Here at Jelf, we love to hear about successful business stories and this is certainly one! Speaking to mumpreneur and owner of Dudes N Dolls, Stacie Franklin has been telling us how she launched her start-up whilst being a mum to her 4 month old son!

Whilst there is often criticism around the use of the term “Mumpreneur”, mother and business owner Stacie Franklin insists it is a compliment. “The term highlights the fact that we as women are able to have a successful business as well as being full-time mothers, by creating that right balance between work and family”.

The business idea

Stacie’s business specialises in organic, trendy apparel for babies and toddlers. The idea came to her whilst experimenting with her son’s clothes whilst on maternity leave. Stacie found there was a limited variety of organic legging available in the UK, realising a gap in the market. As someone who always wanted to run her own business, Stacie took her hobby to the next level.

Starting a start-up

Starting and running a business is increasingly demanding, and having a 4 month old son, leaves little time to concentrate on anything else, as I’m sure you’ll all know!

Stacie highlights something that holds a lot of entrepreneurs back when wanting to launch their own business. That leap of faith. The biggest challenge in getting Dudes N Dolls set up was waiting for that “perfect time”; but she tells us that once she took on the challenge every step has got a little easier.

The obvious and greatest reward for being a Mumpreneur is that Stacie still gets to spend every day with her son – something that motivated her from the start. Whilst being able to bring income into the home, the Dudes N Dolls owner tells us she wanted to give her son continuity by working for herself.

The advice

The biggest piece of advice Stacie gives for all other Mumpreneurs out there is to be passionate about your product, service and business. By truly enjoying what you do, even the hardest of tasks are so much easier. A good balance is also vital for success; it is no good keeping up with emails at the early hours of the morning, when your baby wakes up at 6am! She goes on to encourage mothers out there to trust their intuition, not to get hung up on the things that could go wrong as you will never know unless you try – great business advice!

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