Client attraction. Business growth. Pretty profits.
Entrepreneur Profile – Linda Enever, Family Capers
Building a big future with social media
Who: Linda Enever
What: Family Capers
1. Welcome Linda. Tell us a little about yourself and your business.
Mum to Charlotte (2). Wife to Clive. I am the Founder and General Manager of Family Capers.
Family Capers is an interactive and supportive community network, promoting fun, encouraging the social aspects of life and even providing business support for you and your family. We are all about getting the most from family life and offering support for the families in our community. A resource hub to families of all ages and we offer services through:
- Our Family Magazine and Forums
- Stepping Stones to Business
- The Employment Hub
- FC Recruitment
- KidsZone
- Things To Do
- Shop at Family
- Families in Business
We offer an outlet for families to find the recourses they need from a question answered to a support network of amazing mentors and advisors.
2. How does a mum manage to build so many brands in such a short space of time?
Planning and preparation. Family Capers was five years in the planning before we hit the market in 2009. We grow and modify our plan as the business grows but there is always a plan.
Hard work helps too. I manage the brands for Enever Consulting and their clients too so the diversity offers me a break from the same thing.
3. What have been your most important skills? Have there been any skills you’ve really focused on developing?
For me time management and multitasking have been my most important skills in running business and family. I like to think on my feet so always up for the challenges that Family Capers and the group of brands offer us.
Letting go is a skill any business owner has to work on. It came to me faster than I anticipated at Family Capers so I am learning to let go and hand over to my amazing team.
4. How do you maintain your drive on days where you would rather curl up with a book?
The key thing to remember is just like work, there are going to be days that you just don’t feel like it, and as with work you have to jump in and do your job.
Business is no different working for an employer, there are good and bad days. There is no magic pill to make you love everything you do just because it is your business. (Anyone who develops it let me know I have a market for you.)
5. Your business is online. What have been the best platforms for growing your business?
Social Media has seen a lot of growth for Family Capers however word of mouth and face to face networking have still been our biggest growth options. People want to “buy” the story as well as what we offer and networking does that for us.
6. You have a significant presence on Facebook. What are you goals on Facebook? Are you getting results comparable with the time you invest?
Facebook creates an online avenue for us to network in real time with our community. It engages them on a social and non threatening level. We manage our information through resources and tools to save time on Facebook and not hit our readers with everything at once.
Facebook is an investment. It takes time to build a community and trust. Once you have that the growth takes care of itself.
The key is to engage, not spam and use resource like blogs, questions and more to engage your community. They want/need to be involved to get results.
7. How have you monetised your business?
Family Capers offers advertising services to businesses and organisations in addition to the jobs board. FC Recruitment is our fee for service recruitment agency that drives income in for the Family Capers group too.
8. What would be your number one piece of advice to anyone starting out in business?
Plan, prepare and be ready for a challenge.
9. Where do you see Family Capers in 12 months time?
Family Capers will continue to grow. We have exciting new things coming like Families in Business Centres, our first Families in Business Convention and well as new technology to the site for our families in Things To Do, KidsZone and Stepping Stones to Business and our Business Directory so bigger, better and stronger is where I would like to be.
If readers would like to contact Linda the best way is….
1300 386 387
Thanks Caylie for the profile
Congratulations on your achievements to date Linda. I know there are many, many more in the pipeline. You have demonstrated how planning, time mananagement and delegation can create massive results. Thank you for being a fantastic interviewee. Caylie