AIBU to ask if you would pay for this?

[Sunflowers095]

I have a business idea but I wonder if there would actually be a demand. Essentially, I've been thinking a lot about how different backgrounds affect your ability to succeed professionally, as well as how graduates are struggling for work.

It would be a platform for women, the main idea is mentoring. So for example, a student (or someone looking for a career change) would have access to things like CV templates/reviews, forum, 1 on 1 calls with women who have experience/are accomplished in their careers and can act as a mentor.

This would exist as a free and premium version (mentoring would be premium).

It would be a partnership with the mentors directly (where they would be paid a fee) or an agreement with their company to have them represent the business as a mentor. The companies/mentors would benefit by having younger people with skills but no experience provide ideas/small projects. A bit like a competition but the company can use winning ideas.

I am yet to iron out exactly the details but want to validate it first. Personally I would pay for a service like this & I think new generations are less family oriented and more career driven.

It could make a great addition to the CV of the younger women as well as the mentors, serve as a community aimed at helping women succeed professionally.

If the premium version cost for example £20 would you buy it? Assuming it's a monthly rolling subscription that can be cancelled anytime and you can benefit from unlimited resources and a monthly mentoring call? Thanks in advance!

I wouldn’t have been interested. This already exists for a lot of industries through the professional institutes, and is a lot cheaper than £20 per month.

Also this is probably more aimed at smaller companies. Many large corporate companies already gave schemes in place to recruit people from diverse backgrounds and mentoring programs. We find that those who are career driven and actually good, from all backgrounds, don’t need a site like that as they have the initiative to research and access our diversity schemes, Internships and summer placements, link in with leaders at professional events or on linked in, and these are who we recruit. People who need a generic service like the one you’re suggesting we wouldn’t really be interested in.

@Mayaspecialist sorry this is untrue. All data suggest young women are putting kids of until mid to late 30’s or choosing not to have them at all. And IVF success rates are improving yearly. Also surrogacy, egg donation, sperm donation are allowing people who can’t carry kids to have them well into their 50’s so actually the opposite is happening:

Don’t want to go on a demographics rant but no the population is likely shrinking as women realise being a mother is normally a bad deal.

I'm a senior professional and mentor disadvantaged young people. This is done via a charity and I do it for free.

I cannot for the life of me imagine companies approach me and ask 'to mentor disadvantaged youngsters' and make money out of it it defeats the purpose of being a good mentor. You don't do it for any gain.

@cinammonbuns please do share the data. It would be interesting to see where the figures come from, the demographic of the people looked at, the sources etc. Because its not my experience at all. That experiences In work with many younger women and, outside work in my local community.

All the ones that have waited until later to have kids are all now in their 50s with kids 10 plus.

The younger women I work with anr mentor, all had their kids in their late teens, early 20s. And are now getting back into work now their kids are back.

As I said in my post. It depends on area. I live in a relatively poor area. 2 miles away is an affluent village. The women in the affluent village are the ones that are 50 plus with 10 year old.

In the poorer area where I live, most women have their kids young. That was my point. Op expressed wanting to target people who find progressing difficult due to economic status. So she is aiming it at the women in the poorer area. Not the ones in the affluent area where they have waited and put their career first.

Most of our offices are in the poorer areas across the UK. Bevauee rent is cheap, but also because we want to bring employment opportunities to the local areas. The vast majority of female younger workers have kids. The ones who haven't had them young or not had them at all are in the minority.

I don't really understand how this would make money. Most people would probably only take the free version. Though realistically, there is help with CV's and job searching and advice via colleges and universities and the job centre. Some people might sign up for the paid version for a month or two to get a few sessions. But this sort of mentorship probably doesn't need to be long-term. And the monthly fee isn't very much. How would you pay both the mentors and yourself a salary and also cover expenses for advertising, consumables, website development? Mid-career women wouldn't want to do this for free. Many people at that stage in their career make more than 20 quid an hour, so you'd probably need to pay them quite a lot to sustain their engagement.

I work with lots of younger people (mostly women) getting started in their careers. It's useful having their practical support - giving them a boring admin task that I can't be asked to do. But I can't say I've ever gotten new 'ideas' from someone at that stage in their career. They are just not experienced enough.

@Mayaspecialist of course I’ll be happy to provide the data but it makes sense that if you live in a poor area then your experience will be much different. Poverty and lack of education is correlated with having more kids and having them at a younger age.

But overall in the U.K. the age of frost time mothers is 32 on average and the teenage pregnancy rate has been falling nationwide for over a decade.

I am not saying your experience is wrong and as you live in a poorer area then your experience makes sense but overall in the country the opposite is happening and OP needs to consider that for her business plan if she is doing it nationwide. I’d she wanted to focus on a specific area for clients she would need to look at the demographics for having children there.

Side note to OP: I am your target demographic and I already get this mentoring for free. Most large firms already take part in this programs and it is the firms that pay for it certainly not the under privilege children.

What would one get for £20?

This link shows the national trends: www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/livebirths/bulletins/birthcharacteristicsinenglandandwales/2019.

This already exists. The Gov run a scheme offering all you f this through outsourced agencies

My business recently bid for the contract and were unsuccessful. We have the programme written and ready to roll out but nobody has bought it.

Although we would need to charge a lot more than £20 to make it profitable

As a mentor, it's VERY time consuming so I wouldn't do it for £20

[quote cinammonbuns]@Mayaspecialist of course I’ll be happy to provide the data but it makes sense that if you live in a poor area then your experience will be much different. Poverty and lack of education is correlated with having more kids and having them at a younger age.

But overall in the U.K. the age of frost time mothers is 32 on average and the teenage pregnancy rate has been falling nationwide for over a decade.

I am not saying your experience is wrong and as you live in a poorer area then your experience makes sense but overall in the country the opposite is happening and OP needs to consider that for her business plan if she is doing it nationwide. I’d she wanted to focus on a specific area for clients she would need to look at the demographics for having children there.

Side note to OP: I am your target demographic and I already get this mentoring for free. Most large firms already take part in this programs and it is the firms that pay for it certainly not the under privilege children.[/quote]
I obviously didn't work my first post correctly.

Because what I was saying, was for the people the op wants to target, many will have already had their kids and looking for a balance. Or will have kids younger.

If op wants to work with women from poorer areas to help them but also plans her business around women, putting off kids and having a career instead its not going to work. And most of the women she is targeting won't benefit from the mentorship she is planning.

And yes, alot of these women as they get older are expressing, they are glad they they kids first career after.

I actually don't think you need to be the expert to own a business. Many successful business owners are not experts, they know how to use the expert's expertise.

This is why so many businesses/ organisations are so badly managed.
The people at the top follow a generic business model and haven’t a clue what their workforce do or need.

I also think you need to do more research and see what is already out there.

@Mayaspecialist well it depends there are many women that did not break into corporate careers who don’t have kids but I agree the rate will be higher for those with kids so it should be a factor OP considered if she is aiming at graduates but it also seems she is long at school aged girls etc so that’s another factor. They are very unlikely to have kids nowadays.

I don’t understand your last comment because I was not making any statement about whether women who choose to have kids earlier or not are happy with their decision . I was simply talking about the national trend which is having children later, having fewer children or not having children at all.

Personally, this wouldn't be something that would interest me.

My husband does have a similar program available through his job that he takes part in though. His mentor is one of the senior finance directors and he finds the advice from him to be very inspiring. I think its extra helpful because they work in the same company, so he can give him very specific advice based on achieving his goals within this company which is his plan.
Whether he would have signed up for this as a paid service I don't know.

[quote cinammonbuns]This link shows the national trends: www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/livebirths/bulletins/birthcharacteristicsinenglandandwales/2019.[/quote]
Yes that show a steady incline in age when mothers give birth since 1970.

Its still relatively young and still at am age that women would be building their career. Its not a sign that the majority of women are choosing careers over kids. The average age going up is for lots of reasons. Not because our young women have decided they don't want them. Though that may depend on what back ground they come from.

Another point in my post was that often people are being put off, not just because they want to focus on their career. But also because lots of people can't afford kids until later.

Their career HAS to come first. Or they can't afford the kids at all. Cost of living in comparison to wages is a big factor as well.

[quote cinammonbuns]@Mayaspecialist well it depends there are many women that did not break into corporate careers who don’t have kids but I agree the rate will be higher for those with kids so it should be a factor OP considered if she is aiming at graduates but it also seems she is long at school aged girls etc so that’s another factor. They are very unlikely to have kids nowadays.

I don’t understand your last comment because I was not making any statement about whether women who choose to have kids earlier or not are happy with their decision . I was simply talking about the national trend which is having children later, having fewer children or not having children at all.[/quote]
Sorry my last comment was meant to be regarding women feeling content with doing things the way round the op presumes people will. These people, once in a career feel this way worked far better for them, than waiting.

Of course this all depends on who op wants to target. And yes, if she is targeting graduates, your points are more likely to be accurate.

Most of my post was specifically about women in poor areas, from the posts that op said these would be a target group. I mentioned that for women in poorer areas university isn't even on their radar.

If her aim is to target all women then I don't think would because the advice wouldn't be personalised enough, taking their back grounds into account.

Op needs to pick at least a starting demographic.

Haven't RTFT so apologies if this has been mentioned already, but if the mentors would be paid, this might be problematic as some organisations don't allow paid employment in addition to the primary role.

I actually don't think you need to be the expert to own a business. Many successful business owners are not experts, they know how to use the expert's expertise.

This is why so many businesses/ organisations are so badly managed.
The people at the top follow a generic business model and haven’t a clue what their workforce do or need.

Yes, absolutely this. I honestly think it's rather naive to assume you don't need to be an expert, or at least working towards becoming an expert in the area you're starting a business in. The problem with small startups especially is that your competitors will be experts. Yes, you can outsource to other experts, but how are you going to remain competitive when you're paying someone £2k a month to look after your facebook ads? When you're paying £100-£300p/h for consultants because you don't know what your competitors know?

OP... In the nicest possible way, your posts are sounding a lot like some of the posters on here I've often privately wished I could mentor 😂. I'm trying not to be horrible but sometimes there are threads / posts and you just think... these people have no idea how the world spins these days. Wether that's because they've been out of work so long that they're just not noticing, or maybe they're just not exposed to it or not getting good advice - who knows. But they're just completely unaware of skills they need to develop, things they need to know about, the whole 'gig economy' happening well outside of their 'Earn £10 a day spending hours doing surveys' threads.

You want to start a business and you say you're at director level in the media sector. You must be an expert in SOMETHING in this field that's not as generic as charging working class women £20 a month for an hours conversation with a generic professional.

For starters, you seem completely unaware that media exists?! Write a book and market it at young women starting out in media? Start a youtube channel? Write articles on Medium? Do you have skills in photoshop? Or is it more film / tv?

Work out what you are or could become an expert in and start there.

OP it is a good idea but your market would be employers. I worked for a firm with huge issues around diversity and they hire firms that do exactly what you’re proposing to mentor working class and women grads

No.

Fundmentally flawed. Youre aiming at "working class women" who wont have £20 per month for your service. And your service isn't screened. Many women and their mentors dont click and the ones i have seem be most successful have been male/female ones so by having only women mentor it misses a huge wealth of experience. How would you resplve disputes?

Their career HAS to come first. Or they can't afford the kids at all. Cost of living in comparison to wages is a big factor as well.

In my experience this is often doing it arse over tit.

I actually put a lot of thought into becoming a teenage mother and I have absolutely no regrets!

Had my first at 17 when I was an apprentice. It didn't affect my career at all because I'd barely even started so it's not like I was missing out on promotions or pay-rises. I had my second the year after I qualified.

• Because I was on a low wage, I got a lot of help with nursery fees and actually lived really comfortably. Help with rent and managed to get on the property ladder in my early twenties. I'm still the only one of my HS friendship group who has done this.
• Because I had them so young, my children literally had 10 grandparents / great-grandparents (including second marriages) all still alive and many of them willing to do a morning or afternoon of childcare once a week, or have them after school. If I'd waited until 40, how many would be dead?
• Because I grew my career alongside having children, things were difficult from the very start and have gradually gotten easier. Rather than having it relatively easy and things becoming impossibly difficult overnight. I always factored in flexi-time / home life balance policies when moving jobs. My days were always impossibly long and I was young enough to cope with that. I'm almost 30 and seriously cannot imagine starting all over again now.
• Because things got SO easy when they were both old enough to dress themselves and in school, I had more time and started a side-gig, which I grew into a successful business allowing me to quit my day job. Now the kids are older, I work hours to suit me, have an established career to fall back on, and a huge array of skills which means that for at least the next 10 years (or until technology changes) I will never not be able to earn money if I need to.

And I pay a high amount tax which is hopefully contributing towards all the help I received at the start of my career - which is why I think things like tax credits is so important.

Anyway, I'm just making the point that if OP needs to niche down, starting with teen / early twenties single mothers isn't the worst way to go! But you'd actually need to be skilled enough to teach them something valuable which isn't just the same old Mumtrepreneur bullshit....

@imeanreeally

Their career HAS to come first. Or they can't afford the kids at all. Cost of living in comparison to wages is a big factor as well.

In my experience this is often doing it arse over tit.

I actually put a lot of thought into becoming a teenage mother and I have absolutely no regrets!

Had my first at 17 when I was an apprentice. It didn't affect my career at all because I'd barely even started so it's not like I was missing out on promotions or pay-rises. I had my second the year after I qualified.

• Because I was on a low wage, I got a lot of help with nursery fees and actually lived really comfortably. Help with rent and managed to get on the property ladder in my early twenties. I'm still the only one of my HS friendship group who has done this.
• Because I had them so young, my children literally had 10 grandparents / great-grandparents (including second marriages) all still alive and many of them willing to do a morning or afternoon of childcare once a week, or have them after school. If I'd waited until 40, how many would be dead?
• Because I grew my career alongside having children, things were difficult from the very start and have gradually gotten easier. Rather than having it relatively easy and things becoming impossibly difficult overnight. I always factored in flexi-time / home life balance policies when moving jobs. My days were always impossibly long and I was young enough to cope with that. I'm almost 30 and seriously cannot imagine starting all over again now.
• Because things got SO easy when they were both old enough to dress themselves and in school, I had more time and started a side-gig, which I grew into a successful business allowing me to quit my day job. Now the kids are older, I work hours to suit me, have an established career to fall back on, and a huge array of skills which means that for at least the next 10 years (or until technology changes) I will never not be able to earn money if I need to.

And I pay a high amount tax which is hopefully contributing towards all the help I received at the start of my career - which is why I think things like tax credits is so important.

Anyway, I'm just making the point that if OP needs to niche down, starting with teen / early twenties single mothers isn't the worst way to go! But you'd actually need to be skilled enough to teach them something valuable which isn't just the same old Mumtrepreneur bullshit....

I totally agree.

I had my kids early and I completely understand why women, in poorer areas are very happy with this choice too.

My career has taken off in the last few years. At the same time the kids have got eaiser and need me less. One is 17 now.

But, as a society, we do keep endorsing the build your career early have kids late and I am not convinced it's the right way round.

And having kids young doesn't mean you don't want or can't have a career.

Lot of interesting points being made in thread
For me I purposefully waited until career was established before I had my children to be solvent and in a better career position . Career focus was really important to me and I was first in the family to go to uni and it was unknown territory with no one to confer with or get helpful advice. Being from a working class background going to uni was not academically hard, because I studied I was driven. The hard part was the social nuances,the overt and covert rules and placements. The mc students effortlessly understood the rules.and ways of being.when you qualify it doesn’t stop there is still discrimination toward working classes. Seemingly innocuous questions where did you go to school?

I wouldn’t pay no.
Free options are available at university for the exact same thing for free.
Universal credit, if needed also support with CV
Recruitment company’s to this for free as well.

Like these people... selling a course which teaches women how to start a business selling memberships and courses to other women who are looking to start a business.

Oh God so I'm not the only person spotting loads of these popping up. They are like bloody pyramid schemes!

I can think of 3 just among women I know. All women who were not terribly successful career women because they basically are not sloggers, they dont want to put the hours in, so this sort of "business" appeals because they think they will earn a load working fewer hours working for themselves.

I've never yet found anyone advertising their services as a "career coach" who actually made it themselves, big time.