ACPR Blog

Many parents strive to find the perfect balance between looking after the family and working, but it’s not always easy. In this book, Family Friendly Working, author and working parent, Antonia Chitty, explores the many options available for parents who want to successfully work and still have plenty of time to spend with their family. Over the course of 10 chapters, Antonia look at ideas for finding work, different types of work – such as using your existing hobbies as a catalyst for transforming them into paid for work, developing services you can sell, selling products or joining a franchise – and ways of building your business or work once you’ve hit on the perfect idea for you. Throughout the book are great real life examples of other parents who’ve been there and done it, plus lots of useful tips and contact details of relevant companies. The tone is upbeat and chatty, but chapter 10 does offer advice for when you’re struggling to make things work. Overall, it’s a very useful guide for any parents contemplating fitting work around children, those already doing so and anyone looking for inspirational working ideas.

Buy the book here

Visit our sister site, www.prbasics.co.uk, and download a press release template.

I am co-writing a book looking at how to look after your relationship when your child has special needs. We want the book to be packed full of case studies of parents talking about their experiences, good and bad, and how parenting a child with special needs has impacted on their lives. 

I am looking for parents to fill in a questionnaire about their experiences.  If you don’t mind sharing what you have been through, to help other parents, please email mail@antoniachitty.co.uk

I’ve been doing some pro bono work for a friend from dd’s school. Her son has a misshaped skull (plagiocephaly), and she is waiting to hear if the PCT will fund treatment. She is hoping to fundraise for Headstart4Babies who will pay for the treatment if the PCT won’t. Anyway, I sent the press release out on Tuesday, it was in the local paper today, and picked up by BBC news today. Read on for the full story. (more…)

If you’re looking for a great place to chat to other women in business, try Giant Potential

Visit Giant Potential

If you want to get coverage for your business, wouldn’t you love a double page spread in a womens magazine? One of the ways to do this is to sell your story.

 Your story usually needs to be out of the ordinary - read the magazines to see what they cover - but sometimes simply overcoming struggles to set up your own business may be enough. Magazines will be interested in ‘Triumph over Tragedy’, so if you have come through illness, divorce or loss of a loved one, your story may appeal.

You can simply buy the magazines and look for contacts inside: some womens weeklies may even have a form for you to fill in. Alternatively, you can send your story off to an agency, where journalists with contacts will try to place it for you. Have a look at

• www.cash4yourreallifestory.com (women’s magazines)
• www.cash4yourstory.co.uk (newspapers)
• www.frontpageagency.co.uk
• www.photo-features.co.uk
• www.whereonearthgroup.com/kiss-tell
• www.talktothepress.com
• www.eanews.co.uk/stories.asp

If you have a small business, a newsletter is an essential promotion tool. I send one out every month, and really enjoy gathering ideas and resources to share with the readers. The newsletter readership is growing steadily too, and I use Constant Contact which shows me which stories are of interest to readers and which links they have clicked on. I’ve had some good feedback about the newsletter too. Click here to see the newsletter and sign up.

“I love the newsletter” Ruth Rayment R² Proofreading “Thank you for your email newsletter, I look forward to receiving them and have often followed your suggestions. Keep up the good work, it’s much appreciated!” Claire Boynton, Editor Generation One Magazine. If you lack inspiration or ideas for your own newsletter, or want a hand with getting it to look professional, visit Just Add Content and sign up for their fortnightly newsletter. It is packed with tips and ideas, and there is an archive of old newsletters on the site too. 

You may have missed out on the competition, but you can still buy Denise Tyler’s book, Working Mothers. It is a great read, especially if you are a guilty juggling mother like me.

A piece of press coverage won’t always lead to sales. Just like a single advert won’t always make people buy, or sales at an event don’t always cover the cost of the stall, one article may not create an increase in business.

 So, why bother with PR?

Well, all the different ways you get exposure for your business WILL add up to sales. It can take 6 or 7 sights of your business offer before consumers actually buy. It takes time to build up trust in a brand, and being seen in a magazine or newspaper gives consumers a third party opinion that they do trust: they can see that a journalist rates your products or services.

If you do feature in a magazine, make the most of the coverage by asking the mag if you can use a favourable quote from their review, link to their coverage or put ‘as seen in…’ next to the item. See our article on Using Clippings on Your Site for more ideas and guidance.