Inspiration from the Women's Conference

I have just returned from two incredible days at the Women's Conference in California. While it was difficult to be gone from my family for three days, it was great to be able to take the time to focus and learn from so many incredible women and their stories. Robin Roberts from "Good Morning America" talked about the decisions she had to make once she was diagnosed with breast cancer, including whether to go public or not, and she recalled her parent's words, "Make your mess your message," which helped guide her. What a wonderful way to look at difficult situations. Rather than hide from them, turn them around. Maria Shriver spoke beautifully and candidly about her extreme pain and grief since the passing of her mother. She also participated in a panel on grief with Elizabeth Edwards, Susan St. James and Lisa Niemi, and their pain was palpable. It was an incredibly brave conversation, especially to have it in front of 15,000 others, but one to which everyone in that room and beyond could relate.

The two days were also a wonderful opportunity to focus on nomie baby, where it is, where it's going and where it's been. Talking to hundreds of women about the car seat covers, and soon to be introduced new products, was a terrific opportunity to hear fresh, honest feed back. It was so rewarding to hear what I had suspected, which is that I am not the first parent to be frustrated by the hassle of cleaning up after all the mess, and the wrestling that it takes, and how relieved and pleased they were to learn that there was a solution to their problem. Julia Paige, the Executive Producer of the Women's Conference said, "It's my favorite gift to give all my mommy friends, and they write the nicest and appreciative thank you notes!" Again, getting the reinforcement means so much, because sometimes being in the middle of everything, and being so close to every aspect skews my perspective.

The entire Conference was capped off with the Minerva Awards, which were given to 4 incredible women, Agnes Stevens, Helen Waukazoo, Dr. Kathy Hull and Dr. Jane Goodall, who are doing outstanding work in their communities. Once again they highlighted the importance of reaching out and giving back. In walking around the Women's Conference it was remarkable to notice how many organizations were each making a difference through giving back as part of their every day business practices. This has always been something that is very important to me, and since the Mt. Sinai NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) was there for our youngest daughter when she was born 2 months early, I have made sure that giving back to them is build in to the nomie baby business. It adds, not only a completely difference perspective, but also makes my desire for success that much greater, since I know what a difference it would make to thousands of the tiniest babies.

All in all, while I am exhausted from the red-eye trip home, I am also reinvigorated, committed and inspired to make nomie baby the success, not only I hope it can be, but that other's believe it will be.

Progress is all about perspective

Sometimes it is difficult to appreciate the progress that's been made when you are in the middle of it. The other day, when I was speaking with my PR guru, Sabina, from Collective-E about recent press, she said, "Just think about where you were last year!" I took a minute to think about where I was a year ago in terms of so many things with my business, and realizes that I really had made progress. The number of press hits nomie baby had gotten this time last year I could easily have counted, and now they are in the 100's. I hadn't received much recognition, much less awards, and the website was simple, but now with my web mastermind Katie's SEO genius considerations, it's getting many more hits, which translate into sales. I didn't know what twitter was, let alone how to use it to get more exposure, and Facebook was just a way to stay in touch with friends, and now there is nomie baby fan page as well as a nomie baby group. I have a blog (thank you for reading it), and just the other day Beth Schoenfeldt, who has been my branding guide, taught me how to create even more links and connections. As far as distribution and sales, I started out with a few wonderful stores here in NYC, like Citibabes, Albee's, the Upper Breast Side, and Ola Baby, and now I have branched out to stores in close to 10 states, a number of online stores,including Diapers.com and soon buybuyBaby.com.

WIth so much going on, sometimes it's hard to appreciate the progress. When I take the time to step back and look at where I was instead of where I am, it's great to see the results. With time comes progress and perspective.

Disassembling the car seat cover is not fun exercise

I used to calculate the snacks we brought into the car based on their messiness factor. I knew the messier, the more likely it was that I would have to clean the car seat, which took a lot of time, a great deal of struggling and wrestling, and not a fun way of breaking a sweat. First I would have to take the car seat out of the car, then I would have to disassemble the car seat straps, and hope that I would remember exactly how they threaded through, so I could reassemble them. After all that I would have to wash the car seat cover, and air dry it, so it didn't shrink, all the time hoping that I would not have to use the car seat until the cover was dry and the whole thing reassembled. Often this meant that I would wait until the cover was really gross before tackling this task.

Now, however, the type of snack doesn't bother me, since the nomie baby car seat cover makes cleaning up a snap! I just slip it over the existing cover. I don't have to remove the car seat from the car, or disassemble the straps, and when it gets dirty. I just slip it off, throw it in the washer and dryer, and we're good to go! It never has to get really dirty before it's cleaned. Now I get exercise the fun way - running around with the kids, or even going to the gym!

Entrepreneurship Requires Patience Patience Patience

There are many suitable cliches, "Patience is a virtue", "Good things come to those who wait", "Rome wasn't built in a day"... take your pick. They all apply to building a company and entrepreneurship. For some reason, with all the advise I received about launching a new product and business, everyone neglected to tell me just how long it would take to introduce a new product to consumers and the press, or how long it would take for stores and sales to take off. Therefore, I naively started off, thinking it would be an overnight success. After all, everyone was telling me that they thought the nomie baby car seat covers were a great idea, and every mom would want one. So when I first met buyers and they didn't place huge orders, I was not only disappointed but puzzled, and yes, frustrated. This wasn't part of the plan. I didn't lose faith in the product, but instead I knew I had to readjust my thinking, objectives, and strategy.

I began to focus my energy on getting the word out, stepping up my pr efforts, and realizing that as awareness grew, so would sales. There is a direct relationship between the two. While I worked hard to get many different wonderful smaller stores in lots of different cities and states, and ramped up my website, I never gave up on the larger accounts that I believed would be a perfect fit for nomie baby as well. Periodically I would touch base with the buyers at Diapers.com and buybuyBaby, and let them know about exciting news, press and awards that nomie baby was receiving. I always got friendly email responses, which encouraged me to keep in touch. I was determined to be persistent without being pestering. After over a year since first being in touch, I got an email from the buyer at Diapers.com that I had to read twice, before allowing myself to believe what was written. "We would love to add the nomie baby car seat cover. Please send us the UPC codes and photos to upload!" 14 months after first meeting a buyer from Diapers.com, and getting switched to another buyer over the year, the first shipment of nomie baby car seat covers is on its way to Diapers.com's 3 warehouses! In the same week I reconnected with the buyer for buybuy Baby, and she said that she is "interested in the covers," and she would like to try them out on buybuyBaby.com. If they do well, then they'll be added to their stores! It is a huge jump, but it didn't happen overnight, although overnight the changes are dramatic. Here are other apt cliches - "When it rains, it pours" and "Be careful of what you wish for" - or at least be prepared!