Stephanie Shaterian-fLO Content Marketing

Stephanie's Story

1. Tell us the story of your journey. Include details about what inspired you to go into business, was this a life long dream or a newer desire. Share as many details as you are comfortable sharing.

       I have always been a person that likes to have control over my own destiny, so the seeds for becoming a business owner were always there, but it took me a while      to recognize that that was my path. For years I led a dual life. I am a creative person with a background in theatre (Graduate of Depaul University Acting Conservatory Program). When I graduated I found that I was more interested in creating my own projects than auditioning for others. (There’s that control thing I was talking about!) I started a highly successful puppet company with my husband in 2001 that performed in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. I also fronted a few indie rock bands. So that takes care of the evenings. During the day, I was holding down a corporate job to pay the bills and working my way up the ladder. I held a number of supervisory positions but ultimately was thrust into the role of a one-person training department. With no experience, I had to build the department from the ground-up, locate resources and train myself. And I loved it!

All this is exhausting enough, but when we decided to have a child the situation really became untenable. I couldn’t have a day life, a night life and be a parent. That’s when I really started thinking seriously about starting my own business as a means of fulfilling all my needs: a creative outlet that utilized my corporate skillz (and pay level) and allowed me time with my child(ren)

2.Did you go into business before or after you had children? How do/did your children affect your decision to go into business.

As I mentioned above, having my daughter was the catalyst for the idea to go into business. I started fLO Content Marketing shortly after my second child was born.

3. Share your trials and triumphs. We want to hear about your highs and lows. Did you have any low points or worries as well as high points and huge shining moments?

Well, in my limited experience, the life of an entrepreneur tends to be mostly highs or lows with very little in-between! My business ultimately was born out of a spectacular low.

In the summer of 2009 I was pregnant with my second and living a guilty and miserable existence. My corporate work hours had extended to a point where my daughter was in childcare for 10 hours a day including travel. When I was offered the choice between ANOTHER pay cut (the second in less than a year) and a layoff, I took the layoff. In a striking twist of recession-era fate, the start-up my husband was working for shit the bed 2 weeks after my last day. We ended up short-sale-ing our house in Chicago and moving across the country in with the in-laws. Somehow, through all that turmoil I realized that this was the opportunity to build a new life for myself, on my terms. I got the idea for fLO Content Marketing in May of 2010, my first client in October 2010 and officially launched in January 2011. In March 2011, my husband joined me in the business, by June we moved out of the ILs and we closed 2011 not only well in the black but primarily supporting our family on the strength of the business.

4. Do you have any encouraging words to share with mom entrepreneurs that may help

to keep their spirits up on a trying day. Not necessarily trade secrets that pertain to business but more directed toward encouraging another mom not to give up and/or to keep following a dream.

This is my favorite part of the other stories shared on Darcee’s Hope! Oh gosh. This is a little counter-intuitive, but sometimes you need to allow yourself to feel bad. Have a pity-party for yourself. Have a good cry.

When I don’t acknowledge my frustrations and disappointments, and I try to push them down and pretend they don’t exist - they keep coming back up! I’ve found that only when I truly accept and acknowledge those feelings, am I able to let them go and focus on what I need to do to rectify the situation.

 

 

 Stephanie's website is www.flocontent.com

 

Jill Salzman-The Founding Moms

Jill's Story

1. Tell us the story of your journey. Include details about what inspired you to go into business, was this a life long dream or a newer desire. Share as many details as you are comfortable sharing.

My journey has too many starting points, but I chalk my entrepreneurial endeavors up to the New York City Marathon.  Really. 

My mom used to watch the NYC Marathon every year on a tiny TV in our kitchen.  She would cry.  She was awestruck.  She impressed upon me that these people had solid determination, patience and an incredibly high threshold for pain.  They impressed my mom, so I wanted to be one of them too.  If you’ve met me, you know that I don’t have a runner’s body…so fortunately for my knees, I did not endeavor to become a professional athlete. 

Instead, I turned the qualities I so desired to have (and the ones that made my mom so happy) and put them into launching a business in the arena I knew more about:  the music business.  After college I worked at a record label for several years watching what happened – the good, the bad, the extremely drug-and-alcohol-afflicted ugly – and I knew after grad school that I wanted to help artists succeed.  So, in 2005, I launched Paperwork Media, a management firm wherein the artists would focus on what they do best and I’d take care of the rest (paperwork, phone calls, etc).  And I loved it.  I woke up every morning raring to go, excited about what opportunities I could create for myself.  It was a freedom I didn’t experience beforehand.  I loved it so much that in 2007, after my daughter received a baby anklet as a gift from family inThailand, I thought I could sell them in theUSand launched a baby jewelry company, The Bumble Brand.  You’d think 1 kid and 2 companies would tie a girl down, but I was ever more productive after having my little girl.  So much so that in 2009, pregnant with baby #2, I launched what was originally “The Momtrepreneur Exchange,” a meetup here in Chicagothat welcomed anyone who self-identified as a mom and entrepreneur to come hang out.  The meetup was so fantastic that I decided to do it monthly.  Six months in, we had 200 members online.  It kept growing…so I decided to open another meetup in a nearby city.  Then I opened one inLos Angeles.  Then New York City.  Lo and behold, 2 years later we’re in 30+ cities around the world, including cities in Canada and Australia. 

I shut down my music management company at the end of 2010 and sold my baby jewelry business last August.  I’m now a full-time Founding Mom and love every second of it.  I speak a lot on small business, entrepreneurship and social media, and this year I came out with a book, Found It: A Field Guide for Mom Entrepreneurs which has been a blast.  Oh!  I did end up running 2 marathons – long before the kids arrived – but those darn knees have stopped me from doing theNew York City marathon.  I’ll leave that accomplishment to others because I’ve found my niche – knee-pain free!

2. Did you go into business before or after you had children? How do/did your children affect your decision to go into business.

            I went into business before I had my first child, but knowing that I wanted to have kids and making sure I build any business in a home office so I could be available for my future children.  I always knew I wanted to be around my kids while working and I’d just figure out a way to work them into my schedule somehow.

 

3.Share your trials and triumphs. We want to hear about your highs and lows. Did you have any low points or worries as well as high points and huge shining moments?

 Highs and lows?  I have at least 4 of each within each day.  They’re always about different things.  Some days I am on a high because I heard back from a producer of a national network television show about having me on as an expert.  The next day I go into a major low because I discover that the show has been canceled.  The next day could be a website mishap, followed by nasty comments on a blog post, followed by three new members and one Founding Moms’ Exchange (our meetup) who are so inspiring that I’m tickled pink to be doing what I do.  I worry each and every day that I’m not doing enough, and I also have moments each and every day where I realize that I’ve been doing so much, I should slow down.  It is the entrepreneur’s affliction to be on a constant roller-coaster ride, but it’s what makes me tick, too.  And I love it all, or I wouldn’t be doing what I do.

4.Do you have any encouraging words to share with mom entrepreneurs that may help to keep their spirits up on a trying day. Not necessarily trade secrets that pertain to business but more directed toward encouraging another mom not to give up and/or to keep following a dream.

I do!  I have seen too many moms talk themselves right out of launching a business, whether it be a kernel of an idea or a full-fledged dream of theirs.  There are myriad fears:  that there’s no time, that there will be too much guilt about the kids, that they don’t know enough or are not smart enough or don’t have experience enough to do what they really want to do.  And then they sit down and write a business plan that is obviously all theory but again, pushes them right off the edge and convinces them that FOR SURE it would take a miracle to bring in profits so they just shouldn’t bother.  To them I say:  nonsense.  I’ve built 3 successful businesses from scratch and without business plans.  I have two kids (currently ages 2 and 4) who are physically and emotionally demanding but I make it work.  It beats the heck out of working a corporate job where you’re making money for someone else and having to pay for full-time daycare when part-time daycare and flexible hours are king (or queen?) for moms.  Where there’s a will, there’s a way, and the only way to succeed is to remember that failure is not an option.  Get out there and do it.  Now.

                        Jill's website is www.Foundingmoms.com

                     

 

Beth Aldrich-Restoring Essence Nutrition

Beth's Story

 1.      Tell us the story of your journey. Include details about what inspired you to go into business, was this a life long dream or a newer desire. Share as many details as you are comfortable sharing.

One day while I was working on my PBS TV series in 2007, I was on my way to filmChicago’s Mayor Daley for a project I was volunteering on. Within minutes (in the back of a taxi cab), I was involved in a very serious car accident. While in the hospital, I had time to think and I realized that the long hours working on my TV series was taking me away from my family, too much. After I got home, I was catching up on some office work and came across an online ad for the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN). It hit me like a bolt, “I really want to study holistic nutrition and live my life helping others” My husband agreed and I started my holistic nutrition company, Restoring Essence, LLC. The mission was to help people get back to their true essence in life, health and through nutrition.  After completing my program at IIN throughColumbiaUniversity’s Teacher’s College, I began coaching individuals (mostly moms) as well as corporate wellness programs. Through natural progression, the TV bug pulled me back and I began doing TV news segments on food and nutrition. With this exposure, I was offered the job of national media spokesperson for two companies. A couple of years later, I partnered with my friend, Eve Adamson on the proposal for my book, Real Moms Love to Eat. We were fortunate enough to garner a deal with Penguin Book’s New American Library and we wrote the book in 2010 and the publisher published itJanuary 3, 2012. Throughout the year leading up to the book’s launch, I worked on tour sponsorships and partnerships to help offset costs and to support a successful launch of our book. This was a full-time process, however successful. We were blessed to partner with Bare by Solo, Eco-Forward paper plates/cups; Flatout Bread, the healthy, high-fiber bread alternative, Dreamfields Pasta, the “better” pasta, offering a low glycemic product that’s safe for diabetics, Vitamix Corporation-the world’s BEST blender, ever and Kitchen-Aid, a fantastic kitchen appliance company that offers everything you need for your kitchen. We also partnered with SocialMoms.com, a fantastic online community for moms, for twitter parties, blogger contests and online content, as well as a wine partnership with The Naked Grape Wine, an earth friendly wine that offers the “real” grape.



Writing a book has been something I’ve always wanted to do since I was in college and it’s the perfect complement to my nutrition and media work. It’s such a rewarding feeling when Real Moms come up to me at book events or email me and share with me their positive experiences with my book or website—a feeling that all of the hard work is worthwhile.

 2.      Did you go into business before or after you had children? How do/did your children affect your decision to go into business.

I started my business after I had children. I started my media company, For Her Information Media, after I had a waking dream while nursing my 3^rd son to sleep for a week. Having children while starting a business, gave me a appreciative look at what it takes to make a business or idea to work. It’s a long, hard road to TV, media and publishing success (I’m sure like most businesses), and the payoff hasn’t always been what I starry-eyed dreamed, but it gave me invaluable experience that could never be “bought”.  I’ve struggled with “mommy guilt” many times, but I have such an amazing support system from my husband and family. My sons give me inspiration, ideas and they don’t hold back. Truth prevails in my household. If my idea stinks, they tell me!

 3.Share your trials and triumphs. We want to hear about your highs and lows. Did you have any low points or worries as well as high points and huge shining moments?

SO many ups and downs. There have been days when filming a TV segment was so hard, or the editing just wouldn’t “cut it” and then there are days where I’d syndicate my series to Israel or Turkey and it would blow my mind. The money wasn’t anything like I hoped, but if I turned back to my mission, I would remember that my goal wasn’t always monetary, but to impact women all around the world…and I did. I had very high hopes with my book launch because of all of the hard work and time I put into the launch for a year, however the first week wasn’t a New York Time’s Best Seller. I woke up from my dreamland and realized that good things take time and ate some humble pie, only to open an email from a friend who informed me that I was on the best seller’s list on Amazon in three categories. CAH-RAZY! I was so happy, I took a computer screen grab three times, just to make sure and pinch myself. The reviews on my Amazon page have been so amazing, so genuine and so true. The readers “hit” the point exactly. I know my book has inspired thousands of women and I hope that the profound ripple effect will help my book “touch” more and more women each day. I get so frustrated when I see how women are with food and if they’d just give my suggestions a try, they’d have such a lovely love affair with food, for life. My shining career moments have been when PBS picked up my TV series, when I syndicated my PBS TV series to 60 cities (including Israel and Turkey), when I landed an interview with Dr. Jane Goodall and organic snack food guru, Nell Newman for my PBS TV series, when I landed my book deal, when Dr. Christiane Northrup agreed to share a cover quote for my book (I adore and admire her), when I got a book quote from Dr. Barry Sears, when I was hired as a media spokesperson for various brands, the day my book launched, seeing my book on Amazon’s Best Seller’s list in three categories and when my sponsors agreed to support my book tour. My low points or worries were when I was in my accident in 2007—it rocked my world, but I got back up on top of the horse! Another tough time was trying to find the perfect agent. The publishing process can be very trying, but luck finally was on our side when our dear agent, Claire Gerus came into our lives. Another tough time was going through the long book tour sponsorship process. Months and months of negotiations and correspondence and many “no’s” but we found the perfect fit in the end…isn’t that always the case?

4.   Do you have any encouraging words to share with mom entrepreneurs that may help to keep their spirits up on a trying day. Not necessarily trade secrets that pertain to business but more directed toward encouraging another mom not to give up and/or to keep following a dream.

I am always open to helping other mom entrepreneurs. I try to answer emails or calls, but when I share ideas and tips or ideas, moms have to know that there are hours, weeks, months and years of hard work. I also have discovered that by putting myself in the right place at the right time and by networking every chance I get, has helped me exponentially in my pursuits. My biggest bit of advice is to be very clear of what you idea/plan is and how you are going to fund it. It pays for itself over and over again, to WRITE A BUSINESS PLAN. It shows you your company’s ideas and strengths AND holes that need to be filled, in a snapshot. I feel like any time away from my sons better be spent in a worthwhile way. I’m not one to waste my time or spin my wheels, and if it’s not productive, I won’t be away from my sons. Look at your idea and see if it’s more important than spending time with your family. I always worked when they were asleep, at school or while they were busy playing. Sometimes we’d work side by side (them, homework, me writing). I also think every mom should never give up on their dreams, always help other moms when they can and remember that their first priority is being a MOM.

Beth's website is www.Realmomslovetoeat.com