My name Is Julie Ashworth and I am the founder of Mummys Magic and Mummys Magic Nappy Care Spray. As a qualified beauty therapist and aromatherapist, I have always loved skin products and I try everything. I studied beauty therapy with my sister Kathy, who has really sensitive skin. We researched and tested different skin products to try to find the ones that did not give her terrible reactions, that is how my love of the natural route for skin care was born.
In 1998 my partner and I were blessed with a beautiful daughter, Lauren. At around 8 months old she suffered a severe rash and eczema in the nappy area and on her legs, I could not touch it without her crying in pain and nothing seemed to work. Shop bought remedies made matters worse and no prescription medication worked for her either, I decided to make my own solution. I mixed up my favourite oils, a few old wive’s tales, lovely Shea, Rosewater and Aloe. I also made it a spray so I did not need to touch the sore area and hey presto – It worked! Within a short time the eczema had cleared up and the rash was gone, the whole area was back to baby smooth skin.
Since then I made batches to give to family and friends and it soothed so many skin conditions, even sunburn and nettle sting. My daughter used to call it ‘Mummys Magic Spray’ and the name stuck! I made it less as my daughter got older, then in 2010 our surprise little addition Ellen had me making batches of Mummys Magic up again, demand off family and friends started again too.
My other half Paul told me I should do something with this as I was making so much of it, so I did! I contacted a baby buyer at a well known supermarket who loved the product and helped me get it into production. It has taken 10 years to get the product to where it is now from dreaming and wondering ‘can I do this’ to now. Mummys Magic is available online and in local North West stores and has a host of celebrity users. We were most recently awarded ‘Best Vegan Nappy Treatment Company 2022’ in Lux life Parent and Baby Awards 2022, last year we received ‘Best Vegan Nappy Spray 2021’.
- Please tell us about yourself and your business background.
I believe one of the most powerful tools to use for your marketing is your story, I like to share my story as I feel it shows Mummys Magic in a more personal aspect. I have had no business background or training in business whatsoever. I have always worked in retail, factory or housekeeping. I went back to college in my 30’s when I had my eldest daughter, who is now 24 and studied Beauty Therapy, Makeup and Aromatherapy. I did it as a bit of fun with my sister but loved it much more than I thought I would.
I took a big interest to Aromatherapy and natural remedies. I began to use this for anything possible rather than going the chemist or doctors for minor ailments, I did not even think of doing something with my skincare recipes until I was in my late 40’s. Being in business for myself started late in life. I think if I was younger I would have been very different in my approach to the business world as now I am a lot calmer and have patience, something I did not have in my youth. I have the patience to plan ahead now and spend more time to study the markets.
- What is the most common problem faced by inexperienced business people and how can this be overcome
~Business Game Changer Special Promotion~
I believe a common problem faced by new entrepreneurs is giving up on their ideas too early, I say this as I personally experienced times feeling de-motivated if things were not taking off as quick as I had hoped. However perseverance taught me great things take time and patience. While experience has its benefits, in my experience, inexperience did lead to innovation and out of the box thinking.
Entrepreneurship is about taking calculated risks, I think it can be difficult to make a start with not knowing your market and your customer. I have stood outside Asda with my product during the early stages of production and tried to gain custom by sharing a link to my website. By doing this, I got to know where my product fitted and what made Mummys Magic so different from competing brands. Social media also has fantastic benefits,it can be used to spread the word about your product and it is free. I used and still use social media for contacting people, organisations, public figures, celebrities and working with retailers and of course sharing it to any platform I could.
As motivation is difficult, it is not something we humans can generally be consistent with. My personal experience of continuing motivation was to stick to a schedule, do not overwhelm yourself. I did this by writing my ideas down, giving myself a day to get a certain thing done. Once you accomplish the tasks you set yourself, you feel great and it motivates you to keep going!
- What are the most important things to consider before starting your own business
Write a business plan and know your numbers, start small and grow.
Realistically I think writing down your ideas is an excellent first step, and ensuring you want to work with something you are very passionate about as this will help you gain the most ideas possible. We are lucky to have so many online resources in this day and age, you can research online and gain an idea of what you could be doing and be given ideas you did not think of before.
- What is the best way to recruit / hire members of your team? For example, should you recruit based on their attitude or experience
I have not yet recruited members to be part of the Mummys Magic team. We are a family run business and my daughters help massively. My youngest daughter takes care of the TikTok account and makes some brilliant videos, my eldest is great with the social media accounts and our website. My partner helps me with paperwork and it is all really working for us up to now.
- How has the pandemic changed business?
The pandemic was a distressing and strange time, but I have tried to think of the positives that came from it. I did manage to find more time to work on the promotion for Mummys Magic, and the product’s ‘no touch spray’ really suited the current circumstances which I think many of our customers found very useful.
- What is the most important lesson you have learnt as a result of your business? This may also be advice you can offer to budding game changing business professionals.
The most important lesson I have learned through my entrepeneur journey is to not give up. Trying to enjoy the journey, accepting the knock backs as learning experiences and speaking fondly wherever you can about your product is the best thing you can do for your new business.
I would advise any new entreprenur to tell the world about why your business or product is the best out there. Gifting products to influencers and celebrities is a great way to grow business as they may share it with their following if they enjoy using your product. Contacting the newspapers and local press with any news and celebrity following has grown Mummys Magic some followers and sales. Visiting local stores and asking to promote your product in local shops is also excellent. The biggest advice I could offer anybody is to have determination and passion for what you believe in, it does rub off on who you meet and every day is a new opportunity. Always be kind and make friends where you can, you never know who may be able to give you a hand along the way. If I can do this, anyone can!
