these fab women!
Are you routine based or do you take a more flexible approach to balancing kids and work?
I am extremely flexible! I find as soon as I get too caught up in routine then it can bring with it a high degree of stress if the kids don’t work with the routine. That said, I still try to get the bare minimum planned – for example, I always work on certain days when the kids are at school and nursery.
What does a typical day look like for you?
A typical day for me is working – be it working on my business, housework or looking after the kids. I am always doing one of these three – sometimes two or three at the same time! I usually work until anywhere between 11pm and 12am trying to get everything in after the kiddies are in bed.
What has been the biggest challenge? How have you/are you overcoming it?
Right now it’s the sheer volume of work I have. At the start up end of business a lot of the work you do i.e. marketing, branding, social media that doesn’t necessarily directly generate funds. I have started using VA’s and have an employee to help me offset the work but what I can afford to outsource is not enough to keep up with all the work. It’s a huge struggle and I often feel like I am drowning in emails and work but I just have to take a step back, write a list of what I need to do from most to least important and then start ticking items off.
How do you market your business? What have you found works best for you?
What works best for me is social media, particularly Facebook, as it’s free and I have built the page to a point now where I have enough likes that I get good interaction. The events I run also started out, in part, to be a promotional tool for my coaching business. The events are now my main source of business but they are still fab for marketing additional services I offer and extending my brand.
I have also been running charity events, which are fab for marketing and also for feeling great for donating to charities! I also have my Mummy Mentoring Festival which involves mums bidding for mentoring sessions with highly successful mums in business.
What do you do just for you to recoup and relax?
Ba ha ha ha!
What advice would you give other mum's starting out?
1. Write down your priorities and why you’re starting a business i.e. is it for flexibility, money etc? Then pop them somewhere you can see them and review regularly. Many mums start out running a business wanting to be with their kids and then find they lose track of their ‘whys’ and end up running a business 24/7. This can help you build your business model and keep you on track.
And,
2. Get out and network! You might feel like you don’t have the time or energy but networking is amazing for:
- Getting clientele/customers
- Generating word-of-mouth via people you meet
- Getting recommendations of great suppliers
- Picking up tips for your business
- Gaining motivation and inspiration by getting out of the house and interacting with interesting, like-minded people
If you would like to get in contact with Alli you can connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or the Movitating Mum website.
Amanda x
P.S If you would like to be featured in the ‘Meet a Mumpreneur’ series, I'd love to hear from you! Just send me an email and tell me a little bit about yourself and your business.
