episode 5

The speaker is going to interview Hannah Pearce, who organizes play sessions for kids and sells high-quality toys under the brand Moms & Muchkins. They have a big decision to make regarding accepting a job offer. The speaker admires Hannah's ability to build a successful business and learns the importance of building relationships with customers. Hannah closed some parts of her business as her family grew. The speaker plans to focus on their own business like Hannah and has arranged an interview with the owners of an Arabic language school. They are going home by taxi. Today I'll go to Villa 1504 to interview Hannah Pearce. She organizes play sessions for kids, quality social time for their moms, and sells high-quality open-ended toys and sensory play tools, all under her brand, Moms & Muchkins. And there was one detail that grabbed my attention. But before I get to that, I have a big decision to make. If you have just joined us, I'll explain. In the previous episode, I told that I received offer from a large company, and now I have to decide. Either I reject this offer and concentrate on my business, or I accept it to go work in an office. Today I'll go to Villa 1504 to interview Hannah Pearce. She organizes play sessions for kids, quality social time for their moms, and sells high-quality open-ended toys and sensory play tools, all under her brand, Moms & Muchkins. And there was one detail that grabbed my attention. But before I get to that, I have a big decision to make. If you have just joined us, I'll explain. In the previous episode, I told that I received offer from a large company, and now I have to decide. Either I reject this offer and concentrate on my business, or I accept it to go work in an office. It's not what my parents prepared me for. In my childhood, I had other role models. It's not what my parents prepared me for. In my childhood, I had other role models. Maybe I don't quite understand how to build business as serious as my father's. I still chose this path, so I've declined the offer. Maybe I don't quite understand how to build business as serious as my father's. I still chose this path, so I've declined the offer. And with this decision, and with a light heart, I go to Hanna. She lives in Villa 1504, 40 minutes from my house, and I decided to go there by bus with my friend. It's more fun together, right? I finally got there. I finally got there, and it looked incredible. The house, first you need to turn right from the main street to the avenue, to the street, and then you drive there, and it's there. It's not very, it doesn't look very big from the outside, but the minute you park, you feel some home and cozy atmosphere there. And so, I approach the house, and there's a window, and I reach to it. Hanna opened the door, and it's just a lovely, wonderful house. We went to the kitchen to talk. It turned out that, like myself, Hanna didn't plan to move to Dubai. But Hanna, like all of us here, is not originally from Dubai. She was born in England, living in different regions there, so she can't compare Dubai to it. At some point, Hanna left the UK in search of a sunnier life, but did not immediately go to Dubai, but first lived in South Africa for several years. So I asked Hanna what she did when she arrived in Dubai, and how she started earning money in their house. So in six months, after quitting, she started her first business, kids' furniture production, and she called her brand Moms & Munchkins. Let's stay in this moment together a little longer. Hanna launched her first business in a completely new area, and she succeeded. I think this is huge. And what can I learn from this story for my own business? I've noticed that every small business owner on this podcast says the same thing. They know their customers by name and are diligent about building relationships with them. Hanna has a degree in marketing and knows exactly how to test different sales channels and count conversations per lead. But when it comes to small businesses in the MENA region, cold marketing gives way to human relationships, and you need to be able to build them. This is JP. You already know him. He's a marketing director with Fortis. It works the same way with clients. Often, you just need to get to know each other better, build trust, and show that the relationship is important to you. Here's an example of how it works. Even though Hanna has a European mentality, she found her approach to clients, gathered a pool of regular clients, established relationships with them, and her business slowly grew. But then something happened that forced her to make a difficult decision. But then something happened that forced her to make a difficult decision. Hanna says she started thinking about closing this part of the business, because by this time she had developed several more directions in her business. So at first, Hanna closed furniture production and then the clothing brand. Did you notice that before Hanna was saying twins and now she's talking about three kids? That's because her family had grown. By the end of the interview, I asked how Hanna is managing her business and family now, especially since the family grew bigger. Most of all in this interview, I needed to hear the part when Hanna cut off directions from her business one by one. It was painful, but in the end, it benefited both the business, her family, and her own life. It seems that this is something that I needed to hear, because now I balance an online school, consulting, and communication adaptation services for an English-speaking audience. It seems that I guess I need to focus like Hanna did. So now I have this plan. And I was damn lucky for the next interview I arrange. And I was damn lucky for the next interview. I arranged a meeting with owners of an Arabic language school. I'm going to ask them now. I'm going to ask them how they build and scale their business. In the meantime, I'm going home. But by taxi this time.