SHE DID IT ANYWAY

 

Looking back, I cannot believe what just occurred. It almost feels as if it was a dream… and yet, I know, it wasn’t because I have aged, considerably.  It was a start-up. A beginning. A hope. A fear. A mountain. A valley. A success. Wow.

I find myself  sifting through the emails I filed under “Milestones” so I could begin to digest the last two years of my life, their meaning, significance and the enormity.

From what I have been told, timing is everything. Starting a company, with no plan, no money and no idea, is quite the serious undertaking. Good thing we had no idea what we were in for. We loved the idea and it had legs.

Kismet, indeed.  The stars aligned, yes. But we JUMPED. We moved quickly because we had too. The market was getting penetrated and we wanted a strong foothold.  So we worked, like dogs… and I mean, dogs.  The kids got seconds and our husbands got whatever little pieces that may have been leftover. Our baby, was our company.

Startups are messy and confusing, exciting, wild. Talk about being on a roller coaster.  Many people told us, “We couldn’t do it, not with kids, no way.” The more people told us we couldn’t, we did more, faster, better. Flat out, we set out to turn that notion upside down.  Between my partner and I, we had three kids under 3.  Breastfeeding, diaper changing, sleepless nights,  consistent illnesses, and not to mention just being new moms, WE DID IT ANYWAY. 

We experienced the highest of highs, and the LOWS… of the lows as well. One determines what those are based on a varying degree of things – and we had ours.  Some days were killer. Some days, killed.

The company grew fast and before we could even decide on a logo, we were turning a profit. It was unreal. We were hiring in every state of the Union less than 6 months in.  We were learning things we’d never set out to learn.  Within eighteen months, we were in 18 markets, on national news and radio regularly,  published in major news outlets and frequently asked to contribute our story  and experiences.

The tough part was that there was no time to really relish.  It was always GO TIME. If we weren’t dealing with tech issues, it was human resources, legal, or sales.  We were small and mighty, the wind was strong and sometimes destructive. But we didn’t give in.

And a lot of life happened too…

Between life and children, managing 26+ people  and markets nationwide, ensuring the best customer service in the industry (a promise I made to myself from the start), there was very little ME left. I gave it my all… and then some. So very, very proud.

Someone once told me that I’d never make it to college.  I now had, not only my traditional schooling, I had several Masters degrees in Business, Public Relations, Marketing, What Not to Do, Operations, Sleeplessness, you get the idea.

We did good and we are both proud to say, the “Start-Up” is no longer a Start-Up, but a company, being driven by one of the finest people I know, with one of the best teams imaginable.

We accomplished more with the company than I ever imagined possible. I am so, so very thankful for the experiences, the people I met along the way, the patience and the support from my family and deep kindness from the communities across the Country.

I sold my portion of the company in April 2012, exactly two years from inception. It was time for new adventures. One of the biggest adventures being a full-time stay at home mom for the summer months. This is something that scares me more than going after funding, talking to the media and having a server crash during a big announcement.  Yet, much like I did with the start-up, I am jumping in, literally, with two feet and no idea. I do know, the kids and I will make a splash this summer!

What a RIDE! A journey!

To be repeated. No doubt…

Independent We Stand

Daily Deals for Moms is celebrating 20 months in business. From the beginning, we saw the Mom market getting left behind in the Daily Deal offerings. We also saw small business getting pummeled when they offered a deal with the big conglomerates. Thousands of deals sold, for a small mom and pop shops, isn’t a desirable outcome. After all, isn’t this about assisting business owners with their advertising campaigns, while offering great deals?

Over the last 20 months, we have witnessed the fallen soldiers of small business, and it has made us quite sad. Many, have gone out of business, after offering a deal with a big conglomerate. Their bottom line got crushed. We are in this business, for the opposite reason – we are here for the small business. We have spent the better part of two years working really hard to educate merchants on the deal process while structuring offerings that will encourage repeat business. We aren’t interested in ‘deal seekers’ and neither are the merchants. We want to see our neighborhoods thrive.  I often say “I don’t want to live in a Wal-Mart world.”

We have worked diligently to create meaningful relationships with small business owners all across the country and structure offerings so they don’t cripple the business owners, they encourage consumer loyalty and raise brand awareness. This was our goal from the start, and it continues to be today.  We have had several business owners call to tell us “I was able to keep my doors open as a result of running a deal with Daily Deals for Moms.”   This delights us to no end.

We are now in 26 cities and growing. We have Head Moms in each city, with a focus on local. The women we work with are amazing, dedicated, vibrant, creative and strong. We have assembled a dynamic team and created jobs in a time when many, cannot find employment.

Recently, we have seen a lot of big deal companies try to narrow their focus and localize deals. We feel proud, that we were the first, to recognize, it has to be hyper-local and it must be well-intentioned. We are also proud, that we were the first in the industry to offer small businesses the opportunity to cap their deals. If their budget would only allow for 50 to be sold, we would turn off the offer at 50. We look at this as an advertising campaign. We ask business owners to look at their budgets and determine how much they would spend on marketing and advertising?

We are here for the small business owners and we are here for the Moms.

We recently partnered with a few amazing organizations that I wanted to share.

Mamazina Magazine is the ‘Heart & Soul Of Women’; Sharing mother’s perspectives in print and online.  A great tribute to all things Mom, and all things creative, brilliant, inspiring and rock n roll. Joy Rose, the founder, also puts on MAMAPALOOZA… talk about awesome! Moms aren’t just changing diapers and juggling home/work life… we are rockin’ too, didn’t ya know? As if Joy isn’t busy enough, she also runs M.O.M – The Museum of Motherhood. Again, stunning way to capture our diverse lives and women and as moms. Take a moment to check out her nobel undertakings.

We have also carved out a partnership with Independent We Stand. All things local. Taking a stand for small business. Independent We Stand is a movement of independently-owned local businesses across the country dedicated to educating their communities about the importance — and the benefits — of ‘buying local.’ Clearly, this was a match made in small business heaven. We are thrilled to be working with them and our merchants are as well. All small business merchants can add their information to IWS database as a way to raise their search engine traffic, organic search, SEO, and hyper-local awareness.

We are lucky.

We are in the midst of continuing to grow, as well as roll out some pretty awesome stuff (if I do say so myself). Thanks, for your support, as always.

Support local, YO!

Launching a Company

There is something beautiful about startups. I have always had a soft spot for big ideas and collaborative efforts around bringing an idea to life.  There is something very powerful about taking action on an idea and cultivating it from the way it looks and feels, how it operates and how it is perceived by the public once it is launched.

In April of 2010, I was given a great big opportunity to take a company Daily Deals for Moms and make it my own.  The foundation had been poured, and the ball had been set in motion. It was now mine to take, make and grow.  With the enormity of the project and the stellar potential of the business model, I knew I needed a team mate.

I called the one woman, who is everything I am not. She is precise. Detail orientated. Financially literate and extremely diverse in her ability to make things run from SEO to internal systems management.  I called Whitney Trujillo. A strong blend of business savvy, marketing know-how and all things technical.  We formed a partnership based on strengths and it is going well.

Daily Deals for Moms is comitted to supporting small business, keeping capital local and sharing ‘darn good deals.’ I have always been very passionate about the small business.  I have started service relate vantures soley to work closly with small business.  This is no different and I remain very dedicated to making sure I do everything I can to work with small business with Daily Deals for Moms.

Since April 2010, we have opened up the Denver, Boston, Colorado Springs markets, with Portland, Chicago and several other cities in the line up.  We have feet on the street and are formulating meaningful partnerships and learning a lot about the market as it pertains to modern day advertising and marketing.

The landscape has changed, greatly over the last 5 years. Print advertising  is a dying breed, in most cases. Television advertising is also changing dramatically with the ability to DVR or TIVO programs – there is no need to watch commercials anymore; we can fast forward through all of them.

So what do this mean for business?

It means that performance based marketing companies like Daily Deals for Moms is moving into the space with a much more timely way to reach your consumers, directly, with targeted messages. It is very, very powerful.

Excited for the growth of this company and even more excited to continue working with small businesses, and this time, I get to work with them all over the country. That is really, really exciting.