Make £40,000 a year from baby feet?

publication date: Oct 23, 2009

Hi,

I've never been a fan of forums . . .

They tend to be populated with people who - how can I say this politely - seem to have a lot of time on their hands! At worse, they are populated by negative no-hopers who get a kick from dominating forums and bullying other members with smartarse comments.

So you can imagine my unease when I found out that Heloise - my wife and business partner - was spending a LOT of time on a forum called www.mumsnet.com

Now, if the name seems familiar, it's because they were the forum Gordon Brown had an online chat with last week. You may also recall that his refusal to name his favourite biscuit caused headlines.

Hmmm, so much for penetrating political debate! To be fair to both Gordon and Mumsnet, the logistics of submitting and responding to questions in real time is never going to produce a naturalistic exchange. Not least from a politician!

And just last night, Heloise was picking up tweets (messages from people using the twitter.com service) from members of the Question Time audience. Journalists were twittering about BNP leader Nick Griffin's performance as a neo-Nazi buffoon! Mumsnet members alerted other members to the tweets and this was hours before the programme was actually broadcast!

Just think how this kind of instant feedback and distribution of news and views could impact the media, politics and business . . .

I'm actually a bit frightened of Mumsnet. The people who contribute to the forums are often extremely intelligent, switched-on and articulate. I mean, just think of all those mums who may have had very high-powered jobs on maternity leave - combine that with fiercely protective maternal instincts and you have a huge and highly motivated membership!

On the positive side, it shows the power of bringing together a group of people with shared interests. As the founders of mumsnet proudly claim on the site, their aim is 'To make parents' lives easier by pooling knowledge and experience.'

Take a look at the site. I have to admit it is brilliantly put together. They have created the must go to destination for mums seeking advice and reassurance.

From an entrepreneurial point of view, you'll find reviews and recommendations of everything from children's books to organic food. Now with over 1 million visitors a month you can imagine the potential for sales! And just think about all those stay at home mums who want to earn an extra income. Do you think they would be interested in finding proven ways to make money from home?

And with that in mind, it brings me very neatly to today's business opportunity.

As you probably know, it's tricky to find biz opps that are really different nowadays - opportunities that aren't some kind of done-to-death plan that everyone's selling. But I think Mark Hempshell - my chief business opportunity researcher - has found one that has a lot of potential! It's called Babyprints and it's really worth a closer look. So over to Mark who'll tell you all about it ....


Whoever heard of making £30,000 - £40,000 a year from baby feet?

If you've got kids, grandkids or any small children in the family you'll know they don't stay small for long. And it's nice to have mementoes of them as they grow up. Photographs are fine of course, but they're a bit limited and won't last forever. This is a clever, really original business that allows you to offer an exciting, novel product to a massive marketplace of new parents.

Babyprints offer a service casting baby hands and feet. Not only preserving them for posterity but framing them and turning them into a really unique gift product. You can see exactly what it's all about, with examples of their work, here

The business is suitable for running from home. You could go mobile, travelling out to your customers. It would also be good for 'piggybacking' onto any existing small business that brings you into contact with parents of young children.

One thing I like about this opportunity is that it started as a 'real life' idea. That's generally a good sign for any biz opp. Back in 2000, Lynsey Hart gave birth to her son Jack. She wanted to treasure and record every moment of his progress. She made impressions of his hands and feet and created a special box frame for them. They were quite a talking point amongst family and friends and before long Lynsey was making keepsakes for them too.

Rather than return to her job in the City, Lynsey decided that Babyprints would be an easier way to earn money and balance a lifestyle where she could spend extra time with the family. After starting out with two-dimensional hand and foot prints the trademarked three-dimensional Babyprints were launched in 2002.

Actually, although casts and imprints of baby hands and feet are the core product, Babyprints also do family cast and imprint collections including foot and hand statues in cold metal for older children and adults too. They are also able to offer pet paw prints .... I think there could be a lot of mileage in this. There are a range of framing options, so your finished product is not just a 'raw' cast, but a nicely presented memento or gift too. Or the cast can be turned into a statue. Babyprints are marketed as gifts for grandparents, aunties and uncles, godparents, father's day/mother's day, birthdays and christenings, Christmas and so on.

I won't actually go into the technical process of how the casts are made. Save to say I'm assured it's all perfectly safe and very quick! Things have moved on from when, as an eight year old, I dipped my sister's feet into a margarine tub of plaster of Paris. As far as I can tell, the skills you need to do this can be easily learned. You don't need any technical knowledge, or to be particularly artistic.

I've grilled Colin Hart, Director of Babyprints, to put a few cash figures to this opportunity. He tells me that you need about £2,500 for working capital and marketing. On prices you could charge for this type of product, the solid cast range costs from £70 for a pair of feet, £80 for a pair of hands or a double box frame giving both hands and feet from £140. Impressions start from £65 for a pair of feet and from £110 for both hands and feet. They also have a range of freestanding statues ranging from £45 to £350. Colin tells me that within 3-5 years, if you have done the background work, an annual income of £30,000-£40,000 ought to be possible.

Babyprints have packaged up their proven system into a franchise opportunity. Their franchise package includes an exclusive sales territory, a detailed training manual and ongoing training, ongoing support and advice, a starter pack of materials and tools, guidance on suppliers and products and, very importantly, marketing support. Their franchise package currently costs £15,000 plus VAT.

What I Like About Babyprints ....

First off, it's a really original idea. That makes a refreshing change from some of the old, worn out ideas out there. It's something that is easy to do, interesting and that you can work from home. It's something that is really going to capture the imagination of your potential customers too. Very importantly it's a way you can create a high value product from a relatively low cost base.

Incidentally, Colin says that franchisees pull in their business from local and national advertising, and display boards in maternity wings and nurseries and so on. But I think this would work well if pitched to grandparents. They're more likely to appreciate the value in this sort of product, and have the cash for it, compared to young parents who have a million and one other demands on their time and money.

And The Cons ....

To be honest, there's really not a lot I don't like about Babyprints. Although I think it's fair to say that you're really going to need to like children to make a success of this. As well as needing a fair bit of patience .... I can imagine moulding the hands and feet of tiny tots being a little bit temper-testing at times. Babyprints promote their package as being ideal for stay-at-home mums (and dads) and I think that's a very sensible piece of advice.

Also, this is a fairly high-end proposition. Not everyone can afford to buy this sort of product. That said, running costs are low and you can work from home meaning you wouldn't need to sell all that many casts in a month to make it pay.

Lastly, you need to bear in mind that a good dose of marketing will be needed. As I said it's a newish, very novel product. Most people will never have heard of it. So you'll need to put a fair bit of effort into getting your business known and making the sale.

At the end of the day of course there's very little to stop anybody just getting the equipment and setting up doing their own casting or prints. But I really do like the way Colin and Lynsey have packaged this up into a very snazzy, professional franchise package. By doing it this way it would very probably be easier to sell your products - and I imagine you could charge more for them - compared to going it alone. Either way, it's fair to say the Babyprints concept has made a positive impression on me!

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Thanks very much to Mark!

Remember, if you have any business opportunity packages you'd like us to review do send me details. I'll pick out the most interesting ones and set Mark to work on investigating them for us.

Have a great weekend

Nick