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A new baby inevitably brings change and for most new parents the change is for the best. For me the birth of my daughter brought me a career change which was totally unexpected. I was going on maternity leave to have a baby, yet when my leave was up I had started my own website 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 friends and family and the response received was phenomenal. They loved seeing my daughters little face peering 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 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 personalised 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 talks with a website developer I knew and also a graphic designer, who was a fellow Mum and started designing the cards and the website.
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 I had stumbled across a business idea (inspired by the birth of my daughter) 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.
