Ever wondered how someone makes it as their own boss? What it takes to run your own business? Here at VIP we exclusively speak to some of Ireland’s top businesswomen to find out the secret to their success.
This week we’ve been chatting to Siobhan Berry from Mummy Cooks on everything from managing the work/life balance to who inspires her most.
Have you always dreamed of owning your own business?
Yes absolutely, my Dad was an entrepreneur so I guess it is in the blood. I loved anything to do with business and went from college to Stockbroking. Which I loved, however in the back of my mind I always wanted to start my own business and found it difficult within the corporate world to think creatively about what I could do. It wasn’t until I had my first daughter Ashleigh and after I had gone through the weaning process with her that I had that light bulb moment. I took redundancy from my job and started Mummy Cooks in my kitchen.
What have been your biggest challenges you have faced?
There were times at the start when I was doing everything myself and the business was not growing as fast as I had expected. I thought many times about giving it all up and going back to my well-paid job. I have always believed in what Mummy Cooks could become and I am so proud of it today. I have learned to diversify my products and offerings so that we are not over-reliant on any area of the business from seasonality to changes in consumer demand it can be a challenge.
How do you balance work/home life as a business owner?
This can be a real challenge and I am getting better at putting the phone away and being present with my girls. I am lucky to have my office only five minutes away so I am home by 5:30 to get the dinner ready and this is really important to me. Food and cooking is what we all love so either the girls help me in the kitchen or I cook and they finish up their homework. We would always sit down to dinner and chat about our day. I do make sure to take care of my mental health by practicing meditation every day. This really helps me focus and be present and not to feel so overwhelmed by the business and home life. I am very lucky to have a very supportive husband who takes on a lot of the responsibility with the girls and allows me time for exercise even after a busy day.
Do you find that you often bring your work home?
I think when you are the face of your social media channel it is hard not to stop thinking about what needs to put up on Instagram on any given day. I would say my work is my home. I use my kitchen for all our shoots and then record what I cook each day. I am always thinking about new recipes at weekends to try out, this is my most creative time. As I start to work more at events and with our partners this can run into the weekend, which is hard on the family. But thankfully for now its only every now and again.
What advice would you give a young woman who wants to be her own boss?
Go for it! I have met loads of budding entrepreneurs who have an idea but are unsure it will work. The business that I started is not the business I have today and in order to see if it’s a viable business it needs to be tested and adapted over a number of years. It’s a lot of hard work and tears but hugely rewarding.
How important of a role do your team plays in your business?
My team has played a huge part in our success today. Sharing the decision-making has been crucial to our growth and makes running the business less stressful for me. I am also part of a fantastic mentorship program called ‘Going for Growth’ where I meet with other female entrepreneurs once a month to discuss my business. This can really help with decision making and strategy going forward.
What do you wish you’d known when you first started out?
Get a good team around you early on, be that a friend or a family member. Discussing your business ideas and issues is really important in making decisions and you can’t do this alone. Ask for help and use your local enterprise board for assistance. They can provide mentors and funding. Also reach out to other entrepreurs and ask for their advice. I love when someone contacts me asking if they could have a chat about their business. It’s a lovely space and everyone only wishes you success so use his or her advice and experience to help grow your business.
What has been your biggest business mistake? What lessons did it teach you?
I underestimated the rewards of writing a recipe book. Each time I ran a class or did an event I would be asked for my recipe book. As I wasn’t big into recipe books myself (I preferred to come up with my own) each time I would say ‘ its on the website’ you don’t need one! Mummy Cooks was the first weaning class/blog in Ireland but I was slow to write my first book. I self-published my Baby & Family recipe book two years ago and the following year I launched my second book Lunchbox Made Easy. I credit most of the success of the business over the past two years to writing this book. The baby & family book sold out within the first year and we will be releasing a revised version of the book later this year.
What has been your biggest achievement?
I think my biggest achievement is my understanding of our customer and their exact needs. I do believe this comes from being a Mum myself but also from my weaning classes where I meet Mums & Dads face to face so that it almost becomes a focus group for us each time. We can quickly adapt our products or research new products and launch successfully because we know they need and want it. Take for example my food flask. A question that always popped up at the class was how to take food out safely while out and about. I tried to source a 300ml food flask in Ireland and was told nobody would want a flask that small. I was first to market with my food flask, which is perfect for a parent taking baby food out and about and also great for a school going child. Its difficult to pinpoint any particular achievement however when you get a lovely message from a Mum saying that we helped make the weaning process a lot less stressful for her and they now have a healthy happy eater this for me the biggest achievement.
What woman in business inspires you the most?
Annabel Karmel was a huge inspiration for me when I started out with Mummy Cooks six years ago. She wrote a book and built a brand around it. Back when I was thinking about Mummy Cooks she was the only weaning expert around. Now six years later I have been invited over to London to appear alongside Annabel at The Baby Show, demonstrating how to wean your baby. This is truly a pinch me moment and I am so excited to go. We have seen our followers in the UK grow over the last year and I am excited to build on this as we reach more customers.
What are your plans for the next five years?
Mummy Cooks started as a cooking class and I brought that on-line over the years through blogging and social media. We went one step further in January and released our on-line Academy where you can take a weaning course via an app from anywhere in the world. This is my most exciting product to date and over the next year we will be releasing courses from starting to wean your baby, weaning 6-12 months and a feeding a fussy eater. Mummy Cooks will be the complete solution for parents as they feed their child from feeding accessories to education and we want to be the leaders throughout Europe and beyond.
The Mummy Cooks on-line Academy is ideal for parents weaning their baby and there is also a course specifically for fussy eaters coming soon. For more information click here.
Siobhan also has two recipe books, Baby & Family; Cook for Family and Lunchbox Made Easy.