Having her son made Simone rethink her career choice and retrained as a Baby Massage and Yoga Instructor. Now this award nominated, businesswoman has found her ‘why’ and is promoting our Digital Course.

What is your background pre-children?

For over 15 years I worked within the education sector in various roles such as Head of Year and Pastoral and Behaviour Manager

What barriers did you face starting a business?

I was fortunate enough have the entire year of my maternity leave off, however, as the time grew closer to my return I was filled with a lot of anxiety. My job was demanding and extremely stressful and I was dreading going back, so I decided to think about what I could do to have a better work/life balance now that I was a mum. During my maternity leave, I embarked on a course and became a qualified Baby Massage and Yoga instructor.

What course did you complete and how did you hear about it?

I attended the Digital Promotion for Business course. I had started my business whilst juggling being a first-time mum and returning to work but I was finding it difficult to get the number of clients I needed to leave my job; however, the stress of the job became too much, and I had to leave.

I knew my main problem was my lack of knowledge and somewhat fear of social media which was delaying my progress. After researching online, I found Successful Mums Career Academy. I saw they offered a course that would improve my understanding of how to use social media for my business.

Tell us your experience of the course?

The course provided a lot of knowledge, each topic had depth and I left with a deeper understanding of each topic. The course was very demanding, I often struggled with keeping up to date with the work but our supportive and knowledgeable tutor, Caroline kept me going when I wanted to give up.

Did the course change your life in anyway?

This course had made me confident in social media and digital marketing (something I never thought I would say!) It also made me believe I can complete something I feared doing.

What is your business?

I am running my Parent and Baby Wellbeing business Natural Kinetics. I run three Baby Massage Classes a week and looking into extending our services to include pregnancy massage and Doula Services (birth coaching).

I have organised and spoke at talks called “Cutting the Stigma“ for Caesarean Awareness Month.

I entered the NatWest “Life’s a Pitch” 10k Challenge, which saw me pitch my business in 60 seconds to executives at NatWest for the opportunity to win 10k towards my business, I made it to the semi-finals.

I was also nominated by Start Up Croydon to be entered for the National Enterprise Network Impact Award.

I am in the process of developing a Baby Massage Oil and Mummy Stretch Mark Cream, using Organic ingredients from Jamaica which will help to provide work for local farmers.

What is the biggest thing you have gained and how will you use this in the future?

I should challenge myself more often because I can do more than I think I can. As cliché as it sounds, the only person stopping me, is me.

What top tip would you give another mum at the start of their business journey?

Find your “why”. When you want to give up, remember why you are doing this, it will keep you going.

My “why” is my son and providing the best life for him I possibly can makes me wake up at 3am to work on my business.

If you could use one word to sum up the course, what would it be?

Empowering!

You can find out more about Simone’s business on her website NaturalKinetics or by following her on Instagram @natural.kinetics