Mums in Business – Lena & Giveaway

The lovely Lena from Milo et Mimi is on the blog today to tell you all about herself and her business! She is kindly offering you a 20% discount when you shop at Milo et Mimi, all you need to do is enter ‘MUMMYLOVES14’ at the checkout. This code is valid until the 12th December 2014. Also make sure you check out the end of the post for a lovely giveaway too! Thanks so much for letting me feature you on This Mummy Loves Lena! We love your business and wish you every success with it!

Who are you?

I’m Lena. I live in West London with my PE teacher husband who’s originally from Kent and our three and a half year old daughter otherwise known as Cheeky Monkey.

What do you do?

I am the founder of Milo et Mimi, an online children’s boutique with an eclectic selection of baby and children’s fashion, toys, accessories and gifts sourced from all over the world. I also run a weekly Milo et Mimi pop-up at a cool, vintage-inspired treat boutique called Drink Me Eat Me in West London.

When did you establish your business?

I set up the business in September 2012 and the website went live in February 2013.

What made you start your own business?

After a long career in PR, maternity-leave gave me the opportunity to take stock of my career and to assess the direction I wanted my work-life to take. Motherhood gave me a fresh perspective as I realized that I wanted to work flexibly and be my own boss, rather than being chained to a desk.

I studied French at university and it was during my year abroad that I first fell in love with French fashion; having the opportunity to wander the delightful Parisian boulevards and to browse their stylish boutiques was a major source of inspiration. And when my daughter was born, I became aware of lots of wonderful, high quality, non-high street brands for little ones and I set about creating an online store that combined my love of French style with my desire to offer fashionable kids clothes which are practical, comfortable and not mass-produced. And so, Milo et Mimi was born, with the aim of sharing some of these amazing brands with mums, while supporting other fledgling businesses.

What do you love about working for yourself?

• I love the freedom and flexibility that working for yourself offers and am so grateful for the fact that I have been able to spend so much time with my daughter during these key formative years.
• I can dictate the terms and times that I work – being more of a night owl, I often find myself tapping away on my laptop well into the early hours.
• I like being able to make decisions on the spot – I don’t need to defer to anyone else.
• I can put my stamp on the business rather than conforming to someone else’s blueprint.

Is there anything you do not like about working for yourself?

• As much as I like the freedom of working alone, I come from a culture of working in teams so I miss the interaction of working with other people and the creative buzz you get from bouncing ideas off one another.
• It can be hard delineating between my home and work life and there are always a million other things I could/should be doing.
• Having my ‘office’ so close to the kitchen and my biscuit cupboard! Plus, there’s no one to stop me eating them 😉

Is there anything you would go back and do differently if you could? 

I should have taken the plunge sooner!

What advice would you give to a Mum considering starting her own business? 

Just go for it! Don’t procrastinate if you have an entrepreneurial spirit. Spend time researching the sector you want to go into and looking at competitors to see what does and doesn’t work.

Start your marketing activities as early as possible – especially your social media efforts – as it can take a long time to create interest and build trust in your business.

Lena is kindly offering one of my lucky readers the chance to win this beautiful MAILEG Little Sister Christmas Mouse which will make a gorgeous stocking filler for a little one this Christmas 🙂

All you need to do to enter is complete the Rafflecopter below to enter – Good Luck xx

a Rafflecopter giveaway