{"id":4731,"date":"2018-08-13T09:00:39","date_gmt":"2018-08-13T08:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/?p=4731"},"modified":"2026-01-29T10:34:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T10:34:09","slug":"mybump2baby-overcome-challenges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/mybump2baby-overcome-challenges\/","title":{"rendered":"MyBump2Baby: 7 tips to overcome your business challenges"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGrowth & Customers<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tMyBump2Baby: 7 tips to overcome your business challenges\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\tCarla Lett<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Carla Lett is the founder of MyBump2Baby, a baby, toddler and family directory. She was a finalist in the Sage Ambition<\/a> competition, which had a prize of a business advice meeting with entrepreneur Peter Jones<\/a>. Here, she talks about her business and shares advice on challenges she\u2019s overcome and how her ambition has kept her going.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MyBump2Baby<\/a> is a pregnancy to pre-school directory, comprising a website and app. It\u2019s quickly becoming a one-stop shop for prospective and current parents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve achieved more than 45,000 visitors per month to the site in just 21 months. Meanwhile, the directory hosts more than 15,000 listings of groups, businesses and events across the UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I started MyBump2Baby as a blog because I\u2019ve always loved writing. While running it, I tried to go to classes and groups with my son George but when I turned up, they were out of date. I had postnatal depression at the time and it took a lot for me to get out the house. This just made me feel worse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wanted to create something to help parents and businesses so people wouldn\u2019t be stuck in a similar situation. MyBump2Baby has been developed with parents in mind, which is why I think it has been so successful so quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7 tips to overcome your business challenges<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

1. Love what you do<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve tried different businesses in the past but they didn\u2019t fulfil a passion for me. One idea was selling pre-made hen party bags. I created and sold the bags on eBay but business was slow. I also sold gym starter kits, which included a towel, headphones and some snacks, but that didn\u2019t take off either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because I didn\u2019t have a passion for those ideas, I didn\u2019t do enough research before I started and when times got tough, I didn\u2019t have the motivation to keep fighting, so I gave up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. See challenges as a good thing<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I have faced many challenges. Originally my plan with MyBump2Baby was to have a blog and the directory where we offer businesses free listings. I thought I would make enough money from the blog but this was not the case. Lack of SEO and being a new blogger meant traffic was low and businesses didn\u2019t want to work with me as I didn\u2019t have a real audience straight away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the directory listings got to 5,000 quickly. I introduced the \u201cfeatured listing\u201d option and charged \u00a34.99 per month. I thought at least 10% of businesses already listing with us would opt for it but not many did. So I revisited the directory and added a town-by-town advertising tier. This means each town has seven adverts that appear on the website and app, no matter what people search for in the local town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new model helps us stand out from the crowd. It monetises our directory in another way and opens up advertising opportunities for any business that would like to promote their service to local parents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Don\u2019t be afraid to ask what people want <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I launched my business with one wage. We had to get feedback and I had the following, so a lot of our ideas have come from our loyal readers. I sent out newsletters asking what parents would like to see and ran polls on social media. I also spoke to business owners who have listings with us for their feedback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

4. Do it yourself<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I researched everything, from how to grow social media followers to how to attract more paid listings. Doing it yourself makes you love your business more. When I get a compliment about MyBump2Baby, I get butterflies in my tummy because I know how hard I have worked and there is no better feeling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Reinvest in your business<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I take a very small wage from MyBump2Baby and literally just get by each month. The rest of the money that\u2019s made is reinvested in to the business. We\u2019ve just launched our new app and we\u2019re about to add a booking system to support small pregnancy to pre-school businesses that can\u2019t afford to add one to their website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. Always help others<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

You should always be kind. I love helping and meeting new people, I wish I could do more to help. If you are kind then people are more likely to recommend you and your business to others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7. Be proud of your hard work as a business owner<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Be proud of yourself and how far you have come. For me, there have been awful weeks and great ones. There have been weeks where I have struggled to pay my phone bill and times where people are begging me for advertising space in their town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve learned nothing stays the same \u2013 what works for one business doesn\u2019t work for another. One week, everyone wants the advertising space and the next week people have spent their budget. As it\u2019s only me selling advertising, it can be difficult to know where to focus my efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The life of an entrepreneur can be turbulent \u2013 so just strap in, ride the storm and talk proudly about your business <\/mark>because most people couldn\u2019t do what you are doing. And remember, the hard work pays off and it can be pretty rewarding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What would Carla have asked Peter Jones?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As a finalist in the Sage Ambition competition, Carla didn\u2019t get the opportunity to have a business meeting with Peter Jones. However, if she did, here\u2019s what she would have asked him:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Question 1<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

“What would you recommend when you have taken your business as far as it can go without funding? What would you suggest when you\u2019re the only employee and you can no longer grow your business on your own?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Question 2<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

“We sell exclusive advert spaces on the app and website. They appear to all parents no matter what they search for. At the moment, baby and toddler companies are purchasing this advertising space as they are drawn in when they go on the website to add a listing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“They only pay \u00a3150 for the full year and struggle to afford much more. How do you suggest promoting this to businesses that want to promote their services to growing families, allowing us to increase sales income?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Question 3<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

“We\u2019re launching a new booking system so businesses on our directory can benefit from bookings being made even if they are unavailable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The reasons we decided to launch this feature are so our clients don\u2019t miss out on sales, small businesses can add a booking system to their website cheaply rather than creating an expensive bespoke version, and parents can make bookings 24 hours a day. How would you promote this?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Help from our Sage Business Experts<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve asked our Sage Business Experts<\/a>, who have business and entrepreneurial expertise across a wealth of areas, to answer those questions. Want to find out their answers, which could be beneficial to you and your business too? Download the Ambition in Action e-book<\/a> to get them \u2013 along with more details on Carla’s business story and advice that will inspire you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ambition In Action<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Want to grow your business but struggling to do so? Download this free e-book for advice from Peter Jones and the winner and finalists of the Sage Ambition competition who faced challenges and overcame them using their business ambition.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGet your free e-book<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Subscribe to the Sage Advice newsletter<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Join more than 500,000 UK readers and get the best business admin strategies and tactics, as well as actionable advice to help your company thrive, in your inbox every month.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSubscribe now<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Carla Lett is the founder of MyBump2Baby, a baby, toddler and family directory. She was a finalist in the Sage Ambition competition, which had a prize of a business advice meeting with entrepreneur Peter Jones. Here, she talks about her business and shares advice on challenges she\u2019s overcome and how her ambition has kept her […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":637,"featured_media":9496,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sage_video":false,"post_featured_image_hide":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[15,141],"business_type":[4],"lilypad":[],"context":[],"industry":[],"persona":[73,74,75],"imagine_tag":[91,109],"coauthors":[490],"class_list":["post-4731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-growth-customers","tag-grow-business","tag-peter-jones-ambition","business_type-small-business"],"sage_meta":{"region":"en-gb","author_name":"Carla Lett","featured_image":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2018\/08\/baby-carriage-891080_1920.jpg","imagine_tags":{"91":"Growing business","109":"Small business"}},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Sage Advice UK","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/637"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4731\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/media\/9496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4731"},{"taxonomy":"business_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/business_type?post=4731"},{"taxonomy":"lilypad","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/lilypad?post=4731"},{"taxonomy":"context","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/context?post=4731"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=4731"},{"taxonomy":"persona","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/persona?post=4731"},{"taxonomy":"imagine_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/imagine_tag?post=4731"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=4731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}