I don’t believe it is possible to set goals for this project without local intelligence. I need to set up a working group. I would like to recruit a small number of mothers who are considering starting a business or becoming self-employed, or are in the early stages of starting-up. They should ideally be from the East-Northamptonshire area, as I’d like to keep a focus on the needs of this geographical area.

The group would function as an action-learning set and peer-support forum – so members would benefit from shared experience, contacts, knowledge and the confidence building that simply talking to people who are in ‘the same boat’ can bring. It will also help identify the kind of support relevant to ‘women returners’ – and feed into this piece of action research.

My ambition for this exercise is two-fold:

• To get a sense of the gaps in business support provision locally (and regionally), and gain intelligence on individual’s journeys into start-up and self-employment. This information could be used to develop a service that could be rolled out on a larger scale, depending on demand or for lobbying for local government support in this area;
• To set up a local self-employed / business Mum’s forum. I’ve had experience of peer-led groups before, and have seen how useful and empowering this kind of forum can be. If successful, this model of practice could be disseminated and grown locally – perhaps through partner organisations who come into frequent contact with mothers.

I am looking for Mothers who are:

• Based in East Northamptonshire;
• Seriously considering starting up their own business as an alternative to returning to full or part-time employment;
• In start-up mode, but feeling they could benefit from support in moving forward with it;
• Established in business already but have taken time out due to parenting duties and are looking to re-enter the market-place;
• Facing redundancy and looking to set-up a business or become self-employed.

If you are reading this and you, or someone you know could be interested in joining this forum, please do contact me to express an interest: sarah (at) sarahbucknall.com. Once I have enough expressions of interest, I will finalise date, times, venue and agenda.

This image was taken on a walk in Finedon Pocket Park – along the old railway track that used to service the now defunct local Iron mining industry. Iron Ore was taken along the railway to Cally Banks, where it was burned to remove impurities.

The railway track is well preserved, but has the occasional tree growing from between the concrete sleepers.

I’ve been continuing my research into the kinds of support available for women returners starting out in business post-child rearing. I think the next step will be to talk to people to really identify the needs of this group in the current, increasingly difficult climate.

One thought is that perhaps this piece of research isn’t just about returning or beginning a business post-child birth / child rearing? Perhaps it could also research the needs of women affected by the impending public sector cuts – those made redundant from publicly funded initiatives and from local authorities, for instance. What routes will these women, who have already been balancing motherhood and work, take to get back into the labour market?

The way to proceed is to create a framework via which to gather relevant information in this area.

I’m convinced that starting local is the way forward too. Largely because I’m finding it difficult to identify much in the way of free business support advice or provision specifically targeted for start-up in Northamptonshire.
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As an artist I felt it was crucial to understand how your work – the aesthetics and the thinking behind it, fitted within the social and artistic context in which it was being made. I certainly feel the same applies to any kind of business support scheme  or professional network – you have to understand the landscape in which a service fits, and who uses which service to what outcome.

As someone who wants to grow a business, and understand what opportunities are out there, I think that navigating the landscape of business support, networking groups, peer support, social media, blogs, etc will be central to getting myself to where I want to be. Especially, as the landscape has shifted somewhat since I had my baby – with a new government in force and the impending ‘Bonfire of the Quangos’.

I’ll be publishing and categorising the resources I come across on this blog (displayed in the sidebar on the right >>). The list will grow alongside my research.

Here are a (not-exhaustive) list of questions I am looking to answer through this blog:

• How do you find meaningful, relevant business contacts and clients when you have been out of the professional loop for any length of time?
• How do you combat isolation and lack of peer support?
• Or are reluctant to return to the same professional loop as before?
• What support do women-returners need most in returning to, or embarking on a self-employed career or business?
• What are the perceived barriers to existing support provision and business networking?
• Which are the key networks (locally, regionally, nationally) and which sectors/sub-sectors do they represent?

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I moved last year from London to East Northamptonshire. Work was quiet when we initially got here because my daughter was still a baby and I wasn’t ready to give up being her carer all of her waking hours. What work I did have was tackled during her sleeping hours. Having settled our family into our new house and town, I sourced some flexible child-care and have since been working on building my work portfolio – mostly in daylight hours – which is most novel after having been a night-owl for so long.

Over the Christmas / New Year’s break, I got down to thinking about the best, most-meaningful and useful ways in which I could grow my network. How to ‘nuture my web of business and social contacts’ so to speak. In particular, I’ve been thinking about how I go about brokering local, personal contact with other sole-traders and business people.

I have worked quite extensively, over the past 10 years or so, with individuals and micro-businesses who are just starting out or are already established but needing support. Many of the people I worked with in this capacity – the majority even – were ‘women-returners’, or new parents who were keen to steer their career into a direction that supported a flexible working ethic.

Now that I’m in that very same position, in that I’m returning to full-time, albeit flexible work, I’m reminded of some of the issues that faced these women who had taken a break from the labour market and were wondering how to break back into it via their own business or venture.

I’ve decided to write a blog as part of this website: firstly, because I hope it will be useful to other ex-stay-at-home or self-employed parents who are looking to return to an existing business or start a new venture, and secondly, because I want to capture my ideas and research into enterprise development for women-returners. I am hoping that through scoping support and services available I can develop an online resource to make things a little bit easier for self-employed Mums returning to business.

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