Money Date With Mama Love Collective
/Every Friday I recommend having a money date…with a mimosa. Hence the name of my blog, Money & Mimosas. Your money date is your special time to review your finances, reflect on your goals, and celebrate your wins. Feel free to do it alone or with your money buddy. If you’d like a step-by-step guide for your money date, click here to download your free checklist.
I usually like to treat myself during my money date and visit a restaurant that inspires me to elevate my lifestyle. Since we’re all experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic, I’ve been doing my dates at home while daydreaming of my favorite restaurants. Here is me at one of my fave spots in Lake Tahoe in California- Lone Eagle Grill. I love their pineapple mimosas and incredible views.
The Mama Love Collective in New Zealand
For this money date, I’m featuring a fellow small business owner. Becs is the founder of Mama Love Collective based in New Zealand. She’s a mom and launched her company with one simple wish- to find a way to bless other mums with the same love and kindness she received during her own times of struggle.
In honor of Mother’s Day, I reached out to Becs to share her entrepreneurial journey and advice to other women in business. Keep reading to learn from Becs incredible wisdom.
Meet Becs, the founder of Mama Love Collective
How did being a mother inspire me to create my business?
Motherhood has inspired so many things for me. I have to be honest, I had a terrible start! I suffered severe antenatal depression with my first child, and then again with my second, plus postnatal depression as well. Just because that wasn’t enough to deal with I also had to battle hyperemesis gravidarum (severe morning sickness). By the time I was a mother of two I was a regular in our regional maternal psychiatric ward, and regular hospital due to constant dehydration!
Mental illness has pretty much had the rule over most of my life as a mum, so in the last year or two as I started to really make progress and grow within myself I knew I wanted to use my experience to make a difference to other mums.
Mama Love Collective as a business was born from the desire to gift practical care packages to mothers who are struggling with their mental health and well-being. Things that are beautiful, but also helpful - think gratitude journals, essential oils, inspiring art, beautiful jewelry etc. Basically I had this plan to give back and I needed a way to fund it. The business is very very new, I only launched two weeks ago, and it’s probably the worst time to ever start a business (at the start of a recession and a huge spike in unemployment) but I felt committed to it, and I’m passionate about it, so here I am giving it everything I’ve got. While most business-type people would think that giving away my profits so early in the piece is madness, giving is why I started Mama Love Collective in the first place. So, 20% of the retail profit (after tax and payment fees) from every online sale goes directly towards funding gifted care packages, and when our local markets are back up and running, and I am able to sell directly to the public, 50% of all market sales (after-tax) will also go directly towards funding the gifted care packages.
Mama Love Collective’s four signature blends to support restorative sleep, relaxation, anxiety management, and a balanced mood.
What advice would you give to another woman who is thinking about elevating her side-hustle to a full-time business?
Just go for it! Mama Love Collective isn’t a full-time business yet, but that has always been in my vision. I have set myself a goal to be shipping internationally within my first year of business which will be a huge step in the right direction, and while I don’t know whether that timeline is still realistic with the current COVID-19 situation, it’s still something I’m aiming for.
I believe that if you have the passion and the drive, and you are truly following your heart with a business venture, there is no reason why any woman can’t be incredibly successful. Women, and especially mothers, are extremely resourceful, and we should make use of that!
Can you describe your company's process for sourcing ethically-made products?
I have put a huge amount of research into the products I stock, and that is really an ongoing going process. There are some key things that are important to me, that I will no compromise on:
1. All of my products must come from NZ owned and operated businesses. From local mums who create beautiful things from clothing and fabric they collected at thrift shops, to my printer, to the large packaging company I source my boxes from. They are all right here in our own national economy. Even if the products themselves come from overseas, they come through a NZ business. I don’t import anything myself.
2. Wherever it is humanly possible I use environmentally friendly products and processes. So cardboard and paper packaging, compostable courier bags, printers who use environmentally friendly inks. It’s something that is very important to me.
3. I don’t stock or source any products that are produced or manufactured unethically. Currently my biggest commitment to this applies to my essential oil blends. I have done the research and seen the evidence, and the way in which the oils are sourced and produced ensures the safety and sustainability of not only the environment, but also of the farms, families, and communities from where the crops are sourced.
Learn more about Becs and her dream company by visiting Mama Love Collective.
About Money & Mimosas: Money & Mimosas was started as a passion project by Danetha. A former NFL cheerleader turned entrepreneur, she started blogging as a way to combine all of her passions into a career. Money & Mimosas is now enjoyed by readers in over fifty countries with the same dream of achieving financial freedom without living frugally.
