Mom Invented

Cathy Bennett

When Cathy Bennett's son was a few weeks old, she set out to create her first scrapbook. She purchased a few hundred dollars' worth of scrapbooking materials and equipment, turned the dining room table into her "studio", and began cutting, pasting and creating her pages in earnest.

After five pages, she gave up. She didn't like how they looked, she didn't like the mess on the dining room table, and she didn't like how long it took to make them. She thought there must be better way - digitally, on the computer. But after weeks of Google searches, she found nothing she liked. So she set out to create her own product.

The result is How Fast They Grow, a website where parents can create beautiful scrapbook pages for half the price of traditional scrapbooking - in about one tenth of the time. While Cathy has an MBA and solid corporate work experience, she had no experience with the Internet, photography or design prior to launching her company. Yet belief in herself and passion for her idea has made it the most successful venture of her life. Here is her story:

What were your initial goals?

My initial goals were just to get the website up and running and to launch a few sets of beautiful baby books for moms to be able to create a first 12 months book.

Describe yourself and your family. What is your background and how does it relate to your company?

I received my BA from UCLA and MBA from the University of Notre Dame. I really enjoyed corporate life until I had children. All of a sudden, the work I was doing seem irrelevant (to me personally) and I felt I was wasting 9 hours a day away from my baby. I had taken a step back, career wise, when I was pregnant so that I could work from home and not have to travel. But the job wasn't challenging for me and I became frustrated. I started seeing moms around me starting their own businesses and that seemed like the perfect route for me.

Have you ever experienced an epiphany that changed the direction of your life?

The epiphany was a bittersweet "a-ha" moment when I realized that traditional scrapbooking was not for me!

What process did you follow to develop a prototype?

I developed the website over a 7 month period, with extensive amounts of testing prior to a private beta test 4 weeks before launch. Because the website is a rich internet application developed with some very advanced software, we continued to work out issues after the website went live.

What process did you follow to determine your product's marketability?

Initially, I spoke with a lot of mom acquaintances who had the same experience as I did with scrapbooking, and didn't like the concept of bound photo books, because you have to have a finished book prior to printing. The percentage of moms who had not found an ideal solution for baby booking or child memory books was almost 100% - pretty astonishing. I did not do any formal market research before or after the launch of How Fast They Grow. With all-new products, it's sometimes difficult to gauge your market until it actually comes to market.

What process did you follow to find a manufacturer for your product?

I talked with countless web designers and web developers in the two years leading up to the actual sourcing of a web developer. There were many developers who told me they could do the work (gladly!) and in the end I found out they didn't have near the expertise to actually accomplish the coding required. Finally, I found a web developer that specialized in rich internet applications and web 2.0, which was the kind of expertise I needed. Once I met them and they were able to address all of my questions intelligently, everyone else seemed like amateurs.

Were there any setbacks in product development that had to be overcome?

There weren't any setbacks, but sourcing of my web developer took much longer than I thought.

What was the biggest learning curve in terms of developing your product?

I had no experience in Internet, web, photography or design. It's ironic to me that I was more under-qualified for the job of running my own website than any other job I've ever had. Yet, I've been more successful at it than any other 'job.' Go figure!

Through what markets are you selling (retail, wholesale, internet, specialty sales)?

We sell exclusively online. The fulfillment is done through me and my suppliers.

What secrets have you learned in terms of publicity and marketing your product?

That the best marketing and PR person is yourself. Most editors want to talk to the owner of the company anyway, so if you can write and talk, you can do a pretty good job at PR. Also, there is no better marketing than the "word of mom." Targeting mom bloggers has basically been my most successful marketing tactic. Also, great customer service is golden. Whenever you can, get back to people within a minute vs. within 24 hours when they ask you a question. Treat your customers as if they are guests in your home instead of anonymous web traffic. They will remember and appreciate the extra care.

What was the biggest learning curve in terms of marketing your product?

That there is a big lag time between the time somebody becomes aware of your product and potentially buys it. Also, just because someone is a huge fan of your website, doesn't mean they are going to be your best customer.

How long did it take to get your product from idea to market (conception to product launch)?

It took just over three years. At the time, it seemed like a long time. But looking back, I am glad I took time to make the important decisions. Any of the hasty decisions I made ended up being bad decisions.

How have you managed to juggle the roles of business owner and mom? What falls by the wayside?

When I first left my full time job to work on the website exclusively, I was able to do everything and still have time left over, it seemed. My kids went to preschool 3 hours a day, and I thought I was the queen of time management. But the thing I didn't count on is that the busier and more successful your business becomes, the more time you have to spend on it. There is a myth out there that women start their own businesses to spend more time with their kids. More times than not, running your own business takes more time and energy than a full time job.

What kind of support system do you have in place personally and professionally?

My husband picks up the pieces where needed. I do a lot of work at night when the kids are asleep.

How did you finance your business (personal contributions, loans from friends & family, loans from bank, credit cards, outside investors?).

Personal contributions and equity arrangements with suppliers.

What is your company's current financial picture and what are your projections?

We've doubled our membership since the Fall of 2008, to over 10,000 active members. The business had its best month ever in December, which was a month many more mature businesses shut down, which makes me feel very optimistic for 2009. We are (conservatively) targeting year over year gains of 300%.

What has been your greatest success or "high point" in the process?

Reaching the 10,000 member milestone was a huge achievement. I also have fantastic loyalty among existing customers as they grow their books for their children. I have a growing group of customers that I've received a dozen or more orders from in the last year.

Have you experienced a "low point" and if so, how did you rally yourself to get back on track?

In May of 2008 we had a server failure at the hands of a web hosting company who wasn't doing its job. Simply put, I "picked the wrong horse" in my sourcing of web hosting companies because I thought of web hosting as a commodity rather than an important business decision. For the customers who were affected, we bent over backwards in giving them gift certificates to compensate them for lost files. I learned that you can't be too careful in picking the people you work with and to always check references and demand to get referrals from companies similar to yours, regardless of how big they are.

Who has been your biggest source of inspiration? What keeps you going?

My customers are my biggest source of inspiration. Every time I receive a note from a mom whose life has been made better by the How Fast They Grow website, I get such a smile on my face.

Did anyone in particular help you along the way?

I was really inspired by Tamara Monosoff. I am lucky enough to be a personal friend of hers and I remember her going up to my husband a few months before the launch of the website and telling him how much he needed to support me, that I had a great idea. It meant the world!

What advice would you offer other moms developing their products/ideas?

To not feel in a rush to bring your idea to market. Everyone thinks that someone is going to steal your idea, and that so rarely happens. A business is a marathon, not a race, and slow and steady wins the race. Take time making your decisions so that you can make the right decisions.

Is there a resource that proved to be invaluable that you would like to share with other moms?

• Facebook! I had been in business for 18 months before I (at the urging of friends) started looking into Facebook as a way to market my business. I honestly thought it was a bunch of bored, single 20-somethings looking for high school friends. I have now been on Facebook (both personally and professionally) a total of 2 weeks (yes, that's it!) and here's my experience....
• First step: I set up my personal account and uploaded my profile photo, then started searching for the friends I already knew were there. Once I got going, it was unbelievable to me how many moms were on Facebook. Facebook seems the best (free) way to share photos of your kids confidentially and keep in touch with friends when you have 2 minutes vs. 2 hours to spend with them.
• Then, I set up a page for my company, How Fast They Grow. Initially, the page you set up as a corporate entity is seen as a subset of your own personal Facebook account. Once you get a minimum number of fans, or members, then the page becomes its own entity on Facebook's search engine. Since my website is a digital scrapbook website aimed at moms, I packed the Facebook page with great sample page ideas, past contests we've had, sneak peeks at new designs, and holiday ideas. I sent the link to my friends first, who started becoming fans.
• After I was comfortable with the way the page looked and thought it would be enticing for my customers, I sent an outbound email out to all my customers, inviting them to be fans. I had 300 fans within 4 days...unbelievable. The thing I wasn't prepared for is just how popular Facebook already was with all of my customers. While I haven't confirmed this, I'd guess that 9 out of 10 of my customers have a Facebook account. Wow.
• The next thing that happened surprised me even more... friends of my customers became fans of my website, and my daily traffic counts went up by an average of 250 visits. It seemed that the average 'fan' of How Fast They Grow had at least 75 friends, who all got notified immediately when their friend became fans. Talk about incredible word of mouth...I was blown away.
• Then I decided to try Facebook ads. Like Google ads, you can set ceilings on per day clicks. You can also target your ads to certain demographics (mine is set at moms, 25-40 who are college-educated). I now have 3 ads running on Facebook, for about $9.00 per day total. Since I've got it set up to pay only for actual clicks, it's a guaranteed daily traffic generator to my website. One really nice ad feature is that you can use social tags that target friends of your fans, e.g.: "you have 1 friend who is a fan of How Fast They Grow, why don't you become a fan, too." Talk about targeted!
• We added a "Find us on Facebook" button to the bottom navigation of our website's homepage. I think this gives people another feeling of community when they go to my website. It's like, yes, we are part of that club, and yes, we thought about that, too!
• My next goal: My web developers are currently working on code for the website that will allow people to immediately post their scrapbook pages to their Facebook accounts, in one click. People love uploading photographs of their kids anyway, this will be just another twist on that. My developers told me that it's really as simple as setting up code provided by Facebook, and Facebook doesn't charge for this. I can't wait! Now I just have to figure out "Twitter!"

What surprised you about this process?

How much I still enjoy coming to work every single day! In all my other corporate jobs, I'd be ready for a change after a year. This, I still love.

Tagged as: featured mom, interview, online business, scrapbooking, success story