This story is about…
Name: Kez Luckett
Location: UK
Company: Mummy’s Maid Ltd
Industry: Household & Childcare Services
What motivated you to start your business?
My experience after giving birth to my daughter and being pregnant with my son made me realise there was a serious gap in the market for a company that provides a range of household services to busy professional mothers with short term contracts.
Tell us about your business…
We currently cover 4 counties – Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Hertfordshire providing a range of household, childcare, elderly care and cancer care services without a need for a long term contract. Most of our clients come to us as they are unable to find the help they want, with the flexibility they need at a price they can afford. We offer a flexible service to suit most needs.
What were the first few steps you took to get your business up and running?
Initially, I contacted Business Link who offered lots of advice as well searching down successful business women in my area to have a coffee with and learn from them how they set up and what pitfalls they uncovered along the way in order to minimise the time I spent making the same errors. Originally I had a team of three ladies in Buckinghamshire and ran the company alongside working a full time job in pharmaceuticals, which was incredibly hard.
What has been the most effective way of raising awareness of your business and getting new customers?
Over the last three years we have tried numerous avenues to raise awareness of our business and we are still searching for that perfect solution if it exists. However, word of mouth recommendations and advertising in family style magazines and social media seems to have worked the best so far.
What have been your biggest challenges so far with running your business?
Since we started, we have overcome a range of challenges. Initially, when we started we were told by numerous companies that what we wanted to achieve could not be done as most childcare providers are agencies. However, we did get round that problem and now our biggest challenge has been finding caring, reliable ladies who are available after school to help families as this area seems to have increased dramatically. From a personal point of view, since giving up working full time, my personal challenge has been letting go of some of the responsibility of running the business as I have spent years doing it all but now have several regional business managers and I’m looking forward to recruiting more.
How did you overcome these challenges?
The after school help is an on-going challenge but as the old saying goes, “If you continually do what you have always done, you will always get the same results.” So we are trying a variety of ways to overcome this issue now…any ideas would be gratefully received.
What do you love about running your own business?
There are so many things I love about running my own business. The main one is the feeling of accomplishment when we place an employee with a family and they truly make a difference. I also love the flexibility it offers me to be with my family during all those important milestones and the role model I am being to both my daughter and son that anything is possible
What advice would you give to other business owners?
The road of running a business can sometimes be a rocky one but with your vision in mind and hard work, it can be the most satisfying job in the world.
How do you keep motivated through difficult times?
Reading inspirational books, listening to and reading female entrepreneur magazines and podcasts. Listening to the clients and the monthly newsletter that goes out to all the staff with the clients’ testimonials that come in each month.
What’s your favourite quote?
“The only way to do great work is to love what you do. ”
{Steve Jobs}
Who inspires you?
There are numerous individuals who inspire me, however, I would have to say Richard Branson, John Assaraf (from The Secret) and Hilary Devey. All for totally different reasons, I like Richard Branson’s ability to look at his business in a totally different way. John Assaraf inspires me with his spiritual views on his business, visualisation and brain mapping and Hilary Devey is such a resourceful, strong women who has made her name by being a women in a man’s world. She is also someone who just keeps picking herself up everytime she gets knocked down and I think she is an inspiration for women across the UK.
Do you have a business philosophy?
To enjoy what I do and feel that I have made a difference each day.
