Planning for the North East Baby and Toddler Show

Our studio is a hive of activity and I am excited! On 16th March I will be taking myself off to The North East Baby and Toddler show. This event starts the beginning of a new year for Life's A Celebration and I'm really looking forward to meeting all the parents, parents-to-be, grandparents and other exhibitors.

We will be offering loads of freebies and special discounts on the day!

I am busy putting together 100 party bags for the first 100 people that sign up to our mailing list, organising organza bags filled with mini eggs for those people that purchase or pre-book a party box on the day.

We've got a giant baby bottle filled with Jelly Babies and whoever gets the number of Jelly Babies correct will receive a special prize!

We're also going to be offering loads of special discounts for products bought on the day too.

All in all, loads of freebies up for grabs and loads of money off too!

 

It's also been a scurry of activity getting our new business address onto our flyers. My daughter has been roped into this task! Payment will be mini eggs!

The stand that I've taken is 1m x 3m and I've also been busy designing posters to put on the booth behind me.

Here are a few of the designs. What do you think?

 

They will be sent to the printers (hopefully) today.

There are going to be loads of exhibitors at the event including my friends The Cool Rule Company and Magic Mummies.

I will be there all day and will have plenty of baby shower party boxes and birthday party boxes for the little ones. I will also be taking orders for our other products so if anybody is getting married and needs something to entertain the children on the day or if anybody has a grown up birthday party coming up.

 

I will also be personalising party bags for the kids on the day!

If you have a special event coming up and needs some friendly hints and tips then pop across and have a chat. I'm always happy to give you party ideas and will help you wherever I can.
 

I really love events like this that give businesses a chance to get out and meet some lovely families.

 

Massive thanks to my friend Carrie Dennison from Press for Design. She has worked tirelessly with me designing the stand and will be there with me for setting up the booth.

 

So if you're in the North East on 16th March then pop along to the North East Baby and Toddler Show at Newcastle Falcons, NE13 8AF and say hi!

See you there.

 

Maxine

x

Mother's Day Guest Blogger - Fran from Perspective

We're still celebrating all the mums in business out there. Mother's Day is rapidly approaching and we have our fabulous Mother's Day Bags available to buy for only £9.99. These colourable bags come with a pack of fabric pens so the kids can make a totally unique present for mum. Just click on the buy now tab above.

Today we're chatting to my good friend Fran from Perspective Business Centres. Have a read about what she has to say about The Joys of Working from Home. 
 

"I'm Fran Williams and, for my sins, I'm MD of 2 local businesses; a wife and a mum to a teenage daughter, 4 dogs, 3 cats and an alpaca! 

Having done the 'career woman' bit, I took stock of my life 10 years ago and, as a newly single mum, decided that something had to change.  I'd spent the first 6 years of my daughter's life working full-time.  Now it was time to redress the balance …

I decided it would be lovely to work from home, and I set up a payroll and bookkeeping business.  It was a perfect scenario.  I got to do the school runs, and to go to sports days and nativity plays and never got that guilt thing that working mums get.  Most of my clients were local, so I simply worked between 9.00 am – 3.00 pm, so I could be a perfect mum to my little girl.  It also meant that I could be there if Jennifer was poorly.

My clients were lovely, and I had a great time working from their premises or homes.  Always well look after by my clients, it was back to a stark reality on those days I was working from my own office (when I say office, I mean the room between the living room and the 'lean-to' kitchen – I think the proper term is dining room, but that's just semantics).  Don't get me wrong, my office was lovely and the view of the back garden was super.  The view into the kitchen of my Cavalier King Charles spaniel fast asleep in the sink was a small distraction.  It wasn't all bad, as the dog didn't always sleep in the sink.  Sometimes he slept on my desk, keeping my papers tidy and performing other office junior type roles.

Bored with only a dim spaniel for company during the day, and needing some intelligent conversation, I decided I needed to get out of the house more and found a part-time job.  Perfect.

Except now I couldn't fit my clients' work into 6 hours a day.  Never mind, there was always the weekends and evenings, and clients could drop their books off at my home.  Fantastic.  But did I really want clients visiting my home, particularly when I had a small child in the house?  Not ideal, but ok. 

Fast-forward 10 years.

Hubby and I have just launched a new business centre in Consett.  One of the main markets we are reaching out to is people who don't want (or can't afford) a full-time office of their own.  They maybe want a hot desk for a day, or an office one day a week.

I wish I'd been able to hot desk 10 years ago!

During Consett's snowmageddon in January 2013, I conducted an experiment and worked from home for a day.

I started work in my office at 7.00 am (ok, dining room) and all was fantastic for at least 2 hours until the dog fell asleep on my work papers.  Said dog then decided to search my briefcase and found some goodies, which he sat on and distracted me by glowering all morning.  Lunchtime came and went.  At 2 pm, I went into the living room to work on some social media – horizontal social media, on the sofa.  At 5 pm, hubby returned home and somehow I was still on a horizontal plane.

Yes, working for yourself is fantastic and working from home can work amazingly well.  What I have learnt is that sometimes it is nice to have some professional space, where your dog can't be a paperweight or a distraction!  For anyone curious enough, Barbilla the alpaca is on livery.  Just as well because she is so adorable, I would never get any work done."

 

The Perspective team in the break-out zone - no spaniels in sight!

                                    (l-r Simon Williams, Joy Williams, Fran Williams)

Fran Williams, Perspective Business Centres Ltd

www.perspectivebusinesscentres.com  info@perspectivebusinesscentres.com 

Tel:    01207 585843

Thanks for your words Fran. I was honoured to get an invite to the launch of the Perspective Business Centre and I can honestly say it is fantastic. The team are so welcoming and have created a lovely environment in which you could work.

Speak to you soon my friends.

Maxine
x