Currently...

I am the co-founder of Third Door, a flexible workspace with onsite childcare, which I run together with my husband, Yusuf Chadun. We are also parents of two little people, both under 3 years of age.

Our day involves having breakfast at home and then setting off to Third Door where we, as a family, are based for the day! There is no typical day as of yet as we are still in start-up mode, having only launched three months ago.

At this early stage we are involved in all areas of the business and a typical day can involve any of the following: staff management, member recruitment, servicing our signed up members, cleaning duties, managing supplies, marketing decisions, speaking to suppliers, discussions with potential partner businesses, attending networking events, spending time with our children, working on our enormous project plan and ensuring all tasks are up to date, interviewing potential staff, etc.

We are at the business 8am-6pm, and once we are home it is a case of getting dinner ready, eating dinner and then putting the children to bed. Once they are asleep, we are back on our PCs catching up with work and completing more tasks. Weekends are pretty much just as hard and laborious!

Before I escaped...

I worked as a Global Brand Research Manager for Nokia and before that, I was Audience Research Manager at the BBC, working on Radio Five Live and BBC website.

I have had itchy feet for many years, always feeling that there was something better out there. I loved working at the BBC, and Nokia is also a great place to work, but I have always felt my calling was being my own boss; the only problem was doing what?

My moment of truth...

Whilst I was on maternity leave, I realised that I did not want to leave my little girl behind in daycare or for evenings whilst I attended overnight meetings in various parts of the world. I started brainstorming ideas for businesses that I could do or was interested in.

This proved to be a difficult exercise within itself around a demanding five month old baby. I remember wishing for a place I could go to where i could work productively whilst my baby was cared for nearby.

Bingo, there was my idea!

Planning for it...

Being a researcher, naturally, the first thing I did was research the idea. The more I researched around flexible working, remote working and childcare, the more the idea seemed to be winner.

Yusuf was studying for his self-funded MBA and was just finalising his topic for his dissertation. I talked to him about the idea and there apeared to be a gap in the market for it and even a need.

He could relate to the concept as his study had become our daughter's nursery and he had moved onto the landing! He was a homeworker and was always running up and down the flat trying to make calls. It was a no-brainer for him to base his dissertation on the idea - he wrote a business feasibility plan for which he was awarded a distinction. This gave us the confidence to make the idea become a reality.

The worst and best bits...

Challenges: Long long hours, hiring the right staff who share our vision for Third Door, keeping an eye on cashflow, being able to get everything done (there are simply not enough hours in the day!), stressing about making and spending money, funding.

Best: Being my own boss and being able to make fast decisions, going to work with my family, building up the membership, making partnerships with local businesses, doing what I feel passionate about every day.

Best advice...

Plan, plan, plan.

Useful resources and information...

http://www.smarta.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.smarta.com - Smarta is one of the best business advice websites I have come across.

Twitter has been great to create buzz for business months before we launched.