Hi, I'm Julie J Long.  Mummy of five and experienced business owner, mumpreneur and accomplished MD.

 

For 15 years I worked in the insurance industry, until the birth of my daugher Olivia in 2004 brought about the realisation that the cost of childcare  for my then four children versus my part time salary just didn't stack up, But I needed to work - we just weren't in a position for me not to contribute to the household income and as such, I was motivated to start my own 'mumpreneur' business. 

 

The business (which specialised in offering pregnancy and mother/baby services) started in Ipswich in 2004 and was intended really to be a local provision, hopefully earning me a small regular salary.  But it grew and grew (as I caught the branding bug and found that I just couldn't help but apply many of the marketing and branding techniques I'd picked up in my former corporate life) and ten years later, when I finally sold the business in April 2014, it was a widely recognised and respected name and nationwide franchise network (indeed international franchise network - one of the last big roles I undertook as founder and MD was in Sydney Australia!).

 

So what next .... Well on finally having some breathing space to reflect on the huge journey the past ten years had taken me on and on discussing with family and friends (who wanted to know just how I'd achieved the success I had), how the heck I'd juggled building such a business presence with five children, I realised that for many years I was working completely alone and feeling isolated.  

 

During that time (and a time when finances were really tight), the one thing I was desperate to find was reliable, self motivated, trustworthy and friendly administration and business support. Someone who could come in and out of my team as I needed them, without hefty employment costs - a face I could trust and rely on, to help me take the strain of an ever expanding work load and/or to help me challenge myself and my plans and potentially see things from a different perspective.  I wanted to 'file storm' and 'brain storm'!

 

Several unsuccessful recruitment campaigns followed and several staff members just didn't work out, before I finally found my own business sherpa.  Her tenacity, enthusiasm and readiness to muck in, get the job done, but also not be afraid to give her thoughts and input and to actually allow herself to feel invested in and responsible for the business (even though her working hours were initially very part time),have motivated me to emulate what she gave to me and to take this out to other business woman in need!  Every business needs someone to lean on but particularly when the business has been designed to supposedly improve and fit around family life!

 

More About The Savvy SherPA

 

Julie Long, the Savvy SherPA, has a wide range of business experience, much at senior manager level.

 

With 15 years experience in the Commerical Insurance field, followed by 10 years creating and building her own International holistic/leisure and training franchise, Julie has an array of skills to support any business.  Over the past 25 years she has worked on a wealth of projects and also gained certification in Customer Care Management and Internal Auditing.  

 

Since 2004 Julie has specialised in the Mother and Baby Industry and  is credited as having creating one of the fastest growing (and award finalist) class and training franchises in the UK, building the company from start-up in Sept 2004 through to having over 150 UK franchisees and International franchisees as far afield as Australia, by the time she sold the company in 2014.

 

Julie has tackled every aspect of business from the ground up -

 

• from registering trade marks through to creating contracts of employment;  

• from year end accounts through to VAT returns;  

• from brand identity through to wide reaching social media campaigns;  

• from copy writing through to SEO content management;  

• from maintaining registers / data bases, through to managing a web site wth over 1m monthly hits;

• from sales and marketing campaigns, through to International franchising;

• She has even launched and run a pop up high street store for 12 months as part of a promo campaign!

 

She has been successful in securing key business partnerships and has authored blog content for retail organisations such as JoJo Maman Bebe (Read a sample here).  She has also regularly contributed to national publicsations such as this article which featured in Practical Parenting here.

 

Julie Long is definitely a 'savvy' business woman but in addition has focused over the past ten years, on peer to peer support and the value of mentoring.  Her experience authoring a peer to peer mentor programme (albeit based around antenatal education), has given her such an insight into tghe importance of peer support and key skills such as active listening.  She is supporting these mentoring and coaching skills by undertaking further relevant study now.