The Invisible Revolution

Join the empowered Mumpreneurs: Inspiration, insights & practical advice to build a business you love

Nicola Huelin

• Publisher: Practical Inspiration Publishing
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781910056615
• eBook ISBN: 9781910056769
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Entrepreneurship
• Index: Business

Without question, this book is for you if you're a mum who wants to build a successful business around the family life you love.
Written especially for mums by Nicola Huelin, a mum and award-winning business coach and mentor, The Invisible Revolution is an inspirational and practical handbook bringing you precious insights, inspiration and real-world advice on how to start, grow and sustain a successful business – without compromising your quality of family life, health or sanity. Discover the 14 Pillars of Empowered Success every mum in business needs. Join Nicola and a whole host of incredibly successful Mumpreneurs to discover how the women of the Invisible Revolution are carving out a new blueprint for business, achieving a new definition of success and creating a world-changing legacy for their children.
Learn what it really takes to turn your dream business into reality.
"Nicola has written the essential handbook that every Mumpreneur should read. Inspiring, insightful and packed full of strategies to help us all achieve our dreams." Jo Davison, founder of Blue Cow Global
"These real-life stories straight from the heart inspire mums everywhere." Dame Mary Perkins, Co-founder of Specsavers,
"I believe reading this book will give you the courage to begin… and the courage to succeed." Lucy Piper, Presenter
" The Invisible Revolution is a truly inspiring read - full of practical tools, resources, insight and examples to help you on your Mumpreneur journey." Lucy Griffin-Stiff, founder of Starting Conversations
About the Author Nicola Huelin is a multi-award winning business coach and mentor, founder of Mpower for mums in business, inspirational speaker and author with over 20 years' experience in combining business success with family life. www.mpower.global

What is the Invisible Revolution?

So what exactly is this Invisible Revolution?

After my golden ribbon moment on the train, I handed in my notice and essentially put an end to my main-breadwinning salary.

For what...? A business that had no money, no clients and nobody had ever heard of...not even me! A business that didn’t even exist yet!

Many called me crazy – a few, bravely to my face! And they had a point - none of it made sense, to others, or on paper (especially my bank statements!). Even though I was completely terrified - I just knew in my heart of hearts it was what I needed to do if I was going to continue having a life that felt as successful on the inside as it appeared on the outside.

The ‘right thing to do’ is often the hardest thing to do - I learnt a lot of lessons the hard way. The first lesson I was going to learn is just how lonely it can feel when you start out as a mum in business. Thankfully, technology evolved over the years and with the birth of platforms such as Facebook, things would begin to become more visible...

I was not alone!

Meet Emily Thorpe...

For more than 20 years, Emily had a highly successful career as an air traffic controller, even for a long time after having her boys, Jakey and Fin. The reality is, and I know Emily will back me on this, controlling a gazillion different aircraft all in flight is probably easier, more predictable and less mind-blowing than managing all of the logistics and emotions that come into play when we become a parent!

Having mastered what it takes, Emily embarked on a mission to rid the world of mummy-guilt and working-mums overwhelm.

She initially built her Happy Working Mum coaching business on the side before closing one door on everything she knew and was so good at for the last 20 years, and taking a leap of faith to open a new door and fully embrace all of the opportunities that opened up to her becoming an award-winning coach, published author and professional speaker.

Now Emily may have been amongst the first amazing mums in business I met, but she certainly wasn’t the last...

I want to share what I have learnt over the past 15 years about this Invisible Revolution – what it looks like and what these women have taught me about the power of the invisible to change lives and transform the future...

Meet Sarah Parkman...

A little girl aged six, Sarah was digging with her father in the back garden when she unearthed a beautiful, red, faceted stone from an antique brooch that would ignite a deep life-long passion for precious stones and jewellery.

At 19, Sarah was recognised for her passion and potential as a jewellery designer and was even offered funding to further her talents. Sadly, a lack of confidence held her back. She would work a different job for the next 20 years, until the arrival of a young family and the passing of her beloved father stirred a new-found courage within her to finally follow her passion.

Her father was a plumber - she was Miss Plumb. Today, she is ‘Made by Plumb’ and living her dream as an inspirational jewellery designer and silversmith.

Sarah’s hand-crafted creations are worn by those (including stars such as one of the UK’s most famous dancers of her generation, Darcey Bussell) who want to wear a meaningful and symbolic piece of jewellery, often to remind them of an inspirational message.

Meet Ruth Oshikanlu...

After five months laying in a hospital bed, fearful of losing her baby, Ruth brought her son Joshua into the world a brave, new, single mother.

She also courageously stepped out of her 24-year-long award-winning career in the NHS to go it alone and build a private practice as a Pregnancy Mindset Expert and founder of Tune In To Your Baby. Ruth’s book, events, online programmes and private coaching empower other women to enjoy the fear-free pregnancies they deserve.

Ruth was the one who taught me the wonderful saying from her home country of Nigeria that ‘it takes a village to raise a child’ - she and Joshua are surrounded by an incredible family and support network. To this she adds that, in her journey to becoming a multi-award winning expert, published author and professional speaker, it has actually taken a village to raise the mother who can raise her child and grow her business at the same time.

Meet Gayle Berry...

As a new mum leaving her highly successful city career as a solicitor, Gayle and her baby girl, Emily, discovered the power of touch for mothers and babies to bond and infants to thrive. She found her calling and began training baby massage teachers all over the world.

Over 15 years, her successful business, Blossom & Berry, grew organically as did her happy family of three children. Today, Gayle is one of the leading UK baby massage experts. She brings the power of love and connection to other parts of the world, including some of the world’s poorest countries such as Malawi, where, through her Love Support Unite charity work, Gayle helps bring food and the power of healing touch to those who need it most in orphanages and mother and baby projects.

Sometimes the Invisible Revolution spans multiple generations.

Meet Gouri Kubair...

Gouri is third generation of the family that pioneered essential oils in India.

Gouri is mum to Neha and Ashwin. In 2013, despite fears around the financial impact and how it would be perceived within her culture, she chose to step away from her successful career as an auditor in one of the Big Four consultancies to join the family business.

Now heading up the EU marketing and distribution for Holy Lama Natural Products, which include Spice Drops, natural extracts for spicing food, raved about by Nigella Lawson, and an award-winning supplier to Ocado and major UK retailer, Sainsbury, Gouri successfully juggles running the business with family life.

All of the essential oils and extracts are made by Gouri’s family back in India, in a business started by her pioneering grandfather over 20 years ago. Over 80% of the workforce in the factory is female, women from disadvantaged backgrounds whose lives and those of their families have, in turn, been transformed through this work opportunity. Three incredible generations of inter-continental, life-transforming business.

Now these are just a few of the faces of the Invisible Revolution.

There are millions of us all over the world!

Let’s explore...

I’ve discovered there are three stages to the Invisible Revolution:

The three stages of the Invisible Revolution

It begins with stage one which I call the Inner Revolution. This is where a woman (like Sarah and Emily), finds the courage to connect with what is most important and live the life she ‘really’ wants to live.

As more and more women win their own invisible ‘Inner Revolution’ they emerge and converge, in stage two, the Collective Revolution. Here, women (like Ruth) understand the power of the collective - where connections and collaboration build confidence and the capacity to make things happen.

Finally, as all these women make things happen over time (like Gayle and Gouri), they are contributing to stage three, the Universal Revolution, where their actions are creating a positive ripple effect far beyond the boundaries of their own business.

Why so invisible?

The ironic thing is, this incredible three-part revolution remains invisible to most. Why is that?

Blind to the real value

Firstly, I understand that some people can only see and believe in something if it’s quantified. So, let me help - how about these numbers…

In just 12 months, these Mumpreneurs made 7.2 billion pounds and created over 200k new jobs in the UK alone²! And this is only the beginning - these incredible figures are set to increase exponentially until at least 2025, potentially adding a whopping 60 billion to the UK economy, not to mention the same trend that is happening in countries around the world. How incredible is that!

But it’s really about so much more than just money...

Remember, all of these women also have children - they are the rocks during those critical formative years in these young people’s lives.

As mothers, we create the most influential learning and development zone - teaching our children through example, not just rhetoric, about self-belief, creativity, resilience, purpose-led living and new-world business life and business skills. We help mould these young people into who they will become and how they in turn will live their lives.

And critically, in the wider landscape, above and beyond each family unit, everything we do is contributing to a universal positive ripple effect that spans generations and time:

• helping to level the playing field for gender diversity and create more equal opportunities

• helping women to escape domestic abuse and poverty

• re-igniting a lost sense of community in the western world

• creating a new legacy for future generations

The impact of these things cannot be quantified, because its value is priceless!

Blind to our own brilliance

Secondly, the Invisible Revolution can be invisible to even those who are part of it.

I know from personal experience how good women are at not seeing their own value. We’re quick to forget, dismiss and delete our achievements. We feel awkward blowing our own trumpets, even admitting to ourselves how good we are feels somehow big headed, arrogant and uncomfortable!

We become so good at brushing off compliments, putting ourselves down and somehow feeling more comfortable behind a mask of false-modesty.

Why is that?

Why do we do that?

Why can’t we see our own brilliance, when we’re so good at seeing it in others?

Why can we not even enjoy how it feels to recognise our achievements and value, when we are so good at helping other people celebrate theirs?

When we become a mother, for the first time in our life we truly understand what it means to love somebody else more than anything or anyone - more than ourselves. We would sacrifice our life for them. Our children, their happiness and their wellbeing, become the centre of our world.

For a good number of years, it becomes all about them. We put them first. We watch them grow. We see all of their achievements. We celebrate all that they do, no matter how seemingly small. We put our time and energy into building their confidence and sense of self. We want them to know just how wonderful they are and to be proud of who they are and all they are learning and achieving.

Somehow during this transformational process of becoming a mother, through this natural shift of making it all about our children’s happiness and wellbeing, we can lose a sense of who we are - we forget to factor ourselves into the equation. It can almost begin to feel unacceptable or selfish to paint ourselves into the foreground of the big picture.

It no longer feels natural to be at the centre of our own lives, let alone put ourselves at the centre of something bigger than us.

We get great at just getting on with things behind the scenes, playing our supporting role so brilliantly you almost wouldn’t know how much we do. Like the swan that glides effortlessly across the pond carrying her young nestled on her back, in her folded wings. Nobody sees how hard she is working below the surface to move forward against the current. And it’s not just about her busy schedule. Nobody sees or understands the inner work she is having to do, in order to make it happen.

It’s all part of nature, it’s what we do - and so instinctively we just get on and do what needs to be done. We don’t see ourselves as doing anything special or remarkable.

So, why would we possibly think about sharing our story, or believing we have anything to say that would inspire or help anyone else? Especially when there are still a million miles between where we feel we ‘should be’. Especially when we feel like everyone else is making it look so easy and we convince ourselves that we must be the only ones finding this challenging.

We are often blind to our own value, we can’t see it ourselves, only others can. It is a gift if we are surrounded by the right people who reflect our value back at us - they are helping us to remember who we are and how far we have come and all that we do, above and beyond the balance sheet of our business.

In this big pool of life, if you’re head down swimming with all your might, it’s understandable that you and all the other frantic swimmers don’t see or sense the power and force of the wave that is building beneath you.

I’m blessed in the work that I do to have been riding this wave for a long time now, and I see its growing force and movement through all the women diving in and joining.

Though we don’t all yet see or understand the impact of this wave which is yet to reach its full potential, it is coming - believe me, it is coming!

Mumpreneur: Mum in business or jam maker?

Sometimes things are invisible because of the perception of others.

How do you feel about being called a ‘Mum in business’ or ‘Mumpreneur’? Does it really make a difference when a woman combines entrepreneurship with raising a family? Do these titles feel like a condescending label or a badge of honour?

When I first became an entrepreneur, I must admit, the whole ‘Mum’ label was one I avoided. This was largely a hangover from my corporate days. It wasn’t really the ‘done thing’ to talk about loving anything as much or more than your job. We were all expensive cogs in a corporate machine and weren’t there to be anything else. It was almost seen as a weakness if you were too family orientated – that it might make you a weaker link in the chain, somehow less professional, less serious, less committed, less reliable, less predictable and certainly less likely to be promoted.

I know for a fact that there’s still a lot of judgement in the business world too - many people in business, including other women, see mums as being less serious about their business success.

I remember sitting having coffee with one very successful business woman who helped me see just how invisible the invisible can be...

I was excited to meet this founder of a great network of female entrepreneurs and we certainly seemed to have a lot in common on paper. I sat listening with a genuine curiosity and interest in how this lady had started and grown a fabulous network and the work she did supporting female entrepreneurs.

After a while, I told her how great it was to learn more about what she did, particularly as I did something very similar supporting female entrepreneurs, more specifically supporting mums in business.

‘Ah yes,’ she said, ‘I’ve had a look at the women on your website’ - a dismissive air coming across the table - ‘bunch of jam makers really!’

Well...what could I say? I was speechless.

Surely, I must have misunderstood? She clearly couldn’t have been talking about the women I knew - women who are tal...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Acknowledgments
• Contents
• Foreword
• Introduction
• Section 1 - The Invisible Revolution
• Section 2 - The Inner Revolution: Finding your wings
• Section 3 - The Collective Revolution: Making it happen
• Section 4 - The Universal Revolution: Transforming the future
• Let the journey begin…