Small Business Blog Series - The Mother Hut
/
This new year I’m excited to bring you a short showcase of some fabuolous businesses. Through Isabella and Us. I am lucky enough to collaborate with, showcase and share amazing small independent businesses, which is just amazing and shopping small is something I am incredibly passionate about.
So over the next few weeks I’ll be bringing you a short showcase of some fabuolous independent businesses!
Today is Aimee Barrett from The Mother Hut.
Tell me a little bit about your business...:
The Mother Hut is a pregnancy and postnatal hub that specialises in Hypnobirthing across Leeds and Bradford. Here at The Mother Hut we believe all birth stories should be ones based on confidence, control and feeling supported. Whether it’s a home water birth or Caesarean section you desire, we have your back!
Tell us more about yourself - What did you do before your business, your interests/hobbies and any fun facts:
I’m Aimee; a mum of two boys, a Welsh Londoner living in Leeds and absolutely love flowers, bulldogs and shopping. For ten years prior to starting my business I was a secondary school teacher. It was great at times, but the balance was all wrong after having two children. I wanted a better balance between work and kids, alongside something I had a huge passion for! I’m a real home bod; most nights I’ll be in my PJ’s by 6pm curled up on the sofa by 7pm! But if I do get out, a trip into Leeds for a cocktail or three is just bliss!!
What inspired you to start your business?
When I’m had my first boy, I suffered PTSD and anxiety as the result of a difficult labour and birth. I had lost so much confidence in myself. This bumbled along for the best part of three years. I got pregnant with my second boy but was crippled with thoughts of birth one. I underwent CBT and my counsellor recommended hypnobirthing. That one day course changed my life; that sounds so dramatic but it taught me everything I didn’t but know before. I went on to have a labour that still faced its challenges, but the difference was I had the knowledge to question things and understand what was happening to my body. And so The Mother Hut was born!
How do you keep a good work/life balance with running your own business?
This is so hard as I still get told I’m on my phone too much!! Balancing work and home wasn’t something I did well at in the early days; you tend to take any work that comes your way and saying no felt wrong when I was growing a business. But that’s what I’ve learnt to do. I appreciate the core reason why this business was set up and that was being with my kids more. So I put in the diary big lines over days that I want to myself and stick to that. I only let myself do so many courses a month now after I nearly burnt out last summer when I was out every night for 6 weeks!!! It was daft given I left a high stress job to give back into that way of life!!
What top 3 tips would you give to someone starting their own business?
Focus on what you want to achieve from it, nobody else. I see too often people comparing themselves to others and basing their success on what others are achieving over Instagram. Most of that is heightened reality!!
2. Be yourself. I was really ‘wishy-washy’ in the early days with my content. Only when I showed me did people buy into what i was doing. They got to know my reasons for what I do and that is a huge factor for some people buying into you and you’re product.
3. Know your product and exactly what it is you are offering people. If it’s vague, it won’t pack the same lunch as someone who is totally sure in what they are selling.
What is one thing you wished you had known before you started your own business?
I wish I had reached out to others in my field of work more in the early days to create a network. When you’re sat behind a laptop on Facebook, Instagram and writing a website it can be quite a lonely place. It exists now and I am fortunate to have many lovely friends in the antenatal arena, but I would say be humble and ask for advice where you need it. You feel a huge weight lifted when you finding others to bounce ideas off!
You can see more of The Mother Hut over at:
Website | Facebook | Instagram
I hope you enjoyed reading the small business showcase from The Mother Hut .
Emma x
If you’d like to take part in the Small Business Showcase please head to the website here.