MEET MICHELLE

Michelle Hind Lives in Lincolnshire with her husband Mike and three beautiful but slightly crazy children Millie, Mitchell and Mikenzie, and the Dog Mia!

Michelle is the Proud New owner of Kids Dream, Michelle Started her career in Health and Fitness industry focused on providing one to one care and personal training for all her clients with determination drive and passion Michelle moved into management and then became the business owner at 19, taking pride in providing exceptional service and results, these Key foundation stones saw Michelle build on her Management roles moving into Banking followed by a successful Banking career Michelle started  providing administration and book keeping from home to Manage being a busy mum of 3, with the youngest now starting school Michelle Is Looking forward to embracing what is Kids Dream and moving forward to bringing in a wider range of Eco friendly recycled and sustainable products alongside learning and educational toys, and some Sensory products after having the experience of sensory needs with her own children Michelle understands the importance of having a provider of quality products to help support a wide spectrum of parental needs, to engage and excite and capture the imagination of the children of a highly over stimulated modern world.

THE SHOP

Kids Dream was Started in 2016 by Becky Smith the previous owner who has now passed the helm over to Michelle.

The store offers a wide range of carefully selected toys and products that you wont normally find on your local high street. All of those are meticulously sourced and rigorously tested, often by Michelle's own little helpers, before being added to the shop. Michelle Like Becky is determined to only market those products that she would be happy to buy for her own family. As a result, by browsing through the website, you will be able to find a range of unique, competitively priced products that are guaranteed to bring more fun and joy to families.

       

THE INSPIRATION

Michelle gains a lot of ideas for marketable products through her work and interaction with families in her local and wider communities. Michelle supports her Local Pre school and Primary School Where her children attend, as well as promoting the business, through Local events with pop up stools and mum to mum events these give Michelle a valuable opportunity to interact with a variety of audiences and families that can offer first hand advice and feedback on the products that they would like and need. 

WHY SHOP WITH US

We pride ourselves on our attention to detail and commitment to providing best quality customer service to support your online shopping experience with us. The process of choosing a suitable item and placing an order on our website is easy and straight forward with Free Delivery when you spend over £35 as well as different delivery services offered across the UK . Gift wrapping also comes as standard on a majority of the items that we offer and the possibility to add personalisation to a range of items - a perfect combination if you are looking for a gift or a present for that special someone. Most of the items are despatched to you on the day of the purchase as long as ordered before 11am and we aim to ensure that your items arrive within 3-7 Business days depending on your chosen delivery method. For more information please see our reviews on Trustpilot Testimonials page and our Facebook page Kids Dream.

Our complimentary gift wrapping service available for most of our items

RECOGNITION

Since its opening, Kids Dream has been highly rated and recommended by its many customers; however, the formal recognition came in summer 2017 when Kids Dream was nominated for and successfully claimed the Small Business Sundays award hosted by Theo Paphitis. We were more than exhilarated to be invited to meet Theo in person at Birmingham’s NEC arena where she was presented with her award. 

FAQ

Kids Dream is always humbled by people's interest in Its work and ideas so  They have compiled a list of answers to the most frequently asked questions that may help you.

How did you come up with the name for your business? 

Becky had this idea that children would have dreams about cute, fluffy and cuddly characters and also enjoy this type of item in real life, our website is aimed at young children from birth - 7 and felt that it was important we emphasise “Kids”  I always had this idea in mind to have a cute, sweet but quality looking business which I hope we get this point across to our customers. Running my own business has always been a bit of a dream for me too, put all of this together and we come up with the name "Kids Dream"  simple business name selection but I feel it has been quite successful as we have received great comments about our shop name, I feel it fits with our website design and product selection too.  Out Trust pilot reviews are something that we are proud of and the competition is high so finding something fairly unique was very important to us. 

How did you build a following for your website?

We have worked very hard to grow our organic traffic through offering the best customer service we can, gaining a following on Social media has been crucial, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. we are very friendly People and we enjoy meeting new people and my partner will tell you.. I love to talk.  I really enjoy engaging with customers, respond to queries in a timely manner and offer as much support as possible to help assist. Over the Kids Dream existence we have worked very hard on all areas of our business, to gain trust, receive wonderful feedback from our customers which means so much to us as each and every one of you are so important to the growth of Kids Dream and we couldn’t do it without you. 

On what platform do you host your website?

We chose EKM power shop at the time we knew less was about their company comparing to the likes of Shopify but following some research a successful trial we were very happy and decided to open our store in May 2016. EKM started in 2002 by a gentleman called Anthony Chesworth, who started this now multi-million pound business from his bedroom in the UK. He is an amazing inspiration to all business owners and has a hugely successful presence on the internet with his blogs and videos. He really cares about all his customers and will even respond to any queries directly. I cannot sing EKM praises enough. His company and all of his wonderful staff have been amazing with their support with Kids Dream.

Who takes the pictures of your products?

We have a photography company who have taken a few shots for the shop Brand partners provide product some product images also, We have took an interested in and take some of our own photos, We feel we have learnt a lot about photography as time has progressed and I would hope that our customers can see the improvement from the journey of Kids Dream starting in 2016 until present.

May I use your photographs on my site?

Kids Dream images are covered by copyright so we ask people to not use images or text from our website Facebook or Instagram unless we have discussed this prior to you using anything from Kids Dream. We work very hard to create our own unique content and images, having something taken from our webpage or social media is not allowed without permission. 

I want to start an online business, any tips? 

Our suggestion to any one who would like to start their own business, which we know can be a very scary process, starting something from scratch and working, often very long hours and the feeling of being on a roller coaster, as you will have your good days and bad days, we wouldn’t change anything about running the business which started from Becki's home around her four young children. Have the confidence and drive to succeed as any online businesses do struggle in the first few years as it is such a competitive market, such as retail but the rewards of your hard work will begin to pay off and that feeling of creating something wonderful will over rule everything else. 

I want to work with your business, are you open to that?

Yes we are always open to business discussions regarding collaboration, contact us if you would be interested, we love to talk business as it is something I am very passionate about. If you have any questions you would like me to answer, or simply support! As I believe business owners should be there for each other we are always happy to hear from you.

How do you manage to combine a busy family life with running a business?

This is something that has always been a challenge, often feeling guilty when you have to respond to customers queries when cooking dinner or later of an evening when it is bed time. All business owners with a young family will agree family has to come first but also you work nearly every day working hard. This is how important our customers are to us, we pride ourselves offering a great service and this includes everything from answering to queries in a timely manner, dispatching items within 1-2 days, making sure we respond to our customers who take the time to review our business and offering a complimentary gift wrapping service too. This is all something we are hugely proud of and managing a young family too, sometimes we feel like we need an extra few pair of hands but we manage. Our children love Kids Dream and being part of our growing business, especially when they get to test our new toys before they are added to the website. I feel it is great for the children to see how hard Mummy works and that it is also for their future and financial stability.

What is the ideal day out for you and your family?

In the summer the children love the beach and we have a holiday home on the east coast, which enables us to enjoy quality time we all love visiting new places and attractions so the children never get bored! we feel having this time is very important as we do not work a 9-5 job but what is possible is being at home most of the time and being able to work around our young family. 

Do you have any hobbies?

I would say I love keeping fit but that has gone a little out of the window since my 3rd child was born, I am just too busy to enjoy the things I once loved, now I would say drinking coffee and eating lots of chocolate to get through the day. lol

What’s your favourite food?

Without a doubt I am a self confessed Cake Lover and have a passion for making celebration cakes for my children's birthdays. 

What is your favourite movie? 

I am a huge fan of movies anything goes, If I had to pick one I would watch over and over would be Shawshank redemption.