Mums on the Go Kick Start Diary – Month 2

What a journey! What a ride! Has it only been a month since we last checked in? Hard to believe how much has happened over the past month…

As I sit to write this post we are about 6 weeks away from a public launch … at least I think we are. We are hitting a few unexpected bumps right now – the joy of starting a business, right?

Will they slow us down? Delay our launch? Only time will tell … we hope not!

We left off last month awaiting news from our designer about integrating some review technology to our site. The good news in our very next meeting with him – this feature will be built into the platform we are using, it turns out we are not the only clients asking for this. It may not be complete when we launch but it won’t be far away.

Where else have we been putting our time and energy?
 

• We have really enjoyed creating and developing our Facebook Fan page external link. We love starting new conversations with our fans; they are the start of the community we wish to build. I giggle when I think of how excited I was the day we found we had fans that neither of us actually know … I felt we had really started to connect
• We have started receiving website enquiries from interstate which tells us our “breadcrumbs” are working
• Thanks to the generosity of a good friend we had 2 intensive Marketing planning sessions. It really helped us to get clear on our core message – “Mums valuing themselves as much as they value their children” and create an action plan to for our launch phase and beyond.
• We never cease to be amazed and the support and generosity we receive from people wanting to help us grow our business – it started with the Kickstart panel (who continue to be fabulous), and has included social media experts, trademark lawyer, established alliance businesses and online advertising experts. We are blessed to receive this support and know the business we are building will be so much bigger and better as a result.
• Nuts and Bolts – really focusing on locking in directory listings, we want at least 200 Sydney businesses listed when we launch. Writing content for the site, drafting policies and researching advertising rates and ways of selling banner spaces. The prototype of the website has been confirmed so the design process has begun. We LOVE the look our designer has created, it is sophisticated and chic. We have some refining to do but we can’t wait to reveal to the world.

I feel that creating this website is a lot like a house renovation. You live in chaos for what seems like an eternity, you often wonder if you are actually making progress, and you wonder if it will ever be finished. Then all of a sudden you put on a coat of paint and the end is in sight and the next thing you know it is complete! I still feel right in the midst of chaos but trust that “coat of paint” feeling is not too far away …

A monthly update would not be complete without some drama, a hurdle to overcome – this month it is all about Trade Marking.

The Kickstart panel was adamant as a group that we needed to trademark our name to protect ourselves. We want to be big so we need to act big now and we need to protect big. We took that on board and committed to trademarking.

I have spent a lot of time this month researching our trademark options. There are other “Yummy Mummy” businesses already trademarked but in distinctly different business types (at least that is what I thought). I navigated my way through IP Australia’s TM Headstart registration to begin the process and submitted the initial stage of our application.

I was shocked and disappointed when we received the call from the Trademark Registrar to advise they would not approve our initial application. Naïve I know but I really never imagined we would not be successful in trademarking our name.

So what does this really mean for us? Basically, we have 3 choices:

1. Still lodge our formal application, receive a formal adverse report and then spend 15month trying to put a case together to fight the result. Time-consuming, costly, and only a small chance of succeeding.

2. Don’t’ pursue trademarking but still continue as Yummy Mummy Guide. Hope that no one ever objects and that nobody ever misuses or name, reputation, etc.

3. Pick a brand new name ASAP that has a better chance of being trademarked.

This has all unfolded over the past few days so I don’t have a clear-cut answer to share with you now. We have received some wonderful support and advice from a Trade Mark lawyer who is helping us navigate this challenge. In the meantime, we have asked our Facebook fans to suggest some ideas for new business names so that we can start exploring that choice. A clear choice will need to be made quickly … the plan is still to launch in 6 weeks!

Neither of us is averse to the choice of rebranding – we see it may be a blessing in disguise. Perhaps we are about to create a name that is SO much better and we will be grateful for this experience. I just wish it wasn’t happening at this stage of the process. Wishing doesn’t get you anywhere though so we need to focus on solving the problems and keeping everything else moving in the meantime.

How will this unfold? I have no idea right now. Let’ see what stories we have to tell a month from now …