The School Of Renovating has been named as a finalist for the 2021 AusMumpreneur Awards in the Business Pivot category.
The AusMumpreneur Awards presented by The Women’s Business School celebrate and recognize Australian Mums in business achieving outstanding success in areas such as business excellence, product development, customer service and digital innovation.
Finding Balance in Motherhood And Business
The awards are designed to recognize the growing number of women who successfully balance motherhood and business in a way that suits their life and family.
Of course, for me, the role of motherhood has matured. I no longer manage the day to day parenting. My focus has moved to a more inspirational level, encouraging our family to be the best versions of themselves and of course being a present and doting grandmother. And as a small business owner, an AusMumpreneur!
Our Pandemic-Inspired Business Pivot
In March 2020 our business came to a grinding halt!
Up to that point, all our programs were filled and delivered via live events. I had always been concerned about delivering online because online courses had notoriously low completion rates and I believed it would be more difficult to form a connection with and understand the needs of our students.
Too often online courses churn through students with little regard for the outcome. I wanted to be able to connect with and monitor the progress of our students to ensure they get real results.
Necessity is the mother of all inventions and I set about learning everything I could to make sure the new incarnation of our signature 100k Renovation Bootcamp was delivered – with an even better format and effectiveness than our live events to date.
It took 90 days to record and promote our online version of the 100k Renovation Bootcamp completely from scratch.
Our business pivot has been a great success, hence we are proud of our nomination for the AusMumpreneur Awards!
8 Online Modules Of Bite-Sized Lessons
We created 8 online modules made up of bite-sized lessons. Our research into best practice showed that short, concise lessons between 5 and 15 minutes are way more effective and enable students to fit their learning into gaps that arise in their daily routines. For instance, they could knock over a couple of lessons in their morning tea break or while waiting for a train.
Harnessing The Power Of Small Group Learning
The second thing we did was harness the power of small-cohort learning. This requires small groups and is proven to create a more meaningful learning experience, increasing engagement, motivation and connection. The groups in the program developed naturally in the weekly Zoom tutorials, where students not only engage with the presenter and me but they also get to know one another, share plans and experiences and grow connections.
Heartening Results From Online Programs
The online version of the 100k Renovation Bootcamp program has been surprisingly successful. The results have been better than we could ever imagine. Our concerns about low completion rates and not being able to form a connection with students were unfounded and several students have started their first project before the end of the program.
Other challenges we are continuing to experience are the need to be able to run our projects remotely during the lockdowns, plus establishing protocols for managing projects to comply with public health guidelines. Surprisingly, in the last twelve months, we have had our best financial year ever.
Pride As AusMumpreneur Awards Finalist
I am delighted to be named as a finalist for the AusMumpreneur Awards and am proud of our achievements in the past 12 months. I’m particularly proud having been able to establish a process for joint ventures in our community, organising The Class Project entirely with investment from 14 graduates from within our community and being able to thrive in these challenging times.
And of course, it takes a village! I am so very grateful to our amazing team and inspiring community of renovators for their enduring support.
