Beyond the bake sale-The Value of Micro Business Partnerships

I was going to title this article “Nobody gets fired for buying IBM. But maybe they should!” but when I googled the quote it came up with a Forbes article from 2018. If I could choose, that would have been the start to this article. Just saying.

For previous generations the idea of a mother starting a business conjures up ideas of home baked goods, or small crafting enterprises. Today’s entrepreneurial mothers are launching diverse businesses from sustainable products to digital agencies; accountancy firms to HR practices. So, what makes so many women take on the frankly risky enterprise of working for themselves? Behind the shiny social media success stories what is the reality of juggling ambition with a family.

My journey into entrepreneurship began before I had children. As an expedition leader for World Challenge, taking young people on four-week summer trips to Africa, I quickly ran into an obstacle: my company was reluctant to grant me the extended annual leave I needed. So, I decided to strike out on my own. I became CEO of the newly incorporated PepperStreet Web Design and personally authorized the time off I not only required, but frankly, quite deserved.

After my children were born the need to travel the world was overtaken by a desire for flexibility. Post children, the world seemed to present only two stark options. On one hand was the rigid structure of the traditional 9-to-5 corporate career, which promised a healthy salary and professional fulfilment but at the steep cost of spending hours away from my family, leaving me with only four short weeks of annual leave to truly enjoy them. On the other was the demanding rigour of a stay-at-home-mum role, a life where I felt all the education, experience, and professional knowledge I had worked so hard for would simply wilt on the branch. I couldn’t accept a choice that forced me to sacrifice either my career or my family time. Sustaining PepperStreet became my necessary third path; a way to pursue my professional self without abandoning my life as a mother. Though I soon discovered this path would bring its own unique set of relentless demands.

Running a micro business lets you set your own hours and work flexibly around family commitments. This autonomy allows mothers to be present for their children’s school plays, sick days and “moments” while still pursuing professional fulfilment and financial independence.

But being that flexible often comes with a pretty hefty price tag. The reality of running a small business like PepperStreet, is that I had to almost instantly master the full spectrum of a large corporation’s departments. Firstly, there’s the relentless marketing. Crafting content, mastering social media platforms when you can’t afford to employ a digital marketing specialist. Reaching target audiences, hell, defining a target audience. Then came the worst part for me, business development. The constant need to pitch my business, network and secure new clients. My husband leads a BD team for a drug discovery company, he is dedicated solely to client acquisition and securing business. While his work is demanding and full-time, it represents just a fraction of the many hats I wear every day. Business Development was utterly outside my comfort zone. Worse still, I was tackling this enormous challenge while operating on the limited reserves of a mother with young children.

Then comes the operational minutiae of a small business. Accounts, invoicing, expenses tracking, tax returns, efficient payroll, emails, the sheer volume of administrative tasks was really daunting. All these functions are critical to the survival of a small business but need to be squeezed into the cracks between family demands.

This chaos was only half the battle, however, because after juggling all the marketing and administration, the real work began. I still had to find the time and focus to design and build the websites I had secured, maintaining the quality necessary to feel genuine pride in the finished product.

It’s important to be realistic about the trade-offs of running a small business. While I appreciate the flexibility and freedom that self-employment offers—time with my children that my corporate peers often can’t match—the supposed “work-life balance” is more of a myth than a reality.

I’m constantly caught in an exhausting emotional tug-of-war: the fear that my business isn’t successful enough and isn’t generating enough income, versus the guilt that if it is successful, I’m woefully neglecting my role as a mother. There’s an endless struggle between the feeling of inadequacy in my work and the feeling of maternal neglect when I succeed.

Yet, despite these challenges, the number of women starting businesses continues to grow. 2023 saw a record high for new female-founded businesses, there are approximately 1 million female led companies. Yet this number accounts for less than 20% of all active companies in the UK; the majority of new business ventures are still male led. It is estimated that 35% of self-employed people in the UK are women but that 50% of those women work part-time as opposed to only 20% of men who have part time hours.

So, what is the solution? Our Post-pandemic society increasingly values flexibility and personal time. The mothers I know are educated, highly skilled, and capable of offering huge professional value to a myriad of businesses. Yet, time and again, the corporate structures simply don’t exist to effectively utilize these skills within the flexible environment mothers require.
Maybe it’s not about redefining corporate structures, maybe what we need is for companies to recognise these skills and be more open to using small businesses for their corporate needs. Don’t automatically go directly to the large HR firm, look at a microbusiness to build your website (please!!) and procure your marketing from a solopreneur that can offer value and expertise.

While we may not be available for the traditional 8-hour, 5-day week, this doesn’t have to be a barrier. Instead of demanding constant availability, a business should ask: Do I need my marketing expertise on constant call? Can a website project timeline flex by an extra 2 or 3 weeks? The answer lies in smart planning: scheduling tasks like accounts, marketing, website amends in advance to maximize productivity while embracing flexibility.

My appeal is directed to all Marketing Managers, Directors, CEOs, and Procurement leaders. I ask you to pause and consider the opportunity. See the wealth of expertise that small, often female-led businesses possess and the significant skills we can professionally bring to your operations.

If you would like a professional smart well though out website rebuild, done to a high standard with a slightly extended timescale. Please get tin touch with Helen at PepperStreet Web Design.