Mom Invented

First season Apprentice contestant Kristi Frank may have gotten fired by The Donald on national TV, but that didn't quell her entrepreneurial spirit. The serial entrepreneur just launched a new venture: BlowDryBootCamp.

After her son, Tyler, was born, Kristi just wasn't interested in spending time and money in the salon, but she still wanted to look her best. She hired a stylist and filmed a 7-minute video tutorial on how to get a salon look at home, and she and her friends were absolutely amazed by the results they were able to achieve.

To get her idea out to the public, Kristi took classes in online marketing, list building, branding and product development, and surrounded herself with a team of successful women mentors to keep her business goals on track.

Kristi and her husband funded the company themselves, and BlowDryBootCamp officially launched last month, offering a DVD and an ebook online. Kristi is now working on developing a line of hair care products and instructional makeup videos.

We caught up with this high-energy mom entrepreneur -- she gets in an hour of work and a spin class before the rest of her family even wakes up -- to discuss business, motherhood, motivation and more…

Why did you start this company and when?

Kristi Frank's hair before BlowDryBootCamp

BlowDryBootCamp was created after my son was born. I was frustrated, even angry, that I had no control over how my hair looked every day unless I took all that time and money to go to the salon. I hated spending all that time and money. Then one day a person I know said, "You know, Kristi, your ponytail makes you look older." And I woke up!

I hired Andrew, a stylist friend of mine who is the absolute best at teaching women how to achieve beautiful salon-styled hair at home. I call him BlowDryBootCamp's "secret weapon." After we filmed a quick introductory video, I shared it with my girlfriends and they were blown away by the easy-to-follow advice and how it completely changed how they were able to achieve salon-like results at home. After just a seven-minute video, I knew I had something that needed to be expanded and flushed out fully. BlowDryBootCamp was born.

What were your initial goals?

Initially, I wanted to get BlowDryBootCamp into the hands of as many women as possible so I could gather the necessary feedback to revise and polish as needed. But overall, my goal has always been one of transformation -- to actually change the way we women feel about ourselves by increasing not just our outer beauty but also our inner confidence.

On a business level, I want to eventually develop a full line of hair care products that compliment the BDBC techniques, branching into other beauty how-tos. I'm even working now with a top makeup artist who is teaching me about beautiful makeup techniques we can do ourselves every day as well as on special occasions.

How did you finance your business?

Kristi Frank's hair after BlowDryBootCamp

We were self-funded, and one of the best things about BlowDryBootCamp and other info-marketing ventures is that they require a minimal start-up investment. And that's just another reason why I've become so passionate about the vast opportunity online businesses present for everyone.

The entire investment, including development of and production for the video and book, research, education, etc., was under $10,000 -- a favorable amount when compared to the hundreds of thousands that it took to open my restaurant!

What is your background and how does it relate to your company?

I represent the audience I'm reaching in my business and my career. I'm a married, stay-at-home mom entrepreneur, with a wonderful 5-year-old son, living in Park City, UT. I hold a degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering from the University of Southern California and had a brief run in real estate before I opened a restaurant in Santa Monica with a celebrity chef. After it was up and running, I was fortunate to be chosen out of over 250,000 applicants to be a featured contestant on the premiere season of NBC's The Apprentice with Donald Trump.

To me, an online business is one of the best and most profitable choices to allow a driven mom like myself to enjoy a business and family life at once. Not only does it allow you to work from anywhere, it also involves a minimal initial outlay of capital. And best of all, it creates income around your schedule, your life, and most importantly, your passions. I believe our businesses should be created around our lives, not the other way around.

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

The prototype was developed in tandem with a top-notch creative director/copywriter so I would have a quick presentation for those initial meetings. I sat down a number of times with hair styling legend Jose Eber to assess the viability of the product. Then, I surveyed my friends and family with some specific questions designed to get a sense of marketability and to refine the contents of the learning video. Meanwhile, I was searching the marketplace for any other similar products out there, and only found one DVD of inferior content as well as some very amateur online videos. My next step was to survey a larger group of women with surveymonkey.com, which is a site where you can create and distribute online surveys for free.

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

Initially I couldn't decide on the right stylist for the project. I think I met with every well-known stylist in Beverly Hills and it never felt right. The project needed someone who could quickly and easily teach women the special styling tricks and techniques that they use to get great professional results, as well as someone who was great on camera. I finally found both when I met Andrew Carruthers, a master stylist in his own right, whose job also involves teaching other stylists how to blow-out hair. He was the biggest piece that was missing, and after I found him the project really took off.

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

It was and still is researching the products for the BDBC styling line I intend to launch. I've interviewed manufacturers and I think I've finally found one that is not only reasonable, but also great in terms of the specific formulas needed to compliment Andrew's teachings. Next I will assess whether there is a demand from my BDBC customers for an aligned product line to accompany the instructional techniques.

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

One of my favorite marketing tools -- and areas of expertise -- is getting free publicity for my ventures. It can actually be easier online as there are many things you can do to create buzz. One step is to brand yourself and become an expert in a specific field. For some reason, we women especially sometimes wrongly believe that we can't do this -- that we don't have the experience, knowledge or power in a "man's world" to be considered an expert in a particular field. That is so wrong. It can be as easy as writing an article about something you love, a product or service, and boom -- you're an expert!

I started my first online business by interviewing the country's top women CEOs, entrepreneurs and coaches offering their best advice to other women. I also began to write articles and soon became known among women entrepreneurs. I became an expert myself because I surrounded myself with so many successful women entrepreneurs and patterned myself to become one of them. So I always teach women to blog, write articles then post them at places like www.ezinearticles.com as an easy way of generating traffic and establishing yourself as an expert.

How have you managed to juggle the roles of business owner and mom?

Kristi Frank and her family

I lean on my husband a lot. I'm lucky because he's semi-retired, having sold his successful advertising agency and production company. And I can't tell you enough how happy it makes me to see my son playing with his daddy and them being able to spend so much time together. During the week we employ a part-time nanny while I'm mid-launch, and of course play-dates help a lot too with a pre-schooler. My new passion has been getting up at 4:30 am and doing about an hour of work and then going to a pounding, relentless spin class. By the time I get home, my husband and son are just getting up, and I feel like I've already accomplished so much -- and it's only 7:30.

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

One thing that can make an immediate impact is the implementation of powerful time management tools. And they don't have to be complicated to be powerful. For instance, before I get out of bed I write down three things that will move me forward before I even allow myself to check my e-mail. And oh that e-mail -- I try to make it a point to schedule two times during the work day to actually check and respond to e-mails, freeing up to think, act and be more creative and productive with my time.

Another thing is the importance for us women to have a support system. I surround myself with other successful mom entrepreneurs and women. It's absolutely vital to my sanity and success. So when another mom loses it because she's trying to juggle her children, meals, soccer practice and her career, I can remind her, as she does me, that we're just human and we all get overwhelmed. I ask for advice and assistance from my mentors and female support system a lot.

What advice would you offer other moms developing their businesses?

Today's mom has to be a superwoman, and how do you do it all?  Well, you can't -- at least without sacrificing something very important in your or your family's life. I am a Mom first and other things have to wait. One of the reasons BDBC took four years to get off the ground is simply because I couldn't do it all. I had another business I was concurrently developing, and my family comes first. Now that my son is almost five, my time is a bit more open to pursue my career path and the individual businesses that I still want to develop.

The truth is you can balance family and career, though it's rarely an easy balancing act. My best advice is to take your time and focus best you can. You can do so many things from home if you have the right people and tools around you.

Thank you for sharing your story, Kristi! You can learn more about BlowDryBootCamp on its website. And if you have a great story about your business, we'd love to hear it!

Tagged as: featured mom, internet business, Kristi Frank, online business, starting a business, stay at home mom, The Apprentice, woman business owner, woman entrepreneur, work from home