Parents in Business featuring The Kid’s Festival
This week for my Parents in Business series I’m delighted to be featuring Kim who created The Kid’s Festival. Kim’s background is running dance and cheerleading events, and more recently she has launched The Kid’s Festival. I love Kim’s approach to her business which is doing something that she loves to support her family, yet also remembering that family comes first, which I know can be tricky when you run your own business.
I am also really impressed with Kim’s ability to run so many events with a newborn baby in tow and shares my motto of just doing it. So if you’re thinking about doing something similar or setting up your own business, just do it, you can refine it as you go. So have a read of Kim’s story below and please share your support…
Tell me a little bit about you, your background, and your business?
I am a mother of two boys aged 1 and 3, wife and businesswoman, living in Staffordshire. I am a retired dancer with a huge passion for dance and cheerleading. When I do get a rare bit of spare time to myself, I enjoy keeping fit and running. I do this to help stay on top of my chocolate addiction. I run a busy event business Incredibly Cool Events (ICE )that is known for delivering dance and cheerleading events and I am now moving into the children’s event industry with the launch of The Kids Festival this year.
What were your motivations for setting up your business?
My motivation for each of ventures were slightly different. I started dancing at the age of five and competed until I was 18 and won a variety of national titles. At 18 I retired from competitive dance to pursue a career in teaching and coaching. I set up a non-profit organisation that aimed to get people involved with dance regardless of background or income. My project worked in some of the most deprived areas of Birmingham and gave some exciting opportunities to children and young people from disadvantaged communities. Following on from this I continued to run events across the West Midlands and then in 2015 I was inspired to give everybody the chance to perform in a friendly and inclusive environment at affordable prices so, whilst pregnant with my first son George I launched ICE.
With my most recent venture, The Kid’s Festival my motivation and inspiration came from the fact that I got fed up of going to events and standing in massive queues while the kids got restless or paying a ticket price and then getting inside and having to fork out for additional activities, making what had started out as a reasonably priced day out into something quite expensive. So, what I have done with The Kid’s Festival is create the event that I wanted to see. An event where the kids can have fun, parents can feel relaxed and safe in the knowledge that anything their little ones want to do once inside is covered by the ticket price.
As a working mum to two young children I am always looking for things to do with the boys that are fun and will create lasting memories. Making memories with my family is so important to me and my I am confident that through The Kid’s Festival I will be able to deliver a unique experience that is exciting, family friendly and will leave families wanting to return every year.
How do you balance the business around your family and childcare?
I must admit, I do find this difficult. I always try to remember my “why”, the reason that I run my business is for my family so when the going gets tough I try and get things into perspective and remember that my family are more important than anything else in my life. I remind myself how important it is to spend time with them and take every opportunity possible to make memories before they outgrow wanting to spend so much time with me and their daddy.
Since setting up your business what’s been your biggest success to date?
Delivering the ICE events to 1000s of people with new-born George in tow. To be honest I really do not remember much of that year at all! On a serious note, I feel that my biggest success is launching “The Kid’s Festival brand. Giving families access to loads of great activities and workshops including princess party, Diddi cars, circus skills, dance workshops, fairground rides, messy play, bouncy castle kingdom , as well as the chance to meet some of their heroes including a meet and greet with Peppa Pig and Paw Patrol is something that I am really looking forward to.
The Kid’s Festival events were due to be held at South of England Showground and Staffordshire Showground in April and June but due to recent events they have had to be postponed until a later date.
What are your top tip for anyone who is thinking about setting up their own business?
Just do it! Start now and you can work on making it perfect later. Read a lot of books that help you learn, open your mind and explore new ideas and concepts and surround yourself with positive people.
Thank you so much Kim for taking part in my series. You can find out more about The Kids Festival by visiting the website, Facebook and Instagram page, or find Kim on her Facebook and Instagram page.
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