Funny how things happen: a chain of events lead to an interesting meet.

I was just dipping my toes into Twitter, having attended several networking events where I was told: “you must do it.”  Being a visual person, I stumbled across Motivating Mum’s charming logo first: a cartoon mum with her arms full, juggling many lives. Wanting to invite guest participants to my blog, I thought Motivating Mum would be a great one to rouse the spirits, so I went ahead. I hadn’t twigged that you couldn’t sent a DM without them following me, so frustrated, I turned to email. Alli’s response to my offer was almost immediate. I wanted to build up my portfolio of head-shots too, so I offered to come over and interview her and shoot the portrait at the same time. So we made a date.

Pootling over to Wimbledon, I knew Alli would be a good person for my folio. She had seemed so open, friendly and relaxed. I wasn’t wrong there. Arriving at her flat I was greeted by Alli herself and her lovely supportive partner who was putting their new baby down. We didn’t have much time. Alli was worried baby would wake up for a feed and instantly  scream the place down, so we headed off outside to do the shoot as quickly as possible. Photo-shoots are a great leveller. People get nervous and fidget, but there was none of that nonsense with Alli. She was on the button and apart from a little direction on body shape, instinctively seemed to know what to do, so it was easy to chat and  find out how she started her business.

Australian by extraction, Alli has been been a marketing manager in the hotel trade, a production manager  for film companies, a waitress and bartender. She met her lovely partner working in a pub. Alli knows the meaning of hard work and has met many contacts during this time. I asked Alli how she came to set up Motivating Mum : “Initially only a coaching business for mums, I quickly realised how isolating it was to work from home whilst looking after my daughter.”  She started by developing  Businessmums’ Networking Lunches on a hunch that there must be other mums like her out there – and there were – 40 or so of them!

Many Mums Under One Hat:

Mentoring Mum is born of having very little money to pay for business advice and understanding that businessmums out there have a wealth of knowledge and experience to share, Event Management Mum is because Alli understands that sometimes we want to celebrate our business and Diary Management Mum is because she knows how difficult it is to juggle many jobs at once.

So, if you’re a new mum, maybe previously a freelancer or seasonal contract worker, looking at having to give up some work because you just can’t make tight deadlines, why not give Alli a call? She can help you hang on to jobs you’d otherwise have to give up by introducing you to other mums who could help you with your work flow.

Why not sign up for Alli’s newsletter here: http://www.motivatingmum.co.uk

Photography © Trish Gant