One of the most frequent questions I am asked about my blog is, ‘how do I make money from The London Mummy?’ The simple answer is, I don’t! Many blogs sell advertising space (I don’t have time to get my act together at the moment to do this – hopefully 2016 is my year), use affiliate marketing (generally only the big companies enable this so you lose your authenticity as you only include the large established companies) or do sponsored posts (where you are basically paid to write about something). My aim is to only ever include items, people and places that I genuinely love. I want a central place to showcase all the amazing business’s and products that are new to the market and support people who are making their way.
However, (always a however) in order to write an authentic post, I do have to have some sort of experience of the product, service or place so I often include topics that I have used (or would like to use), that have been directly recommended to me (I love hearing about new things – please send me any ideas) The same stands for new products. Occasionally however, one of the bonus’s is, I am sometimes gifted a few items… A recent arrival was a beautiful gift box hand delivered by the lovely Sophie from The Bird Box. She arrived with a stylish and generous package, packed with 2 scented candles, body wash, body cream and children’s body wash. It was such a treat as it is not something that I would usually buy myself. I can genuinely say that they are the most gorgeous products and I am so excited for Sophie’s little business.
Sophie has a great story of how she came to start The Bird Box.
“Firstly as a singleton, then as a wife and mother, I enjoyed living in London for 12 years before playing “musical chairs” with my family home. My husband and I decided to decamp from London to Berkshire. Unconvinced, we moved back to London before finally deciding country life did actually suit us better, so we moved back to Berkshire again! (Sigh… and breath!!!) I finally feel settled and happy here in Berkshire with my lovely husband, two gorgeous children and my two smelly dogs.”
It was whilst she was pregnant with her daughter Cece that she had the desire to set up a beauty and lifestyle retreat called “The Bird Box” in converted stables at the end of their driveway. Unfortunately gaining planning permission was slightly trickier than anticipated, but she still believed in The Bird Box idea. So undeterred, she decided to focus on the home and beauty aspects and set about developing her products.
“I have always been a very creative person and have always been hugely passionate about the quality of the products I use, so it was only natural for me to create my own candles, scents and beauty products, thus The Bird Box was born.”
It’s her mission to create beautiful, original, artisan products of the highest quality that you’d want to buy for yourself and not just for friends (because as women we too often put ourselves last on the list, don’t we?). And it is a bit of a girl thing – over 95% of all candles are bought by women!
With this in mind, she wanted to give something back. Having a daughter massively changed her personally and her outlook on life. She felt so blessed and fortunate to be a woman born into western society.
“We take for granted so many everyday choices and rights; like simply getting an education or choosing who we are going to marry. An enormous amount of women all over the world do not have these rights, and as a citizen of the world I want to help these women in any way I can. With this in mind, I choose to donate 5% of all my profits to PLAN International’s “I am a girl” campaign. I know it’s only a token gesture, but I believe if we all make a little effort to support each other then great things can happen!”
As for her future, Sophie has lots of exciting plans and aspirations for The Bird Box. She is currently balancing being a mummy to a very young family and being an entrepreneur. She has determination and a belief that she will get to where she wants to be – it may just take her a little longer – but no doubt it will be sweeter for it!
Sophie’s Favourites
Hotel : The Witchery, Edinburgh
Restaurant : Novikov (The best California rolls EVER!)
Shop : Daunt Books, Marylebone Hight Street
Website : TED talks
Holiday destination : Seaview, The Isle of Wight
Parenting Tip : “Smile lots at your children and make sure they see you smile”
www.thebirdbox.com
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