Small business idea - supporting mums returning to work after maternity leave - what do you think??

[bellabambina]

Hello,

I am Mum to a just-turned-1-year old and would really appreciate your thoughts on my small business idea which, if successful, would enable me to spend more time with my daughter.

I am a qualified life coach and am looking to support and guide women who are returning to work after maternity leave. The idea is that I would work closely with the Mum to help her plan her return and then to support her once she is back until she is fully settled in. There's often so much emotive stuff going through your head you don't know where to begin with ordering and prioritising it, and talking to family and friends can be tricky as they can sometimes have an agenda and can't be objective, whereas a coach can.

I guess my question, before I go much further down this road, is whether people would hire someone to help them with this?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts...

[flowerybeanbag]

My immediate reaction is that mums who have been on maternity leave with little or no income and who are often going back on less hours than previously, won't have bags of cash to throw at a life coach...

I can't see women turning to a life coach to help with the decision about whether to go back, and really they ought to be speaking to their husband, boss, HR person or similar if they need support.

It's a nice idea but I'm not convinced there's a huge potential client base out there.

[blueshoes]

flowerybeanbag has a point.

Perhaps see if you can offer your services to a company for its women employees returning to work from maternity leave. I know my company offers support and counselling in this area as a benefit.

[SueW]

If you google, you will find at least a couple of people doing this sort of thing, I'm sure as I have heard of it before. (If they are limited companies, you could get a copy of their accounts from Companies House and see how successful they are!)

[flowerybeanbag]

Agree with blueshoes, you'd be better off working for the employers than the women.

Find big companies who offer lots of 'caring sharing' type benefits, employee assistance helplines, counselling, that type of thing, they'd be your targets for this.

[bellabambina]

Thank you for your suggestions, much appreciated!