The making of MumPod

Ros and Sarah are fizzing with excitement as their business has truly taken off. Ros, formerly a lead midwife specialising in infant feeding in the NHS, and Sarah, who left her corporate career, have now launched their own purpose-led business.

“It wasn’t long after I set out that I realised I was an entrepreneur. It’s what I was meant to be doing; it’s where I belong,” recalls Ros.

She talks with equal amounts of passion, conviction and reflection.

The mastermind of MumPod, a purpose-built space to support breastfeeding parents with privacy and comfort, Ros describes what she remembers as her first ‘made-it’ moment.

“I literally got a heart-flip when I physically saw the MumPod for the first time in a big hospital in Nottingham. I hugged it! I was overwhelmed. As a former midwife, seeing it outside the maternity services department, it felt like I’d come full circle. There it was, my dream: from a scribble on paper to being here and now. It was now really a product.”

Before MumPods came along, breast-feeding mothers only had makeshift spaces in offices, or worse, toilet cubicles to use when feeding or expressing – that was Sarah’s observation when, as a new mum, she first met Ros. Seeing the MumPod come to life, creating a haven for mothers and babies, was a dream come true. “It was a huge step forward and why we have been so committed to Mumpod, through all the challenges and wins!” says Sarah.

While research by Xero found a significant portion of British small business owners don’t notice or celebrate milestones, the polar opposite is true for these two.

“We celebrate everything. When you’re a micro-business and getting to the wins is slow-going, every single thing is important. Receive a new sales enquiry email? The fizz comes out!”

The research found that small businesses who do value celebrating their success enjoy not only an all-important morale boost, they also find it improves motivation and reminds them why they started the business.

Ros and Sarah’s approach is helping their business to grow and thrive. From strategically applying for (and winning) awards across a range of sectors to ensuring their presence and celebrations are noticed on LinkedIn, their commitment to where they see the business going and how they plan to get there is unwavering.

The first four years of MumPod have been about carefully lining up the chess pieces, to the point where they’re now poised for growth.

To get there, they’ve immersed themselves in the details of everything in the business, from the careful design and aesthetics of the MumPod, meticulously managing the supply chain, and keeping a close eye on their cash flow in Xero.

They credit their accountant as a key support, along with the ability to dive into Xero and easily assess how things are tracking before making decisions that affect the business.

“Xero is well-suited to our entrepreneurial mindset. It allows us to look at the business in the way we want to, even though we don’t have accounting brains.”

Mumpod just hired their first intern to support the business’s growth path. This milestone – realising “someone chose us as the company they want to work for” – she describes as another ‘made-it’ moment for the business.

Now Ros and Sarah have their sights set on another made-it moment: on the horizon is a new and game-changing client, bringing in significant business that will be a tipping point for the business. “When we get there, the celebration is going to be huge!”

Their advice to other small business owners is to recognise even the small wins. “It doesn't matter how small, mark it – if you feel happy about a conversation you’ve just had, that’s a reason to celebrate.”

Download Xero's report: Small business made-it moments and why celebrating them is important.