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PRESS ROOM > May 2008 Newsletter Contents Greetings Featured Moms put style into workplace security badges! The Mom Report™: Let go of the guilt! Tamara shares a family anecdote. Not a millionaire yet? Don't fret. How to take on your competition Mom to Mom: Six ways to save on groceries Businesses You Should Know About Greetings (back to contents) 
An early happy Mother's Day to you!
There's no better month to give yourself a gift -- and if you've been thinking about launching a business, there's no better gift to give yourself. The rewards and feelings of gratification will keep on giving! I encourage you to use the resources in this newsletter, and on our website, to help you. And I hope you are inspired by this month's Featured Moms, who recognized a great opportunity - and grew it into a $2 million+ business in just a few years. Wishing you all the best this month! Warmest Wishes, Tamara Monosoff, Founder of Mom Inventors, Inc. Featured Moms put style into workplace security badges! (back to contents) 
Lisa Harrington was a pediatric nurse who was bored with the standard shoelace-style lanyard on which she wore her hospital ID. So she designed and made a stylish alternative to wear -
and her coworkers noticed. She began making them and selling them from home, but as the trend in workplace security grew - especially after 9/11 -- Lisa and her partner Kimberly decided
to ratchet up production and launch the business in a big way to meet the needs of a growing market. The result is their flagship product line,
BooJeeBeads - stylish and attractive badge holders, eyeglass necklaces, id badge clips and more. They have doubled their sales each year since launching in 2003, and last year hit the $2 million mark! Lisa tells their story here:
Describe your company and your product. I started Bonitas International about 5 years ago along with Kimberly Martinez, my sister in law. What's interesting is that we are basically a "virtual" organization. I live in Cincinnati and my partner lives in southwest Florida. We have 15 people on our team, most of who work out of home offices (spare bedrooms or converted guest houses). We have a real distribution center - a warehouse with a loading dock and a palette jack and lots of boxes. I work in our design studio (a rented room behind a shoe repair place) with our design team. We didn't plan to organize our company in this manner - it's just that we kept finding these great people who were willing to "drink the Kool-Aid" and believe in the dream. We were so happy to have these talented people on board that we hired them, even though they didn't live in our cities. We are technology junkies, so we use a pretty impressive collection of software - from video conferencing to online collaboration tools - to enable us to work as one connected team. Our product collection, called BooJee Beads, offers a variety of stylish and attractive ID badge holders for women. With a full array of styles and designs, women have a fashion alternative to the shoelace or dog- chain style lanyard given to them by that guy in security. We have expanded our product line to include retractable badge reel jewelry, eyeglass necklaces and leashes, id badge clips, fashion carabineers and more. Why did you start this company and when? I was a pediatric nurse who designed a fashionable way to display my hospital id badge. I was making them at home with my kids after school and teaching them about "business" by having them track orders and costs in a little green notebook. Over the holidays that year, Kimberly heard about my business and its "success" that she convinced me that we needed to do this on a big scale. She convinced me that it was our calling to free women around the world from the fashion disaster that comes from wearing an employee ID! When we looked further, it was clear that there was a growing trend towards more security in the workplace after 9/11. In the hospital industry alone, the market was large enough for us to pursue our plans. When we looked into other potential workplace environments, as well as school environments, our business plan expanded exponentially. It seemed that most women forced to wear an ID badge were interested in a prettier alternative! We launched our company in 2003, with our first year spent on product development. What were your initial goals? We didn't want to ease onto the scene like a cutesy "Mom 'n Pop" operation. We really wanted to blow the doors off the market from the start. Our goal was to turn heads and earn name recognition from the beginning, so that it would be harder to copy our product. Describe yourself and your family. What is your background and how does it relate to your company? I am a nurse by training - an end-user of the product. As if scrubs and sneakers weren't torture enough, I was also sporting the typical ID badge on a shoelace style lanyard. I saw the need for something fun and attractive, something that would allow me to express a little of my personality. So my ID badge ended up becoming a fashion accessory for work! I've always been a creative person and so I decided to put those skills to work on a new concept. My kids actually helped me make the first prototypes. We were up to our elbows in beads and string and I'm not sure who was having more of a ball - them or me! This eventually evolved into my handling the creative development for our company. Kimberly had the business and marketing experience and I had the creativity and insight. Creative development for BooJee Beads involves working with our vendors in China to select shapes, sizes, colors and styles of beads, overseeing their quality, and ensuring they are strung together in an attractive matter, much like a jeweler. I also work on development of line extensions, which involves researching market trends and building prototypes of new potential products. Click here to learn how they did it - and get tips on how you can, too. The Mom Report™: Let go of the guilt! Tamara shares a family anecdote. (back to contents) 
Being an entrepreneur or a working mom takes time away from your kids. And yes - for most moms I know, there is the underlying guilt that accompanies it. But at the same time, it is important to look at the other side of the coin - how does being a happy, confident entrepreneur and /or working mom reflect on your children in positive ways?
I bring up this point because of a recent experience with my own family - specifically my daughters, who are 4 and 6 years old. All through dinner one evening they begged me for dessert, and I agreed that we could have chocolate pudding when we finished. So I got them started on the pudding, ran to check a few last-minute emails, and came back 5 minutes later - and found the girls mixing raisins, milk and other things into the pudding. Surprised, I said, "What are you doing?" My six-year-old then explained exactly what they were doing: "Mom, we're creating our own brand." I almost fell over. The girls continued their game saying things like, "What should we do about packaging?" and, "How can we make this famous all around the world?" - with no prompting from me. I was amazed to discover they had picked all this up from conversations between me and my husband, and the creative influence all of this had on them. The game continued for days, as the girls asked me to keep working on their "secret pudding recipe." So what is my point? Moms, don't be so hard on yourselves. While you may not be around every single minute of the day, you are giving your children other gifts you're hardly aware of until a moment like this - a creative spirit and confidence to do and try new things. I feel these gifts will continue giving to my girls throughout their lives, creating confident, creative women who know no boundaries. As for the guilt - I'm sure it will come creeping back when I least expect it. (It always does.) But at that point, I will remind myself of this story - and how things are not always so black-and-white. 
Not a millionaire yet? Don't fret. (back to contents)
Media stories about entrepreneurs make success look easy. And seemingly all of them have become millionaires overnight, just by virtue of a good idea. It's tough to get a realistic picture of what it takes to build a successful business through a 5-minute media story. That's why in this month's Entrepreneur.com column, Tamara Monosoff offers first-hand advice on what is reasonable to expect when it comes to business growth and success - and why you shouldn't feel badly if you're not a millionaire quite yet! Click here read it. 
How to take on your competition (back to contents)
It's inevitable - if you have a good, strong business idea, others will eventually begin competing with you. And for women - most of whom are by nature collaborative - this can be a tough thing to deal with, especially when that competition comes from someone you know. In this month's StartUp Smarts column for WomenEntrepreneur.com, Tamara offers tips on how to turn a negative situation into something positive. She explains how competition - and even betrayal - can fuel your creative energy and help build your business. Click here to read the article. Mom to Mom: Six ways to save on groceries (back to contents) 
Anyone who's shopped in the last month or two has probably noticed their grocery bills creeping upward - and the media has been steadily reporting on the increase in prices. So what are some ways to save on these must-have items that are suddenly sticker-shocking us?
These tips come from Susie in Jacksonville, FL: 1. Buy in bulk. If you have a small family, stick to non- perishables that won't spoil over time. But for large families, warehouse stores - and supermarkets that offer bulk-size discounts - can't be beat. Stock up on the items you know you'll use, especially larger-ticket items like diapers, juice, snacks, cereal and meat. 2. Shop multiple stores. Check out your major chain stores' weekly circulars, and hit two or three stores to get the sale items at each. Yes - it takes a little extra time, but if you have some to spare, it can really slash your final costs. 3. Avoid convenience foods! The more pre-packaged and convenient it seems - the more you'll pay. Again - a few extra minutes' effort in preparation can save you, big time! 4. Shop store brands. This is probably a no-brainer for most, but generic or store brands are often just as tasty - and much less expensive. 5. Leave the kids and hubby at home! No one can spoil a budget better than family members requesting items that aren't on your must-have shopping list. 6. Avoid the "other" stuff. More and more grocery stores now contain aisles full of things like dishes, toys, and other non-food related items apt to become impulse purchases. Avoid these aisles if you can! Each month we share a new "Mom to Mom" tip aimed at making your life easier, more fulfilling, and fun! To submit your own Mom to Mom tip for future publication, click here. Businesses You Should Know About (back to contents) Wallant Design - Product Development, Design & Illustration Services {Place your ad here - just $25 per month. Click here to contact us.} Quick Links... Buy the Mom Inventors Handbook! Buy Secrets of Millionaire Moms! See past Featured Moms! About Mom Inventors Shop our Mom Invented Store Get to know Tamara Monosoff Disclaimers and Subscriber Information Mom Inventors Newsletter © Copyright 2008, Mom Inventors, Inc., except where indicated otherwise. All rights reserved worldwide. Reprint only with permission from copyright holder(s). All trademarks are property of their respective owners. All contents provided as is. No express or implied income claims made herein. Your business success is dependent on many factors, including your own abilities. Advertisers are solely responsible for ad content. Access to the complete archive of Mom Invetors Newsletters is provided to Gold Members. Learn about Gold Membership To contact us with feedback, questions or praise, email jrung@mominventors.com To subscribe or unsubscribe, please email jrung@mominventors.com Please feel free to use excerpts from this newsletter as long as you give credit with a link to our page: http://www.mominventors.com Mom Inventors Newsletter is an opt-in newsletter available by subscription only. We neither use nor endorse the use of spam. Thank you! Author's Note: Tamara Monosoff is the Founder and CEO of Mom Inventors, Inc. She previously held the positions as CEO of Scout Asia and as Senior Communications Associate to the President's Initiative on Race in the Clinton White House. She has her doctorate in International and Multicultural Education. She invented the TP Saver™ which was launched nationally in the fall of 2003. To reach Tamara directly, please email tmonosoff@mominventors.com. | ||||||
