Maternity leave can mean different things to different people with regards to how that time is spent. What is certain is that your maternity leave with your first child is likely to be different from subsequent maternity leave.

My maternity leave with my first child was brief (5.5 months) and it flew past, but most of that time was spent bonding with my baby, feeding my baby, catching up on housework, photographing my baby and meeting up with other mums and their babies for lunch.

By the time I took maternity leave for a second time I had decided to start my own consultancy business so much of that maternity leave was spent setting that up and looking after a toddler and newborn.

Maternity leave the third and fourth time were again different. As a self-employed person maternity leave is fairly non-existent as you can’t really stop. Of course there are still the other things that need to happen as well.

As much as it would be nice to sit back, relax and just lunch and coo at your baby all day that isn’t really how life works and that is just fine with me as I’m not really a sit down and relax person. I certainly don’t think my bond with my babies had been adversely affected by my need to keep going, in fact it makes the time more special and also keeps my brain well engaged.

I recently interviewed a Mumpreneur about her own juggle with work and motherhood. Read on to find out more:

Please introduce yourself…
My name is Claire, I am 30 and a hard working mother of two. My daughter is 3 and my son is 20 weeks old. I live with my partner in a quiet village in North Warwickshire and juggle family life with a full time job when I’m not on maternity leave!

Tell us a bit about the business
My partner and I started Macresco with the aim to supply a detox, wellbeing and fitness tea range. After taking considerable time researching and sourcing ingredients, we feel we have captured the very best blends to maximise their intended goals and deliver a delicious and unique taste to match. Our range includes the following:

Detox Tea: Packed full of goodness to compliment healthy eating plans and aid weight loss.

Sweet Dreams: Infused with ingredients to help you drift naturally to sleep.

Energise Tea: Ideal for rejuvenating your body and giving you an extra boost without the caffeine.

Forever Young: This tea is full of antioxidants, rich in vitamin C and fortified with nettle and rosehip to promote a clear complexion and restore your natural glow.    

Why did you decide to start the business?
Leading up to my maternity leave I was thinking of ideas to possibly start a new venture with the long term goal of hopefully working from home. I was left pondering what am I passionate about? Where do I think I could add value to a market or product? I love herbal teas, and whilst pregnant I was beginning to miss out on my fitness regime. So I set about researching more about teas, what I could do differently in a niche market and I fell in love with the idea of being able to create my own blends. I worked in conjunction with a worldwide Tea Merchant on my ideas for each brew and set about creating a diverse range. We worked on different infusions and flavours until I found a distinct unique blend I feel had a great taste as well as health supplementing benefits.

What has been the hardest part of your business?
Originally it was knowing where to start with the research into our blends, to ensure we got the right balance for health benefit without losing the distinct flavours.  Now however it’s simply time! Having worked full time until my maternity leave and juggling life with a vivacious young child and 20 week old baby in tow, I think I underestimated just how much work goes into starting up a small business. The background work and creating long lasting partnerships with suppliers is challenging but enjoyable. I am balancing my time and working late into the night to build my brand but it’s definitely worth the hard work!

What has been the most rewarding part?
Only being open for a short while I would have to say interacting with our customers over social media, discovering people are interested in our brand and our teas and receiving positive feedback is very rewarding. Being my own boss allows me to be creative and put my own stamp on the business. It’s satisfying to find we’ve created a tea range that offers not only great overall health benefits but that people are genuinely interested in and hopefully is helping our customers reach their goals.

Where would you like to see your business in five years?
I hope we are in the process of building a brand that will be successful, which would mean we are delighting our customers and selling tea to people who are genuinely interested in our products. With the right demand in our Tea Range, maybe we could evolve our business with more tea products or other niche healthy supplements. My main goal is to be successful enough to leave my job and work from home so that I can spend more quality time with my family.

Shout about your business – why should we by your detox tea?
Who doesn’t like a nice cup of tea? Our Detox Tea range allows for a simple transition into your everyday routine. Our teas enable people start on a healthier path, which is why we created the range we did. Unlike other detox plans there is no cutting back on food types, all we advise is to avoid caffeine and alcohol as these counter act the detoxification process. These teas are ideal for mums, I know all too well about sleepless nights and needing a boost through the day and that’s where the energise tea comes into play. If you’re a new mum and want to lose a bit of baby weight the detox pack can help boost weight loss. When you have children the beauty regime tends to take a back seat as there is so much to do, so the forever young blend helps you feel a little more rejuvenated. The great thing about our product is they can help you in so many ways and all you have to do is boil the kettle. It doesn’t matter if you’re at work or home when you would normally make a cup of tea, swap the caffeine for a Macresco brew and you will feel the difference within days.

Visit our website for more information on our fantastic range www.macrescodetoxtea.com
**To aid weight loss we offer a healthy eating plan to use in conjunction with the detox plans and regular exercise.

Not being a tea drinker myself I was interested to see if I would be able to stomach these teas. I can report that I actually really love them. They taste really good. You won’t be pinching your nose and tipping it down your throat, you should really enjoy these teas.

I especially liked the taste of the sweet dreams tea before bedtime and it was a good come down from the busy day. The teas make you feel instantly good. You feel cleansed and refreshed and good all over! After a few days I felt much more alert and less tired, despite not having any more sleep – a winner in my book! I am hooked now on this alternative tea business and fully intend to make it a part of my daily routine.

So how about you – how did you spend your maternity leave?