Zoe Newcombe is 34 years old and mummy to 2 gorgeous girls Harriet aged 4 and Lexie 8 months. She is the Owner of her import business Opal Products and founder of Connection Events.
My day usually starts around 6.30am when I’m up and getting myself and the children ready for the day. In between breakfast and chasing round the house I usually fire up my laptop or check my iPhone for e-mails. 8.15am and we are off to take Harriet to nursery and then back home to my office to start the working day. I’m fortunate at the moment that Lexie still has a morning and afternoon nap so I get loads done whilst she is sleeping. My main concentration during the day is Opal Products and predominantly making sales calls to find new stockists for our products. Other things that I deal with are packing orders, taking deliveries of new stock and when possible (often with Lexie in the car too!) I love doing spec visits, calling in on potential stockists to see if they are interested in what we do. I get great success from this and it gives me a real buzz especially when I get orders there and then.
We usually stop for lunch around 12.30pm and I get chance to catch up on Facebook and generally spend some time with Lexie having cuddles and playtime.
The afternoon can be much of the same, usually we take a walk to the post office to send out the days orders and before we know it Harriet and Daddy are arriving home from nursery. The next couple of hours are quite manic being a mummy getting tea for the family and playing with the children. We usually sit down around 6pm and at this point we get to catch up with each other as to what we have been up to during the day. I am always interested to hear what Harriet has been doing and also telling Daddy what success I’ve had throughout the day. Our aim is to run the business together within the next two years.
My evenings are spent on the sofa where possible; however my laptop is never far away! My other business Connection Events which is my Mums in Business networking groups is something I work on during the evenings where necessary. It’s reasonably straightforward as its e-mail based and usually involves adding things to my website. I founded Connection Events in August 2008 as I felt there was nothing in the area that catered for mums who worked from home around their children and provided a child friendly environment to network. I decided to set up my own group which has gone from strength to strength over the last year and has provided all of the Mums with some fantastic business opportunities during that time. I believe the benefits of networking are untold especially with a group of likeminded business Mums because everyone wants to help each other’s business to grow its just such a motivational inspirational community to be a part of.
My day usually ends around 11pm when I flop into bed ready to start again the next day. I love what I do because it’s so flexible and I am always there for my children. I have the flexibility to meet with friends when I want as I can always work at anytime of the day where needed. Every day is different and there’s always something exciting to look forward to. I’m always busy and sometimes there are challenges within the day mixing my various roles as Mummy, Mumpreneur and Wife!
