How did you come up with your business idea?

[antonia]

Now I've finished 99% of what I need to do workwise before maternity leave, I can finally get back to writing the book of The Mumpreneur Guide (http://www.themumpreneurguide.co.uk).

I need a few quotes and examples of how people came up with their business ideas - can you post here or email antonia@acpr.co.uk if you don;t mind telling me how you came up with yours?

many thanks

[cheeky_wipes]

OK...about Instant Forever - feel free to edit as necessary:

I've always wanted to work for myself (Aries is my star sign and I'm a first born child, so have always had Authority issues!). Well, while I was planning my wedding, I decided I wanted a guest book and even went as far as buying one of those white mulberry paper covered ones which David was not keen on at all as it looked aa bit twee. Anyway, then I something about having Polaroid photos of your guests alongside their messages and just loved the idea. Thinking about it though, I couldn't work out how I'd get the photos into the book - would I leave Pritt Stick alongside which could be a bit messy, or what? I kept looking online for a better solution, not knowing exactly what I was looking for, but on the off-chance that there would be something which would work better. I found Adesso Albums and ordered one (even though I'd already bought the Mulberry one!) It cost me about ?80 to ship over from the US as I couldn't find them in the UK. That started me thinking. If I liked the idea then other people probably would too. I contacted Lesley Mattos, the inspiring lady behind Adesso Albums and pitched for the UK distribution rights.

The night before I got married, Lesley agreed that I could go for it.

I spent quite a lot of time on Honeymoon worrying about whether I was doing the right thing. After all, I was working full-time in a job that required significant travelling, had a 1 year old son and a husband to keep happy. Did I really have the time and energy to try this?

At the end of the day, I realised that if one of my friends was in the same position, I'd be encouraging them to go for it, so that was the decision made. And now, almost three and a half years later, Instant Forever is doing really well and I'm enjoying it and my family and we're all a lot happier!

[cheeky_wipes]

And for cheeky wipes...again feel free to edit...


I've always used re-usable nappies, but hardly any of my friends do, for various reasons. Some of them don't have outdoor drying facilities, some just don't have enough time to handle the extra washing and some were put off by the up-front cost.

Following a spell in hospital with Felix when I had to use disposable wipes, I realised that I much preferred my washable ones - both from a texture and cost perspective. That got me thinking about wipes in general and I realised that there was no reason that my friends couldn't use the wipes that I used - if it was made really convenient for them. After all, who wouldn't want to save money and do their bit for the planet at the same time?

So I developed the Cheeky Wipes™ All-In-One kit...and after 6 months of development, I'm finally launchied in September 2008....just in time for baby number 3 (lucky that I've got fantastic in-laws nearby, eh?)

[Slug]

Hi Antonia,
I've always fancied setting something up from scratch and working completely for myself. I went on maternity leave from my old job with a very large company about 11 years ago and decided not to go back. I'd been doing direct sales for a couple of years from home and also helped to organise fundraising events for a local charity. I was tearing my hair out trying to find replacement stallholders at short notice for an event before Christmas 2007. I started to think there must be a way to make the whole organising of events and finding stallholders thing a bit easier - a bit like a dating agency for stallholders and event organisers. I was also very keen for it to be a useful free service for charities and fundraisers. I discussed it with my husband and Stallfinder went live just over 3 months later in March 2008.
Gail.

[Olive_Oil]

i was fed up of having to use toy cooking equipment for the kids when they wanted to help me cook. their cooking accessories were made up of mostly playdoh equipment because I just couldnt find child size accessories. I was also very suprised at the amount of people who dont cook with their children because they thought it was too messy or not practical - hence www.pinkfairycake. was born. I wanted to create somewhere that mums could go to to get childsize accessories and things that would make cooking with children easy and fun. Its such a great activitiy to do with children!

[Chiggs]

The inspiration for my first product, the Baby Feed Wheel, came when visiting a friend and her new baby. He started crying, and she wondered if he was hungry, but couldn't remember when he'd last fed.

I suggested to my friend that she use a parking disc to keep track of her son’s feeding times. A few days later when I visited I gave her a disk I’d covered in blue paper, and the Baby Feed Wheel was born!

As a Mum myself I realised how useful the product would be, so kept going with it- researched, designed, applied for a patent and then had them made, and now I sell them!
(The first prototype was homemade but the finished product is professionally printed and hand decorated).

[Miranda]

I didn't really consider using disposable nappies for more than a nano second, and had bought my terry squares, when a friend of my late mother decided to treat me to some shaped nappies. However my daughter was pretty slim and they didn't really fit, and all the (5) brands in the UK were marketing themselves as the best type of nappy so I got one of each to compare and found myself talking at antenatal groups about the cost and waste saving and on showing my samples of nappies people started asking where to get them and if I could get them, and Twinkle Twinkle started about a week later - I had my first shipments on their way! I decided that online ordering was the way to go - this was 1999 when there weren't yet many online stores and certainly we were the first UK ecommerce enabled nappy shop to open. I researched and bought software (there were no open source shopping carts available at the time), designed a logo and the site, worked furiously over Christmas and opened the website for orders in January 2000.

[antonia]

And for cheeky wipes...again feel free to edit...



So I developed the Cheeky Wipes™ All-In-One kit...and after 6 months of development, I'm finally launchied in September 2008....just in time for baby number 3 (lucky that I've got fantastic in-laws nearby, eh?)

Thanks for both of those - will edit and email you what I come up with

[antonia]

Hi Antonia,
I've always fancied setting something up from scratch and working completely for myself. I went on maternity leave from my old job with a very large company about 11 years ago and decided not to go back. I'd been doing direct sales for a couple of years from home and also helped to organise fundraising events for a local charity. I was tearing my hair out trying to find replacement stallholders at short notice for an event before Christmas 2007. I started to think there must be a way to make the whole organising of events and finding stallholders thing a bit easier - a bit like a dating agency for stallholders and event organisers. I was also very keen for it to be a useful free service for charities and fundraisers. I discussed it with my husband and Stallfinder went live just over 3 months later in March 2008.
Gail.

Great thanks Gail - will edit and email you

[antonia]

i was fed up of having to use toy cooking equipment for the kids when they wanted to help me cook. their cooking accessories were made up of mostly playdoh equipment because I just couldnt find child size accessories. I was also very suprised at the amount of people who dont cook with their children because they thought it was too messy or not practical - hence www.pinkfairycake. was born. I wanted to create somewhere that mums could go to to get childsize accessories and things that would make cooking with children easy and fun. Its such a great activitiy to do with children!

Fab thanks Jane - will be in touch

[antonia]

The inspiration for my first product, the Baby Feed Wheel, came when visiting a friend and her new baby. He started crying, and she wondered if he was hungry, but couldn't remember when he'd last fed.

I suggested to my friend that she use a parking disc to keep track of her son’s feeding times. A few days later when I visited I gave her a disk I’d covered in blue paper, and the Baby Feed Wheel was born!

As a Mum myself I realised how useful the product would be, so kept going with it- researched, designed, applied for a patent and then had them made, and now I sell them!
(The first prototype was homemade but the finished product is professionally printed and hand decorated).

great thanks Elizabeth -will be in touch

[antonia]

I didn't really consider using disposable nappies for more than a nano second, and had bought my terry squares, when a friend of my late mother decided to treat me to some shaped nappies. However my daughter was pretty slim and they didn't really fit, and all the (5) brands in the UK were marketing themselves as the best type of nappy so I got one of each to compare and found myself talking at antenatal groups about the cost and waste saving and on showing my samples of nappies people started asking where to get them and if I could get them, and Twinkle Twinkle started about a week later - I had my first shipments on their way! I decided that online ordering was the way to go - this was 1999 when there weren't yet many online stores and certainly we were the first UK ecommerce enabled nappy shop to open. I researched and bought software (there were no open source shopping carts available at the time), designed a logo and the site, worked furiously over Christmas and opened the website for orders in January 2000.


thanks Miranda - will email you

[antonia]

that's fab thanks everyone - think I'm sorted now!