Sleep Deprived!

I'm tired, I'm tried and oh did I mention I'M TIRED. As a stay at home mum trying to flog some baby clothes on the internet, some people may think I don't have much on. But I can tell you I DO! I have a teething 9 month old that is driving me up the wall! What do you do when she has taken to hating her cot and hollas every time you lay her down? What do you do when she plays cot acrobats and ends up random positions? What to you do when the Calpol doesn't seem to be working and you don't want to overdose her, by giving it to her every ten minutes! (lol, joking peeps,don't go calling social services on me). What do you do when your tired and your patience is wearing thin? Well so far I've learnt to talk to other mothers (baby clubs and events), read other mother blogs (someone else is definately going through the same thing). Take a break, have a cup of tea/coffee or glass of wine (late nights only, when they finally succumb to sleep) and get out and about where possible (trips to the shops, park etc).
     Whats that I hear.....silence... at last she is sleeping. Cup of tea anyone?

http://invisiblebread.com/

Hugs Lisa (Tired Business Mum)

All babies start out looking like Aliens..

The weekend was really busy getting ready for the launch. With mum duties never stopping I am now shattered. I got my beautiful daughter to model my clothes...so funny trying to get her to keep still, while taking a billion shots on numerous cameras. But I think she makes the clothes look great. They are on now on Facebook and I've twittered, pinned and contacted everyone I know to get my name out there.

     Ok, you may be thinking, why and how I chose my designs (or maybe your not thinking that, but I'm gonna tell you anyway!). Well the idea came to me quite quickly, it was the process that was long. I wanted something unique, different from the High St designs. The alien is modeled on my daughter. Oh dear you might say. But let me explain, her birth was a amazing and thankfully a short experience. But when my gorgeous girl was first laid upon my chest, she looked up at me with her big brown eyes... and I thought ummm she looks like a little alien gremlin (all wrinkly and pale). Now don't get me wrong ladies, we love our children like nothing else in this world. But you have to admit, when they are newborn, they're not that attractive yet! (chuckling). Anyway she was this long limbed, pot bellied, big eyed, cute little alien and I wanted that design on my clothes. So there you go, the long and short of it.

I introduce you to CB (Colourful Babies) the Alien.
 

       There will be more designs to come. I'm basically going to put CB in all the situations (i.e playing with building blocks) that my daughter has and will be in, on my products. I hope you love them.

Love Lisa

Mumpreneur (hopefully a successful one)
https://www.facebook.com/Colourfulbb

New Prints Are Out There!!!

The new prints are launched !! yippee. So now I wait..... Check out my Facebook page to see what I'm on about. Your feedback would be most welcome....Excited

Colourful Babies Products  https://www.facebook.com/Colourfulbb

Crisis of Confidence!

Its a Saturday (last week). Its 7.30 am. I had just finished feeding my daughter and put her back it bed. I was trying to sleep. (a nap really before she woke up again in about an hour). Could I sleep....NO! My mind was racing and questions that couldn't be answered where on a loop. Questions like, where else can I advertise for free? What product design to do and print next?, Will I actually make any money from this? Am I neglecting my daughter and partner? What am I doing? Can I get a holiday away from my mind?  and so on and so forth...You get the gist. So I got out my notepad and wrote down what I could. I am guessing many business people and mums have the same crisis of confidence. But I not sure I should have them so early on. Please get in touch with me if you have been in the same situation. I'm hoping this will get better. I would like to return to sleeping at night.  Running a business and a home sleep deprived is not good.
     At present I'm feeling very positive about the biz, especially since I have my prints back and they look fab, fab, fab! Launching this weekend.(Woohoo) Let us know what you think. Any feedback is most welcome.


Will the business do this?

SUPPORT is key!

Okay so I'm still waiting on my printed products to return from my fabulous printers. And while I wait nervously, I continue to plug away at getting my name out there. Furiously tweeting, pinning and Facebooking away! The response, thus far has been great, due largely to the very supportive mothers out there. I received some lovely personal messages and tweets of support. Which I have found amazing being embraced by the 'mums is business' community. It got me thinking how without 'support' I wouldn't get very far. Without the support of my friends, family and especially my partner, I wouldn't have even started this venture. I realised that if I want support, I also have to give it. We should buy locally as much as possible, support local businesses spend less at large corporations that don't know our names or care about us. (Please note I said buy less at large corporations, I do live in the real world! The economic climate doesn't allow us all to buy organic, free ranged, recyclable high priced products) But where we can afford it, we can make changes. Then you know what your getting and where its coming from... ('she clears throat and mutters under her breath "horsemeat"... Enough said). It feels good to know your supporting your community and buying from someone who hopefully appreciates your business.....ok I'm getting of my soap box now.
           Anyway let me give you a example of why I talk about support and community. When I was looking for a printers for my ideas I found that my 'small order' was not appreciated by some of the larger well know printing establishments that I approached. People couldn't be bothered to take the time, to discuss what I wanted on the phone. They would ask me to send a e mail, then not reply. Now I don't know about you, but that's just rude!!!I got dishearten, thought I would never find one at a decent price or that would fulfill my order. Until I spoke to my current printers. He was AMAZING!, chatty, friendly, kind, patient and most of all supportive. He discussed my options, emailed my back straight away and was super helpful. I felt he appreciated my business and wanted to help with mine. He offered great customer service and we should expect nothing less. So if you buy from me expect the same.


Lisa - Entrepreneur in training!

WE'RE AMAZING!

I've taken to adding inspirational quotes of the day to twitter. It's to help myself, as well as others through the day. So if you need motivation today just remember your AMAZING! I'm talking especially to mums here (sorry guys, your amazing too). But as a new mum, I now have a deeper appreciation for what my own mother has done for me. She raised 2 kids ALONE. And when I mean alone, I mean alone. She was in a foreign country away from her family and friends. So I am now in awe of her coping skills and ability to be mum, dad and friend all in one. I am lucky enough not to have that problem. I have a lovely and loving partner of 6 years. I can't imagine bringing up my daughter without the support of my partner, family and friends.
     So mums out there WE'RE AMAZING! Just getting through each day loving, caring, cleaning, educating, feeding and supporting our children is amazing.
     Keep up the good work ladies. xxx

Hugs Lisa

Designs, Printers and Retail Therapy!

Long day today, but very productive. Finally got my products to the printers! Hooray. My new designs should be done over the weekend. So hopefully at the start of next week, they will be online to view. Excited and anxious at the same time. I hope you will all love them as I do. Please let me know, your feedback will be most appreciated.
OK I have a confession to make. I didn't spend the whole day at the printers. I ended up on a shopping trip to Lakeside Shopping Centre. Now, I like to call it market research myself. Scoping out the competition and looking for potential customers. Others may call it a excuse to buy more things for my daughter! I'll let you decide. I was surprisingly restrained and didn't buy anything at all. (I know, crazy!!!) But getting out and about was good for the soul. Well they do call it 'retail therapy'.