Juliet Turnbull loves being a mother.
She also loves working and, after 12 years working in the property sector, she realised she wanted to build her own company on the terms (and hours) that worked for her as a parent.
Turnbull set up 2to3days.com in July 2015, a website that tackles the all-too-frequent problem of women dropping out the workforce when they have children.
She wanted to juggle the demands of being a mother with the demands of a job she loved, yet it seemed clear other parents believed this couldn't be done.
"I wanted to perform those different roles as a woman to the best of my ability," Turnbull told HuffPost UK Parents.
Turnbull and her two children
Turnbull said she kept finding herself in the same conversation with other mums over and over again.
After having kids, they wanted to carry on with their career but they weren't prepared to work full-time hours for it.
"There are so many mothers out there who are highly skilled and have a huge amount to offer but have difficulty combining their career with motherhood," Turnbull explained.
"From my experience, their output is second to none, 'when you want a job done, ask a busy person' couldn’t be more applicable than to a highly capable mother."
But the problem stemmed from mothers not knowing where - or even if - fulfilling part-time roles exist.
She added: "If a mother has been fortunate enough to find a satisfying part-time position, it probably would have been through a dinner party chat or an anecdotal conversation.
"Most mothers believe that the default working position is full-time, a lowly part-time job or no job at all."
Turnbull began researching companies nationwide to see whether there were employers who were willing to employ committed and talented staff on a flexible basis.
And her research revealed there was. Employers knew there was an under-utilised talent pool of mothers out there but had no way to find them.
Enter 2to3days.com, the formal meeting place for both mothers and employers to connect.
Turnbull explained: "The aim was to create a compelling community of mothers, employers and experts who could connect and challenge the norms around flexible working.
"We wanted to support companies where people work smarter, not longer and create workplaces where mothers can combine be valued for the contributions they make both at work and home."
Turnbull said the name of the website just naturally rolled off the tongue, adding: "Everyone gets it in a heartbeat."
To get started with the website, Turnbull listed the employers from her research who were open and keen to employ flexible working mothers.
She enrolled the help of software designers to help create a system that matched the criteria of employers with the skills and experience of mothers.
The system was made to generate a shortlist of positions for the mothers, and potential candidates for the employers nationally, both of which appear in their "matchbox".
"We also created an option for mothers to hunt for three different jobs at the same time," Turnbull added.
"This is because so many mothers will have had varied work experiences and may well be qualified to pursue more than one job type.
"We designed a private forum, where mothers can share their worries and concerns and gain the support and advice of likeminded women.
"Mothers can also connect with and arrange to meet other mothers, and mentor each other in their respective professions.
"The site is so much more than just connecting mothers and employers."
Once you're signed up - it currently costs £20 per month per user - you receive your own interactive dashboard.
Services include joining with other mothers to create mentor/mentee relationships, discussing job-shares and reality check exercises which helps mothers get clarity about how much time they are available to work and how much money they want to earn.
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What Turnbull really wants to do is get the message out to other mums that flexible and fulfilling work is out there for them.
But the most important point to get you going on your job hunt, she said, is clarity in what you want to do.
She added: "You’ll need to ask yourself some honest questions before you even start looking for work.
"What is your ideal job? What would energise you so that you’re in the right mind-set to juggle home and work? Where does it need to be based? How many hours do you want to work? And how much do you want to earn?
"It might pay to get someone outside your immediate circle to help you answer all those questions and guide you to clarity.
"A career break doesn’t need to look like a hole in your CV, in fact quite the opposite. Mothers develop fantastic transferrable skills bringing up their children which translate directly into the workplace.
"Then it’s time to get organised. Make sure you’ve got the right childcare sorted out so that you don’t feel angst-ridden when you walk out of the house.
"And if you need to refresh your skills, an expert trainer could pay dividends. We’ve created a directory of experts who are on hand for just that reason."
