On Tuesday night we had Daisy & Dandelion's Christmas event and we were lucky enough to have the lovely Emma Grey from WorkLifeBliss talk to us about work-life balance.

Emma talked about how we could be our own worst enemy and there were lots of nods and exclamations of "that's exactly what I do!".  As we sipped champagne and sampled the beautiful chocolates brought by our two new members, Sam and Lisa from Chocolate Mamas, Emma led us on a journey of self discovery and enlightenment. I must admit I left the meeting with a good idea of how I was going to declutter my life and put a bit more life into my work-life balance.

Don't worry if you missed out this time, Emma has promised to come back and be a speaker at the first ever Daisy & Dandelion Women in Business Conference that will be held in June Next year.

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The Business Mums Playgroup Open Day, was so much fun that it looks like it will become an annual event. A big thank you has to go to the sponsors for making it possible - Poplar Corner, Greenwares Australia, Posie Patchwork, Vegies To Your Door, Australian Babyhands. We even raised $200 for the Kambah Playgroups Association!

Dionne from dpBond Photography captured some of the fun with the ponies and donkeys.

And here are my "happy snaps" from the day....

Tags: Business Mums Playgroup | Open Day | networking

Two Daisy & Dandelion members, Kate Dawson (MissChief Maker) and Leonie Keogh (Snowgum Studio) have been running a competition to raise funds for the intensive care foundation to purchase a new mobile intensive care unit for critically ill newborn babies.

On Sunday 6th September @ 2pm they are holding an event for the final judging of their "Babies in Beanies" photographic competition at MissChief Maker at Rodney's in Pialligo. There will be a panel of judges making the final decision and the media will also be present. They are hoping to get lots of families to the judging and are aiming to make it a fun event with some sort of entertainment for the kids, a sausage sizzle and raffle.

If you have any services that you can volunteer on the day or any raffle prizes to donate you will be helping a wonderful cause and they will acknowledge you on the day and in a newsletter to their participants.

To date they have received thousands of hits to their sites for judging. You can have a look at all of the beautiful Babies in Beanies at www.misschiefmaker.com.au or www.snowgumstudiophotography.blogspot.com.

If you are interested in helping please call or email:-

Kate Dawson:- 0407 941 969 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Leonie Keogh: 0411 269 103 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Tags: Babies in Beanies | members | photographers

I'm excited to say that Posie Patchwork will be providing entertainment for the kids at the Business Mums Playgroup Open Day on the 25th September from 11am to 2pm.

Here's a little taste of what Jennie plans for the kids.....

Basically on the day I will supply paper and pencils, the children will be asked to do a little drawing, doesn't matter if it's a big scribble in one colour or detailed, they all look great and are a work of art to adore.

Once they are happy with their drawing, I will cut out the design with a circle cutter, then pop it in the badge making machine, showing each child carefully how the badges are made, and with two pulls of the handle, they have wearable art!!

It's a fun, clean and speedy activity which they can all thoroughly enjoy and keep forever!! Each child can have one badge, if their parents want to have more badges made up, or key rings and fridge magnets (to hold up even more artwork) they make fabulous keep sakes and family gifts - I can make them afterwards, for a nominal fee. After all, the children are the designers here and it's their priceless art!!

I normally use vintage story book images and quirky Japanese printed fabrics for the badges I sell through my businesses, however, this is a fun activity and children love badges. They can put them on their school badge, a jacket, a pin board and they are even something mummy can proudly wear (better than a macaroni necklace!!).

There's only room for 30 families at the Open Day, so contact us and reserve your spot!

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This is Nerine's story.....

Poplar Corner was the result of lots of life events all leading to the same thing.

• I have voluntarily taught children to ride since I was an 18 year old in Pony Club;
  
• I bought a property close to Canberra 18 years ago to accommodate the family's desire for a rural life and it turned out to suit the setup of a riding school;
  
• the purchase of a donkey for my 4 y.o. son to help when we went bushwalking (to the same place that I eventually ran commercial camps);
  
• giving voluntary riding lessons to Tharwa locals, just to get my son interested in riding;
• At 10 years of age my son started giving donkey rides at local events and we were noticed
• I was even a trained caterer for the residential side of the business;
• After 25 years of administration, public relations and marketing in the public service I was made redundant and was forced to think of something new to do.
  
• I already had horses, a horse float and infrastructure, so my initial outlay was not huge.

I have a very clear vision of the importance of a child's first meeting with a pony. I want to make it memorable like my own first happy moment. I understand that my bottom line is not necessarily teaching kids how to ride, but providing them with a valuable rural experience and parent's with a valuable child minding service.

The highlights are:

• the quality of life I have;
• the positive feedback I get from both riders and their parents. I treasure a folder full of messages and drawings from children;
• I get to immerse myself in what I truly enjoy. I now find that business, personal, travel and social life often overlap.

There have been plenty of lowlights:

• the worst drought in modern history;
• worst bushfires in Canberra's history;
• being sued by parents' whose son fell off a pony, despite the medical reports that said he had not sustained any injuries;
• the closing of the Tharwa bridge for nearly 3 years; and
• the Equine Influenza.

My advice to anyone starting a business is to be extremely reliable. Schedule, schedule and schedule, but before that, you should be pursuing what you really believe in. If you are passionate about something, it will show in your enthusiasm, your expertise, and how you share it. The "hard work" you put in will not be so "hard" if you genuinely enjoy it.

You can meet Nerine and some of the ponies and donkeys from Poplar Corner at our Business Mums Playgroup Open Day on the 25th September.

Tags: Poplar corner | business mum | pony rides

On Saturday afternoon I went to a fantastic event. Kate from MissChief Maker put on a high tea for mums, grandmas, daughters and girlfriends at Rodney's Nursery in Pialligo. It was lovely to see all the little girls dressed in their finest listening to the lovely Tania McCartney reading from her book Riley and the Sleeping Dragon. We were also introduced to the beautiful European antiques and decorative items from Histoires and the lovely interior bedroom designs from Mr Mudge.

The music was excellent, the cakes were divine and the shopping....I came home with a bag packed with beautiful brooches, muslins and gloves. It was lovely to catch up with girlfriends in such a nice atmosphere. I certainly hope Kate treats us to another high tea soon.

Tags: high tea | events | networking | handmade | vintage | antiques

On the 27th July we have an evening event dedicated to personal branding and one of the guest speakers is Carol Mitchell from ckimage Consultancy. So, we asked Carol to tell us a bit more about herself and what she does...

I have always been in the image industry which continues to be a major part of my life. It is not only a business for me; it is something that I am passionate about. After a beginning as an international model, I went on to become a makeup artist and then fashion designer. This gave me the experience and knowledge necessary to evaluation different styles, fabrics and colours in conjunction with lifestyle, economic and body shape considerations. After attending a British finishing School my travels around the globe have contributed to my knowledge and practical experience making me well qualified to advise and convey real substance when it comes to a personal or professional image makeover.

I have also had training and hands on experience in the film and television modelling industry and in more recent years I have become a member of the National Speakers Association of Australia. This experience has provided the background to become an accomplished motivational speaker, particularly when conducting seminars on all aspects of helping you to create a memorable first impression.

My advice to other women in business is to follow your instincts and passion. If you do not love what you do, you will find your journey to success more difficult.

Life, love and happiness are a compromise and a balance. We all need to live with the choices that we have made, so please choose wisely. If you make your own decisions you become fully responsible for them.

For those women who are unsure of their direction and would like a pick me up, a little fine-tuning or a complete change why not let Carol help you create a new life style and image that will make you feel more confident and in control of your life. Below is an amazing before and after picture which I'm sure will have you dashing to the phone to book a time with Carol.

Don't miss out on our event You are your brand - give it a makeover! on 27 July at 7:15pm.

Before

After

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Last night we had Susie Robinson from Accounting 4 Business come and speak to us. I think most people thought that an accounting topic would be boring, but given that Susie only managed to extricate herself after 10:30pm is testament not only to her ability as a speaker, but to the fact that we all have questions about the financial side of our business that we need answered.

Susie gave us a really useful checklist for our business that looked at reviewing things like business operations, marketing, banking & finance, insurance, business operations, wealth accumulation, estate planning, tax and business structure. We spent a lot of time looking at various business structures and how we could plan for growth. She also pointed out some great tax savings for us. If the thank you emails I've received this morning are anything to go by I think everyone came away feeling inspired about their business and the possibilities for the future.

 

Tags: Acounting | tax | small business

Canberra FitMums will be hosting a free pregnancy seminar onTuesday 16th June 2009 at 12 noon for 1 hour at the  Wesley Uniting Church, Forrest ACT.

They are currently seeking sponsors and any business who wishes to promote their pregnancy and birth services.

PREGNANT? Come along!

Topics include: Keeping fit during pregnancy, preparing for your birth, Regaining your figure, the latest and greatest products on the market and more!

• Fabulous Prizes
• Free Samples
• Information
• & much more!

RSVP is Essential. Places Limited This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Tags: Seminar | canberra | mums

When you start creating beautiful art and craft and decide to share your talent with the rest of the world, you don't necessarily factor in the business skills necessary to make this successful. Most market sellers are artists first and foremost who would love to spend all their time creating rather than planning marketing strategies and dealing with BAS statements.

Unfortunately to fund future creativity, you need to get the most out of each market you attend. So, to help all our creative entrepreneurs Daisy & Dandelion will be putting on a series of workshops that will help you with the business end of your art and craft business. The workshop series covers the following topics:

Wed 22 July at 7pm - Before the market: Marketing on a shoestring

At this workshop we will focus on what you can do before the market to encourage people to visit your stand. We will look at strategies like pre-market promotions, PR, collaborative marketing and developing a word-of-mouth marketing campaign.

Wed 29 July at 7pm - At the market: Making your business stand out

At this workshop we will focus on your stand as your store, stand layout, creating the right atmosphere, at-market promotions, customer service and managing expectations.

Wed 5 August at 7pm - After the market: Creating loyal customers

It is much cheaper from a marketing point of view to increase the spend from existing customers than to continually chase one-off sales. In this workshop we will look at building a relationship with your customers over time and moving them from customers to advocates of your business.

Wed 12 August at 7pm - Pricing Strategies

It can be very difficult to price the time and attention you pour into your handmade items. We will look at some of the ways you can determine the price of your products, including value-based pricing, loss-leaders, the special order, wholesale pricing and selling on consignment.

Wed 19 August at 7pm - Developing your brand online and offline

In this workshop we will examine what you can do to differentiate your business both online and offline. We will explore the basic laws of branding that will help you to decide where and when to advertise, how to use PR, when to expand your product line and how to advertise on the Internet.

Wed 26 August at 7pm - Developing a marketing calendar

We will tie everything we've discussed together to produce a marketing calendar that will make the best use of your time and money to promote your business.

The workshops are small facilitated discussion groups that have between eight and twelve participants and meet once a week in Kambah. The format of the workshop allows each participant to tap into the knowledge, experiences and ideas of the group as well as benefit from the peer support and contacts they make which carries on long after the workshop has ended.

Where: Theiss Cottage, Reynell, Place, Kambah.

Cost: $35 (incl. GST) for individual workshops or $145 (incl. GST) for all 6.

Booking: Places are limited. Please contact Candice on (02) 6292-1573 or email candice @ daisyndandelion.com.au to secure your spot.

Tags: stall holders | markets | arts and crafts

I met Michelle a little while ago and fell in love with her beautiful dolls, so I thought I'd ask her to tell us her story.

Michelle Williams tells us the Poppy Bean and Bloss Story

I started my online business in February 2008, but really started working towards it 12 months before that. I had been looking for a present for my niece and had seen some sock monkeys on US websites. I told myself that I could make that, and I did. I had a few practice runs (which ended up with my children) and then made one for my niece which was a huge hit. A lot of people commented on how wonderful the monkeys were and that I should sell them. I started with sock monkeys (and a business name - The Super Monkey Shop. Never let your five year old choose a name to fill the last spot on the Business Name Registration form). In the last year I have expanded my products to include art folders, some gorgeous dolls and a few other things. I have also started doing some markets around Canberra, which I really enjoy.

Highlights and Lowlights

The highlights are easy - getting feedback from customers about how much their child loves the toy; making my sons bed in the morning and seeing that all the toys he has on his bed have been made by me; the joy of making, and being able to share what I make with others.

Lowlights - the main one would be finding the time to make. All the toys I make are very labour intensive and invovle a lot of hand sewing. With three young children and a day job which I also do from home and squeeze in around the children, time is very limited. Making sure that my toys would comply with Australian Safety Standards wasn't exactly a lowlight, but was a big learning curve for me. The tests are reasonably expensive for a micro business like mine, and I have had to revise designs a few times to ensure the toys complied, and have them retested each time.

Tips for other business mums

• A good written business plan is essential (and I promise I will do mine soon)

• Prioritise - with a micro business like mine it need to fit in with the family and I need to make sure that I don't over commit.
• Don't be afraid to ask - be it for help, advice or just a shoulder to cry on. A good network of supportive people is a wonderful thing.
• Be aware of any legislative requirements that cover your products, services or industry. The ACCC can be a great source of information for consumer related businesses.

Tags: handmade | craft | canberra

What a fantastic evening! Last night was Tania McCartney's talk to the Daisy & Dandelion members about her experiences in publishing and self-publishing, creating her books Beijing Tai Tai and Riley and the Sleeping Dragon.

There were lots of new faces and Kate Dawson from MissChiefmaker did a great job as MC, giving us an insight into why she belongs to Daisy & Dandelion and what the group has come to mean to her.

Tania took us on an incredible journey from coming up with a story idea, finding an illustrator, getting an ISBN, sourcing a printer and distributor and finally marketing your book. She was candid in her descriptions of what worked and what went wrong along the way. There was much note-taking from all the aspiring writers in the group. The opportunity to learn from someone else's experiences and avoid their mistakes was not taken lightly.

New member, Robyn, brought her illustrations to show us. They're beautiful watercolour colour pictures that she hopes to turn into a children's book at some point.

Tania did a great job of inspiring everyone to take baby steps and to push through when you felt uncomfortable or hesitant to approach someone.

We ended off the evening with a few extracts from Beijing Tai Tai which had all those who had been to China madly nodding their heads in agreement and the rest of us laughing at the experience. Anyone who has travelled overseas with kids can relate to this book.

Well done, Tania and all the best for your future efforts.

Tags: self-publishing | Infopreneur

We had a great evening at Jane Brown Pearls! Jane shared her inspiring story of how she started her business as well as some clever tips on marketing. It was also interesting to hear from someone else's experience about moving from a home-based business to a shopfront. I had a great time and also bought some beautiful pearls for myself for Mother's Day.

 

Tags: pearls | events | networking

On Monday 4th May Daisy & Dandelion will be hosting an evening to discuss the how to's of becoming an infopreneur.

There's an old saying that there's a book inside everyone and when you look at the number of eBooks, special reports, audio recordings and other information products available you can well believe it. Entrepreneurs are adding additional revenue streams to their businesses with information products. Retirees with years of experience are selling their knowledge online. There are fitness, Finance and Facebook infopreneurs and blogs on every topic imaginable.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, during the 12 months prior to April 2007, 606,500 Australians were involved in some form of paid or unpaid work related to writing (Work in Selected Culture and Leisure Activities, Australia, April 2007).

Author, Tania McCartney will draw on her experience as both a published and self-published author to answer questions about becoming an infopreneur. Tania is a Canberra-based mum, wife, writer, editor, publisher, kids author, bloggist and traveller. She has written and edited for several magazines including City Weekend, Time Out, beijingkids and Dolly magazine. In 1995, her first book was published by Hodder Headline Australia - "You Name It". She has also written countless manuscripts of varying genre and self-published two books - "Riley and the Sleeping Dragon", and "Beijing Tai Tai" - a collection of non-fiction blogs.

The discussion "From Entrepreneur to Infopreneur" will take place on Monday, 4 May at 7:15pm at Theiss Cottage, Reynell Place, Kambah. RSVP: to Candice at 6292-1573 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Cost $5.

Tags: Infopreneur | self-publishing

Last week I had great pleasure in meeting Tamara from CanberraHandmade.com.This is a web portal that has been set up with the aim to promote artists and crafts people living in Canberra and the surrounding area (within 100kms). It's a great opportunity to promote some of our local talent, so if you haven't already joined then I'd encourage you to do so. Visit canberrahandmade.com

Tags: handmade | craft

Learning to swim is almost a developmental milestone in the lives of most Australian children and to celebrate this experience there is a very special company called aquasnapper.

aquasnapper is run by Roslyn Clark who came up with the idea when she was working as a swimming instructor. Watching the parents trying to grab happy snaps of their water babies, Ros realised that not many parents got to see the amazing faces of children underwater and the idea of aquasnapper was born.

If you would like some fantastic pictures of your kids learning to swim then contact Ros on 0401 309 814 or by email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Tags: underwater photography | baby photos | business mum

Jane Brown has dealt in fine pearls from China over the last 17 years. During a five-year residence in Beijing, she developed a close relationship with pearl suppliers from southern China to source high quality affordable pearls for her exclusive designs. She now has satisfied clients in Canberra, Adelaide, Sydney, Bowral, Melbourne, Brisbane, the Gold Coast, New York and London.

Jane will be opening her Pearl shop to Daisy & Dandelion on Thursday 30 April at 7pm. You are invited to join us for a special evening as Jane shares her secrets for operating a successful retail business. If you've ever considered moving your online business to a shopfront; this is an event you shouldn't miss. This special evening not only gives you the chance to view and buy from Jane's classic range of gorgeous pearl necklaces, earrings and bracelets, but is also a great opportunity to mix with like-minded women in business.

You will see newly designed necklaces, bracelets and ear rings in stunning colours and combinations. Fabulous new charm bracelets feature pearls, colourful enamel beads and stones in a striking mix. Blue and white porcelain beads are also used with stunning pieces of carved amethyst, rose quartz, lime green turquoise, carnelian and peridot. Jane's classic range includes gorgeous high lustre keshi pearl necklaces and bracelets. Her ear rings include single pearls in timeless stud styles as well as drop pearl ear rings matched with Swarovski crystals and semi precious stones.

Those looking for something a little more exotic will be pleased with the beautiful mabe (dome shaped) rings and enhancers which can be attached to necklaces or worn simply on gold or silver chains.

To attend this event, please RSVP to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or phone 6292-1573.

Tags: pearls | events | mums | small business

Welcome to the Daisy & Dandelion blog for business mums in Canberra.

We will be discovering some of the wonderful businesses started by mums in Canberra and you can also check in for information about resources, events, news and products relevant to working mums.

Tags: business mums | canberra