Getting payments from some of my customers during the recession has been difficult, especially as some of them change their payments terms in order to balance their own cashflow. This knock on effect really does put some small business owners in a difficult position.

My priority for the last few months has been cash flow and ensuring that my eye is kept on my costs and overheads. I have shopped around to make sure that I‘ve have got the best deals on things like stationary, business phones, travel and other little overheads that all mount up on a monthly basis if you don’t keep an eye on things. I feel that I’m spending more time ensuring that I don’t get ripped off than actually planning for my business.

Although it is a tough time economically to do business, there is still money to be made. My business miamoo is having its best year despite the fact that I am operating in a niche premium market. My customers Waitrose, Ocado,and Boots.com have been really supportive of me and my brand and I will always remember their support through these tough times, which is more than I can say for the politicians and the government.

Sometimes I feel that the government has no idea what its like for people and thousands like me who have taken a risk to run their own business and that they are totally divorced from the realities we face.

I hear a lot of ‘words’ from the mouths of politicians like, ‘innovation and entrepreneurs are the future’, but I don’t see any concrete measures that they put in place to encourage innovation or support small businesses, for example, I don’t see tax breaks put in place to help businesses get started for the first three years. I don’t see how the government has helped small businesses access finance. This is very worrying as according to David Frost, director general of the BCC, ‘It’s clear that another tough year is in store for the private sector’.

What really annoys me is the bureaucracy that surrounds a government initiative which on the face of it looks like it could benefit a SME. Take for example the hiring of student internships:

‘Thousands of individuals will be able to enrol in internships part-funded by the Government, in a £13.6 million plan to help graduates find work. The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) is working with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to provide internships in small businesses across the country.

According to the Federation, one in five small businesses is keen to take on a graduate intern. John Wright, the National Chairman, commented:

“Graduates on placements in small firms will be able to gain invaluable work experience and develop real skills at a time when the job market is sluggish at best, and small businesses will benefit from the skills of this trained and available workforce. Research shows that one in four graduates are offered full time employment in the business at the end of the placement, so graduate internships are a win-win for both the business and graduate and any support small firms can get to put them in place is very welcome.”

The programmed is part of the Government’s Backing Young Britain campaign, under which £1bn has been pledged to create 150,000 new jobs. The campaign has already seen support from major companies, such as Microsoft, IBM and Tesco.

Now, the scheme has been extended to small businesses. It is administered through

partner universities, who coordinate with local businesses to provide the internships’

Source: www.adviceresourcesfundingdirectory.co.uk

The problem with trying to apply is the amount of paperwork that one has to complete just to make an application. I am not TESCO where there is a HR department full of people making these kinds of applications. I am Saira Khan, small business owner responsible for carrying out all duties, and I cannot afford three days out of my business to gather information to fill out an application form to hire a government assisted student.

I have no idea who I am going to vote for this election, but let me tell you at the moment I do not feel like any of the political parties care or understand the needs of entrepreneurs. I believe that politicians are more comfortable with the unemployed, the public sector and those employed in corporations – but self-employed people I feel are discriminated against in so many ways and the inspiration and motivation from the top for individuals to take a risk and start their own ventures is non-existent.

Next Week I’ll share the details of my trip to an enterprise event in Burnley.

I take it for granted that when it comes to making and saving money, I know more or less what I am doing and talking about.

I was brought up in a household where it was  made very clear, that if you wanted to enjoy a comfortable life you had to have money, and in order to make money you had to work hard for it. My parents were living testament to that theory. They were both immigrants to England and their sole purpose for settling here was to work hard and make a comfortable life for them and their children.

As a young child, I watched my mum every Friday bring a brown envelope home from the factory where she worked. She opened it with the same careful ritual, everyday Friday, at the same time, sitting on the same chair in our house. For my mum, having her own money gave her so much independence. She told me later that it made her feel valued and respected, and importantly she felt equal to my father who was also working. As soon as my mum had analysed the hours and counted the few notes and coins, she would then immediately bring out some envelopes and tuck a note inside each one; gas, electric, mortgage, food, children’s clothes. There was never an envelope that had her name on it. My mum should have been a bank manager, she would have kept people’s savings safe and she would have fought tooth and nail to get it back if anything ever happened to it.

My mum was a great saver and budgeted for everything but I always felt that she never really knew how to enjoy it. Her greatest line was and still is, ‘never spent more than you could afford and always put some away for a rainy day’. I never saw my mother spend her money foolishly or on things that were not practical or worthwhile. Even now her present to everyone is money. She can’t bring herself to buy things that she feels are a ‘waste of money’. To this day, I have never really told my mum how much I spend on clothes, bags, makeup, etc. I think it would give her sleepless nights.

Whilst my mum the master of savings and budgeting, my father was the King of investing and taking risks. For many Asians ‘property’ has always been a ‘safe bet’. He would say to me; ‘everyone needs a roof over their heads’. By the time I was 23 I had my first property in Brighton and by the time I was 27 I owned another one in Chiswick, London.

Anyway, the reason that I have been talking about my parents and how their ways with money instilled in me the benefits of saving and investing, is that I have always thought that everyone’s parents had that basic business sense/acumen which they passed onto their children, or that many young adults nowadays would be quite “savvy” about money or if they weren’t they would try and get help /advise to help them understand their money situation. A phone call last week blew what I had taken for granted away in seconds.

I won’t mention her name because I don’t want her to feel embarrassed in any way, but suffice to say that she was on the X factor and did very well indeed. I actually met her a few months ago at an event and got talking to her. I liked her, she had a great singing voice and was a very pleasant young lady. Last week she called me to get advice, what she really did was tell me in not so many words, “I feel like I have been used, I’ve been given no direction about what I can do now,  I don’t have anyone around me to give me sensible business advice and I am learning by making mistakes and these mistakes are costing me money and I don’t have much left now, please can you help.”

I remember meeting a celebrity from Big Brother and she told me that through her public appearances she had made over a million pounds and was absolutely petrified about having it and losing it all. She said that she lay awake thinking about what she should do with it and didn’t really know who to turn to for business advice.

The girl from the X factor told me that she had made a lot of money from doing the Xfactor tour and it was the most money she had ever made in her life. She said she liked looking at her bank statement for the first time in her life and at the age of 21 she felt good. But, what she had not accounted for was the fact that on top of that she would pay income tax of 40%. However, I wish I had been around to point her in the direction of a good accountant who would have advised her on more tax efficient ways of saving and investing her money. She was now in a situation with very little money, no agent or professional giving her advice or support and no singing work, despite the fact that she has a great voice and is talented. Her naivety upset me, but it also woke me up to the fact that having knowledge about personal finance is fundamental for all young people. They should have the knowledge and confidence to be able to handle money and know exactly who to turn to for advice and help.

I feel that any reality show that promises to change a person’s life should also have the moral obligation to help the contestants to cope with becoming responsible for large amounts of money and giving them a support structure of people that they can turn to for financial advice. Surely, by doing this it will give the production respect and longevity because it not only invests in the winners but gives those that don’t make it to the top 2 a chance to change their lives with the money that they make. If I were Simon Cowell, I would not focus on what the winner’s think of me, but what those who did not win are saying to their friends and families and to the wider community they belong to about their X factor experience. I like Simon Cowell a lot, but I do feel that sometimes he forgets to see the financial /social vulnerability of some of the youngsters who display extraordinary talents. It is not responsible to just say, “that’s life, just get on with it!”

Moral obligations and values have been divorced from business for a long time and for me it is this that will have negative implications on our future generations. I like making money and yes I enjoy the lifestyle that having money brings, but I don’t like to make money  at any cost, for example by exploiting others  for my own personal gain or by using them and leaving them when I have got what I want from them. I would not be here today if I had not had some great people who believed in me and have been there to give advice, listen and generally offer some of their time to help me plan and generate opportunities, it a great feeling when someone does that and its even a better feeling when you can then offer the same to someone else. I find that in business what goes around comes around.

My husband Steve and I have been doing this every year for the last 10 years. We sit down with a piece of paper and write down what we want to achieve and prioritise together. We have come through some really hard times together and I put a lot of it down to the fact that we have been working towards the same goals in life.

In 2007 our priority was to start a family, despite all the odds we managed it and little Zac was born in 2008. In 2008 Our priority was to move to Oxford and buy a bigger house – despite the recession and falling house prices we sold two of our houses and bought a fabulous house in Oxford in June 2009.

Our main priority this year is to grow both our businesses. For miamoo it means getting some investment to help us grow and fulfil an exciting and lucrative export contract with a French distributor and to grow the Waitrose business, currently we are in 22 selected Waitrose stores, ideally we want to be in 150.

So for me the year kicks off talking about money at a time when it seems no one wants to part with it or very little is available. But this doesn’t put me off, everything that I have ever wanted in life I have had to work for against all the odds – I have never had anything handed over to me –I’m used to battling it out for what I want and you know unless you really fight for what you want one can’t really appreciate its true value or get a real sense of achievement and satisfaction.

I have a meeting with some various lending bodies, first there is my bank, then I am going to see a venture capitalist and finally there is the option of some family and friends putting the money in. I am going to explore all the options and will let you know which one I decide to take and why.

It’s very exciting but at the same time very scary for me because I was brought up not to borrow money and to spend within your means. That’s ok on a personal level, i.e when relating it to a housekeeping budget, but you can’t take that approach when running a business, especially if you are a growing one. My business mentor, Kevin, has promised to hold my hand throughout the whole process so I am feeling a lot more confident in myself.

This year is the year I focus on finance and ensuring that my business plan is robust and on track to make miamoo one of this year’s SME success stories. Since the launch of miamoo my business plan has adapted with the times so much so that it bears little resemblance to what it was 4 years ago.

I totally underestimated the growth of the business and have grown a lot faster than I had imagined/forecasted. I refer to my  business plan a lot. It’s not just a document that you create and then file away, it is my bible, it keeps me focussed on the bottom line and gives me direction of where I should prioritise my activities.

As well as running my business I also have to manage my media career and it looks like I am going to have a great year for making some very interesting programmes.

My performance on Celebrity Mastermind over Christmas was not the best thing I have done on TV, although it was a lot of fun. The general knowledge round threw me completely, it was the first question John Humphries fired at me, ‘what does P.A.Y.E. stand for on a payslip?’ My mind just went blank – …. ‘Pay As You Earn,’ said Mr Humphries, with a little chuckle to himself.

I screwed my eyes and then failed to answer that ‘Kiwis’ is the term given to people who come from New Zealand and not Australia! Overall, it was an experience that I enjoyed and I am really glad that I did it – I got a respectable 16 points. Alistair Stewart won the show with an astounding 26 points. But I can redeem myself by saying, it was for charity and at least I had ago – but there is no excuse for being an airhead sometimes is there?

Saira’s website: click here

Miamoo: click here

My mum came down from Nottingham to help look after him. He loves his Nanny and I love seeing them together. During the week Zac is with Nuha, my amazing childminder, so I never really worry about him.

But, like any mother, there are times when I wish I could spend more time with him and I start to feel a little guilty.

I get asked by lots of women whether I feel bad about working and leaving Zac with a childminder, and my immediate and honest answer is NO.

I work for the following reasons:

• It gives me self respect and worth
• It allows me to be financially independent
• It allows me to meet new people and develop my network
• It helps me to think creatively and add value to society
• It demonstrates to my son that women are more than just dinner ladies and cleaners at home
• It gives me the chance to better myself and live the life I want

I worked so hard to get my education and overcome so many obstacles to get the career and life I want that it would be unthinkable to throw all that hard work away because I have had a baby. I do believe that women can work, be great mums, look fab and be financially independent. It may not be for all women, and believe me there are times when I wish I could just stay at home and catch up with my ironing and bake some cakes instead of going to yet another networking meeting or spending another six solid hours infront of the PC trying to get people to buy my products. But I have a dream and I am not going to rest until it has been realised. I want my little boy to grow up and be proud that his mum ran her own business but also had time to cook him fresh meals everyday, iron all his clothes and had time to play with him and read him a bedtime story. He may not always say she looked glamorous, but hey we all have to have some weaknesses!

People often ask me what makes a successful business person, it’s so easy to come out with all the clichés, but for me its about the person that you are more than your product or your service. During my years as a corporate sales manager, there was one consistent message in my training, ‘people buy people’, and I believe in that wholeheartedly. All my sales training revolved around ‘personal development’ rather than ‘selling the product’. I was taught about self awareness, how to listen, speak, engage, empathise with others, how to recognise a buying signal, skills in learning how to visualise, prioritise, how to give and take feedback and the list goes on and on. It takes a lot skill to be a successful person and it takes a lot more skill to be a person that others like and want to do business with.

You may be thinking that this all sounds like you’ve got to pretend to be someone else and every time you want to impress you have to turn on the skills – actually that’s not the case, a lot of personal development is about being aware of your own behaviours and of others, but also recognising that the things you are naturally good at you keep doing, and the things you are not so great at you learn to change, and keep practising until you feel that it becomes second nature. Personal development is more about the impact you have on others and recognising the need to change the negative traits in order to become more effective and successful in reaching your goals.

I am surprised at how little ‘personal growth and development’ is high on people’s agenda – they don’t actually realise that in many cases, the more dynamic, respected and well rounded you are the more likely you are to achieve your goals and objectives and the more likely you are for others to buy into you, champion you or to put you front of mind. I guess wanting to be a better person, or do things better, takes more energy and some just can’t be bothered and take the attitude ‘like it or lump it’.

I’ve always been fascinated with people and how they behave and have been interested in knowing/finding out what people think about me – there are times when I have said, ‘I don’t care what others think’, but really I do care and I use that phrase as a front to protect myself from harsh comments and opinions. My personal development journey is still ongoing. Whilst I display some great traits, I also possess some that others don’t find attractive, like being outspoken, driven and competitive, loud and excitable and confident. Coming from an Asian community, all the negative traits I describe are actually seen as signs of success, but I am learning to be flexible and adaptable so that I can do business successfully no matter who my customer is or in which community I am doing business in. In today’s global economy, it pays to be insightful of others and yourself.

Some of you may be thinking, what has all this got to do with business and her journey as a start-up. Well the answer is that it is all inextricably linked. I am my business, and my success will depend on how I talk to people, how I influence and motivate them, how I sell myself to them, how proactive I am, how high my standards are and how I get people to believe in my vision and help me to achieve it. I cannot make my dreams come true alone, I need others to help me and therefore I need to make sure that with every person that I meet I give them the best of me. Not everyone is going to like the best of me, so I grow a thick skin and carry on and I try and learn from the knockbacks. Over the years I have grown a thick skin. The knock backs I have had have at times been hard to take, but I can honestly say that in most cases they have fired me up to do better and prove others wrong. The best thing ever to happen to me was to come runner up on The Apprentice.

Last week I had a meeting with a French Distributor and the deal was all based on whether I was someone that they could do business with. We didn’t discuss margins, figures, products, quantities or anything else commercial. It was purely a meeting based on the person behind the business. I am happy to say that it was a great meeting and despite the fact I could not speak French I managed to communicate effectively enough for them to say that they will work with me. I will tell you more about this business deal in my forthcoming columns, but suffice to say, 2009 has been a great year for miamoo.

Finally, before I go, in my earlier columns I mentioned that I had taken my warehouse to task at the amount of money I was being charged for storage – well it does pay to be assertive and challenge things that you believe are wrong – my warehousing bill every month is £60 rather than £296. Now that’s what I call a saving! Merry Christmas and a very happy and prosperous New Year to you all.

Saira’s website: click here

Miamoo: click here

Here are some self help / business books I highly recommend -

• Steven Covey: The 10 habits of highly effective people
• Robert T. Kiyosaki: Rich Dad, Poor Dad
• Deirdre Bounds: Fulfilled
• Emma Wimhurst: Boom
• Dee Blick: Marketing on a Shoestring

In my life, I have always had to make the decisions that I feel are right for me and this has often meant that I have gone against cultural norms, gender expectations, religious teachings and corporate competencies.

When I look back to see how I started out in life and where I have ended up, my natural conclusion is ,’I know what is best for me, I haven’t done that badly on the decisions that I’ve made, so I must be doing something right.’

Throughout my life journey so far, I have asked very few people for help and guidance. Partly because I feel I can make a judgement better than they can – you see it’s that arrogance and over confidence again.

Over the last few months it has been my business life that has helped me to become more humble in my approach and learn to trust and respect other people’s experience and opinions.

If a year ago someone had suggested I get a business mentor, I would have laughed and criticised them behind their back for suggesting that I – of all people – should need someone else telling me how I should be running my business! Please.

I felt ‘Business Angels, Advisors and Mentors’ were the new buzz words for entrepreneurs and a little like tweeting and Facebook, it felt like you just had to have one for the sake of it.

I mean how many entrepreneurs or successful businesses do you know who state: ‘I could not have done it without my business mentor?’ I may be cynical, but you know what I mean don’t you?

I met millionaire businessman Neil Warnock whilst filming Beat the Boss last year and instantly liked and respected him. I got talking about Miamoo and my vision for the next 5 years and after listening to me he said, ‘you have to meet my mate Kevin, he’s fantastic, he knows your market inside out, you have to meet him, I’ll get him to contact you.’

Normally, my reaction would have been, yeah, yeah, whatever, but there was something about Neil and the way he talked to me that made me think, Ok, I will have a chat with Kevin and I will make an effort to take him seriously.

Sure enough, true to his word Neil introduced Kevin to me and after a few email exchanges we decided to meet. I wanted him to give me an insight into the baby market and also to cast his eye over my business and share his thoughts on how he felt I was doing.

When I first saw Kevin, I wasn’t sure what to make of him, he was dressed casually and for some reason I thought he might be flash, but he wasn’t, instead he was an extremely smart successful entrepreneur.

Kevin gave me his honest opinion of Miamoo, in short, ‘a great product, it needs to get it into the hands of more mums and it needs to be made more accessible to buy.’ I know this isn’t rocket science, but the most important thing that Kevin said to me was: ‘I know how and I will help you.’

I left that meeting a different person, for the first time in 3 years I felt that someone had given me some honest feedback but also helped me with solutions and given me insight into real opportunities to take my business to another level. I was elated.

I got back home and seized the opportunity to formally ask Kevin to be my business mentor, CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? I never thought I would ask for anyone to be my mentor, but it happened.

He agreed and ever since that time Kevin and I have been constantly texting, emailing and meeting. It’s great being able to bounce ideas off someone else. For a long time I have felt quite lonely making all the decisions and not knowing if they were always the right ones.

With his guidance over the last few months, I have saved money on my warehousing, I have changed the way I buy my product from the manufacturer and I have opened up new distribution channels.

Next week, I have a meeting with a distributor that could mean a huge export deal for Miamoo. It’s unbelievable and I must confess I could not have achieved all this by myself. Whilst I have my strengths, I have had to admit my limitations and swallowed my pride to take direction and orders from Kevin – he has proved himself and I am not one to argue with success.

I cannot imagine running Miamoo without Kevin’s guidance. My advice to anyone else out there who may feel they are stuck in a rut or just need someone to cast their eye over a business plan, is to go and seek out a business mentor. My tops tips for choosing someone would be as follows:

* Choose someone who is a success in your line of business.
* Make sure you like them and get on with them
* Be prepared for honest feedback and willingness to take direction
* Talk to your mentor regularly
* Be prepared to put in the hard work if you need to make changes to your business.

Don’t be fooled into thinking that a business mentor will solve all your problems, or they take all the hard work off your hands. At the end of the day the business belongs to you and you have to still run it on a daily basis. Your mentor is not there to blame if things go wrong, nor are they there as investors or to borrow money from. They should be there to provide guidance and give feedback – it is up to you to decide what you do with that.

I want to THANK Neil Warnock for introducing Kevin to me and I want to thank Kevin for being my guardian angel and for believing in my business and giving me his time. I hope one day I can repay all your kindness and make you proud of me as a businesswoman.

Saira’s website: click here

Miamoo: click here

Do you run your own business? Could your business, like Saira, benefit from mentoring from an award winning female entrepreneur? Enter our RBS competition on the home page and win business mentoring for a year.

My old boss, Lord  Sugar, commented that some small business owners are ‘moaners’.  Before, I start my rant, I have to say that I am really fond of Lord Sugar and I respect the fact that he is a self made man and is one of this country’s true business icons.  But I find it a pity that when people have made their ‘millions’ they tend to forget those early days when they had to compete against the bigger brands, had to work all the hours and keep a track of every penny, be committed and passionate about their product/service when others around them were filled with doubt,  and sometimes were in difficult financial situations because customers did not pay on time and therefore putting a strain on their cash flow.

I can really understand why small business people do moan. I am a really positive and confident person, but let me tell you sometimes I feel that no matter how hard you work and how great your product is, one feels that the system is against you.

As a small business I have to compete on every level with multinationals who spend millions on PR, marketing, promotions, sampling and TV campaigns. In order to run a promotion with supermarkets, you have to pay for the privilege of running the promotion. In most cases this is around £1,000 and then on top of that you have to offer a high discount giving the retailer a bigger margin! Excuse me for moaning.

But, I do agree with Lord Sugar. I think business programmes like Dragons’ Den and The Apprentice have made business ‘sexy’ and some people enter it for all the wrong reasons expecting to be given money by the banks hand over fist.

I believe that you have to prove your business potential first before running to the banks. You have to prove that there is a market for your products,  you have a growing customer base and that your product/service has a unique selling point and that you have invested your own money to get the business started – that’s where I completely agree with the business Czar – Lord Sugar.

Sometimes, when I am in business mode, I get caught up in the ‘how much money have I made today’ mantra and whilst the bottom line is key, there is more to me than making money for money’s sake.

This week I was asked to host three charity events, all of which made me grateful for the things I have. My first event was to talk to law students at Greenwich University during Skills Week (pictured). I had to take time out of my business and travel from Oxford to Greenwich which was a 2.5 hr journey. I was expecting to speak to about 100 students , but my heart sank when only about 15 turned up. The lecturers were a little embarrassed and I felt disappointed. Part of me just wanted to get it over and done with, but then my caring and sensitive side kicked in and I thought, ‘these kids have made the effort to come and hear you speak, don’t let them down’.

It turned out to be one of the best speaking engagements I have ever done. As I launched into my talk about my background, the obstacles that I had overcome and my experience on The Apprentice, I could see all eyes were on me – they were keen to learn, listen and ask questions. I would have employed any one of  them. They were the ones that could be bothered to learn from someone else.

The students were from a mixture of backgrounds and from their feedback I felt that I had really made a difference to them that day. There was one girl who really melted my heart. She was a young Muslim girl blind but full of enthusiasm, self belief and confidence. She inspired me without even realising it.

On my way home, one of the students came running up to me and said, ‘can I walk with you to the train station?’ I agreed and as we walked and talked I learnt about his background. He was a Muslim boy, who was fighting cultural obstacles to achieve his ambition to be a children’s author. He told me how he was working hard to study, keep down a part-time job whilst writing in his spare time. He was saving up to get his work edited professionally. I admired his determination, his vision and above all his work hard ethic. He wasn’t moaning, he was getting on with it. We can all learn valuable lessons from young people.

My other two engagements in the week were charity events, one was a ladies lunch in Glasgow for Action Medical Research, a children’s health charity which funds research projects to help save the lives of children. The second was lunch for 250 people in Nottingham for the Macmillan fund.

When I recorded Celebrity Mastermind last week John Humphries asked me on the spot, ‘how much money would you like to make?. I couldn’t think of a number so I just said £50 million. I felt a bit crude saying it just like that, but after meeting the people this week and hearing their stories I did not feel ashamed that I was driven to make money in the pursuit to help others  gain confidence in their lives and go on to recognise and realise their potential.

Saira’s website: click here

Miamoo: click here

Please click onto my little movies that show who I’ve met this week and what I have been up to:

Above: Women’s Enterprise Day at the Extraordinary Entrepreneurs Evening (click here for more information).

With that came a whole load of PR opportunities, interviews, radio chats, local TV. After that came the BNP debate which meant appearances on GMTV and writing my opinions for The Sun. I was then asked to do a double page spread for The Mirror about what I am doing right now. Finally Celebrity Mastermind, and I was grilled by John Humphries on my specialist choosen subject, “the life and works of Coco Chanel” – this will be shown during Christmas and New Year on BBC1. I adore John Humphries and listen to Radio 4 every morning – it just sets me up for the day.

I sometimes have a real dilemma about PR. It’s great when I get to showcase my business and products, for it is that kind of PR that leads to sales and distribution. However, I also make TV programmes and am a social commentator and talk about difficult and sensitive issues like racism and whether the veil should be banned on British streets. As a business person I am in danger of polarising my customers, who if they don’t agree with what I have said about an issue or like one of my TV programmes could actually decide that they will not buy my products.

This issue really does play on my mind and I am always asking myself the question, what will my customers think about what I have to say? Will my customers approve of this programme? Will it put them off buying miamoo? I find it very difficult to separate who I am and what my values are from my business. The business world that we operate in now isn’t just about the product and how much it costs; customers want to know – who is the face of the brand? What does that person do and think? Who is that person associated with? What are their views on certain subjects?

The relationship the customer wants with a product/service is an intimate one where they choose to buy the product/service which compliments their own values and aspirations. I think the only person who managed to successfully link her business to her cause was Anita Roddick of the Bodyshop. Every bit of PR that she did resulted in the growth of the Bodyshop Empire and her customers loved her for it.

I don’t think every business out there needs to have a cause, but I do and that is to ban the use of nasty chemicals like sodium lauryl suphate and parabens in baby skincare products. I am appalled at what big manufacturers are putting in their products and then using terms like “natural” “gentle” and “organic” and taking advantage of parents who don’t understand the back of labels as they’re written in a format that only a qualified chemist could make sense of. I am not scared to take on the big boys, but I need my customers to support me and demand change, it is only when a million people have signed a petition that anyone in power actually takes any notice.

So in order to get people to support my cause I have set up a campaign on Facebook called KISS campaign, I also have a blog which is accessed via www.miamoo.co.uk, and on twitter I tweet about what I am up to and what miamoo is doing. I am not an expert on social media, but I am quickly finding out the power of tweeting and blogging and I hope that through these mediums I can build up my customer base but also raise awareness about the nasty chemicals people should avoid putting on their baby’s skin.

I know that this is a long term objective and that I am not going to get over a million signatures overnight, but you have to start somewhere and be patient. In my experience the only thing that gives a campaign a chance of success and that is passion and I have plenty of that, so watch this space and I will update you on the campaign’s success and share with you some of my experiences on running a campaign.

One of the biggest lessons that I am learning about running my business is that one can’t afford to sit still, there’s always someone to call, a press release to write, some research to be done, some ideas to think about – it really is 24 / 7. There are days when all I have done from 9.00am until 5.30pm is sit in front of the PC and tap away without taking a break. That’s the reality of running a small business and once you decide to do it, there is no short cutting the process.

I love getting your letters and here’s one I want to share with you:

“Hi, just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed reading the article about you in The Mail on Sunday’s Enterprise Zone. In particular your thoughts / wording on past business experience mirrors exactly what I have done. I sometimes wonder who I was trying to impress (myself or others?). As I continue in my own business I view the past as a very valuable rehearsal – the best is yet to come. Good luck, regards, Margaret.”

Saira’s website: click here

Miamoo: click here

My Little Black Book of Contacts

I have some amazing business contacts that predominantly cater for small /medium sized businesses, so I thought it would be helpful to recommend their products and services to you. Every week I will focus on a specific sector. This week it’s Public Relations experts:

Caroline Fosbury: caroline@fosburypr.com

Mary Jones: mary@maryjonespr.co.uk

Elizabeth Ayto: Elizabeth@mediaambitions.com

Books: Powerful Marketing on a Shoestring Budget by Dee Blick

The journey so far has been intense and whilst I have learnt a lot about the business world and myself, I have also realised that I am very capable of making some mistakes which have resulted in throwing money down the drain.

When one makes a mistake, one doesn’t really know immediately that they have made one, it’s only a few days, weeks, months or even years later when the mistake catches up with you that it could be catastrophic. My biggest mistake so far has been to take my eye off my business and delegating the day to operations of my business to others, BIG MISTAKE.

Let me put myself into context here, for the last 5 years, I have been working successfully to develop a media career and this has paid me very well and has enabled me to invest over £100k into my business miamoo. I don’t have any bank loans and I have not sought venture capital. When times were good and money was coming in I did not hesitate to find some help to alleviate me of some of the day to day duties of managing my business, i.e account management, mailing out of orders, contact with customers etc. Although I kept up to date on matters, I did completely take a back seat and put my head in the sand thinking that everything was fine and as long as we were getting accounts to buy from us we were growing and things were fine – WRONG!!!

One of my bosses once said to me “Saira, no one will be as passionate about your business as YOU and you should be talk to every customer, every account manager and be completely breathing, living and wearing your brand 24 hours a day – no one can replace your passion, energy and stamina”. These were wise words and I have no idea why I did not heed to them.

This week I have taken control of my business and started to do what I am best at getting involved and making things happen.

I ‘d taken my eyes off the ball so much that I found out that my distribution warehouses who despatch my products to my customers were overcharging me by spreading my products over 30 pallets when the whole stock could have fitted on 3. They have been charging me over £200 per month for storage only when I should have been paying about £13 per month. I am not an expert in warehousing and I have no idea what fits on a pallet and how they should be stacked, so I relied on what seemed a professional company to advise me to the best of their ability on how to store my products in a cost effective manner. Instead, they took the opportunity to take advantage of my lack of experience and knowledge and it’s only when a friend of mine had a look at the costs that he pointed out that I was being taken advantage of.

My advice to others from this experience is question anything that feels wrong and get a second opinion. Just because a company looks professional and has a corporate image it does not always mean that you can trust their intentions. There are still businesses out there who only care and focus on profit without respect to ethics, moral obligation, customer service and professional responsibility or conduct. Before trusting anyone to do business with, check out their values, ask lots of questions get a second opinion and let your solicitor check any contract prior to signing.

I will keep you updated on how my warehouse matter progresses – I have asked for a refund and a total examination of the way my products are stored – I could save myself over £200 per month – that’s a lot of money!

It sounds very glamorous to say that you have your own business and you have your own product range, but behind the scenes it’s not glamorous at all. If you have a start up business then everything has to be done by YOURSELF and you do have to become a complete control freak in the early years. You are the business. There is no quick fix solution it’s about rolling your sleeves up and dealing with it all, customers, suppliers, vat returns, marketing, press releases, shows, exhibitions and the list goes on. Watch every penny and spend it wisely – do not give it away to people promising you marketing, pr advertising unless they can prove and guarantee that the money you spend will generate sales and will cover the cost of the advert. The only areas where I have spent money is on my internet site www.miamoo.co.uk and on creating my branding. I have felt this was money well spent.

Saira’s website: click here

Miamoo: click here

My Little Black Book of Contacts

I have some amazing business contacts that predominantly cater for small /medium sized businesses, so I thought it would be helpful to recommend their products and services to you. Every week I will focus on a specific sector. This week it’s professional services:

Branding Experts: www.dinnisdesign.com (ask for Rachael Dinnis)

Ecommerce and Internet Marketing: www.pushgroup.co.uk (ask for Steven Hyde)

Accountants and Bookkeeping: www.hazlemsfenton.com (ask for Len Siskind)

Solicitor: Suzanne.dibble@hotmail.co.uk. Specialises in commercial law.

Secretarial Services: www.newdawnadventures.co.uk (ask for Verna)

HR Services: www.londonhrpartnership.co.uk (ask for Frances Graham)

Logistics and Warehousing: www.jadelogistics.co.uk (ask for Richard Gill)

After the show I got my own BBC children’s business show “Beat The Boss” and managed to present some amazing programmes, I wrote a book published by Random House called P.U.S.H. For Success and I set up my own business www.miamoo.co.uk formulating and selling natural skincare products for delicate skin which are now distributed via John Lewis, Waitrose , Boots.com and Ocado. It’s been an amazing five years.

But I think I have to make some things very clear – just because I appeared on The Apprentice I didn’t wake up to people knocking on the door and offering me amazing jobs, my phone was ringing every five minutes from top companies offering me unbelievable opportunities and I didn’t become a business expert overnight just because I appeared on a business reality show.

Before appearing on The Apprentice I had gained a BA (Hons Degree) and an MA. I started my career as a Town Planner and did this for 5 years before deciding on a career change and dived head first into the commercial world. I worked in the biscuit market, as well as putting on a few pounds, I also progressed quickly in sales and within 2 years was managing my own team of sales people in Central London. I realised that I was born to sell and loved the psychology of it and giving customers the best service. It was all this that stood me in good stead for The Apprentice, my performance wasn’t a fluke or down to good editing, I did have some actual skill.

I love working, thinking and learning and setting up my own business has given me the chance to do all the above everyday. It’s been such hard work, harder than I ever imagined it would be and harder than what anyone advised it would be.

Since 2006 when I launched miamoo I have been working 16 hours a day to keep all the plates spinning and let me tell you, if you want to be a successful entrepreneur and you don’t have the privilege of a rich mummy or daddy or access to unlimited funds then the reality is that the first 5 years are going to be HARD WORK and like me you may have to keep a main job going to fund your business in the early years.

I’ve learnt so much about myself and about business since launching miamoo and whilst I’ve had some success I’ve also made some horrendous mistakes which has cost me financially. It’s this real life business experience that I would like to share with you in my column.

You see I haven’t made it yet, I’m on the journey to making it and I want to share that with you in real time. I’ve read so many biographies of millionaires and billionaires but I just can’t seem to relate to them – they were operating in a different time, under different rules without google, facebook, tweets and a whole host of other social networking mediums, they didn’t have to care for the environment nor did they have as much competition on a global scale as we business entrepreneurs do today and finally as a working mum I have a whole host of other issues to consider. So join me on a weekly basis to see how I get on with my start up business and also gain an insight into my life as a working mumtrepreneur!

So after all that I hope you logon every week to read my column, you never know you might learn something.

Saira’s website: click here

Miamoo: click here

Follow Saira on Twitter: @IamSairaKhan

Above: With Mother and Baby editors rimi Atwal and Mirander Levi

The Old Boys network has withered on the vine, and these days the jobs are increasingly for the girls.

So I’m not surprised to find the two finalists in TV’s The Apprentice are female. We don’t need Sir Alan Sugar to tell us that women rule the roost at home and in the workplace.

The facts are black and white – girls do better at school than boys; more women than men are getting degrees; and women are filling job vacancies far faster than men.

Small wonder, then, that according to The Economist – the bible of free market capitalism – women are becoming the most important factor in the global marketplace, not just as workers, but as consumers, entrepreneurs, managers and investors.

How have we become the Mistresses of the Universe? The simple truth is women are multi-taskers and work harder than men. This makes us far more productive and efficient.

Not only that, but women are in touch with their emotions, making us far better at people skills and therefore building the teams that are the bedrock of business success.

You don’t need to be a captain of industry to see this. Take my mother as an example.

For more than ten years, she’d wake every day at 5am at our home in Long Eaton, Derbyshire, make sandwiches for four children and a husband, walk five miles to work in a factory, finish at 5.30pm, come home and cook dinner, clean, wash, iron, and go to bed at 10pm.

At weekends, she did the food shopping and caught up on the chores.

Mum made all the key decisions about what we ate, wore and did.

Dad’s routine, by contrast, was less hectic. He’d get up, drive to work, get back at 5.30pm, have his dinner served up, then head upstairs where he’d find his shirts ironed and the bed made. I don’t think I ever saw him do the washing up.

I love my father to bits, and he certainly wasn’t a chauvinist – his behaviour was typical of his generation. But even as a girl, I remember thinking: ‘Men have it so easy.’ And as I’ve grown up and entered the workplace, I’ve seen nothing to change that opinion.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not a braburning feminist. I believe people should be rewarded on their merit and performance – gender should not even come into the equation.

But in reality, women know that while we may, indeed, work far harder than men, if we want to break through the glass ceiling we have to use a secret weapon: our seductive charms. Michelle, one of the finalists in The Apprentice, is a great example of that. She charmed her way into the final by seducing three men in a shamelessly girly way, wrapping her core of steel in a kittenish exterior.

Good on her, I say. Sometimes a girl just has to do what a girl has to do.

When I applied for The Apprentice, I took off my engagement ring and didn’t mention I was planning a wedding. I wanted to be judged on my ability, not my personal life.

I didn’t want Sir Alan to think: ‘Well, what’s the point of giving her the job . . . she’s 34, she’s getting married and she’ll want babies. She’ll be a bad investment.’ No amount of sexual equality legislation will shift those preconceptions. And it’s not just male bigotry.

Female managers are just as bad – eyeing up potential recruits to see if their personal life will diminish their professional commitment.

The result? Women work harder to prove themselves. That’s as true for the contestants in The Apprentice as it is in real life. And it works.

In our desperation to compete and to overcome barriers, we become the high achievers. Discrimination breeds determination.

That’s not to condone old-fashioned attitudes. I’ve never understood why assertive women are labelled aggressive, hard-nosed dragons, while tough men are called strong leaders and given a pat on the back.

And why is it that when a woman is promoted, the knee-jerk response of male colleagues is to wonder if she’s sleeping with the boss?

Perhaps it’s because those attitudes still prevail that increasing numbers of women are turning their backs on big business and setting up on their own as entrepreneurs.

They’re not always household names (businessmen are far more interested in self-promotion) but goodness, they’ve worked hard for their success: women such as Christian Rucker of the White Company and Chey Garland, a former secretary who owns one of Britain’s biggest call centre companies with a turnover of £28 million a year.

I’ve thrived under a female boss.

Women do things differently: they can be sacking an employee one minute and the next be putting their arm around your shoulder because your cat has died. Both situations require an intuitive understanding men simply aren’t equipped with.

Many men might be feeling threatened by all this: women in the boardroom, women winning The Apprentice . . . how long before Sir Alan fires himself and a woman takes his place?

Don’t panic, chaps. Take a look at our figures (no, not those ones, you Neanderthal). Statistics have shown the more women who succeed at work, the better it will be for the economy. And surely that’s good news – whatever sex you are.

Saira’s website: click here

Miamoo: click here