Q1. What is your business called and what does it do?
My business is called KeepStakes. I run an online business selling engraved garden plaques, personalised to mark special occasions, such as christenings, weddings, anniversaries or memorials.

Q2. How did you come up with the idea?
I started to think about setting up a business when I returned to my “proper” job as a Training Consultant after taking 10 months maternity leave to look after my two wee boys Finn (born in 2004) and Jared (born 2003).

I did return to work between my pregnancies, however, I hoped it would be for a short time as I was keen to have a small age gap between my two children. Happily for me, and to the dismay of my manager, pregnancy two happened when I had been back at work for a month. I managed to work July 2003 to June 2004, so I was an asset to the company for nearly a year between the boys, and actually quite enjoyed it, however I always knew I was finishing for another extended “holiday” and that kept me chirpy. I have really enjoyed spending the past 10 months at home with my boys and my return to work this time was not so buoyant. For the few months in the run up to my return, I spent hours trying to hatch the perfect plan to work less hours and make money by doing something I really enjoy. I knew I wouldn’t be able to replace my “proper job” salary overnight, but my aim was to start small and aim to make enough money to leave my job by the time Jared goes to school (which gaves me a two year window). I have this idealistic vision of me walking the boys up to school, going home and working on my business and then being able to go back and pick them up after school and take them to a wide range after school activities.

So in pursuit of this dream, I researched ways to become a WAHM. My starting point was my obsession with selling stuff on ebay. Just old tat which had been lying around the house, but I was constantly amazed by the amount of money that I could generate from selling things that would have previously ended up in the bin. The only problem with using ebay as a sole income provider is that I am running out of things I don’t need. A brief foray into buying goods to sell on for a profit ended rather disastrously with 7 massive boxes of greetings cards from Costco still sitting in the corner of my bedroom. So my plan evolved into creating something that people would want to buy.

Step one was coming up with an idea. I have always enjoyed ‘crafty’ things and I knew I wanted to make something. Finn had recently been christened and a few friends had mentioned to me that they had struggled to find an unusual gift, so I started to make a list of personalised Christening/naming presents.

A friend told me about a fantastic Christening gift that she had received for her son’s Christening. It was a homemade gift that comprised of a wooden chopping board, cut in half, with a stick nailed to it and an engraved plaque glued to the board. The detail on the plaque was her son’s name and the date of his christening. The wooden stake was designed to be placed in front of a newly planted tree to make the occasion. I loved the sentiment of the gift and tried to find something similar on the internet. Surprisingly, I could not find anything remotely like it so, with my friend’s approval, the business opportunity was born.

Setting up the business was step two. I have another friend, Laura who has had a successful WAHM business for several years. She was a major inspiration as she has a really successful business selling baby slings on the internet. She manages to balance running her business and caring for her children (who are just slightly older than Jared and Finn) and is living proof that it is possible to be a ‘supermum’. Laura has been my mentor and I have really benefited from her advice and experience as I have gone through the process of setting up my company.

So over the past year I have learned all about weatherproof metals, laser cutting, engraving, gift packaging, tax, data protection, website design and advertising. It has been a very busy period and it is difficult to balance my day job with KeepStakes, but it is amazing how I can always find a little bit if energy to do things for my own business and in June 2005 I officially launched the website.
I have been pretty obsessed with making this work and have discussed it relentlessly with friends and family. It is through discussions with friends that the purpose of the gift has expanded from solely baby related, to wider celebrations and memorials. It is equally suitable for celebrating a birth, wedding, housewarming, significant birthday or the one that was a surprise to me, a few people have requested a plaque to mark the grave of a dead pet. The enthusiasm I have encountered for this product has kept me motivated to make these plaques more widely available. I am always so excited when customers take the time to contact me to provide positive feedback. I am really happy that people like them, I really hope I can realise my dream of picking my two wee boys up from school. It would also be nice if I made a million, but nothing is more important that having enough time to appreciate the wonder of your children growing up and I just hope I can be around more to enjoy it.

Q3. What were your start-up costs?
The main cost were a laptop and engraving machine and an initial supply of plaques. These items came to approximately £800. Marketing literature, product photography and gift boxes came to another £300. I was really lucky to have a talented friend who designed my website for a couple of curries!

Q4. Did you need to raise finance to start-up, if so how did you do this?
No, I used savings.

Q5. Would you consider yourself a leader? What are your strengths?
I would not necessarily consider myself to stand out from the crowd in any way other than my determination. My advice is to pick a business idea that you enjoy and then you are motivated to work hard. I am stubborn enough and so keen to not miss spending time with my children to make sure this business works. I love not being answerable to anyone other than my customers and am motivated by customer feedback. I feel very much in control running my own business.

Q6. Have you done any courses or learning programmes to help you run your business?
I have a degree in psychology, a masters in Occupational Psychology and I am CIPD qualified so I have 20 years relevant experience in dealing with people and understanding how to approach different markets. I have also designed and delivered a number of customer service training programmes and understand that customer service is the area where you can differentiate yourself from the rest. I am proud to offer an unrivalled customer service and my numerous testimonials reflect this focus.

Q7. How many hours a week do you spend working on your business?
More than I imagined I would. I am totally focused on giving up my day job next summer (August 2007) and I am the only one that came make it hapen, so I wrk on the business for a minimum of 2 hours each day, more if possible. I use the time when I come home from work and when the boys are in bed.

Q8. What advice do you have for other mums considering starting their own business?
I really feel like I am following a dream. My only regret is that I didn’t do it sooner. I have wanted to work flexibly since I got pregnant with Jared. It has taken more than two years to make it happen. The ability to dream is one of the qualities possessed only by humans. So dream, and put a deadline on it, make it a giant dream, a tiny one, an old one, a new one, a hobby related one, a change of life one, a stupid one, a stroke-of-genius one, or just whatever… just continue to dream on… then, just go and do it!

Oh and if you want to buy a gift for a special occasion….

You can visit my website at www.keepstakes.co.uk