Sometimes it’s healthy to take time out to reflect on your own achievements, for to quote Ferris Bueller, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

​​​​
​Once upon a time, two women came together with a shared idea. Looking around, Angela Prentner-Smith didn’t see anyone else in Scotland offering a business transformation service, so she decided to step up and give it a go.
 
That once upon a time took place just a few years ago and in the subsequent months, a lot has happened. The  idea has taken seed and that seed has grown into a business development agency called This Is Milk. Two and a half years and 20 clients later, we’ve surpassed milestones that we could previously only have dreamed of – and this is just the beginning.
 
As This is Milk celebrates its two-and-a-half birthday, it seems an appropriate time to reflect on the journey so far and to look ahead at what’s still to come.

 The story so far
 
​So what’s happened since Angela first floated the idea of This is Milk? Let’s see. We’ve. had...

• Attracted over 20 clients in 16 industries
• Created a board of 3 businesswomen
• Supported 5 internships
• Taken on team members
• Hosted 5 Milk Bars​

Milk Bars? That’s the name given to our quarterly free events which are designed for anyone who shares a passion for making business better. Five Milk Bars have been held to date, with hundreds of delegates attending to exchange ideas and learn ways to improve their business.

Milking it
 
Catching up to the present day and it’s all systems go here at This is Milk as we plot a course for the next two years. We’ve got bold goals and exciting plans to foment, but before we can level up, there are a few tasks to tick off:

• Moving premises. We’re leaving our office in a former prison and claiming our freedom by fleeing to a new enterprise centre this month
• Participating at prestigious industry events. We’re privileged to have been nominated for no less than three awards this year, there are not more important things to be doing, like looking out our heels and cocktail dresses for awards season
• New everything. It’s not just the TiM offices that are getting an upgrade: we’re also adding to our team as well as expanding our services and taking on new clients and partnerships

​We’re excited to discover what the next years will hold and we’d love you to join us on the journey. Get in touch and let’s see what we can do to grow your business together.

Running a business is hard, there's no doubt about that. So when I was asked to share some tips for a recent eBook 'The Habits of Successful Female Entrepreneurs' I was delighted and honoured to take part because it's not easy; and I still drink in any advice I can get on this constant learning curve!

​Although the authors of these tips are all female entrepreneurs I would say all of their advice is transferable to anyone - male or female. We all face similar challenges as entrepreneurs and here I've picked out 12 of my favourite tips for success - enjoy!
- Angela

If you enjoyed these we also share daily business tips on Instagram

Interested to learn more about us? Click on the button!

If you want to get to know our team, and meet with  like-minded individuals and businesses who cares about business improvement and sharing ideas, come and join our MeetUp Group - The Milk Bar.   Our next event is coming soon!

Want to learn more about us? Click on the button!

This is Milk...a business change consultancy – but how did we come up with the name?
​Angela Prentner-Smith

If This is Milk has any frequently asked questions, the one that tops the list is “How did you come up with the name?”
The truth is the name was the end-result of some serious deliberation about our brand. It went a little like this.

Gillian (This is Milk’s co-founder) and I began by batting about some ideas about what and who we wanted to be, then taking the time to refine those statements into the words that best described how we wanted to appear to the world. We wanted to be different, to stand out from the crowd, to be a breath of fresh air.

At the same time as thinking about what we were going to call ourselves, we were also considering our Vision, our Mission, our Ethics, and our Visual Style.

How it all started

Here are our original company description and some thoughts we had about our corporate identity and brand.

• Company Description

This is Milk provides services to business in response to specific problems, perceived needs and complex processes. We will understand and articulate the problem, provide a plan of action and work with companies to improve their capacity for change, their growth and their market offering.

• Corporate Identity

A consistent brand is key to our company’s growth and identity. This brand includes all communications - verbal, visual and written - as well as the services we offer. Our brand will be developed around the concepts of simplicity, authenticity, accessibility and aspiration.

• ​The Brand Spectrum

We looked at the brands we thought personified these concepts and plotted them on a spectrum.

The Competitor Landscape

We also looked at what we didn’t want to be, and how we wanted to set ourselves apart from our competitors. The competitive landscape was clogged with ‘men in grey suits’ with fairly meaningless names (in our opinion). When we looked at the brands that embodied what we wanted to be, many of them had simple, everyday names. So we focussed our hunt for a name to something simple.

What about Milk? We liked it. But a quick search, and we realised there was already a digital agency in England called Milk, and they had bought up the domains. But This is Milk was available.

​Making a Declaration

It was a declaration, not just Milk, but This is Milk - it made a statement. A statement of who and what we were. It was simple, yet effective – like us! When we thought more about it, milk embodied many of the qualities of change – the very premise of our business, and our ethics and values.

Change, like milk, is an essential thing - it’s ubiquitous and everyday. Yet it's also transformative and adaptable. Milk can change your coffee; become a tart or pudding. It is also nourishing and versatile. Milk feeds your baby, and if cow’s milk isn’t for you, there’s soy, oat or almond.

We also liked some of the cultural connotations around milk, such as pouring fresh ideas; or Milk – it’s natural and does a body good.

The Visual Language

​Our name, our vision, our mission and our ethics, once defined lend themselves nicely to a particular visual language. We sought out a graphic designer and created a design brief around all of these elements.
​
The words we asked them to embody were:

Now we have our logo, our colour scheme and a developing written brand. We are also working hard to define our culture to make sure This is Milk is as brilliant a place to work as we envisioned it being. 

So what’s in our name?  A lot of thought and ultimately our company values leading to a brand that we can be proud of and will continue to develop as we go. 
​ 
It wasn’t just about a name, but in the end, the name works for us. ​

​Interested to find out more about us?

Why I chose to start a business and have a baby in the same year
Angela Prentner-Smith

Between March 2014 and March 2015, three major life milestones happened.  I had a baby, passed my driving test and started a business – in that order. Ironically, passing my driving test took the longest – but that’s another story.

On the one hand, I look back and think, gosh what an achievement, and on the other I think, like many others, I must be mad! But in many ways this has just been a natural next chapter in my particular story. I was ready and willing to take it all on. 

What I wasn’t prepared for was the pressure of competing expectations on me,  not only as a woman, but suddenly as a mother. I wasn’t ready for how hard it would be to lose the mental and social activity of a workplace. I wasn’t ready to lose all the spontaneity in life, and I certainly wasn’t ready for the guilt and judgement I would feel when I decided to start a business.

For some women, their goal in life is to be a wife and a mum, but I was never one of those women. That said - I love being married and being a mum. My little family is what motivates me, supports me, and where I get all the security I never had in my early life and don’t have in my chosen career path. My home is the place where I have nothing to prove, no deadlines or pressures, and where I have solace. It’s a happy place – most of the time, bar the odd (ever-increasing) toddler tantrum…. enough said.

My struggle as a new mum

Saying I love having a child, is true, but it certainly isn’t easy. Not because having a baby is mentally taxing - quite the opposite. When you’ve had a baby after building a career, an education and a busy social life – it can be a massive change to lose the buzz and sense of achievement you get from those parts of your life. Getting stakeholder buy-in or solving a complex business problem is worlds apart from the achievements you get as a new mum. Having a shower, sleeping for more than 2 hours at a time or eating a hot meal – that’s your new milestones for the day. How about getting through the day without crying? Or getting dressed – maybe?

Then your partner goes to work, and you’re jealous. He got to sleep all night, and then go and do something he knows how to do. He gets to talk to adults, to shower, put on clothes, eat lunch at the usual time. And you have no effing clue what you are doing with this tiny creature that is totally dependent on you. You’re literally left holding the baby.

The first 9 or 10 months of my maternity leave were a blur of getting through days. I loved watching my little boy learn new things, and have his personality develop – these are the achievements that can never be matched. I loved not having the constraints of an office work place. I loved meeting other mums and developing new friendships, but honestly I was bored, tired, frustrated, and really felt like a failure most days.

Staying on top of the housework, getting dinner on the table and looking presentable became daily battles. I struggled with all of the things that were sold to me as being the most essential female qualities, the things that make a happy family. Not only could I not keep up with them, I didn’t love them. Coupled with the guilt I felt for not loving being at home with my baby - it became a constant mental struggle.

I got asked by well-meaning individuals whether I loved home life. I couldn’t even fake an answer that would please them. When I would respond – no – I would watch their faces fall, as if how could you not love being a homemaker and a mum to that beautiful baby?
​
To work or not to work?

Some stay-at-home mums seemed to be insulted when I would say that being a full-time mum wasn’t for me. Then there were the questions from my working friends, “When are you going back to work?”. That question equally burned, because going back to work felt like I was abandoning my baby - leaving him with strangers, the dreaded nursery, and missing all the moments that I would never get back with him.  Going back to work meant giving up both my vision of starting my own business, and the pleasures of being a mum and watching my little boy grow up. I was unhappy at work, yet being a stay-at-home mum was equally uninspiring. It was the wrong choice for me personally, from both angles.

It’s worth mentioning that the concept for This is Milk, was already born and underway before I fell pregnant, however due to various life happenings it had been shelved, its future undecided, but never far from my mind. I’d also grown tired of the inflexibility of 9-5 office life.

Finding my balance

For many parents, choosing self-employment is a way to achieve more balance between parenting and work. In some respects this was a motivation for me. The truth is, for the moment it hasn’t worked out that way - I’m building a business, working onsite with a client, plus being a mum and maintaining a social life.  However, instead of feeling like a failure, I feel like I’m achieving again, at being a mum, a wife, and an entrepreneur.

What I am building is a life of balance that works for me – a happy place where I can build a future for my family and the team I work with.

I’ve started to ignore the negativity from those who doubt my ability or judge me for wanting a career outside of my family. I now focus on the looks of pride from my family and friends at what I have achieved in a short space of time.
​ 
For me, choosing to start a business and have a baby in the same year was the right decision.  There have been sacrifices of course but I certainly haven’t had to choose between a career and a family. I’ve made the choices I have in order to build both.
​
Most importantly what is right for one woman, isn't always right for the next. My choices, whilst unconventional, were the right ones for me. What I hope for is that we all judge less, and have more belief in our ability to create the futures we desire.

We've moved in to Orkney Street Enterprise Centre
Angela Prentner-Smith

My first blog post as MD of This is Milk!  So far I am loving this foray into entrepreneurship.  Every single thing feels positive and such an achievement.  Now that we have digs it feels all the more real.  The building itself is the Old Govan Jailhouse and it has been lovingly converted from jail cells to small offices for microbusinesses.  We're on site with some other businesses such as Thegither, Mirelle Activewear and Jobs and Business Glasgow.  The space really does fit with the nature of This is Milk.  It's quirky, versatile, has certainly changed and lets us collaborate.

We are planning a launch for the Autumn and arranging a very special guest, some quirky drinks and canapes.  This is an ideal opportunity for anyone to come and visit the offices, meet the team and find out more about This is Milk. If you would like an invite, make sure you sign up for our newsletters.

I intend to start using this blog for both news and thought pieces, to let you know what we are doing, learning and thinking. I hope you enjoy it.

Bye for now, 
Angela 

Learn more about us!