A growing army of Shropshire mums are finding new ways to bring home the bacon and bring up a baby.

This band of mumtrepreneurs hit on inspiring ideas but also have to develop a vast range of new skills and brave new experiences as part of their adventure.

Rebecca Whitfield, from Shrewsbury, has certainly had a whirlwind year following the launch of her new business, Kidzears, which she set up to help combine work with raising her first child – baby son Miles.

One of the highlights of the year so far has been taking a stand at the Baby Show at Birminghams’s NEC – often a make-or-break event for many mumtrepreneurs who have decided baby products are the way forward. But there is a lot to learn about trade shows.

Here Rebecca opens her diary from a crucial week.

Thursday – Set-up day

I had just dropped my son off at my sisters about 9am and my mobile rang – a courier on the other end of the phone saying he was at the NEC with all my stock.

He wasn’t supposed to be there until the afternoon but got told morning by his company, so had to leave 1,200 ear defenders on a three-meter-square piece of carpet.

Got to the NEC about 1pm to find a box of complimentary hand-made chocolates on the stand from the Baby Show, which is always welcome.

We checked the delivery, set up and then realised we needed more light, so forked out £40 for each light after the nice man let me have them at advance order prices.

Got the stand all ready for the 20,000-plus visitors who will walk through the doors over the weekend.

It’s not just the price of the stand you have to think about when you do these shows – you have plug sockets, lighting, insurance and any furniture etc you require on top of that.

Friday – First day

We arrived in plenty of time, parked up and had time for a coffee before the doors opened.

After about 10 minutes of the show being open we made our first sale – a woman who came straight over to us after walking in and knew exactly what she was after.

She was off to Fairford Airshow and I think had been specifically after my product, which was a nice start to the event for us.

We were really lucky with our stand, right by the main entrance, you could see us well, and opposite the massive Fisher Price stand, so we had a lot of passing traffic.

The only downside to having a stand by the main entrance was that people would come over and want to purchase “on the way back out” but in honesty, 90 per cent of people who said they would come back, did.

Managed to squeeze a sandwich in about 1pm as we watched the Katie Price show roll into town. Very slim and tiny, if it wasn’t for her entourage of 200 and her massive head of hair she may of walked in unnoticed.

Had a lot of trade interest today, took a few PR agency cards and those of distributors and trade websites, so will see what happens there.

By 5pm my husband Ian and I were shattered and our legs were throbbing, but we had a very enjoyable first day with lots of positive feedback.

Saturday – Peak trading day

Today was supposed to be the biggest day and it didn’t disappoint. We doubled our sales from yesterday and the day flew by.

I think one of the reasons we did better today was that there were more dads.

My research has shown that dads tended to be the ones who would take their children to motor racing, the airshows the rugby etc, more often than the mums, so they perhaps saw the benefit of having a pair of my ear defenders in the house handy.

Plus the mums are often the more sensible ones and would rather spend the £12 on something they would need now as opposed to six-months down the line.

Yesterday we charged the same price for the ear defenders as I do on my website, with a multiple purchase offer, but today we gave a bit of discount as having the same price wasn’t encouraging people to buy on the day.

Ian managed to have a chat with former Blue Peter presenter Katy hill, who really liked the product but as I had donated pairs for the VIP goodie bags free of charge she wasn’t going to buy any.

Sunday – Last day

I had high hopes for today, but Ian and I were both pretty shattered by this point, so we were hoping the customers would be a bit more forthcoming, meaning we didn’t have to do too much selling.

We also decided on taking a chair this time so we could rest our legs after being on them for eight hours.

Sales were a bit slower and took a bit longer to get going today, but for some reason everyone wanted information and literature.

We must have given out about 1,000 leaflets in total, and I’d be very happy if all of those turned into future sales.

Managed to get to look around and do a bit of networking – got myself an advance copy of Prima Mother and Baby magazine, so saw myself in print after making it through to the final of the Prima/Hippychick Mumtrepreneur 2010 competition.

It was soon 5pm and before we knew it we were breaking down the stand again and putting the stock away – got a final sale in 10 minutes after closing when a fellow exhibitor saw what I sold.

Overall, I had a great time and really enjoyed myself at the show from start to finish. I would like to thank my husband Ian for investing his time (and money) in the project and for helping me over the weekend, even though he was out of his comfort zone.

I probably won’t do it again next year, but this is more a reflection on the nature of the product and not the show itself – I have got many irons in the fire on the back of the show though, so the future is looking good.