A MUM who needed a flexible job to fit around looking after her children decided to launch her own business.

Carly Davidson retrained following the birth of her second child and has now launched Make Social, a social media strategy business.

The 35-year-old, from Hatch Warren, worked in the utility industry for 15 years in management positions.

She said: “Social media has always been a passion and I always knew I wanted to do something related to it but didn’t know how so I went on a training course.”

At the six-month course Carly met Melissa Hardman, a fellow mum, and the pair struck up a friendship resulting in them joining forces as business partners to set up Make Social.

The company focuses on creating a social media strategy for small businesses along with training and advertising.

“From a business’s point of view having a social media strategy is paramount,” explained Carly. “Mke Social was born out of wanting to help businesses make social media work for them and their business. We want to help businesses recognise and understand the potential of embedding a social media marketing strategy into their overall business plan and of course to help them implement it to achieve success."

Carly and Melissa – a former makeup artist and mother-of-two from Wiltshire - have so far relied on business through word of mouth but hope to expand in the Basingstoke and surrounding areas.

“Everyone is intrigued by social media,” said Carly, adding: “It’s still new enough in terms of businesses point of view people are very much not knowing what it means or how it would work. I find myself having to explain to people. Big businesses have cottoned onto the idea that they need to use it and there’s those that understand it and have run with it or those that aren’t quite there yet and are putting their money in an advertising budget rather than social media because they aren’t sure what it’s going to do for them. We want to show it’s well worth it because everyone is on social media.”

Carly said running her own business means she can fit her work around looking after her two children, aged three and four, adding: “I wanted to find flexible working but still do something that I feel passionate about and I feel really lucky that’s possible. I was worrying about it when my first daughter was a baby not knowing if I could make that leap. But when I started training, I knew from that moment from starting the course that this was it for me.”

For more information visit makesocial.co.uk.