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Original poster

Feedback please : New small business idea!!

37 replies

freshstart · 08/05/2006 20:34

Hi

Ok, this is the crack......

I am currently working as a childminder, have recently completed training to be a doula and also run an ironing company from home.

The doula work massively excites and inspires me, although it is still very new where I live so not an abundance of work.

The childminding I quite enjoy but struggle with the sheer responsibility and stress for £3.00 an hour!

Me, my sister and a best friend have been thinking of what we could set up together and were thinking about a cleaning/life laundry company.

Through further conversations we have started to talk about a concept that Im quite excited about and wanted to see what you thought.

Rather than it be a purely cleaning company we are going to pool all of our skills and have a range of services to offer, typically to mothers.

Combining the work of a postnatal doula, cleaner, cook, childminder, organiser and ironer we would like to offer a "mothers help" service

Offering :

Cleaning
Post natal doula work
Cleaning
Ironing Service
Possibly some cooking
Shopping
Babysitting service

etc etc

What do you think???

OP posts:
controlfreaky2 · 08/05/2006 20:34

eh?

Original poster
freshstart · 08/05/2006 20:35

eh what?

OP posts:
HunKeRMunKeR · 08/05/2006 20:36

Only if you offer a free trial and I'll be your guinea pig, OK? Grin

controlfreaky2 · 08/05/2006 20:38

sorry. said "eh" cos when i first clicked on thread there was nothing there.... spooky. idea sounds v good.... how much would you charge? where are you based? prob would be getting regular work i think... either someone wld want you for a two week stint only at same time as someone else wanted you two hours every thurs morning....

Original poster
freshstart · 08/05/2006 20:41

controlfreaky - yep good point. That was going to be a problem full stop when I was thinking of doing just the post natal doula work but if there were three of us we could spread ourselves more thinly.

hunkermunker - I would love to!!! i have a feeling Im hundreds of miles away. On that note though anyone that is near me that is due a baby soon would love to offer my services for free to gain in experience!

OP posts:
Nbg · 08/05/2006 20:43

I think you'd need to put more emphasis on the doula part IYSWIM, to make it work.
So lots of advertising in Gp's, HV's and midwives.

I remember when I started weaning dd and I was spending days at a time preparing batch meals, I would think what a great idea it would be if someone could do this.
I would have paid the earth for it Grin

mazzystar · 08/05/2006 20:44

Great idea. If this had been available when had DS I'd have signed up for a couple of hours per day for maybe three months, maybe more or long term. Would be way easier than organising it all separately, though I'd expect to pay a lot more for doula-ing than cleaning.....

fruitful · 08/05/2006 20:45

Sounds fantastic. I'd want it full-time-ish for a few weeks after the baby was born though, and that is obviously not a fixed date.

Sort of "rent-a-mum" when you become a mum, without the drawbacks of having your mum to stay.

I'd have paid a lot for someone who would do the cleaning, and mind the sleeping baby while I gave dd some attention, or to collect dd from nursery while I endlessly bf'd.

neena28 · 08/05/2006 20:48

Where abouts in the country are you?

It sounds like a fab idea...when I had dd I already had a ds 5 and my dp had to go back to work within 48 hours as it is our own business. Was left with some retained placenta, an infection and a 5 year old on summer holidays, although my family are local they were no help and would turn up to see the baby but would ask me to make a cup of tea while they had a cuddle.

Was tired poorly and very alone and would have loved a service like this. How much do you think you willo charge? by the hour or daily or depending on the service?

good luck Smile

Original poster
freshstart · 08/05/2006 20:56

ohhh thanks for the good feedback ! I'm really started to get excited

OP posts:
Original poster
freshstart · 08/05/2006 20:57

I am in Newcastle upon Tyne
``

OP posts:
neena28 · 08/05/2006 20:58

What a shame you're so far away, I'm in the midlands but very best of luck!

HunKeRMunKeR · 08/05/2006 21:01

Advertise it as a present you can give to an expectant mum, maybe?

Original poster
freshstart · 08/05/2006 21:32

oooooooooooooooo good idea hunker

Could have different packages

How much would you expect to pay for an expectant mum to have say a fortnight of daily help with the baby, cleaning, ironing and some childcare for her older kids?

OP posts:
Skribble · 09/05/2006 00:55

When you are doing research local be careful how you word things. From experience people were very happy to nod away and say something was a great idea, and that they would like it. But when you start asking so would you pay £XXX ph for that they aren't always so keen.

Perhaps you have found that with the ironing service, everyone likes the idea of getting someone to do the ironing but when you say it is XXp per item they say well maybe not.

Good luck and I hope you can make it work. From a fellow business woman Grin.

fisil · 09/05/2006 09:31

I think I would have paid a max. of £500 for the fortnight - which is not great pay, is it?

But I would have definitely given a link to your website in my birth announcement email and told people that's what I wanted as a gift!

It's a fab idea.

Pick up the free magazines at libraries, leisure centres etc., and get in with the local NCT - you'll find people that way.

plug · 09/05/2006 09:32

What hourly rate do you want? Have you got any overheads?

Original poster
freshstart · 09/05/2006 11:44

this is all very useful

The £500 for a fortnight would be the equivalent of fantastic money for me - I earn less than that a month childminding at the moment!

I need to try and formulate a plan of where to go from here to get it started

OP posts:
fisil · 09/05/2006 12:07

yes, but you wouldn't be able to rely on always having work. For example, if people book you in advance how will you guarantee to be free when their baby decides to make an entrance?

Original poster
freshstart · 10/05/2006 19:19

What do you think of the name dou-lah-lah! ?

OP posts:
fisil · 10/05/2006 19:33

Honestly I'm afraid I'm not keen. It sounds to me like doolally (if that is how it's spelt) - and that's not the image you want! I think if I was buying your services I'd be attracted by a really simple name (cos my mind would be very simple at the time) but that told me exactly what you were going to do. Like "Extra pair of hands"

Original poster
freshstart · 10/05/2006 19:40

Yeah

Your right, Id just got excited at the play on words lol

I like Extra pair of hands

or

Time for You

or something like that

Its basically concierge for Mums with the added bonus of childcare experience and pregnancy/breastfeeding knowledge

OP posts:
mrsteacher · 10/05/2006 19:43

could you train to be a breastfeeding supporter?
not a cousellor
ABM do a 'lesser' course...

its popsy btw...let me find you a link

mrsteacher · 10/05/2006 19:46

\link{http://www.abm.me.uk/training.htm\mothers supporter}

think you pay 30 quid and do a few modules.......
not fully qulaifed but it may be an additional string to your bow

WWWontSlagOffAnyone · 10/05/2006 20:02

The trouble is, I think many parents are either:

a) time and cash poor and may not be able to afford the £ (much as they might like the idea of the service) you would need to charge to make it worthwhile imo OR
b) have an above average income and would possibly already have a independent midwife/day AND night nanny/post natal doula lined up and maybe a cleaner/housekeeper/gardener etc. OR
c) in the next income tier down may have family help/a regular cleaner and pay, say, Sitters or someone they know to babysit

It depends on your area of course: if you live among some of Enid's Dorset SAHMs who have additional childcare then maybe, yes, they'd be prepared to pay for something like this but a lot depends on your area and the disposable income of the average or above average mother/father-to-be there.

You would also have to consider your own childcare costs: you can't look after someone else AND your own child, not easily anyway, and not if they're paying a premium for the service. I don't think £500 a fortnight is enough really, but it depends on what you envisage that covering: a couple of hours a day? What is included in those hours?

I'm not sure who this would be aimed at tbh - Waitrose and M&S do excellent ready meals and if your housekeeper/cleaner/partner/mother is prepared to shop then do won't really need someone to cook for you. And anyway, cooking is probably not the thing you're absolutely best at, unless one of you is a trained chef. Trained doulas tend to be expert in post natal matters, which you (presumably?) aren't so I think the service would be trying to do too many things at once.

So I think you're not sure of your target market and that's the first thing you need to think about. And then the other considerations above. If you want to, feel free to ignore it all, obv!