Monday Mumpreneur with Pam Barrett

Every Monday we feature a mumpreneur who’s ready and willing to open up their lives and their business to us.

They share with us their motivation, their challenges and their proudest moments in business and they also tell us how they take time to nurture themselves.

If you’re looking for inspiration, then our featured business mums show you what’s possible.

Just loved reading this week's mumpreneur feature and found myself nodding along with everything she was saying . . . . I think you might find yourself doing the same.

Your name: Pam Barrett

Your website: www.brightandbeautifulhome.com

Tell me about your children:

I have two lovely boys Jack aged 7 and Charlie aged 5. They are so much fun and have such energy and certainly keep me busy.

Where do you live? Chester, Cheshire, UK

PC or Mac? I use a PC and an iPad

Tell us about your business

Bright & Beautiful is an award winning concept in domestic cleaning services. We provide eco- friendly domestic housekeeping including cleaning, tidying, ironing and laundry to homes across the Wirral. I launched the business in October 2012 and now employ 5 team members servicing clients in the Wirral area and surrounds.

What motivated you to become a mumpreneur?

I worked in the corporate world for 15 years, my last role was a Project Manager for Bank of America. I had the opportunity to take voluntary redundancy in Dec 2011 and decided to do something completely different and the idea working for myself really appealed to me. Both of my boys are at school now and I wanted to spend more time with them and be there for school drop off, pick up, assemblies, cake sales etc. I decided to buy a Franchise to get the benefit of a proven successful business model with minimal risk. It’s been a great decision for me; the advice from the HQ team and other franchisees has been a huge support.

What’s been your biggest challenge in business?

Balancing business needs with family needs. Whilst the flexibility of my business is the thing I most value it has been challenging to find a happy balance between work and home that works for me and my family. It would be very easy to work around the clock and I have at times found it hard to step away from the business. However I've kept reminding myself why I chose to run my own business – to have an improved work/life balance and spend more quality time with my children.

How have you overcome it?

I've learned from experience to set clear boundaries so that I'm giving my full attention to one thing at a time. It’s not professional or good parenting to take business calls in the middle of the children’s meal times for example. I now try hard to work flexible hours whilst the children are at school or when they are in bed.

What’s been your proudest business moment?

We've received so much lovely feedback from our clients, hearing that you’re making a difference to lighten the load of another busy person’s life is amazing.

What’s your catchphrase or favourite quote?

‘Fail to plan, plan to fail’. For me it applies to both my business and home life, I need to organise in advance to keep everything calm and running smoothly.

What do you do to relax or nurture yourself?

Since starting the business I've taken so many more baths at the end of the day just to have some calm time to think. I find a cardio class at the gym helps when I can get there or failing that a glass of red wine.

What was the last treat you bought for yourself?

The business is still in its first year so I want to reinvest any spare money; however my husband was 40 recently so I bought him a treat weekend away to London which I of course benefited from too.

Favourite colour: Pale blue

Favourite flowers: Orchids, I'm slightly obsessed and love to have white orchids on white surfaces all around my home.

What one piece of advice would you like to give to a new mumpreneur?

It’s hard to give just one piece of advice so my highlights would be…
Everything takes slightly longer and costs slightly more than you first think so always have a contingency plan. Believe in yourself, lots of people will be cynical about your idea to begin with but use this as a motivation to prove them wrong. Join networking groups where you’ll meet other like- minded mumpreneurs who in my experience have been really supportive.

Fancy featuring as one of our amazing mumpreneurs? Drop me an email over on the contact page – and I’ll be in touch.   Or let me know in a comment below.