SINGLE MUMS BUSINESS

ISSUE 1 of 2020‌

Fighting Stigma

Dispelling Misconceptions Flexible working * Self-Employment * awards Exposure * networking * meet the members professional development * Barriers to work

How the government can reduce benefits

www.kihproducts.co.uk

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Single Mums Business Network aka SMBN www.singlemumsbusinessnetwork.com Business Network for Single Mums in the United Kingdom Welcome to the Single Mums Business Magazine brought to you by the Single Mums Business Network. My name is Jules and I set up the SMBN following my own journey as a single mum in business. Over the years I have faced many challenges and I elaborate on these throughout this edition of Single Mums Business.

The purpose of the SMBN, whilst raising awareness of the need for flexible working, is to bring single mums throughout the UK together, to celebrate the truth that we are hard-working women with happy, healthy children, and to help each other gain exposure to our businesses to ensure that we succeed in achieving financial independence without being trapped due to childcare restrictions.

Many of the challenges faced are the same for all primary carers and this is something that we seek to help raise awareness of, so

that we can begin to reduce stigma and dispel misconceptions about benefits, inwork poverty, and debt.

Whilst most of our members are single mums in business we also have ‘silent members’ who are professional single mums, and ‘friends of the SMBN’ who do not identify as single but support the purpose of the SMBN and enjoy the very cheap exposure that comes with being a member of the SMBN. Some of our members do not need cheap exposure but have joined the SMBN to support others.

KIH Products, est. 2013 T/A Single Mums Business Network Head Office: Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire. Registered Office: Carlson Suite C/O Millhall Consultants Ltd, Vantage Point, Business Village, Mitcheldean, England, GL17 0DD. Tel: 01452 471819 l email: smbn@singlemumsbusinessnetwork.co.uk 3

www.thedesignwebb.co.uk Specialists in personalised paw print gifts and sterling silver paw print jewellery.

Purrrfect gifts for pet owners.

Ad for

www.cheekylittleprints.co.uk

Meet our Members! SHOP PAGE

Beautiful hand crafted curtains and blinds. Claudette offers on-site consultation service to include full measurement and advice, as well as expert installation and fitting if required. I provide the finishing touches for your home to tie the whole scheme together.

www.thedesignwebb.co.uk

I help pet owners keep a part of their pet with them wherever they go. Paw prints are captured at home with an inkless paw print kit and then I tidy them up and capture the unique paw print in stunning sterling silver jewellery.

www.cheekylittleprints.co.uk 5

The first ever National Awards for Single Mums in Business will be held in the UK on May 23rd 2020 A very special Black-Tie event for parent AND child to enjoy a two-course meal whilst celebrating maximum effort rarely acknowledged.

Thank you to our 2020 sponsors and prize donations so far: Kidstart * Your Style Your Story Boutique * Streetpin * Peritia Group Ltd Link-Legal Solutions Ltd, a Paralegal Law Firm specialising in Corporate Law & Mercure Hotels

Meet the Judges

Bridget Daley Founder of the Parents in Biz platform and Editor of the Parents in Business Magazine.

Alison Holmes Vice-President of Herefordshire and Worcestershire Chamber of Commerce and Managing Director of Peritia Group Ltd

Mike Lewis Gloucestershire SRG Coordinator at Purple Shoots Business Lending Ltd

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The SMBN is dedicated to helping Single Mums in Business, and encouraging Policy change around flexible careers, pay, and cost of living. By sponsoring the SMBN you will raise your profile and be endorsing your support, not only for women working hard to achieve financial independence as a single parent but for all parents who are working hard to continue to work whilst raising a family, against the pressures of archaic work patterns...

Sponsoring the SMBN will provide you with critical exposure and create potential opportunities for business development.

Becoming a sponsor will mean we will advertise your company throughout the year, in print and via social media.

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‘FLEXIBLE WORKING ISN’T AN OPTION.’ THAT’S WHAT MY EMPLOYER CONFIRMED DURING MY MATERNITY. I HAD TO CHOOSE, MY CAREER OR MY DAUGHTER? I CHOSE MY DAUGHTER, AND PAID THE PRICE. When I say I paid the price I want to be clear from the off, I do not and never have regretted choosing my daughter. Every cuddle, every tear, every moment. The priceless gift of looking after another life… but why do you have to pay the price financially when it would be so easy to turn 37.5 hours, into 30.

I was very happy at work. I began working age 14 part-time, 16 fulltime, and I barely took a day off in 20 years. I loved work. I bought a house, married, and my husband and I knew that it would be likely that I would be the one working whilst he was a stay-at-home dad. But life doesn’t always work as you planned.

Within a couple of years of my first (failed) pregnancy with my husband, I was single and pregnant with a donor. I loved my job, was satisfied that I would look after us both and as (what I felt like) a middle aged woman I was happy with my decisions, I worked for a small, very family friendly company, where the two mothers worked around school plays and child-

care. But during my maternity leave my employer informed me that she had sold the company, but I was protected under TUPE. As soon as I knew I would be a single mum I embarked on a lawdegree. I wanted to improve my long term salary prospects to enable me to ensure that my child did not feel the pinch of being bought up in a single parent family, but this was a long-term plan. A ten year plan. Something I would have shied away from in my 20s but when you are working on a new life timescale instead of your own, ten years does not seem that long.

Then came the birth of my child, an unbreakable bond that I could have never have imagined, and I was very lucky, the breastfeeding worked really well from the off. I had a very happy and content baby, and being single really helped me to be nocturnal with her and it did not matter if we slept at 5pm. Six months in this was still working well, I had attempted to use a pump and a bottle but this messed up the natural production on demand and I produced too much milk that was painful. Natural was best and so I just fed her and produced the right amount of milk required. Too much detail for some I appreciate, but it is relevant, as you will see.

I was happy to return to work, but 8

the new location of my work, with the hours, parking etc would mean that I would need to drop my daughter at childcare at 7:30 and I would have collected her at 7pm, 5 days a week, and a shorter day on a Saturday. I would have seen this child on Sundays only. I asked my employer if I could work in a different branch (parking outside) or work reduced hours. The cold, firm response was ‘flexible working is not an option, the hours and location are fixed and that is what is required under your contract to meet the needs of the business’. How could I leave this baby? She needed me, to feed her, nurture her, care for her, instinctively know if she was okay and cuddle her if she cried. I knew her nappy cry, her hungry cry, her cuddle me cry, and her I don’t feel so good cry.

I chose my child, I had to choose, I had a strong work ethic, long-term professional development plans and I wasn’t shy of looking for work, so I handed in my notice and started looking for part-time work… oh how naïve I was – I did not know that society constructively dismisses you when you are a mother or penalises you for needing to work in school / childcare hours by paying you peanuts. When I say I chose I didn't really have a choice, as childcare closed at 5:30 so I would have HAD to leave by 4:30, I didn't have the grandparent or nanny option.

Within 12 months I had lost my property, repossessed, I was googling what support was available, I had to learn about benefits and make phone calls whereby I was immediately treated as one of life’s scroungers, I was worrying about the cost of being on hold, I was worrying about everything. I studied and hugged my child and promised her that I would sort this out, but I did not know how hard that would be…

I found a part-time job. I had taken a 50% pay cut for the privilege of working in childcare hours. I kept looking for better work, but all of them were really low pay, minimum wage or not much over. I did do them but this leaves you trapped in relative poverty with the additional stress of school holidays. I was being forced into a life of benefits, tax credits, housing benefit, debt, loans, payday loans.. all because I could not work for my skillset or salary band for 20 or 30 hours instead of 37.5. I am pretty peed about this.

I was now a single mum on benefits with poor credit, unable to get further loans, unable to get a secure property, unable to get a decent job, I was paying for expensive properties (the only landlords that would have me!) or mouldy properties, or short-term properties, and so on. The longterm, average rent, decent properties were let out to those 9

not like me.

I even applied for a property via my old employer, the one who bought the company and would not permit flexible working. The girl that took my job, that I trained, showed me around the property and then told me that they would not accept me, as a single mum on benefits without a guarantor.

For 20 years I never complained about a chunk of my wages going missing into a pot in case I needed it one day. I was happy that we worked that way. I knew what it was like not to have an NHS (I had to wire £500 abroad so that my sister could get hospital treatment in my 20’s). I was happy to chip in to a society that looked after each other. I was happy to chip in to state school as all my friends had children, but gosh when you need it people really tear you to pieces and make you feel like the lowest of the low, and it is a hard cycle to get out of! I turned to pay-day loans for rent deficit and this damage is permanent.

If I accept working part-time for low pay as a permanent solution – because I am a mum, I will need tax credits and housing benefit for the duration of being a mum, I will need pension credits when I am older and I will never have disposable income to save a deposit to buy a property, and so will forever pay into somebody

else’s estate, or the estate of the Crown. When my friends enjoy cruises in retirement I will be paying rent until the day I die with no disposable income. All because I could not continue my career, and my salary, part-time.

I am fortunate that with my entrepreneurial mindset I created a company and the SMBN to help other women in similar situations, but this is because I have been forced out of the sanctuary of employment, pensions, decent salary, great skillset. Whilst the SRA allows a 20hr per week training contract this is not realistic in the profession, and so my expectations of entering the legal profession were also naive.

I see so many posts by hundreds of women asking what work they can do in school hours. I see women sob because they drag their babies out of bed as their employer will not allow flexibility. I see women stressed on forums because they are breastfeeding and under pressure to move to the bottle so that they can get back to work in a few months. Women are targeted to work from home for free. Millions of families in the UK are forced into relative poverty because the parent can’t continue his/her career AND be a parent. It’s all for the sake of a few hours, we don’t all have grandparent childcare. Families are locked into rental properties. We have 10

wealthy employers and wealthy landlords because the combination of being able to charge high private rent and pay employees a low wage, because the Gov say it’s okay, but the Gov do not live on this wage or pay this rent. We have sheep instead of leaders.

‘It is a very sad state of affairs where a woman is punished for doing the most important job in the world. Taking care of you.’

I’m all for shared parental leave if it works for both parents, but if a woman is nurturing and feeding well then this must be the priority in the first 12 months. Thereafter we should all be able to work and be parents. And 15 weeks holiday? Schools all need free summer school.

Now I help women who are forced into self-employment gain exposure to their business, because they are TRYING to make it work, where culture has really let them down, and of course PR budget is an issue with all of the above considered, so they need somebody to help them!

have to. Our Government must make the changes needed to enable people like me to work £30K 0.8FTE for £24K so that benefits are not needed and rent is affordable. Deposits can be saved and pensions can be paid into.

PART TIME RECRUITMENT AGENCIES:

Ten2Two 9to3 Working Mums Capability Jane 2to3 days Flex appeal There are more! and I will print in more detail in the next mag, but they all need the employers to snap up the talent on their books.

Feel free to contact me if you would like your recruitment agency added to this list if you specialise in part-time and flexible roles, for real pay.

All for the sake of 7.5 hours!

Landlords are not going to reduce rent and employers are not going to increase pay anymore than they 11

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Meet our Members! PERSONAL SERVICES

I help, motivate, support and inspire others to live a healthy balanced lifestyle by incorporating fitness, nutrition and a healthy mindset into their daily lives. I also help others with life transformational life coaching.

I am a Holistic Personal Trainer and life coach who practices mindfulness and gratitude and of course a travel enthusiast. https://singlemumsbusinessnetwork.com/2019/06/25/lidia-peto-member-story/

https://singlemumsbusinessnetwork.com/2019/06/18/welcome-new-membercatherine-gennard-the-sustainable-life-coach/

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Meet our Members! BUSINESS SERVICES

Designed for businesses by businesses to disrupt the marketplace, de-mystify the support that is widely available and help businesses understand, engage and access the considerable support on offer. https://singlemumsbusinessnetwork.com/2019/07/04/welcome-new-memberheather-martin-support-for-businesses/

I feel exceptionally passionate about continuing to offer this help to students and to give them tools and skills to help them cope. The pastoral care in colleges and universities is just not sufficient. Sarah is asking for help via the GoFundMe link below: https://www.gofundme.com/f/mental-wellbeing-for-students? pc=fb_co_campmgmt_w&rcid=r01-157591238870cbd45a3f6f74798&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=p_lic o%2Bshare14 sheet&fbclid=IwAR2THvc50L_spAgxVi65G4WilPdj50bCv6Yr0FiImuGLr0q6AvJbI4RlUD8

Students in Mind Contact: studennmind1@gmail.com 07855393644 I created Students in Mind to help school, college or university students deal with the anxieties and stressors linked to the demands of studying and student life.

As an experienced lecturer and coach, I witnessed year on year increases in student self-harm, anxiety, stress, depression and intensifying worries that permeated the young lives of those who should have been making the most of their pre-work freedom.

So, a number of years ago I began to implement strategies and tools into classes to help the students with these concerns. The strategies not only proved useful in supporting their wellbeing, but a strong sense of unity was developed in the classroom.

Subsequently, the students’ wellness and self-belief increased, as did their grades.

I feel passionate about helping those in education to be the best version of themselves and not be held back by the stigma and debilitating anguish of poor mental health.

There is not enough support in educational industries to ensure every student has the opportunity to seek timely and efficient help. There may be

one counsellor for hundreds of students, so their immediate need is put on hold whilst they wait for a timeslot to access that help.

This is where I come in. I teach, train, facilitate and coach the students to be able to help themselves and each other.

To address the fundamental causes and have ways, on hand, to deal with them so they can enjoy all that studying offers to them whilst they are still young.

I enable students to not just survive but thrive.

Sarah Harvey

Extracts from some testimonials.

‘Sarah is caring, encouraging, filled with optimism and hope and taught us how to be a true class team supporting each other. She used MH tools to motivate and calm us and I will never forget – ‘it’s not if, it’s when.’

‘She’s what a teacher should be – a star.’

Kulveer Singh – University of Liverpool

‘Sarah consistently motivated me to succeed because she not only made the lessons fun and enjoyable, but she implemented activities to calm and de-stress us and always cared about how we were feeling.’

‘It was my pleasure to have been taught by her.’

Zoe Bracegirdle – University of Manchester

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Meet our members: SOCIAL

https://www.amyboxvoice.com/business-choir/

http://www.independentmother.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/TheMumBossInKent/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1642085599255964/

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We have meetings throughout the UK What it means to be a County Coordinator County Coordinators are members of the SMBN. They have agreed to coordinate the coffee meetings in their County, to enable members to meet-up for a formal business networking session and to enable nonmembers to visit to meet like minded women and learn more about the SMBN. The £5 per month membership fee is crucial to the running of the SMBN and to enable included PR (such as this mag). The SMBN is not a charity and does not benefit from any other income, and so if you are not a member you are charged £10 for meetings instead of £5, to ensure that HQ still benefits from the £5 for making this all possible! Naturally it pays to join.

The members that act as County Coordinators then get the £5 networking fee, as a thank you for hosting the meeting. Being a County Coordinator is not a job, and it is not intended to be an income source, (I would discourage anybody from working for somebody else for free), they are members who have joined to expose their own businesses just like you, but instead of paying for the meetings they benefit from them because they arrange the date and the venue, and crucially they show up and take the lead!

If you are looking for a platform to speak you are welcome to approach the coordinators directly, they check that I am happy before booking you in to speak at their meeting . Speaking slots will be given to members or friends of the SMBN as a priority.

Because meetings are so cheap we are always on the lookout for suitable venues, that are happy to benefit from coffee income without charging for a small side room. Let us know if that’s you!

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We have meetings all over the uk

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Meet our Members! PERSONAL SERVICES

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Meet our Members! PERSONAL SERVICES I’m Rebecca, single mum to two young children and I am a Rapid Transformation Coach. I used to be a lawyer in a corporate firm.

Unfortunately however, years of trying to juggle childcare with the oldfashioned culture of presenteeism and billing hours left me miserable.

So, I retrained as a Rapid Transformation Therapist, yoga teacher and executive coach.

Using my methods, I get straight to the root of what is holding you back before rewiring your neural pathways for success.

My clients are primarily female entrepreneurs and career women who are feeling ‘stuck’ and unable to achieve their next-level of success.

You have probably already tried ‘everything else’, and while it may have worked for a while, the results weren’t permanent.

It is time to stop wasting your time, and money on ineffective interventions. You can never have everything you desire in your life without re-coding your subconscious as this is the driver of your life.

However, once you do this, rapid, phenomenal transformation and success is just around the corner.

I can help you with anxiety, low-confidence, fear of publicspeaking, Imposter Syndrome and many more issues so they are completely eradicated and you achieve your desires, effortlessly and easily.

To enquire about working together, email me at: transformationandsuccess@gmail.com then head over to my Success Hub:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/ transformationandsuccesshub/

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Meet our Members

Tanya specialises in Permanent Make Up and is based in Malvern, Worcestershire

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Meet our Members

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Meet our Members! BUSINESS SERVICES

Anne-Marie is your lady for all things Presentation Consulting

For all links to member websites visit www.singlemumsbusinessnetork.com/members Michelle is a Virtual Assistant, with a background in education and administration.

Michelle specialises in supporting those in education sector and consultants.

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Meet our Members! BUSINESS SERVICES

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Meet our Members! BUSINESS SERVICES Charlotte runs a marketing agency in the heart of Somerset. She offers logo and graphic design, printing, social media management, consultancy, and websites.

Charlotte is a small business’s marketing department!

I’m a multi award-winning entrepreneur who’s much more at home sharing the real life struggles of trying to run a business (and a life) than reeling off her accolades.

Jo Eccersley is a virtual assistant with the skills and experience to help you be more organised and efficient in your small business or at home. A friendly, efficient and affordable service to help businesses when they need it the most, helping them to grow and develop 26

Meet our Members! BUSINESS SERVICES

As The Life Engineer I help women to make the changes they long for by coaching them to think differently so they no longer feel overwhelmed and stuck. (www.melmorrisjones.com) I also offer pay-on-use admin support to frazzled small business owners so they can get some of their life back! (www.hatstandadmin.co.uk)

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Meet our members: MONEY SAVING

I take the pressure off families by ensuring they keep more of their money and offer them a credible flexible solution to bridging any financial gaps they have with 121 support Kirstie is a Utility Warehouse Partner in Gloucestershire and Jane is a Partner in Herefordshire, we also have Ruth in Surrey who will be in the next edition!

J

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‘Friends’ of the SMBN

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‘Friends’ of the SMBN

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‘Friends’ of the SMBN

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I work tirelessly to help Single Mums in Business in the UK gain business exposure whilst encouraging the flexible working movement, dispelling misconceptions and reducing stigma.

I have enjoyed speaking to Piers Linney and The Lord Young of Graffham at the House of Lords as a SmallBiz100 in 2019. I gave them the last SMBN brochures and explained that we need help with business exposure as we are trying to make work work as mums. We are easy targets for low pay, bank staff, or working for free. We are losing pensions, security and we love working!

During the six years that I was trying to build my company I could not access the help I needed. Exhibiting was unaffordable, banks turned me away due to poor credit, TV was out of reach, advertising was expensive, and the jobs that fitted my skillset and salary insisted full-time or nothing. I will now help others so that they do not suffer as I have. Motherhood should not be a financial penalty.

Thank you to Purple Shoots Lending and Frederick’s Foundation for believing in me

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