The Story behind Mothers & Shakers: Digital Spark for Brands, Bloggers, Entrepreneurs

The story of Mothers and Shakers (we call ourselves MaSh) begins more than a year and a half ago, when I had a ‘lightbulb moment’.

After spotting my friend Vicki’s Twitter profile where she described herself as a ‘mother and a shaker’, I sent the following in an email to her that I actually titled ‘Lightbulb’:

‘My idea came when I was looking at your Twitter profile the other day and thought – Yes! That’s it. Mothers and Shakers! I was thinking about creating a network of creative mothers who are into all sorts of enterprising activities (so not just mum bloggers) and who are making things happen or who want to make their dreams come alive.’

And here’s what I wrote in one of our follow-up exchanges:

‘I’ve been chatting with another mum about the fact that with the whole blogging thing, the real gap is reaching those who actually don’t know what a blog is or how to start one, and doing outreach events for them. But then it hit me that actually we all have multiple skills/talents outside just blogging (or mothering, for that matter!) that could be beneficial to others.’

Building a Dream

Later that month, after some further discussion with Penny who I’d been collaborating with on developing the Lazy Daisy blog (an opportunity that came to us both through Vicki), I sent an invitation to my ‘dream team’.

That initial email is filled with some pretty ambitious ideas (some of which I still hope we can achieve) but the core of what became our start-up enterprise was this:

‘We offer our team expertise for small biz and brands looking for a social media element… targeted and approachable for young brands and mumpreneurs starting out.’

The feedback I got was instant and (almost) unanimous in their desire to be involved. I’m sharing this story because it’s personal and emotional for me: to start with a SPARK of an idea, swallow your doubts to share your vision, and then watch it take shape into something that has already made people say ‘wow’.

Cool. Creative. Connected.

Mothers & Shakers as it has evolved and been fine-tuned over the past year is a concept and a dream that belongs to every one of the outstanding ladies in MaSh. We are all committed and passionate about what we do and how what we know might benefit others.

This is at the heart of what we stand for:

We believe in the power of online connections to transform lives and businesses.

Blogging has changed my life. It sounds grandiose on some level, but the opportunities I’ve had, the growing confidence in my vision and voice and most of all, the people I’ve met through blogging, have made a lasting impact on the person that I am today.

I tell almost everyone I know to start a blog, although I know blogging isn’t for everyone. However, one thing I do believe is that it’s our connections that make us succeed in life and the fastest way you can find the largest group of people who ‘get you’ (online marketers call this your ‘tribe’) is online.

I count myself extremely lucky to be part of this collective of cool, creative and connected women, who also understand the realities of being a mother while going after your goals.

Mothers and Shakers is a bold experiment in social media and I’m so excited about our services and where this adventure will take us.

It’s been amazing working with our designer Amee d’Souza (also a mother, definitely a shaker), who went above and beyond to understand our aims and objectives and is absolutely part of our journey so far. She created that gorgeous MaSh lightbulb in our logo, not knowing just how meaningful the symbol was to me.

To all you creative visionaries and start-ups, enterprising bloggers and emerging brands, MaSh is here and we’re ready to help you kick things to the next level.

Here’s to your lightbulb moment.

Check out www.mothersandshakers.net to find out more about our services for small business, bloggers and creative entrepreneurs

Contact Mash at contact@mothersandshakers.net to enquire about our rates and packages