Monday Mumpreneurs with Kim McCann

Every Monday we feature a mumpreneur who’s ready and willing to open up their lives to us.  They share with us their motivation, challenges and proudest moments in business and they also tell us how they take time to nurture themselves. It’s lovely to have them here at Mums Got A Business and we hope you enjoy connecting with them too.

Becoming a parent often gives us the idea for setting up a business.  Maybe we spot a gap in the market or find a product we really love that we want to share with others.

This is exactly how this week's mumpreneur started her biz to help other mums do the best for their children.

Name: Kim McCann

Your website: www.PlanetTots.com

Brief description: Planet Tots is an Eco parenting resource centre. We have a holistic approach covering Learning, Feeding and Caring. We provide products, services and advice to help support little ones development and make the ecological choice more accessible.

How many children do you have?

2 kids,  Alastair aged 2, Alexa aged 8 months.

Where do you live? Paisley in Scotland

PC or Mac? Bit of both!

Very used to PCs for work but love my iPhone and do a good impression of Hommer Simpson looking at a doughnut every time I see an iPad..

Tell us about your business

When I had Alastair I realised my every thought was preoccupied with making sure I was doing the best for him and his future. I wanted to be more ecological but found that the green choice wasn't always as easy or accessible as I would have liked. I started Planet Tots to help promote things that support child devlopment or help us look after the environment. By covering Feeding, learning and Caring we cover all the main areas of concern to parents. We have directories of classes and activities for little ones; ideas of free fun things to do at home to keep them learning; ideas for quick, tasty, healthy family meals; breastfeeding advice and support and a shop selling high quality ecological alternative kids products. We've started with Organic clothing and skin care but plan to grow this into a real one stop shop for all your parenting needs.

What motivated you to become a mumpreneur?

I always knew I wanted to work for myself but never had that right idea. That changed once I had Alastair and I realised I wanted to show him that you can do anything if you set your mind to it and that you have to follow your dreams. What's been your biggest challenge in business? - Building up exposure and sales volumes. Ecological products often have a higher than average price point due to the less intensive production techniques. I believe that the products must first justify this price with their quality and design and have their eco credentials as a bonus. It's hard to get that across online. When I get my product selection in front of people they can really see and feel the quality and it clinches a much higher proportion of sales.

How have you overcome it?

I'm spending this spring and summer running all over the UK to as many different baby fairs as I can
manage to talk to people and show them the kind of quality products we stock.

What's been your proudest business moment?

Being selected for nomination as "New Business Of The Year" in the Scottish Business Awards, now I just need to push on and win it 🙂

What's your catchphrase or favourite quote?

"Have to is a great thing; you never know quite what you CAN do until you HAVE to do it" - My Gran.

What do you do to relax or nurture yourself?

Yoga. I'm a driven, full on person who push, push pushes all the time. Yoga gives me the downtime to counter balance that and keep me on an even keel.  Without it I'd burn myself (and my husband) out.

What was the last treat you bought for yourself?

It was my birthday at the start of the month and I'm a bit of a magpie so I got a lovely hand made silver necklace that holds a little Lavender scented stone. It's pretty and helps keep you calm.

Favourite colour - The blue of cornflowers

Favourite flowers - Gladioli

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

Use all the support networks out there. It can be tough and lonely, especially in the early stages but peer support and advice is invaluable.

STOP PRESS:  We've just found out that Kim has been nominated for 'Start Up Business of the Year' over at the Mums and Working 2011 Awards you can vote for her by clicking the link.  Good luck Kim xxx

Fancy featuring as one of our amazing mums? Drop me an email over on the contact page and I’ll be in touch.   And remember to drop by every Monday to welcome our latest profiled mum.