What’s your why?
Hi Mobsters, I’m Harps
like many of you, I am a mum to my two kids and wife, I live in West London (Hayes) and have been working since the age of 13 (first job – sales assistant at a local chemist).
I’ve recently joined Mums Who Build, my background is marketing, communications, stakeholder engagement and events. I have worked in various sectors including Energy, PR, Business Intelligence and Banking to name a few.
Now, I am embarking on my journey of entrepreneurship to help women build their business using marketing and communications and engagement strategies I use at work. My insecurities on taking the leap led to me answering the following questions:
1. Am I good enough?
2. What skills do I have?
3. Will I get clients?
4. How do I start?
5. Can I juggle everything?
6. And many more
I came to the conclusion – it’s now or never!
I love statistics so wanted to share the following I came across the Prowess website who stated:
One in ten working women in the UK is involved in start-up entrepreneurial activity. This is defined by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor as those involved in ‘total early-stage entrepreneurial activity’ (TEA), that is owning or running any business that is less than three-and-a-half years old. In the UK the TEA rate (the proportion of working-aged people involved in TEA) for men is 15.1% and 10.7% for women. (GEM 2024).
However, only one in three UK entrepreneurs is female: a gender gap equivalent to 1.1 million missing businesses. (Rose Review of Female Entrepreneurship, HM Treasury 2019)
The positive – more women are becoming entrepreneurs and with communities like MOB, we can be more successful through the expertise we have available to us.
Taking the leap
One of the most important lessons I’ve learnt in my career is: People do business with People
Even in the age of social media and AI, the consumer will still make decisions through emotion.
What does that mean for you?
Your audience needs to feel the emotional connection with you and your brand. Most of us will start business because:
1. We have skills that can help others
2. Our own experiences
3. We have seen a gap in the market
Once the idea is established, we immediately think about how we can get this message out to everyone. Socials, launches and webinars are the channels we think about straight away. I’m here to tell you to PAUSE.
Take a step back and let’s think about what we need to do.
The most important question we need to answer is – Why?
Why am I doing this?
Why do customers need me?
This sets the stage for us to start thinking about our customer, where we will find the etc – we’ve all heard about the Why, Who, What, and how method.
However, the key is not to focus is in the detail, according to Seth Godin (Marketing Guru), we need to focus on:
Making it happen
Theory can be easier than practice, we may not have thought about the process of marketing with this lens, we tend to take the traditional approach I’ve mentioned above.
I am passionate about helping women entrepreneurs and their businesses. I want to help take them through this process and work with them on their marketing and communications plans for the first 12-18 months.
There maybe many of you in the MOB community that need this direction. Do get in touch and let’s support each other on our journey’s. Writing this has been out of my comfort zone, I am not sure if I will get anyone contacting me, finding this useful or wanting my help. But one thing I did learn in my first MOB+ POD meeting – I have to give it a go.
If this resonates – get in touch.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harps-nandhra-b29876b/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/harps21/
I am developing a business Instagram account which will be shared when ready.
About Mums Who Build
Mums Who Build is a UK-based community empowering entrepreneurial and ambitious mums through connection, confidence, and practical support. Whether you're launching a startup, scaling your business, or navigating career transitions, MOB offers a space to grow through peer groups, expert insights, events, and inspiring conversations. Join a network of like-minded women building businesses, careers, and bold futures—together.
