Want to be inspired? Then read on to hear the story of our latest mumpreneur, Dionne Graham.
Name: Dionne Graham
Business: Beautiful Possibilities
Business telephone number: 0777 1910167
What do you do?
Host “Spa Cafes” either in groups at lovely venues or at clients home. I educate about skin care & make up application. The group chooses an indulgent menu and we go through it from starters to main course!
And I also train other women (often mothers or women who always wanted to be in the beauty industry) to host their own events and create another income stream.
What inspired you to set up your own business?
I always wanted to and knew I would! I had beauty salons but when I had my third baby after a 10 yr gap I knew I didn’t want to go back to those long hours so explored taking an element of what I already knew how to do but without the overheads.
How old were your children when your business launched?
I started my first business with no children, then had two 19months apart only 1yr 10 months after starting! I kept that going for 13yrs then recently started again Aug 07.
What was the most difficult aspect of starting up your home business?
Finding time to do everything!
How did you finance your business start-up?
Existing income/ savings
What has been your most useful or valuable resource / tool / advice when starting up your own home business?
Applying the 80/20 rule to my business i.e focus on the 20% of activity or clients that provide 80% of my income.
What has been your most successful marketing activity?
Networking through Athena!
What has been the biggest hurdle you’ve had to overcome in terms of business success?
Realising my own value, overcoming fear of public speaking and learning to love sales!
How do you separate working time from family time?
It sometimes crosses over. The bigger kids look after baby whilst I do something business related but they understand it as part of team work to achieve our family goals. I get my daughter involved with bridal make up or indulgence events where I pay her to help and she expects ONLY to run her own business when she is older.
What has been the biggest benefit to your family, of you being self-employed?
Flexibility and good earnings.
Any top tips you can give to other mums who are considering starting up a home-based business?
Any business that has a system to follow or the ability to follow in somebody’s footsteps so that help is always on hand.
Make sure whatever you do you love and can have fun so it's not a negative to be away from your family.
If considering direct sales you need total conviction in the products and the company you represent.
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