4little1s.com - Our very own Mumpreneur

Mumpreneur Celebrates its Third Year of Trading

From humble beginnings three years ago, the online nursery furniture, baby bedding and baby gifts retailer 4little1s.com was started. From a blank piece of paper around a kitchen table in Surrey and a glass of wine to a profitable company turning over £120,000 ……..not bad for a 'stay at home mum' says Christianne James, founder of the company. Not only that, her plans are to keep going and expand over the next twelve months as we come out of the recession.

I used to work in City for a major International Bank, it was a great job however I always felt there needed to be a work / life balance in place, of which the bank job didn't really offer. It was very one sided, and lets just say, it wasn't on the life side !

Deep down I had always had a keen interest in business and new one day I would set something up. It was reading Richard Branson's autobiography that finally inspired me in that sometimes you just need to give it a go and go for it. You can read, plan, run through spreadsheets, talk with people, look at statistics and so on……but sometimes you just need to get on with it and do it. To be fair, starting a business just as the world was entering into financial chaos did raise a couple of eyebrows around the table, but I had covered the downsides and felt confident the idea would work.

Becoming pregnant, I decided to take a look online as to what I could purchase without the need to go along the high street on a wet Saturday afternoon. It soon became apparent it was not as straight forward as I had thought….that's when I had the light bulb moment of there has to be another way.

Most important things I have learnt

" Its sounds a little corny, but believe and have confidence you can do it !

" You cannot do everything - Get other people to help you, there are experts that can do something in hours which would take you days !

" Create a trusted team around you - Accountant, Website designers, delivery companies, PR, Marketing people etc

" Get a mentor - Someone you can bounce ideas off, or for them to 'tell you how it really is' can be very valuable indeed

" Learn from your mistakes - Don't be afraid of making them, learn, fine tune and move on. If a particular campaign or other piece of marketing didn't work, learn from it and try another tack


Top 10 things I would recommend other mums to do when starting their own businesses

" Get buy in from your family

" Listen to other people

" Create a business plan / roadmap - it helps focus your mind and gives you a framework to work towards
" Set yourself some realistic objectives that you can aim towards

" As Winston Churchill once said - 'Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never - in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense '

" Respond to all enquiries - You never know where it may lead

" Technology - Investigate what is available and use it to your advantage

" Social Media - Don't underestimate how powerful a Marketing tool this can be

" Make sure you have backup childcare or work out in advance how you are going to run your business around the children

" Make every minute count

My husband had been working in the City for a number of years in IT and had the technical knowledge, I had spotted a gap in the market for a quality online nursery retail and the rest was history as they say

If only it was that easy, it has been very hard work, long hours and initially was more stressful than the job I had since left. I was fortunate that my husband had invested into the company so at least I didn't have the worry about a bank chasing me for repayments of a loan.

Having confidence in your idea, not afraid of hard work or long hours and just having the stubborn belief it that you will make it happen have all been contributing factors in making the business grow and where it is today.

One of the most important factors looking back, has been having a supportive family who understand the business and are happy to help out during the peak seasons. Having family and people close to you to tell you objectively on any matters whatsoever is worth its weight in gold.

4little1s.com is an online nursery retailer located at www.4little1s.com


Immediate release -

Contact: Christianne James
Position: Director
Email: Sales@4little1s.com
Website: www.4little1s.com
Date: 5th November 2010

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