Job of the Week
me&i
Location: UK Wide
me&i is a gorgeous range of kids clothes from Sweden. We're looking for outgoing and self motivated people with a keen interest in fashion to sell our fantastic clothes. Do you like fashion and design? Do you want the freedom to decide your own working hours? Do you enjoy socialising? Are ...
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About Us
Hi We're Sam Willoughby and Suzanne Borrell, owners of multi-award winning What's On 4. Thanks for visiting www.mumandworking.co.uk and we hope you have found useful information, inspiration and some opportunities to follow up on.
We're both Mums with young families who share the belief that our business can give us, our team and our franchisees the flexibility to spend time with our children, earn money and having a fulfilling career.
Over 1 million people visit our websites every year and over 10,000 people have attended our events.
It's often a juggle but always exciting. We have a network of more than 30 parents across the world that now work flexibly as part of What's On 4 and this is set to reach over 100 by the end of 2011!
Just shows what is possible with a good idea, hard work and determination. We've survived the knocks and look forward to the future of our business.
Thank you for being part of it!
Let us keep you updated with ideas and give you inspiration with our monthly newsletter. Just tell us your email address and let us do the rest!
Please tell us what you think of our websites and, if you like what we do, please tell your friends!
Sam and Suzanne xxx
Follow us on Twitter @samwilloughby and @babyexposuz and you can also like our Facebook page
Our Story
www.whatson4littleones.co.uk is the first of our 4 websites founded by Sam back in 2006: Sam gained a lot of pleasure from taking her baby to various classes and activities but found it very tricky to find out what was going on in her local area. It took ages to get a proper idea of what was on.
So she decided that parents like you and I needed a single website that would have everything that was available for the under 5s and came up with www.whatson4littleones.co.uk!
WO4LO has now grown to over 12,000 activities across the whole of the UK since our launch in March 2006.
We've won 6 awards and 96% of our visitors would recommend us to a friend!
Our Other Websites
For older children don't miss a visit to our 2nd established website www.whatson4schoolkids.co.uk and also www.whatson4kidsparties.co.uk for everything you need for a great party for your children!
Since 2009 we've run www.mumandworking.co.uk that provides flexible job opportunities and expert advice. What's On 4 was founded from a need for a flexible career and it's now fantastic that we can promote other family-friendly companies through www.mumandworking.co.uk.
We also have a website for grown-ups and www.whatson4me.co.uk is rapidly expanding across the UK.
Our children's website are up and running in Australia with other countries to follow.
Our Events
THE event in the south for parents-to-be and families is the BabyExpo Baby Shows founded by Suzanne in 2007 and BabyExpo is back again in November 2011 and May 2012.
And if you're a Mum in business or thinking about having you're own business then you cannot miss the BusinessMumsSummit on 10th October 2011 in Brighton.
We have two hugely popular awards programmes that we've been running since 2006:
- The What's On 4 Junior Awards are now in their 5th year and has attracted over a hundred thousand nominations and votes to reward and recognise the best children's activities and party services across the UK.
- And our mumandworking Awards are now in their 2nd year to raise the profile of flexible working and to applaud the many companies and individuals flying the flag for family-friendly working.
What's On 4 is run by a small team of amazing Mums who all work from home around their families. Between us we have more than 20 children, from babies to teens! With Toby of www.trsdesign.com to keep all the sites working properly and keep them improving. So, who will you be talking to?
Hi I am Zena >>>> (middle) I joined What's On 4 back in 2006 when it was just one website and I am the UK Business Manager. I live in Kent and have two kids, Beth aged 13 and Benn aged 10. Beth is our Junior Editor on www.whatson4schoolkids.co.uk running our Kids Only page! I love a good chat and giggle and get a real kick out of talking to all of our various customers helping them with anything I can.
I'm responsible for the day to day running of What's On 4 but couldn't do it without the support of a great team!
Hi I am Mel >>> (right) I joined What's On 4 in January 2009 and am now UK Sales Manager. I live in Hampshire and have three children, Alisha is 8, Eloise is 4 and Leila is 2.
I also look after our existing customers and make sure that the websites are completely up to date. If you have an activity or class that needs advertising I'm here to make sure you get what you need. I love shopping, my hoola hooping class and a good curry.
Antonia Chitty, PR expert and mumandworking mumpreneur guru
Back in 2002, Antonia Chitty was stuck in a job that just wasn’t working for her. She says, “I felt like I was trying to do a full weeks work in part time hours, and spending all my money on childcare. Other people were looking after my daughter, and I was missing out on her growing up.”
Antonia has a session with a life coach which set on the path to run her own business. She says, “I set up my own PR agency which focused on helping mums in business to do their own PR. That led to my first books, A Guide to Promoting Your Business and Family Friendly Working. I’m now working on my 9th book, and take home money from my own business every month, enough money to pay the bills and more. I get to choose when I work, and more often than not work from home. And I love what I do. I have total control over my work.”
Antonia is now sharing her business expertise with any mum who wants to set up a business through The Mumpreneur Guide. She says, “Being your own boss comes with responsibilities. No-one else is going to do your work for you and sometimes it is a juggle to fit it all in: don’t sign up to become a Mumpreneur if you are afraid to work hard. But that’s where I can help you. You see, not only have I done it myself, I’ve worked with hundreds of women in business, and interviewed hundreds more for my books. I have access to advice from real business experts to share with you too.”
Helen Slingsby, career coach and mumandworking career agony aunt
Helen is a career coach who set up Career Breakthrough to help people try to figure out what to do with the rest of their working life. Part of her time is spent helping women return to work and helping them combine work and family life. She does this through workshops and one-to one sessions.
Helen is a former business journalist and career changer who took time out to look after her two sons (now 9 and 11) and studied part-time to gain an MSc in Career Management and Counselling at Birkbeck College, London University.
And why not pop along the the Brighton BabyExpo to meet our guest Career Coach Mark Anderson. We are thrilled to welcome Mark, founder of KickStart Careers Coaching, to the Flexible Working Zone at the BabyExpo BabyShow at the American Express Community Stadium, Brighton, 10am until 4pm November 13 2011.
Mark is a qualified Career
s Adviser, Life Coach and NVQ Assessor in Advice and Guidance. He has merged together his skills and experience of careers guidance with that of Life Coaching to develop his unique style of career coaching. Mark is married to Ruth and they have 4 children (aged 10, 8, 7 and 4), he therefore fully appreciates the challenges of juggling work with family life.
Mark particularly enjoys working with clients who say ‘I really don’t know what to do’ and is passionate about helping people to find purpose and fulfilment, not only in work, but in life. Mark uses an holistic approach to Career Coaching, encouraging clients to consider the impact career choice has on other aspects of their life.
Mark will be on hand within the Flexible Working Zone to offer advise to anybody who's not sure of the path to take with the challenges of a growing family and a need to find a flexible working solution. To find out more about Mark and KickStart Careers Coaching take a look at his website here: www.kickstartcareers.co.uk.
Twitter: @whatson4
Here is what parents are saying about mumandworking...
Just wanted to write and tell you what a fabulous website you have!
I have just bought for the first time, the magazine "With kids" where I read about your website and immediately logged on - and was addicted!!
I was all set to hang out my washing, clean out the goldfish bowl and pair up all the family's odd socks and none of it got done!! It truly is a wealth of information, advice and fun and I cannot emphasis enough how much a website like this has been needed. I will have no hesitation in recommending you to family and friends and congratulate you on your forward thinking, hard work and brilliant idea!
Linsey, Mum to Erin and new baby on the way!
I am now a Virgin Vie At Home consultant, and a Barefoot Books Stallholder. I came across both these fabulous companies through your wonderful website!
Annette
I'd been looking for a job that would fit round my young family for weeks. I saw Mum and Working in my local Families magazine and logged on that night. Two weeks later I started my new job working for Jim and Pete at Smithson & Parker Accountants. The office is 10 minutes from my house and the hours are great.
Kate, Mum to Lottie and Charlie
Here is what advertisers are saying about us
I placed an advert with mum and working in September 2009, I was very impressed with the service I received from them when placing the advert, Within 2 weeks I have received a number of potential enquiries and have secured one franchise already! I feel this advertising works particually well as mums are actually looking for work/franchises and it covers the whole of the UK. Thanks mum and working for a great service.
Sue Cannings, Bristol Babysitting Agency
Mum and Working is great value for money - we've seen a fantastic response!
David Cox, Music with Mummy
We are very pleased with our experience to date with Mum and Working, and find that advertising on the Mum & Working website provides us with high quality, relevant referrals. The site is well presented and we believe that it offers excellent value for money. We would recommend Mum & Working to any business that wishes to attract high quality leads for business opportunities suited to mums.
Natalie Iken, Does My Tum Look Big In This
We had an excellent response to the advertisement and received very good applications. We interviewed 2 of them and the successful applicant, Louise, joined us last Monday. She is working 9.30 to 11.30 Mon-Fri, and will vary the hours/work from home during the school holidays. She has already settled in very well and is a fantastic asset to us.
This seems to be a win win situation for all concerned, and those organisations that for whatever reason do not consider recruiting in this way are clearly missing a valuable opportunity.
Thank you for making this happen for us!
Peter Gladdish, LAVAT
We are astounded by the response we are receiving to our advert on the mumandworking site. The amount of space we are allocated means we can give a real insight into what is involved working for Small Steps and over a six month period we have had literally hundreds of enquiries! Mumandworking is obviously meeting the needs of a huge workforce out there who have a considerable amount of expertise in the workplace but who want to balance this with family life.
Cora Palmer, Cora Publications, publishers of Small Steps magazine.
Mum and Working is an excellent and extremely professionally developed and run website. For La Jolie Ronde it ticks all our boxes and we can reach our target audience with ease. The team at Mum and Working are truly a delight to work with. They always provide the highest quality service, are efficient, friendly and totally professional. Their "nothing is too much trouble" approach is much appreciated and I have valued their input with our campaign.
Mala Henry, Marketing Co-Ordinator, La Jolie Ronde Languages for children
We placed an advert for one month and received a high number of applicants of an extremely high standard. We interviewed six people who were brilliant and have now appointed one, possibly two of them. We are delighted with your service and the quality of people that have applied to us. We have always been committed to using the highly qualified working Mum (and Dad) market as we know from the school run, just how many great people are out there looking for a worthwhile opportunity to use their brains and skills. Employers - wise up! There is a plethora of talent out there willing to work their socks off for you during school hours. Don't think that someone who works 0900 - 1730 is going to be any more productive than the super mums who can work 0930 - 1430! Thank you again for all your help finding so many brilliant candidates for us. A delighted client!
Paul Tizzard, Director - Flying Without Fear, Virgin Atlantic's Fear of Flying Programme.
