May 4, 2016

It’s a Mom Business

Over the past four years Jane and I have had numerous meetings with designers, fellow entrepreneurs and specialty food consultants…but I’ll never forget a question by a potential investor. After Jane and I spent a 1/2 hour explaining our business he looked directly at me and asked…

“Meg, is this a Mom business or is it for real?”

To which, I promptly replied “No, it isn’t a Mom business.”

His words might have been a bit different but the intention was clear.

I looked over at Jane to observe her reaction for she had just spent that week hand blending over 500 spice blends in addition to writing our blog and making final preparation for an upcoming farmers market. I could tell she was obviously taken aback, but in her polite British fashion waited until he left to ask, “What the !!!! did he mean?”

While it seemed off-putting at the time, after spending another two years building the brand, I’m proud to say that I was wrong.

We are a Mom business, although not in the way he meant it.

We work virtually and together during school hours, break for family time and then often jump back on our computers. While family events take precedence over work events, our families also make adjustments for the many weekends we work in the farmers markets or do demos at Whole Foods.

As a “Mompreneur” I’ve met many amazing women over the past four years and am inspired by the energy and passion they bring to their businesses. A few of my favorite are listed below:

Beth Engelman, founder of mommyonashoestring.com, a blog dedicated to helping moms live large on a shoestring budget.

Joanie Muench, founder of 922inc. After losing her Dad at a young age, Joanie was inspired to create the business so Moms (she comes from a family of 9) could work between the hours of 9 am-2 pm to help provide income and support for their families.

Julie Tracy, founder of Urban Autism Solutions, inspired by her own son, John, created Project 1212 a residential community that supports young adults in their social and vocational choices.

And as two Mompreneurs, we are excited to share the next chapter of our growth: a co-branded Meal Kit by Peapod set to debut on their website this June.

To meet the increased demand we needed to leave our test kitchen in Evanston and found a small female owned co-packer in West Chicago that has now blended its first batch of spices for us.

To fund this project we are using Kickstarter. Kickstarter helps small businesses and entrepreneurs fund their ideas through a crowdfunding site – as an example, think of many small donations supporting a political campaign versus a large fundraising dinner. With Kickstarter time is of the essence (only a 31 day campaign) and we NEED to reach our goal of $15,000 in order to collect the funds.

kickstarterthumb — Link our Kickstarter Campaign

Our campaign begins today and ends on June 3rd.

We know some of you aren’t in a financial position to help us but perhaps you know someone who is. Beyond the dollars, in the Kickstarter world every contribution helps as a measure of high interest in the product. Getting out of the gates quickly with strong support is key for creating momentum. We are asking everyone to forward this email to friends who would be interested, put it on their social media pages and get excited about spreading a little Zen!

And for all of you wonderful Moms out there, we wish you a Happy Mother Day.

With gratitude-