Marie Friend and Yvette Owen

Marie's Story

"I had a 6 year old daughter and a 6 month old son. I had returned back to retail management on a part time basis and still hated every minute of every working day just like I had the day I started this job 7 years ago!

I think you reach a point in your life when you realized that life is too short to be wasting working hours on something that doesn't fulfil you and doesn't tap into any of your potential. It's a cliché but it's true.

To that end I decided that enough was enough and left to pursue a career in voice over work. I was much more of a creative person and this I enjoyed and was good at. I managed to get the voice over business just up and running when Yvette told me about an article she had read that inspired her.

By this point we had realized we both had a burning passion/hobby with photography and had done a photo shoot with our girls. Unbeknown to me this was Yvette's plan to see if I got the same buzz out of it as she did; I thought we were just having a bit of fun with our hobby. As it turned out we were both buzzing with ideas about photography, the passion was there, the enthusiasm, the sheer love of it all enthralled us both.

It was then that Yvette asked me if I'd be interested in trying out this idea of a business. I agreed although I thought it might just be an extension of our hobby. Little did I know that 'kids being kids' would not only take over the voice over work I was doing but surpass both our expectations.

So here we are nearly 2 years down the line with our own studio and a great business doing what we love and what we're best at - photography.

There's been so many moving moments throughout our journey that have almost reduced us to tears - like when we were putting all our work on the walls of our studio, we both felt an enormous sense of pride, it has been a hard slog to get her. Or like last week when I fell out of a tree trying to get a good angle on a photo shoot – that almost moved me to tears!

There are so many stories to tell, too many hurdles to mention but we're here, still developing our ideas every day, still with a long way to go. But we love it, we did it by ourselves and we still pinch ourselves when were out in the woods in the sun or on a beautiful autumn day on a photo shoot thinking 'what better way to spend your working day'?

Kids being Kids is still a long way from where we want it to be but we are really proud of where we have already got to. It takes guts, determination and heartache, and be ready for the bad times as well as the good. But nothing compares to being fulfilled in what you do."

Yvette's story

"I read an article in a magazine about a girl who went on a framing course and set up a business as a children's photographer and sold the framed pictures. I have tried several different businesses in the past none of which had worked out and I when I saw the article I was inspired and I kept it for months.

I kept looking at it but I didn't do anything, I think I was afraid of failing again but a part of me just wanted to go for it. I think sometimes when you have children you loose a part of yourself and perhaps some of your confidence. I had left my job in a publishing company to go and study fashion at college when I got pregnant and then had 18 months off spending time at home with my new born baby boy and 4 year old girl and I loved it but when it came to go back to work I found myself applying for jobs as sales assistants - I still don't know why but I just didn't think I could do anything else.

I ended up working for a clothes chain with a close friend Marie who lived in the same village and had children the same age (now boys aged 3 and girls aged 7) and we both hated every minute of it. Marie had been a manager at Toys r Us and after being off with her new baby I realised that her mindset was the same as mine. We would spent our evening shifts together thinking of business ideas that would make us lots of money and fit in around our children!

Then one day I asked Marie what she thought about the idea of setting up a children's photography business. We both took photos of our own children as a hobby and she had the same style as me and she said yes. Neither of us have any formal training, just a good eye and a passion for photography. Our approach was that we could take the pictures and if the clients liked them they would buy them and if the didn't like them they could just leave with no obligation. We put all our savings into the business and took no wages for the first 6 months or so in order to avoid getting a loan.

We started off working out of the boot of our cars and driving to and from clients' houses with samples, which was really difficult. We do all our shoots outside in parks, forest and people's back gardens, which makes us unique.

We now have our own studio set in the beautiful Frodsham Park. The great thing about having your own business is that you can make your own hours and rather than our children making it difficult for us to start a business they were the start of it. What started out as a hobby we loved has turned into a successful business and our children have been instrumental in that success.

Our own kids are on our web site, in our portfolio, on the walls of our studio and regularly used in our advertising. We have now had the opportunity to do some courses and summer schools and we attend fairs and events wherever we can.

My advice to any budding mumpreneurs? If you have a passion then go for it! Sometimes people overlook their hobbies but if you think about it hobbies are the ideal starting point. Marie and I have had so many moments when we had no money in the bank and no clients in the book but then a week later it has turned around - that's what it's like in the first 12 months.

Neither of us ever doubted that we would get there and doing it together has made the journey that much more enjoyable."

Check out Marie and Yvette's website www.kidsbeingkids.co.uk for samples of their work.

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