A more creative career for Emily

When a career break prompted Emily to consider starting her own business, she knew just where to look for help.

Here, the talented artist explains how Successful Mums helped kick-start her business journey and set her on track for a more creative career.

“I worked as a pharmacist for 15 years, so it was a challenge for me to break that mould and make a change. I knew I wanted to do something creative and I had lots of ideas but that was probably my biggest hurdle: I never actually started on any of them because I didn’t know which one to choose or what to do next.

A coaching session with Jane Knight convinced me that I had to stop procrastinating, pick one idea and see where it took me. We talked about my strengths and did a bit of brainstorming, which helped give me some direction.

I’ve always painted watercolour portraits of people’s meaningful places and gifted them to family and friends. It’s something I love doing and Jane helped me see that I could turn it into a business. Not long after the coaching session, I signed up for the Successful Mums Business Start-up course to help me take those next steps.

The course was a great springboard and gave me all the tools and information I needed to get going. I learnt a lot about the practicalities of starting a business: the finances, how you get your product out there, marketing, social media and all the nitty-gritty things you wouldn’t necessarily know.

I also got the motivation I needed and being part of a group of like-minded women was fundamental to that. You get a real energy and momentum with a group like that and I think most of us took far bigger steps forward on the course than we would have on our own.

We all came from different vocations and careers and so the range of skills we had within the group was really impressive. There was somebody you could go to if you wanted financial advice, for example. There were also a couple of women who’d worked in social media and they actually went on to arrange a workshop for the mums. The course opened up a whole network of contacts, support and resources for all of us.

I’m now working on my business while my children are at school and preschool and I’m really enjoying it. At the moment, my boys are still really young, so I’m fitting it in around them and am happy for it to be a slow burner.

I can see the window opening a little wider once both boys are at school and then I’ll have more time to dedicate to it and hopefully build it up. That’s the bigger picture and Successful Mums has given me the tools and the confidence to achieve that.”

You can find out more about Emily’s business here.

If you have a great business idea and would love to be your own boss, click HERE to book your free* place on our next Business Start-up course today.

*subject to eligibility