Mrs Mummypenny turned from a hobby to a full-time job in 2015. There were certain things that really helped with the progress of my business that I invested in from the very beginning. They didn’t cost lots of money, but they did present Mrs Mummypenny as a professional business to potential clients and readers.
A Great Logo
This was key to the branding of Mrs Mummypenny. The logo was going everywhere so it needed to look good and represent my business name and values. I employed a graphic designer friend to create the logo for me, it took a few iterations, but we found the perfect logo. This was then placed consistently over all my reader touchpoints, website, social media.
Business Cards
Networking was a key part of my early business and I spent a lot of time out and about. Meeting up with brands and potential clients telling everyone who would listen who I was, and what I could do. And at every meeting point I would give the person I was meeting my business card. Hello Print are a great printing company whom offer this business card printing service plus much more. You can get anything printed here from marketing material to posters to stationery and clothing. Just place you order with printing details and it will soon be at your door. This small investment meant that I was remembered, a smart trick is to add a picture of you onto the card. Which leads onto the third essential.
Professional headshot
As with the importance of a logo I also needed a professional looking headshot profile. My brand is me, so it was important to have a shot of me looking genuine and trustworthy. Again, I used a photographer friend here for the shoot to keep the costs down. This image then was used across all my Mrs Mummypenny media touchpoints and on my business cards.
Self-Hosted Website with an uncluttered theme
I registered my domain and set up a self-hosted website from the very beginning. This meant I had my own www.mrsmummypenny.co.uk web address (as opposed to a BlogSpot etc address) and my own email address linked to the website – lynn@mrsmummypenny.co.uk. This makes your website more appealing to potential brands to work with. I also chose a theme that was easy to read and navigate. Self-hosting and simple clean theme do cost money, maybe around £60 per year for the hosting and a one-off cost of £50 for the theme.
A Business Plan
I wanted to end with something that won’t cost you any money, just some time to create a business plan. This was one of the first things I did before the big marketing push. I formally planned out my business using a business plan template from a free business mentor via the national enterprise allowance I was to receive. I produced a long document detailed everything about the business, finances, marketing plans, operational aspects of business, risk assessments, SWOT analysis and a cash flow forecast.
Is there anything else you considered an essential investment when you started your business?
2 Responses
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