As part of our continuing series on people who have made inspirational big changes in their working lives, quittingthe9to5 interviewed Leyla Preston. Leyla is the owner and Editor of Motherhood Diaries Global Magazine for Parents.
Leyla is a busy mother of two even busier boys; Aron, 2 ½ years, and Aidan, 16
months. When Leyla isn't feeding, changing nappies or cleaning the infinite
mess at home, she is busy working on her magazine, and her law consultancy, L
Law Consultancy – no rest for the wicked!
What were
you doing before you set up www.motherhooddiaries.com?
I was
working towards my law career right before I found out I was pregnant with my
eldest son. My pregnancy was the perfect excuse to quit my job at a City law
firm because I hated how competitive and corporate it was, and I probably would
have never seen my children if I had gone back to my old job.
What were
the circumstances that led you to make the jump to running your own business?
I found out
I was pregnant, which was a huge surprise as my husband and I were not planning
a family at all. We were both at the height of our careers. I had already decided
that if I were to get pregnant, I would quit my job, and I have always wanted
to own a successful business. So I thought, rather than thinking about it, just
do it! I set up a blog of my son’s pregnancy in the last months of my
employment and a Law Consultancy to keep my feet in the legal industry. The
blog grew through recommendations from my friends and family. I took some time
off from the Law Consultancy and finally launched the magazine in May 2013, two
years after I set up my blog.
What has
been the hardest thing for you to overcome in order to launch the business?
The biggest
constraint by far has been time. Managing two boys under three and a new
business requires efficiency and enough time to work on both without neglecting
the other. But because my boys come
first, I only end up getting about two hours in the day to work on my business,
and that sometimes means two hours spread throughout the day! Doesn't help
speed the process of growing my business along…
What has
been the best piece of advice you have received?
Don’t lose
your drive and ambition to succeed. Keep your goals clear and keep working, one
step at a time. You will get there, whether you are slower or quicker than
everyone else, you have obstacles to face, or you don’t have enough time. Stay
focused.
If you
could do it all again what would you change?
Hindsight is
a wonderful thing and rather than setting up my blog, I would have gone
straight into creating my magazine with all the knowledge and experience I have
now. It would also mean that I would be two years ahead in my business plan. Having
said that, I wouldn't have made all of the mistakes and learned valuable
lessons from them if I hadn't had those two years to find myself and my
business.
Did you
have to source finance for your venture or did you use savings?
I used the
last three months of my employment salary to start my blog and buy the host and
domain. I had very little start up overheads, having expenses only in my domain
and host server. But I set up a Law Consultancy in January 2012 and that has
funded my magazine to date.
How did
the idea for the business come to you?
When I found
out I was pregnant in March 2010, the mummy blogging world was still relatively
unknown. I searched high and low on the internet for a personal weekly
pregnancy blog and found Emma’s Diary, a pretty large corporate site with a
small weekly blog of Emma’s pregnancy. I liked the personal connection I felt
with her stories and wanted to set up something similar to this. A lot of mums
and mums-to-be then started asking me what I ate during my pregnancy, how did I
keep healthy and where were the best places to buys maternity clothes, to name
a few. So I converted my blog into a website full of information I found during
my pregnancy. I then had my babies and documented their birth stories on the
website. Mums then started contacting me with their birth stories and I
published them. I started to think about what happened beyond birth and readers
sent in their stories and recommendations. I've always wanted to own a printed
magazine, so I fused the two ideas together and started up an online magazine
instead!
How long
was the set up process before the business launched and what did it involve?
The process
took a lot longer than it should have taken, mostly because I employed website
designers who took 8 months to design and build the site, and then they ran off
with my money! So I lost 8 months and in that time I had created a lot of
pre-launch buzz and the buzz was starting to wear off. I employed new website
designers and they finished the site in 3 months. I took a few months to sort
out the content and the layout and then sent out a press release to all the
major PR companies and parenting sites to alert them of the new magazine. I
utilise social networking sites well and have affiliated social media sites in
Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and Pinterest. The key is to market, market,
market and network, network, network! I also created business cards to hand out
to people I believe would be interested in the magazine and I plan to design
some flyers to hand out to people on the street. I have started networking a
lot more now as a lot of small business owners don’t realise how valuable
networking is to promote your business.
Have you
had any extra training to help you with the business or did you use skills that
you already possessed?
I have
always wanted to start my own business, so I read a lot about business and how to
set up one from newspapers and magazines, offline and online. I have never had
any formal training, I just learn from reading about successful business
owner’s successes and mistakes. I think the key is to keep an open mind and
take in the information that makes sense to you. As mine is a purely online
business, I learned a lot from reading and studying online websites related to
my field. And, don’t be afraid to contact your competitors and ask for advice!
They might say no, but there will be the odd one that will be happy to help.
Even better, contact successful business owners. I contacted Nick Hewer from
The Apprentice and he responded with fantastic advice! He said, ‘Don’t worry
about monetisation right now, build your reputation, credibility and excellent
content and monetisation will come naturally’.
Thank you so much Leyla! If anyone wants to find out more about your business how can they contact you or see the magazine?
You can follow me on Twitter (@M_Diaries) or join the busy Motherhood Diaries Facebook group where all mums get together and share stories and solutions with one another: https://www.facebook.com//groups/motherhooddiaries/
If you want to see my law consultancy website it's (www.llawconsultancy.co.uk)
Feel free to
email me at leyla@motherhooddiaries.com for more information and very best
of luck with your business! Thank you!!!
Thanks again Leyla! Some great information for everyone to digest and hopefully get useful tips from! What did you think of Leyla's story? Do you have one of your own to share? Did Leyla inspire you to do something different? Let us know!
Love Nova xxx
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