We are re-launching our blogging contest in partnership with Beauty21 and offering mum bloggers the chance to win make-up products by Elizabeth Arden, Rimmel and Benefit.  The lucky winners will be asked to review these products on their blogs and update their profile photo (with new make-up on) on Mums Like You. To enter the competition send an email to admin@mumslikeyou.com with your name, adress and the weblink to your blog by 29th March. The winners will be announced here shortly afterwards. Best of luck, Ivet Mums Like You
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Dear mums, Some time ago we asked you to take part in the Flexible Working Survey sponsored by Phoenix Trading. The research looked into mums attitudes to work and their search for the elusive middle ground between ‘power woman’ and ‘caring mum’. Here are some of the more ineteresting findings: • 62% of British mothers say a lack of confidence keeps them away from the workplace • 48% of mothers feel envious when they hear success stories of other working mums • Seven out of ten mums cited affordable childcare as a major barrier for not returning to work • Three in four mothers feel a lack of flexible working conditions is a key factor in their decision to stay at Looking at these findings, the most imteresting stat for me is that more than 60% of mums lack the confidence to go back to work. I am wondering wether the long sleepless nights and incessant care for our kids make us lose trust in our abilities to thrive at work? Because I am convinced we have all of the skills to do both i.e.: time management, dealing with difficult people, powers of persuasion - maybe we just forget to give ourselves credit for these?
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Nowadays if you write to an agony aunt, you are likely to get good advice, understanding and support. But it hasn't always been that way. A new book "Never Kiss a Man in Canoe: Words of Wisdom from the Golden Age of Agony Aunt" has collected the worst ever agony aunt replies from days gone by. It's some of the harshest, most brutal - and sometimes just plain wrong answers to problems suffered by our grandmother and great -grandmothers. It varies from advice on diet, beauty, love and courtship to how to bring up children - and it's certainly enough to make you really glad times have moved on. Author Tanith Carey says: "I got the idea when I came across a problem page in a parenting magazine from 1915 when I was researching my second book A Mother's Love. "The Agony Aunt was telling one poor mum that babies should be picked up as little as possible before the age of one because it overstimulates them! "As a parenting journalist, half of me was really shocked because it's so different to what we know now - and the other slightly amused by the tone of absolutely certainty in which the agony aunt had written it! "I decided to look into it further and found loads of examples, a lot of them very humorous from our modern perspective, that shows how times have thankfully moved on." A beautifully packaged hardback which would make the perfect Christmas present, Never Kiss in a Canoe is available from all good book shops and Amazon for the special introductory price of £5.99 - almost half of its regular price of £9.99. Mums Like You have five givaway copies for mums that want to review the book. If you are interested, please email admin@mumslikeyou.com And here are some highlights from 'Never kiss a man in a canoe-words of wisdom from the golden age of agony aunts, by Tanith Carey “Plenty of Milk, Plenty of Sleep and Plenty of Fannel” : Advice to worried mothers on child-rearing Question: Do you believe in paddling? I have heard it is bad for children to have their feet in cold water with the sun on their heads. Answer: Paddling is only safe for a short time in warm, shallow water, such as in pools on the sands when the tide is out. A great deal of mischief is done to children’s health every year by paddling as you describe. Kidney troubles, coughs, colds, toothache and neuralgia, diarrhoea and stomach catarrh are frequently brought on by chills to lower limbs while paddling. Mother and Home 1910 Question: Is cycling injurious to very young children? At what age may it be started? Answer: Cycling is not a very good exercise for young children, for there is too much strain on the muscles of the legs, and children’s muscles are soon tired. A little of it, however, won’t do any harm, if they avoid competition with older riders. It is this – by leading children to exert themselves overmuch – which does so much harm to little cyclists. Nine or ten years of age is generally old enough to begin cycling. Mother and Home 1910 Question: Should my baby be handled? Answer: Babies are like delicate plants, and should be brought up in as pure an atmosphere and with as much sunshine as possible. They should not be coddled or handled too much. The mother who is forever dangling, tossing or jumping her baby to make it take notice when, perhaps, it is sleepy, and then rocking it and jumping it again to get it to sleep when its nerves are all ‘on edge’ is doing the little one a great wrong. Many of the brain diseases of children are often traced to the foolish habit of tossing them up, or ‘making them take notice’ at an age when to ‘notice’ would show an abnormal precocity that would bode ill for future health. Cosy Corner, 1909 Question: Could you tell me the proper age for putting little boys into trousers? Someone has suggested two years, but don’t you think that is rather young? Answer: Yes, much too young. Wait until he is four or five. Mother and Home, 1910 Question: Do you believe that petting a child is bad for it? Answer: Yes, decidedly I do. A child gets very much attached to Mother (or Nurse) who feeds and baths it. It should be the mother’s aim to prevent the child getting too attached to her and fondling the child has the opposite effect. The child who gets all this fondling is always looking for it in everybody and is miserable without it. The adult who is always recounting his ills and looking for sympathy is the outcome of too much coddling in childhood. That is why psychologists say too much mother-love is harmful. Modern Woman, 1929 Question: How can I cure my little girl of playing with matches? I knowI should not leave them about and I do usually remember. But we have only gas and sometimes I am called away and lay them down. Answer: Show her how to light the gas, making sure to blow the match out afterwards, and do your utmost to impress upon her that matches are for use and not as playthings…the matches will probably lose their fascination as playthings. Woman’s Companion, 1947
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 Mums Like You teamed up with the film distributors Metrodome in our latest competition. We are offering 3 lucky mums the chance to win a DVD with the brand new Uma Thurman movie - Motherhood. A little bit about the film: Motherhood is a new comedy drama starring Uma Thurman as a young mother in New York trying to balance motherhood with work, life and play. The day-in-the-life feature has Thurman as a mother of two, prepping for her daughter's sixth birthday party as myriad urban challenges confront her, while simultaneously trying to kickstart her writing career. In addition all our users can make Mother's day last that little bit longer by taking part in Mother's Eve! You can visit the films official site at www.motherhoodmovie.com for lots more details about this - as well as links to free discounts packs to cheer you up on Mother's Eve. To enter the competition, please tell us how you plan to spend Mother's Day by commenting in the box below (one entry per person). The competition will run until 16th March 2010
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SPONSORED BLOG  Cecilia Thorfinn is 37, a Swedish mum of a lovely little girl, turning 5 this year. She lives in the Netherlands and is married to a Dutch politician. She is also the inventor and main force behind the MummyMug - a smart new product enabling mums to have a hot drink safely around their babies. We asked Cecilia to share with us her experience of turning her idea into a promising business. Here is what she told us. How did you come up with the idea? I came up with the idea standing one morning in my kitchen a few years ago. I was holding Eleonore, then just a newborn baby, on one arm, and was longing for a cup of coffee. But the words of my brother, who is a plastic surgeon and operates on burn victims, was ringing in my ears - you must let your cup stand and cool off for a whole 15 minutes before it is safe - water warmer than 60 degrees will cause a 3rd degree burn within 3 seconds on your baby. And then the thought suddenly crossed my mind: I need a MummyMug. Something that will allow me to still enjoy my drink without risking causing an accident. It would have to be something stylish and something that closed up after every sip, so I would not have to worry about closing a lid manually. The idea for the MummyMug had entered my heart - and was from that moment on not going to go away! I quickly discovered that there was no such product in the market, and started developing the functional design, the branding and the marketing strategy. What are the key benefits of the MummyMug? I am proud to bring something innovative to market, which will make the life of children a bit safer, and the life of mothers and fathers a little bit more relaxed. Functionality of course comes first, as with all safety products. But we have also worked very hard to make the MummyMug something stylish and unique, adding some well-deserved wellness to the everyday life of parents. What were the challenges of turning your idea into a business? Product development is a long and sometimes difficult and expensive road to walk, the MummyMug has turned into a fully fledged and full time enterpreneurial adventure. As such, it has taken much more time than I anticipated. I really got going in 2009, and the financial crisis certainly was a challenge for a startup company like mine. I am very proud to have managed to raise the necessary funds during this difficult period, and take that as an extra vote of confidence in me and the MummyMug.  Another challenge, but truly a positive one, is the variety in the tasks one has to fulfil as an entrepreneur. The process from idea to market is presenting me with a new challenge every day, ranging from bookkeeping to selecting plastics to planning trade fair participation, seeking subsidies and planning a social media marketing strategy. I used to be a diplomat working for the European Commission, so my training and background has not helped me much in solving the tasks coming my way. But the variety in the entrepreneurial challenge is indeed what makes it so interesting! What helped you most to overcome them? Giving myself the permission to simply dare to do it! To try, to succeed but also to dare to make mistakes. I have certainly also had the privilege of teaming up with enthusiastic and experienced experts along the way, and without their support and insights, I would not have come this far. What are your business objectives?The objective of my business is to bring the MummyMug to all Mums and Dads out there, who enjoy a cup of tea or coffee but who realize that they should not expose their children to the risk of scalding burns. The MummyMug is a hot drink safety solution, a unique and stylish coffee/tea mug with a smart, lip-operable lid that allows 360 degree drinking and closes up after every sip. Used correctly, the MummyMug will minimize the risk of spills and will allow parents a safe coffee break around their kids. We are in the final stages of finalizing the product and preparing for manufacturing, which will take place in Sweden. We have met with a lot of positive response from the market, including getting a prestigeous nomination as finalist in the Innovation Award competition at the Kind&Jugend annual international trade fair for the baby industry in Cologne, Germany. What differentiates you from your competitors? We have a unique product that addresses an everyday problem that most parents encounter. If you could give one piece of advice to other entrepreneurs, what would it be? See yourself as the main investor in the company you want to start, and set yourself a clear limit from the beginning as to how much risk you are willing to take in terms of spending time and money on your venture. It is also indispensable to seek advice as early as possible in the process from business coaches and others who have experience of a similar product or process, that can map out what a realistic time frame and budget is for you to reach your goal.
If you have any questions or comments, you can post them in the comment box here. You can also connect with Cecilia directly on:
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Useful info
Mums Like You - a guide for mums First things first The website has two areas: public - for all visitors and non-public - for members only. If you are just passing by, you can still have a look at our groups, blogs, polls and the online forum. In order to participate or view the non-public sections you will have to register or log-in. The signup process is simple, we don't ask too many questions, just a minute of your time and you are in. Once you've registered, you can look for your mum friends or mums that live nearby by using the Advanced Search tab at the top of the page. Also if your friends are not there, you can easily invite them to join the network - just click on Invite your friends. The first page you will always see when you log-in is your home page. It's like a wall with all the latest activity on the website - who has signed up, who has posted new stuff, new friendships etc. On the right you can set your preferences as to what you want to see - maybe you want to be notified only when people comment or contribute to your content, maybe you don't want to see any news, whatever your preferences are, you can set them here On this page you can check whether you have new messages, who else is online, reminders of your friends' birthdays as well as what the weather is going to be like over the next week (at least according to the BBC) From then onwards you can do one of two things - browse the site by choosing one of the tabs on the main menu, or you can create your own content by clicking on the My Content menu. For example if you go to a good playgroup in your area and want to let other mums know, choose the Events tab and post your entry. Once you have done it, you can invite other mums to join, post comments and share photos. So it is a great way of doing things together and the more you share, the more helpful this area will become for all mums in your area. You can also use Events to organize a birthday party, a mum get-together and pretty much any type of group event you are planning. If you want to share with other mums your recommendations on the buggy you have just bought, or a local school or nursery, go to the Reviews area. Here you can post your views on all that matters to you and over time we hope this will turn into a great database of mum tips and advice. Then there is the Marketplace - the area for small ads for mums and businesses. Let's say you want to sell second-hand baby kit - click on Create Listing and you will see a screen where you can create and post your small ad. This is where you can advertise to buy, sell or give away baby equipment you no longer use. You can also look for a babysitter or any other house help, jobs suited for mothers as well as raise awareness for your charity of choice. And the best part is that it is all FREE for mums to use. There are many more practical tools on this site, but I'd rather leave something for you to discover. Of course don't be afraid to ask, if you have a query, email us on: admin@mumslikeyou.com I hope you enjoy being part of the network and I look forward to seeing you online Iveta A mum like you
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 If you have got your diaries handy, mark the 18th of September 2010 - it's the date of the annual Mumpreneur Conference - a fantastic event celebrating mums' achievements in business. Mums Like You will be supporting the conference via regular blogs and updates and together with Ella Announcements will offer a free advertising package worth GBP 300 to each winner. The Mumpreneur Conference 2010 is organised as a way for mums to get together and celebrate one another's achievements, no matter how big or small, as well as providing opportunities for these women to move forward in growing their business in a way that will fit around their family commitments. I first heard about the conference from Amanda Farren - one of the organisers, a busy mum of 3 and a successful mumpreneur. I love the idea and think it's a fantastic opportunity for business mums to raise their profile, network and learn from each other. It doesn't matter how small or established your business is, the nominations are open to all entrepreneurial mums in the following 8 categories: Best Start Up, Best Online Business, Best Business Support, Best Green Business, The Best Green business Award, Best Saleswoman,Best Interactive Business,Most Unique Product and The Inspirational Business Mum
The nomination process is already underway and runs until 2nd August 2010. Although you might think there is plenty of time, by entering now you'll get an award badge and can tell all your clients you've been nominated for a national award. It will also be a good reason to issue a press release and contact your local press about it. So it's worth entering now by completing this nomination form. Over the next months I'll be blogging about the conference and will also be updating the board of the Mumpreneur Group, so keep an eye for the latest. Best of luck to all entrants! Ivet Mums Like You
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Welcome to Mums Like You! Getting started Whether you are a start-up or a well established company, Mums Like You can be a powerful tool for networking and advertising your business to a well targeted and influential mums audience. Mums Like You offers a lot of opportunities to advertise for FREE. The first step to build a presence is to login and create your online profile. Once you register, go to Edit Profile to add information about your company, your logo and contact details. This will be your business card visible to Mums Like You members and will be included in our searchable database. Therefore consider the message you want to convey as well as the keywords you use to ensure your profile comes up on searches. Your profile also lists all your activity on the website (your discussions, blogs, polls) so the more you contribute the more interesting and informative your profile will be to other members. Start networking Use the Search window at the top of the page to find other members. Once you find people you are interested in, add them to your network by sending a friend invitation. You can also invite people you know to join Mums Like You - just click on Invite tab and you can access your address book online. Another way is to start a discussion in the business area of the Mums Like You forum or to join one of the many groups on the site. If you don't find one that appeals, create a group yourself and invite your friends to join. Groups have their dedicated discussion board, can share pictures, comments and invite other members to join. Joining a discussion or a group is a great way to find new business contacts, associates or customers. At Mums Like You we are not fans of rules. However, we have a couple of recommendations - don't be tempted to use the notice boards for indiscriminate advertising or inbound links to your website. First it won't be effective and second - you will be reported and can be suspended from the website. Subscription based advertising There are a number of ways to advertise on Mums Like You for a monthly subscription. List on the Marketplace The Marketplace is a searchable business directory, where you can list your company, a specific product or service (together with a weblink and image). It's quick and easy way to advertise your company, find suppliers, list job openings, etc. Once you list, there are different ways to raise your visibility: ask your customers to vote for you, list any special offers or discounts and drive traffic to your listing. List events
If you are running an activity for kids such as drama, craft or musc classes, this is the perfect place to list your event and invite other members to attend. These are the subscription plans we currently offer: Business Basic For just £7.50 a month you’ll benefit from: - unlimited listings on the Marketplace and Events area including images and a link to your webpage
- customer voting and comments enabling you to build a credible presence on Mums Like You
- showcasing your product/service to 6,000+ likeminded mums, mum bloggers and entrepreneurs
- the high search engine ranking Mums Like You enjoys
- automatic indexing by search engines
- regular Marketplace and Events drives through our e-newsletter
Business Annual For £ 75 a year you’ll benefit from: - substantial savings of our monthly subscription fees
- unlimited listings on the Marketplace and Events areas, including images and a link to your webpage
- customer voting and comments enabling you to build a credible presence on Mums Like You
- showcasing your product/service to 6,000+ likeminded mums, mum bloggers and entrepreneurs
- the high search engine ranking Mums Like You enjoys
- automatic indexing by search engines
- regular Marketplace and Events drives through our e-newsletter
Product Reviews This is the area where you can get valuable customer feedback and get your products reviewed by members of Mums Like You. The first step is to create a listing for the product you'd like reviewed, including 2 images and a weblink. You'll need to indicate how many reviewers you like to involve as well as any other specific requirements. If you prefer us to organize and manage the process for you via our product review panel of mums, please email: admin@mumslikeyou.com and we'll be in touch Banner advertising In addition to the subscription advertising, you can place an advertising banner to be displayed across the Mums Like You website. Mums Like You gives you full control of your banner advertising campaigns, from the design of your creative to choosing where on the site to place it and what users to target. You can place, pay for your advert and see it displayed on our site in a matter of minutes. Moreover, you can track how effective your add is, through your personal Analytics tool, providing real-time data on the impressions and clicks your advert attracts. For more information, please go to: http://www.mumslikeyou.com/advertise.php
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