For this Founders Birthday, besides celebrating with a special collection, Huda and I started a new tradition individually. She decided to revisit her portrait painting skills and documented on our IGTV. As for me, I had shared in my previous blogpost that I wanted to organise a coffee chat for an individual who is keen to grow a business idea. My criteria in choosing the person is that I must believe in the idea she has. The brand that resonated with me the most is WomensLifeWork. Founded by 3 mothers, they aim to create awareness of remote working and encourage women at home to constantly offer their skills and earn some income.
We started with a local Nasi Lemak lunch while we caught up and got to know each other a little more. I also found out one of them was from the same primary school as me! Go Temasek! We then proceeded with the chat proper, going deep into the road blocks they faced and what we can do about them.
It was a fluid session, where we asked each other questions and threw in ideas. I then realised that they have so many wonderful intentions and they got so excited talking about them. One thing I learned while observing is that, the biggest challenge we all have is to be focused. We always want all the fancy ideas but along the way, we often get lost.
Some of the issues we spoke about are target audience, how to grow the community, how to support these women and how to be consistent. These are very real problems especially when starting a new brand and it's important to be very clear about them.
Here are some takeaways;
1) Be specific about who you are serving. While it's good to have a wide audience, starting with a niche market is always best. We also spoke about brand values because I'm a big believer in your vibes attract your tribe. Your values determine how you communicate to your audience and people who share the same values will follow you and eventually buy your product.
2) Create VS Curate Content for social media marketing - As mothers, when time is so limiting, I do not see anything wrong in having a mix of original content and curated content. What's the difference? Creation means taking your own photos, editing them and writing your own captions, while curating simply means reposting. Be sure to credit the original creator!
3) Be consistent - Since they are all mothers, I told them to start small first. Even for basic things like social media marketing, it's better to post less but of better quality and be REALLY consistent about it.
4) Another common mistake I see amongst start ups is they tend to keep changing ideas. I know we get excited with new ideas but it's worth the time to nurture an idea and give it sufficient time to see some results.
It was indeed a fruitful session though they did feel a little overwhelmed. I am excited to see how they will develop the business and aim to catch up with them to follow their progress. (Ladies I know you are reading this, pls have faith and keep going! Small baby steps will go along way and remember to stick to the plan.)
Please follow their Instagram and check out their website. I was recently featured on their blog too where I shared on my first year working from home as a new mom. And spread the word to your women friends who would want to join the community of WomensLifeWork.
Till the next coffee chat, stay safe everyone.
Love,
Selb
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