Not Just Mum is the book you need if you’re planning to launch your own business. But still intending to parent a small person too. Because the author Claire Antill, has done just that, and with great success. She’s a mother of three, marketing agency owner and expert in growing small businesses.
And now she’s ready to share her hard-won wisdom with other mums out there. Mums whose everyday reality is clumsily balancing both work and motherhood. Mums who are eager to pursue their own career, but between the commute and the wrap-round childcare, have the bleak realisation it’s financially unfeasible. And mums who’d love to launch their own business, but don’t know where to start.
Whichever mum you are, Antill has the answers. Reading through Not Just Mum is like being handed a torch after many years traversing a dark, pot holed road, in unsuitable footwear carrying two toddlers. She can’t mend the systemic failings in the world of working women, but she can help you navigate them.
From tax returns to finding your tribe
Each chapter is broken down into easy to read, simple to understand, segments. From the nuts and bolts of starting a business, like registering and tax returns, to the more nuanced considerations such as consistent growth and home working. And Antill knows what she’s talking about. With a strong twelve year background in marketing and communications, she’s managed the success of multiple businesses. And can no doubt she can give yours a boost too.
Because, I’ll be honest. For me, and my counselling business, it was certainly a case of warmer, cooler, warmer, in the beginning. I’d look at what everyone else was doing and feel overwhelmed before I’d even started. I find Instagram a cringe, business talk opaque and the thought of attending a networking event stomach plummeting. But even for someone like me, Antill offers hope and realistic, authentic ways to grow a business. Antill’s Not Just Mum could have saved me a lot of time, worry and money.
Emotional support for working women
But most important of all, Not Just Mum offers much needed emotional support. Antill doesn’t preach from afar, she’s been in exactly your position. Prior to starting her agency she spent 15 years in the corporate world. So, she knows how daunting and draining it can feel to be the default parent. And she understands the dread and anxiety that comes with working in offices beset with politics, toxicity and ego. Watching as working mothers are continually overlooked for promotion.
There’s no doubt that all this pressure, disregard and diminishment has a weathering effect on women’s self-esteem. And on their pay packet. But in the week when UK women should have ‘stopped working’, Antill gives us the motivation to take ownership of our careers. She provides us with the tools to manage our overwhelm and the confidence to believe we’re not just mum.