“This is the next shopping cart cover,” a mother gushed to me recently. This statement probably wouldn’t mean much to most people, but to a mom it means a lot. After all, in recent years shopping cart covers have become standard baby registry gifts and large companies as well as work-at-home moms have gotten in on the act. Having my product compared to a shopping cart cover meant one thing; I was sitting on something big.

I’ve always considered myself a creative person as well as an ambitious woman, but it wasn’t until my son was born that I was able to combine those two strengths. When he was five months old, I got sick of trying to get him into coats but receiving blankets wouldn’t stay on and I was not carrying the infant seat everywhere I went. I needed something that was easy to get on but also worked with a car seat or stroller. So I went to the fabric store, bought some fleece, and came home to make a poncho for him. The problem was that a simple poncho wasn’t going to cut it. All the extra fabric in the back was going to make it hard to get his car seat straps on and off. What to do? I messed around with it for a few hours and finally landed on something different – a rear-access cloak. I figured with an opening in the back, I would be able to get him in and out of the car and stroller easier. What I discovered was that the rear-access not only worked wonderfully for its intended person, but it also was a snap to take on and off. I suddenly was able to have him ready to walk out the door in 5 seconds no matter how wiggly or fussy he was.

I was pretty thrilled with my discovery and my family was impressed. We affectionately deemed it the bloak – the blanket-cloak, and we toted James in it everywhere. Soon people at the store, the post office, the doctor’s office were all asking about the bloak. When I showed them how it worked, they wanted one. So I set to work making testers to send out to friends. I wasn’t just starting a side business though, I was launching a product. I took Christmas vacation and started a patent application, chose a company name, and found a web designer. By February, the tester reviews were back, I had patent-pending status, a professionally designed website, logos, and product on hand. In the last 2 months, I’ve had over 2000 visitors to my site despite doing no advertising, and we now have bloaks in over 20 states! In fact, the idea was so popular that moms from Florida began asking for lightweight ones, and moms from the Northeast requested rainproof ones. Before I knew it, we were making three styles of bloaks to meet the requests of moms across the nation. As it stands, we will begin taking wholesale orders from small boutiques this May, and then begin the tradeshow circuit this fall. I never dreamt that my simple baby solution could become big business, but as another mom recently told me, “This could put your kid through college.”

Of course, the a-ha moment was the easy part for me. Despite that it’s the one thing I can’t give moms advice on – you just have to have one. What I do know is that moms really are mothers of invention. We have to be! Our lives are crazier than ever and we need simple solutions to make things easier on us. No one understands a mother’s needs more than another mother and that’s why they are precisely the people to look to for amazing business ideas! Kim Lavine, the author of Mommy Millionaire, the bible for would-be mom-entrepreneurs, always reminds her followers to, “Change the rules [and] join the revolution.” As moms we sometimes are leery of taking a risk, but we are singularly suited to the world of entrepreneurship. We avert crises everyday, schedule ourselves, stretch ourselves to the max, and can survive on very little sleep – all necessary components of the business world. Why not build a business empire with a baby on the hip?

Jen
Owner, Sass and Fras
and creator of The Bloak!

I believe that a household should run like any strong organization. As such, I’m the self-appointed CEO and my husband, Simon is my staff. He receives periodic performance reviews, which are generally corrective and don’t involve bonuses. When friends call to see if Simon can play golf or racquetball, I remind them that his hobbies include taking out the garbage and dropping someone off at soccer practice. I even provide him with annual “staff appreciation days”, namely his birthday and Father’s Day.

Sometimes he thinks our positions are not entirely fair because I’m not the traditional stay-at-home mom. I own a business, attend networking events, and generally don’t concern myself with the things that extremely competent homemakers do. It would be fair to say that my children’s dinners involve either or both the freezer and microwave, and that bed sheets get changed only when there is vomit or urine on them. But, every organization needs a boss and to compare our work hours, I am the only reasonable choice. 

When I had my first child, Mack, I was overwhelmed with how much I loved him. So overwhelmed that I became the expert on all things Mack. This quickly transformed me into the “Naggin’ Dragon”, constantly giving Simon advice and tips on what to do with, for, and to Mack. I recognized that the “Naggin’ Dragon” had no place in our happy home and needed reigning in.

When my daughter arrived the next year, I set some strict yet reasonable parameters on what I would allow myself to comment on. I would now only comment if Simon’s actions or choices were going to affect the children’s health and safety, wellness, and / or general happiness.

What I soon discovered was that these parameters were far too narrow since they did not include how he dressed the children. So there I was, my children dressed in stripes going both ways and I was stranded, unable to comment on Simon’s wardrobe choice. Sometimes he would have one child dressed for the middle of winter, and the other dressed for the middle of summer. Couldn’t he see that one of them was hot or one of them was cold? And there I was, silent.

As a means of avoiding this situation and generally not wanting my kids to look like idiots, I figured out a foolproof solution. I would lay their clothes out, which had the added bonus of looking like I was being helpful. I was shocked to return home one morning to discover my two-year-old son in my one-year-old daughter’s outfit and vice versa. My son looked like he was about to head off to gay Mardi Gras.

Since then, we have had three more babies so now have a hectic household of five children between the ages of seven months and seven years old. To the outside observer, our busy home seems to run like a well-oiled machine. Laughter echoes from the backyard trampoline and playful cries of “Marco Polo” can be heard from the salt-water pool. If you are able to tune out the tattle-tailing and teasing, you can enjoy listening to the kiddie conversations between these little best friends who are lucky enough to be siblings. And while it is predominantly a happy chaos in suburbia, it is chaos nonetheless so the need for a strong CEO is greater than ever.

But at the end of the day (if it ends), we moms have to remind ourselves that how our staff dresses the kids just doesn’t matter. OK, so maybe their instincts aren’t always so hot and maybe multi-tasking isn’t their strong suit, but, when I watch Simon playing and loving our kids I kind of forget about all that and think about giving him a raise.

** Julie Cole LL.B, M.A,  is one of the founding mompreneurs of Mabel’s Labels Inc. (www.mabel.ca) and the mother of five children.

Shannon, Aaron and their new baby Rory!

Let’s Play BINGO!

Play for free, have lots of fun and win PartyLite and Taste of Home Entertaining gifts and more! The event is tonight at O’Quigley’s in Lee’s Summit (150 and 291 Highway) at 6:30 pm.

Arrive by 6:20 pm for the Early Bird Drawing!

11 different Bingo games. 7 games free just for coming and 4 games with a paid entry (for the really BIG stuff) so bring those single $$$s!

HUNDREDS ID $$$ IN PRIZES!!!  Hope to see you there!

The BabyBumps Team wants to wish all of our visitors a very happy Mother’s Day! Whether you are expecting, have a new bundle of joy, or have been a mom for years, we know that you ALL work very hard to support your family, manage your home and share your love every day.

Enjoy your day… you deserve it!

Happy Mother’s Day!

Every mom deserves to feel good about herself and have a little time to take care of mom without feeling guilty about taking time away from your family.

Fulfill those needs with Baby Boot Camp premier stroller fitness classes.  Baby Boot Camp provides a great playgroup for your child, a great way to make new friends for mom, a workout that will boost your energy, self esteem and make you feel good all day.

Your first class is always free so sign up and check it out, sign up for a Saturday class and bring dad a long to workout with you.

Sign up in the Month of May and receive a free month on a 6 or 12 month package.

Give your husband a great idea for a mothers day gift that will really change your life!

Jodie
BabyBootCamp.com