Getting Ready for the Birth

As the site enters the final stages of development I feel at least ten months pregnant with the project, I am reflecting on preparations for giving birth. This weekend we went to the most amazing wedding of a great friend - whose new wife is beautiful, wise, kind and blissfully pregnant.

How do you prepare for the birth of a baby? I have a theory about books: we read different baby manuals until we find one that fits our preconceptions and then use the book to justify our parenting style. The only concern could be that books can instill us with fear and protocol at the expense of instinct and listening to our babies' individual needs. The good news is that, somewhere out there, you will find a book that you think is written for you, whether it is about strict routine or attachment parenting.

A few pieces of essential reading are for Mums how to detect the fatal childbed fever and for Babies and how to minimise the risk of cot death.

Next come the lists of 'necessary' equipment, bells, whistles and gizmos that help us with parenting. I remember going through a list and naively checking off all the bits and pieces as I bought them thinking that this was preparation for motherhood. Hold on... the list is the same if you are giving birth in the summer or the winter, whether you live in the city and have no car or if you live in the country and need to drive to the local shops. If nothing else, the best advice I would give is that you can stage what you buy over many months, until you know what you really need. What good is a stair gate for an immobile babe in arms, it will only be useful when you your baby starts to move around and essential when you have a toddler and stairs. I don't want to discourage, just empower. Have fun, enjoy: being a Mum is GREAT!

What were our most useful buys?
A selection of basic organic cotton vests and babygrows. You are rarely given the basics, but you may receive a wardrobe full of cute outfits from friends and family, either new or from those with older kids keen for a clear out.

Muslins. Essential kit for a variety of purposes! If you are using them to swaddle your baby you can buy extra large ones that are said to be fantastic. While on the subject, swaddling can be a great way to make a newborn feel secure; either you can use a muslin or you can buy purpose designed swaddling robes (Grobag, for example, sell one).

Crib. Do you want to go straight for a cot, or can you delay that purchase while you use a crib in the early months? Either way, a new mattress is strongly recommended as this leaflet from FSID (Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths) details. Our family have shared a crib so all we did was buy a new mattress and waited a few pay packets before buying a cot. Even Mothercare sell a cardboard eco-crib for under £30 that seems to be well reviewed. Friends seem to be split as to whether a Moses basket is useful or not, but we all agree that the two cotton cellular blanket can be a waste of money if you either have a summer baby or go straight to sleeping bags.

Bathroom goodies? I never used a baby bath or bath mitt and many of the toiletries stood idle for months. Baby powder? Er, no. Initially babies need just a wipe down with water and a bowl is more than adequate, in case you thought that purpose designed top and tail basin would provide the meaning of life or wanted to buy shampoo for a bald newborn. Get your nappy rash cream and that should do you, initially.

How about bottles and breastpads. Well, obviously if you are planning to breastfeed don't finance a major sterilisation unit! There seems to be a war being waged between the two camps: lactivists (great name, huh? it is the term coined for promoters of breast feeding) being blamed for putting pressure on vulnerable new Mums versus the scary power of the multinational formula manufacturers. Breast feeding IS best for Mum and child - but it is can be a struggle and it is down to the individual to decide if it is too much; for some making a decision to give up has helped them form a more rewarding relationship with their babies, which is ultimately what it is all about. I was fortunate that my daughter latched on immediately and saved me the hassle of ever having to sterilise a bottle without even thinking of the health and financial implications. It is worth mentioning that La Leche league is one of many organisations that can offer support enabling Mums to breastfeed with confidence. I am delighted to have a breastfeeding scarf on the site that is quickly gaining a reputation amongst celebs and mortals alike for being indispensable for offering 'support, discretion and style' and at under £20 is within reach of most people's budgets and is cheaper than many breast feeding cushions.




Toys? Books? Okay, not essential for the first weeks, but they are always fun to buy and if you can get your babe into the habit of snuggling into Mum with a book it is setting the pattern for a rewarding life ahead. Remember, black and white shapes are the starting blocks for vision and communication and you could then build up to Austen and Quantum Physics in your own time. The one thing that I would recommend is a good mobile. If Sarita worked herself into a real pickle our musical mobile could really soothe her, much to our surprise. Some kids love those little bouncing cradles, which range in price from about £12 to the serious all singing all dancing, rocking, soothing tea making versions (well, maybe they don't make tea).

How about chairs? Wait until they are a little older before even thinking about high chairs. Our generation of Mums rushed out to buy Bumbos and some loved them, but I'm glad we borrowed one from the toy library to establish that it was not to Sarita's liking. Push chairs require much more investigation! What is your lifestyle? I know many Mums who bitterly regret the pushchairs and travel systems that they have bought. If you won't need a car seat and have not had a Cesarean you may prefer just to buy a really good sling (we sell Funky Slings and Sling Easy) while you make up your mind about what you want long term. There are so many decisions: forward facing / rear facing, three wheel or off road, compact verses robust. As this is probably the single most expensive bit of kit, do as much research as you can. Please remember that second hand car seats are not recommended and you should ensure that the seat fits your car, so get it properly fitted.

Nappy Bags? I struggled over this one. A small towel and a well loved bag should be all you need. As I never found the ideal bag I am delighted to have found what I think could be the ultimate bag for the site (this image here does not begin to do it justice).



We used a combination of eco nappies (such as Moltox) and washables. It is not for everybody, but it saved us tonnes of money and ultimately helped encourage potty training. There is such a huge range of nappies available and we tried a few, coming back to TotsBots in the end as convenient and comfortable; Twinkle on the Web seems to have a VAST selection as well as a Nappy Finder to help you choose. On an 'eco' note you may like Cheeky Wipes, a really well thought out alternative to disposable wet wipes. I don't want to preach as I know that you are intelligent enough to work out what will work for you! Besides, the irony of our choice to use washable nappies made me laugh when on the beach in Spain while visiting the in-laws; I turned to DH and said proudly that the money we had saved by using washable nappies had paid for the trip...I am not sure about how my carbon footprint fared when we work out nappies versus our flights there.

There are so many things that you can buy; remember freecycle, and eBay as affordable alternatives. There is very little that is essential, apart from love. But, yes, having a child is also a great way to have serious retail therapy and be assured that, as it is not for you personally, you can feel virtuous in the process. If you are having a baby shower or want to give hints that have the subtlety of a sledge hammer you can always make a gift list - the fun bit that we have added at MOIXX is that if any of your friends and/or family are also registered on our site you can check out each other's lists Facebook style.

Chocolate and biscuits...somebody remember to pamper the Mum! You are wonderful and just given birth to an amazing new child. I hope that you are doing fantastically and blossoming in your new role.

Who becomes a Mother of Innovation?

How do we choose what goes onto the site? The most stringent rule is that the goods must be produced by Mums, Dads, Grandparents or carers (we could not rule Nannies could we?). I was amazed by the steep learning curve of being a Mum, but soon every Mum works out products, methods and routines that can make their lives easier. It is this knowledge that can make a great product. There are so many amazing Mothers of Innovation it seems only right to bring their great ideas together. There is an amazing vibrancy to products conceived through necessity, rather than plotted in the board room.

The second criterion is would we buy it? We don't ask 'does it look nice,' but whether we would part with our 'hard earned' for it? I am a working Mum - I do not have a tribe of nannies and staff running around after me - I am juggling Mothers of Innovation, being a Mum and a tight budget; I need to be sure that I need a product before I part with my cash and assume that our discerning customers will feel the same way.

A product that you can safely say will never appear on our site is Heelarious - 'hilarious' high heal shoes for babies at $35 a pop. Okay, they may sell well for that ickle baby who has everything but...work it out for yourself.


Quality is important to us too. The worst part of this job is having to turn down potential suppliers where we can see quality issues. Not only is this important to shoppers, but I think unless we kept the quality threshold high for all Mothers of Innovation suppliers, it would be unfair to those with inconsistent standards, particularly to those suppliers who put time, effort and energy into quality control.

We are not necessarily looking for niche products, but we must appreciate that we can not compete with the volume / discount retailers. So if your toddler is just starting potty training and you need a multi-pack of underwear in a hurry we would not be your ideal shopping destination. However, if you have concerns about the potty training process and leaks on your furniture, Sussex Mum Jen has come up with the Buppy Pad that you can buy from our site.

Does that mean that products must only be hand made by Mums at home? Absolutely not! Our main criteria is to offer great products designed by those who know best - whether by an award winning Mumpreneur with carefully vetted supply structure or a great start up business. We are only looking for goods with something a little extra, that will make you delighted that we have tracked them down.

Looking at the site you have probably spied our search banner that enables more value based searches; you may want to search for Fairly Traded products or Organic T-shirts. While we are not primarily an ethical retailer, we appreciate that it is important to make informed decisions. Anecdotally we are hearing that more and more people are questioning where products are being made and in what conditions; we also know that certain products would never make it to market if they had to be made locally. By labelling things clearly you can set your own ethical criteria without us preaching at you - making the site happy and friendly for workers, suppliers and customers alike.

Whatever you can see now on the site is part of a work in progress. We will be adding things constantly as we search out the best products for families. We want to make sure that we have our favourite products in any category and will avoid having pages of similar ideas.

There are still plenty more things that we would love to see on the site - a world peace machine, a solar powered magic wand (that works) and that essential extra hour in the day. If you have any thoughts as to what else we need, or if you have the product to combat parenting conundrums, please let us know.

A_life_saver

As readers of the blog may know, getting this site up and running has been a long and drawn out affair with endless false starts and many technical lurches. I have entered, re-entered, checked, lost the plot and rehashed a few times.

The easy way to have set up the site would have been to have bought / subscribed to a shiny bit of software or shop service and I would be earning as I type. That would be too simple, and also potentially limiting in the long term. We are building a site that offers huge flexibility and has SEO (search engine optimisation) built into the fabric of the design. (I will update this blog honestly to tell you if this strategy pays off.)

I have learnt so much along the way, how to think around issues and how, most importantly, to think like a computer. Now tell me, did you ever think that would be an attribute? I have gone from aspiring to be broad minded to thinking binary.

The one sanity crutch that I have had is my Masterplan. Everything, yes, everything gets added to a spreadsheet that links all ideas together. Years ago I was trained by M&S buyers on their fool proof administration systems and it still works for me.

Initial brainstorming went down on the masterplan with ideas, thoughts and 'lets pick up on this later' entries; this was formatted into a schematic. Next, the all important key words were added on another sheet, built into phrases, then linked with the schematic. Then text was linked then references overlaid. Any information I needed was saved in this hallowed masterplan. It is a spiders web of sheets, building up ideas, contacts, references and text.

When things go wrong this has been critical! Lost a whole heap of data? no problem, it is saved in there. Three months down the line forgotten the rationale for a then important decision, again, refer to the plan and the confusion unravels.

Does this mean that I have a spotless desk and a cross referencing filing system? Well, if dusty piles intermingles with toys and half working pens is spotless - erm, no, I think I can safely say my desk is NOT spotless. However, if you have a methodical framework then you are more prepared for the chaos that inevitably gets thrown at you by life. How am I sure? Check any Mum's handbag: it may look random but that fruit bar with a rumpled wrapper and the scuffed pencils at the bottom have been known to salvage a bleak outlook. Okay, that analogy is not thinking like a computer, but it does illustrate that having lots of useful stuff to hand can save the day provided it is in a format you can cope with.

Two_steps_forward_and_one_back

Things are moving a pace. If I had realised back when I started that it would take this long I am not sure that I would have started. It is an interesting tale of the recession with some suppliers really feeling the pinch.

Annabel Wynne used to produce the cutest toys called Smelly Ellys - calico elephants that could be heated up or cooled to pacify a young patient. They were ideal for the site as they were created after she hunted high and low for a solution to her family's needs, and when she found nothing to fit their needs she made a great product. I am constantly looking for high quality goods, made by parents will make a positive impact to family life.


A number of issues affected her business not least shops going out of business. The reason it is worthy of comment is that she has immediately diversified and gone back to being an illustrator. I am delighted to support her new venture in what ever way I can - even if it will not be on a commercial basis. While you may not see her works on the site now, she was an inspiring and pleasant person to work with so I hope, when the site takes off, I will still be a customer!


What lessons can we learn from this? Sometimes step back and look at all your options - diversification may not be a retrograde step. Oh, and you can never have too many pretty pictures on your blog (thanks Annabel).

Finally, a word to the badgers, my Grandfather's sage words about ruling the world were, if he was a benign dictator he would ban all ventriloquists!

What_about_Twitter?

I am still on my quest to discover how social media and so called 'organic' marketing can help me. I dived into twitter with both feet, and now I am starting to learn the ground rules. I read a whole heap of guides and blogs to help get me to first base. Some of the information is so blindlingly obvious it escaped me when faced with the prospect of writing my first tweets.

When I first set up I just used the Twitter set up to create my page, but recently updated my page with twitback but twitback took quite a while for limited benefit.

Talking of obvious, the tweets must be 140 characters or less. This can be helped by shortening any weblinks via tinyurl, but if you get 'Tweetdeck' (software to make twittering easier) you can shorten url's really easily at the click of the mouse. The only benefit of going to tinycc is that you can get statistics about how often people click on your link - this is of interest to me as I have shortened the link to my facebook fan page and I can see when people take a look.

They are starting to write a Dummies Guide to Twitter, they are asking for contributions at the moment, but it is still quite a good read. The etiquette section is worth a look. The one thing that comes across is that Tweet as if you are communicating with one person who you want to give great advice to - don't get delusions of grandeur and try talking to your crowd of admirers - and write something worth listening to with humour and warmth.

Another funny bit of advice is don't be arrogant. It looks unimpressive if you follow one person and expect to have a flock of followers. I read this and immediately un-followed a celebrity Mum who crowed about her life and followed no one and contributed nothing. If you are not listening on twitter, I think you are missing out on the fun if not the point.

Work out what your identity is and stay true to it - so if I am trying to have a Mumpreneur following I should stick to a parenting and business start up theme with loads of good advice. That is not to say that the tweets should be devoid of character, far from it. They should be fun to read but not just what has been delightfully termed as 'twitteroeha'.

As a mumpreneur I try and follow like minded tweets, webmum is great and she has a site with some great starting tips on acornpad. It is great to hear what she and others say - I follow Mums (potential customers) and marketeers which really helps, reading all the links that they post.

You can interact in a few ways. You can give direct replies which is seen only by the recipient or you can reply in public by starting with the @ sign, for example to reply to a comment of mine someone could write '@moixx do you know what you are twittering on about?' You can engage in conversations and hopefully generate more interest while being friendly. It is also good manners to Retweet something that you have read, starting with an 'RT @moixx' for example if you are forwarding on a pearl of wisdom that I offered (I live in hope!). Also you can also send a direct message or DM to your followers (and only those who have chosen to be your followers), the benefit of this is you can continue a thread in private that may bore the rest of your followers.

Twitter has a search capacity and directories just like the rest of the web. So you can search for keywords, register yourself on directories such as Twello, you can also join a group or Twibe. You can work out how you are doing with Twittergrader or check your stats.

What is a hashtag? It took me a long while to sort it out! Physically it looks like this # but it is far more loaded. It is a way that posts can be collated and followed. You can search for hashtag themes, there is a inimitable video that will explain it all if you can face listening to it - but it will give you the low down. (maybe I am just too British to appreciate the accent). A great example of one is #followfriday - when you recommend to your followers who is worth following., a tweet could look like: #followfriday @moixx as she tweets inanely

Here are 47 great tips by successful tweeters.

Finally if you really want help and you think there is business potential why not get a Tweetmentor? Nikki Pilkington has a check list of information to help and she has a mentoring programme if you are serious about it - it takes time and before you sign up to it make sure that you are serious about it. As Nikki would say, it is important to market your tweets, so if having read this you want to see if I live up (or down) to expectations find out for yourself!

It is strange to think about being serious about Twitter - a social networking site fronted by a cartoon bird!

Show_me_the_money?

Part of the reason for my blog hiatus was that I failed to get the loan I was hoping for at the rate that I thought was reasonable. Certainly a credit crunch issue! I was turned down by the Co-op, not for an unfeasible business plan, but, because it was too cautious. Well, if I have a cautious business plan that can pay back the capital and turn a profit in the medium term I should be set for the future. I have to remind myself of this, during these torturous months of delays. In fact, with current interest rates it does make sense to plough rainy day savings into the business as I would earn nothing and even at 10% interest on a loan - well, you can work it out I am better off using my savings. I am better off this way - but yes, I have put all my eggs in the business basket!

I have also revisited my original business plan and it seemed so out of step with the credit crunch and the potential for new media marketing. Added to which with the delayed launch of the site I have already spent £800 on fruitless marketing I need to get seriously smart about where I go next. I was chatting things over with my step son, and he was (oh the delicious certainty of youth) pointing out what I should be doing. Well he is one smart cookie and a joy to chat to, and while none of his ideas were not covered in the business plan it suddenly made me look at things from a different perspective. I had been wondering how to incorporate new media marketing and how to harness the potential - but suddenly I think I can see a way to bring everything together in one neat strategy! I am not economising by building new media into the strategy, in fact with the money that I am saving from interest payment I have re-established my original budget for marketing (writing off the spend to date).

I have always been so rude about businesses who just get a website without having an overarching strategy of what it is setting out to achieve, and used to be driven mad by an MD who would not allow me a marketing budget (when I was responsible for marketing) but insisted that we did ad hoc initiatives. The benefit of having a strategy is that you can clarify where you want to go, and then set a (budgeted) course.

I am now in the process of pulling everything together, and I think it is looking realistic and quite exciting. All I need now is a site to work with...

Quick call a strategy meeting!

The site is going to be delayed again - but this time it really does make me pause and think about priorities. A family member was ill and it shook me out of my mind set that the only thing that mattered was getting the site launched. Well, the delays will mean harder work, running to catch up - but it is not, in this scenario, life or death.
How often do we get so fixated on a problem or issue that we stop seeing the wood for the trees and worse, resort to cliches?
Well I am using this time to gen up on many issues, and this morning I took myself off for a strategy meeting.


Yes, little Pup has a higher IQ than many past colleagues, so I think this is one - nil in favour of taking the long term approach to creating the best ever website the world is about to see!