Transcript for the #PerthshireHour Podcast Ep15: Perthshire Mums in Business & Sidestep Social with a free and easy website

(I’d also like to note that I’m considering a similar idea for Fathers’ day when it comes because my business is definitely impacted by being a dad and I’d be interested to see how much parenthood shapes businesses from both sides. That won’t be till June but please keep it in mind. If you’re a Perthshire dad (or Grandad) and you’d like to talk about yourself and your business please get in touch.)

Featured this week were Karen (from Fun Junction Crieff and Perth), Dawn (from Precious Sparkle), Victoria (from Little Scallywags), and June McEwan (The Works/ Willow Works).

For this week’s ‘Perthshire Writer Focus’ I added a little more about Fiona Lowry (Author of ‘Franco and The Green Light Fairy’ and ‘Felix’s Favourite Day’), and the important role that the power of positive thinking has in the themes of her books.

Finally, in our ‘Social Media Tips and Tricks’ section, I highlighted the importance of taking ownership of your content by creating a simple (and free) website or blog with WordPress.com*.

(*Please note: I’m not affiliated with WordPress, nor do I receive any form of compensation for recommending them. I’ve been making websites with WordPress for over a decade and I think they’re the simplest (free) way for a small business to gain a professional presence outside social media and retain control over their own content).

Thanks as always for listening, and Happy Mothers’ Day to all the mums who are listening to this week’s episode. Here’s the transcript for this week’s episode:

This Week’s Story

Mums in Business

In the questions that follow you’ll see some similarities and some differences. However, the overwhelming impression is that each of the mums I interviewed has a tremendous amount of care for their children as well as an incredible degree of dedication to their businesses.

In many cases, this has led to surprising turns in their business model, as well as interesting turns in their approach to what they want their business to be.

All answers below are as they were received. I conducted these interviews in text form so I have simply copied and pasted each response.

1) Are there any skills which you gained as a parent that you think had a positive effect on how you coordinate/ manage your business?

Karen Christie (FUN JUNCTION):

Patience. Ability to prioritise

Dawn Fuge (PRECIOUS SPARKLE):

You must be very adaptable. Being a parent and also running my own business forced me very quickly to learn how to juggle a million things at once. I can’t say that this has always been a good thing. Sometimes you need to just be with your children, and sometimes you need to focus on the business.

The most positive thing to come out of it was the realisation that they were not going to be little forever and to try to cherish as much of that as I could and not worrying about the impact on my business. Now they have gone off to higher education and my business is still here.

Victoria Kavanagh (LITTLE SCALLYWAGS):

I feel that running a private nursery setting as a mother supports relationships not only with families but also with my team.  I believe it puts some parents at ease to know the setting is run by mothers but also when families are facing difficult phases with their children or they are looking for advice, I feel able to pull on my own experiences not just as a practitioner of over twenty years but also a mother.

Many of the nursery practitioners at Little Scallywags are mothers, which means that I understand some of their difficulties when they are trying to negotiate their child being sick, school closures or any of the other pressures mothers face.

I also feel that when we become mothers, we feel more empowered to know who we are and that we are OK as a person.  As soon as we have a child we have to learn to juggle the guilt that goes with having a career and children.  My mother always says to me, ‘A mother’s place is in the wrong.’ And she is right, as mothers we are never going to get everything right and we quickly have to learn to live with that, although it is a constant struggle we deal with forever more!

Mothers become experts at multi-tasking, which is obviously a skill which also supports me in business but there is always something as a mother that is forgotten or not achieved.  P.E and fancy-dress days are the worst for me, and I always leave the purchasing of birthday party gifts to the very last minute.  But as a mother who is juggling work too, I have learnt to be ok with not getting it right every time.

As a working mum, I have little time for friendships, so I quickly learnt who my true friends were and the special people in my life become more special.  I also learnt that you cannot please everyone and that it is OK not to be liked by all.  Sometimes when running a business, I must make difficult decisions and have difficult conversations, but I believe that maybe due to being a parent or maybe it just comes with age, I am OK that sometimes people don’t like the decisions I make and I’m OK with not always being liked.  I only wish I had felt this way when I was a young woman just starting out in my career!

June McEwan (THE WORKS/ WILLOW WORKS):

Time management & patience

2) Would you say that being a mum added any specific challenges to running your business?

Karen Christie (FUN JUNCTION):

As a Mum family comes first. Sometimes the business has to take a backseat. Time management can be a problem

Dawn Fuge (PRECIOUS SPARKLE):

It was extremely challenging running a business with small children. I had a huge amount of guilt any time I had to answer emails or do admin whilst they were around. At one point I reduced my shop opening hours to be from 10am to 3pm so that I could collect the kids from school each day.

I am so glad that I did that, but it certainly meant that my business tread water more than it grew during that period. It was also hard for me to completely switch off and ‘be present’ when on holiday.

I think learning to be present for your kids is critical. But also I think children benefit from watching their parents run a business. They both grew up helping me and that has a lot of benefits for them too.

Victoria Kavanagh (LITTLE SCALLYWAGS):

As much as I love running a business it does at times cause conflict.  If I am focussing my time on the business, I feel guilty that I am not spending enough time with my children and visa vera. I can at times feel like I need to split myself in two. I guess like other working mothers, school holidays and when the children are unwell are a particular challenge.

Switching off from work can be the biggest challenge when running a business.  Most days I pick the children up from school, have a chat with them about their day, put a load of washing on and then go back to answering emails or making phone calls.  Even when flicking through Facebook with a cup of tea I often find myself looking more at the educational pages rather than catching up with friends etc.

June McEwan (THE WORKS/ WILLOW WORKS):

Unable to take work which involved travel and time constrictions of working within school hours

3) Are there any ways in which your original plan/idea for you business changed that you think directly relates to being a parent (e.g. work/life ballance, the influence of your kid(s)’ interests on the direction of your business?)

Karen Christie (FUN JUNCTION):

I chose the business with the family in mind.  Child friendly they could come to work alongside me. This was a complete career change from what I trained as, and had intended returning to.

Dawn Fuge (PRECIOUS SPARKLE):

Oh absolutely! In fact when I opened my first shop I had two businesses in one. There was the gemstone and jewellery side of the business and then I also opened a toy shop specialising in wooden toys and I felt Perth needed that at the time. But it was very much informed by me having primary school aged children.

I also taught jewellery making classes and would do birthday parties for children. I have noticed that many if not most of the people who open such businesses have young children.

Victoria Kavanagh (LITTLE SCALLYWAGS):

I have had times where I have had to slow down the pace at work due to family needs but there have also been times where I have felt the pressure to do more and speed up the development of the business.

Pre covid my children spent most evenings in after school club but having spent very little time with them during the pandemic, due to running a service for the children of key workers, I have tried over the last couple of years whilst they are still in primary education to ensure there are days where I am the one who picks them up from school and takes them to after school commitments.

When all lockdown restrictions were lifted, I was faced with the dilemma of whether to reopen an after school provision. There were many reasons for the business not to but the two positives for the agreement were there was a demand and I don’t like to let people down but also it would mean I had less of a juggle after school as my own children would always be able to attend, but then I also knew they always would!

Now my eldest is due to start secondary school I am again moving into a new phase where I can refocus more of my attention and time on my career and the business. I feel this is again another juggle mothers in business face.

Sometimes we have to work our career moves and our professional development around our children’s needs and their stages of development, and so we should if we can. I am very aware of how lucky I have been to be able to do this. When faced with the dilemma of whether to reopen an after school provision the only

June McEwan (THE WORKS/ WILLOW WORKS):

I shelved my business while the children were pre-school. This meant a re-start to my self-employed status. I completely changed the nature of my business.

Prior to children, I was an artist who sold work through galleries. Once my children started school I started to volunteer my help within the school and eventually became a community artist through that experience.

Happy Mother’s Day to all

I want to thank all the mums who took the time to talk with me about their experiences this week and wish them all a Happy Mother’s Day come Sunday.

To all the mums I’ve spoken with this week, thank you for taking the time to chat with me. Also to all of you, and to all the mums listening, happy Mother’s Day and I hope your family takes a wee bit of time to spoil you a bit on Sunday.

I also wanted to quickly wish Kyley from Silver Linings in Perth a happy first Mother’s Day after the birth of her wee girl Quin just over a week ago.

PerthshireHour Writer Focus

The PerthshireHour Author focus is a new segment of the show that I’ve added this week (and will continue with for a while). The primary reason for it is that I had so many responses to the ‘Author Special’ last week that I couldn’t include everything. This week’s is another mum who runs her own business in Perthshire, children’s author Fiona Lowry.

I’d interviewed a number of authors last week but Fiona had answered a few questions that I hadn’t had time to include in the episode. You’ll find the questions, and Fiona’s answers, below.

Fiona Lowry (Author of ‘Franco and The Green Light Fairy’ and ‘Felix’s Favourite Day’)

Is there anywhere that people can purchase a physical copy of your books?

My two self-published books are available mainly on Amazon, though can also be purchased from The Book Dragon, Stockton-on-Tees, who specialise in self-published and indie authors from around the world.

(John’s note: I looked for both of Fiona’s books on the Book Dragon website. Follow these links for print copies of ‘Franco and The Green Light Fairy’ and ‘Felix’s Favourite Day’. You can also find her Amazon books here.)

My newest book, due for release soon, is coming through a publishing house and will be available in shops as well as online.

Your interest in the power of positive thinking clearly permeates your books, what sort of responses have you had to this from children during your book talks?

Children are very engaged in my books, and the response depends on the age involved. Children at nursery I have read to love the colourful illustrations and the surprise ending to Felix’s Favourite Day, which makes them giggle. They enjoy the stories for what they are, though hopefully subconsciously, the concept behind them sticks a little as well.

However, reading to older children (P2/3), allows me to expand on the concept of Franco and The Green Light Fairy. That there is a positive to be seen in everything and if you believe and focus on what you would like, then it will manifest.

A number of parents have told me they have heard their child saying ‘green light fairy’ in the car whilst stopped at traffic lights or have heard them wishing for something they would like. As an author, it is a wonderful feeling.

I can see a few books listed in the ‘selected works’ section of your website, they appear to be aimed at children in ‘Early level’ (Age 3 to P1) and ‘First level’ (P2 to P4). Is this always the target audience for you or are you working on stories for older children as well?

My stories so far have lent themselves to early years / first-time readers, however, I currently have others in the pipeline, which are aimed at 4-7 years.

I have actually just finished the first draft of a chapter book, which will be aimed at around 8-10 years, though this is in the very early stages.

It very much depends upon my subject or character design as to where the story will take me and therefore the age group demographic.

Do you have plans for talks or other book events for Book Week Scotland this year (13th-19th November)?

Book week 2022 was a wonderfully busy week for me visiting various nurseries and schools in Perth, so the same again this year would be fantastic. I am happy to visit schools in the area to talk about being an author and offer fun tasks for the children to take part in, encouraging and building on the concept of positive thinking.

(John’s note: You can contact Fiona for school talks here.)

Social Media Tips and Tricks: Get a blog going literally right now

I talked a lot about WordPress at the end of this week’s podcast. However, my main point was that a blog or small website is a fantastic way to retain control over your own content.

Social media platforms are, at their core, still simply individual websites. Facebook is a single website with millions of pages holding curated content that has been added by people like you. The same is true, in a slightly different way, for sites like Twitter and Instagram.

Your Facebook page is not yours, it’s simply a sub-domain of Facebook’s site. If Facebook decides to implement a site-wide change that will make it harder for your page to be seen it is perfectly within its rights to do so.

However, this is not the case with a small website or blog. You can set up your own site right now for free using WordPress.com (the site you’re looking at right now was made using WordPress).

You don’t really need a lot of technical know-how to do this. In fact, I’d suggest that setting up a (simple) WordPress site is a little easier than setting up a business or organisation page on Facebook now (especially when you factor in Facebook’s new ‘Meta’ element that pages need to use if they want to schedule and/or advertise posts).

I can go on about this for a while but you can genuinely have your first page and a small blog post live in the same time that it would take you to go on to Facebook, launch a new business page, fill in your about section, add business hours, add a few pictures (logo etc.), post a couple of posts, and set up Facebook’s scheduled posts option with their ‘Meta Business Suite’ or whatever other new content scheduler they have available.

Follow this link to go to WordPress.com then you can enter your business name and choose a WordPress domain from the available options. From here, the WordPress walk-through will take you step-by-step until you have your site set up. You can even find multiple tutorials online that will guide you through the process of setting up a blog within your website so you’ll now have a means of communicating with customers/ clients with considerably more control than you’ll get on Facebook or any other social media platform.

Social media still has phenomenal tools for gaining visibility but it can’t hurt to have your own stream of customised content as well. Hope this wee hint comes in handy.

Thanks for stopping by

As always I really appreciate the response I’ve had to the podcast (and these transcripts). The more you interact with these posts, share the podcast, and especially the more of you who subscribe to the podcast, the more worthwhile this work feels.

Thank you for taking the time to listen to the episode and stop by this transcript of it and I’ll see you all again next week for our Perthshire Poetry special.

Until then, all the best,

John