Mom2Mom Lounge

What started as a few listings on Ebay has blossomed into a full-fledged, headquarters in the backyard, grossing over $600,000 a year, business. All the while selling mom invented products to other moms, by a work at home mom.

Meet Heather from Mom4life and find out how she went from Ebay to a successful online store, and hear about her plans for the future.

1. Tell us a little about your business and how you started it?

I started www.Mom4Life.com in October of 2003, just 2 months after the birth of our first son Hunter. I began discovering some great new products that from my friends that were not in the big box stores. This gave me the idea to help other moms find out about them too by offering them online. We now offer more than 800 products on our website. Our unique and useful products for moms and their children are 100% mom invented which I think makes it very special to shop with us. You will find the stories about the moms who invented the products on our site along with their product description. I seek out products that are not as well known but very helpful for a mom to know about. We offer free shipping, great customer service, free gift wrapping, quick order processing (usually within 24 hours) and gift registry. In addition, 10% of our profits are donated to Open Arms Pregnancy Care Center. We have been blessed to donate thousands of dollars to pregnancy centers in the past few years because of our growth and the support of the moms who shop with us.

2. What was your inspiration for the business?

I was challenged to find a way to help out financially from home after our son was born. My husband encouraged me to explore options on the internet. I began small (with start up costs of $100 and an eBay listing) and grew with demand. God was gracious and took that small beginning and allowed it to grow to something that was truly able to make an impact in the lives of hundreds of women whose products are now sold on our site as well as the crisis pregnancy centers we have come along side to help support.

3. What initial challenges did you face in starting your company?

When I started Mom 4 Life I didn’t expect it to do very much other than provide a few sales here and provide something extra for me to do for fun. I felt comfortable being small. Growing causes challenges. As we grew I had to learn when to hire help and how to go about doing that. I had to figure out how to be a boss. I had to learn about web design, SEO (search engine optimization), website shopping carts, how to create an ad for magazines and radio and what to wear if you are going to be on TV. My husband even learned how to build our warehouse so I am not the only one doing the learning! Learning is challenging, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t fun. I really have enjoyed the stretching process and feel like I am a more well rounded person than I was when I started Mom 4 Life.

4. What is a typical “day in the life” of Heather like?

My role in Mom 4 Life has changed dramatically from what it was in the beginning. At that time I did everything that needed to be done (placed orders for new products, fulfilled orders, answered the phone and emails, looked for new products. . .) and I could do it all during naptime. Now we have 3 full time employees and a few part time employees which has allowed me to focus on growing the business while they do an excellent job helping me to maintain it. My typical day has me getting up around 8AM, checking my email if I have time before the kids get up. Trying to stay away from the computer as much as I can while they are awake so I can play with them and working to answer as many emails as I can while they nap. I try to check in with my girls (the Mom 4 Life team) out in our shop/warehouse (located on our property) at least once a day to see if they have questions and say hello. My husband works from home so we sometimes take turns working. If I need to get some things done he will play with the kids while I try to make some calls and finish up emails. Then we usually have dinner and spend some time together as a family and before I go to bed I hammer out some more emails. I seem to spend SO much time answering emailsJ! I try to go to bed before midnight and lately I have been doing pretty good but it is not too uncommon for me to be in bed as late as 2:00-3:00AM on occasion. My new goal is to not do any work in the evening. This is a challenge for me but I think it will be a good decision personally and for my family.

5. You run a home business with sales in excess of $600,000 per year. What do you attribute the success of Mom4Life to?

We do hundreds of tiny little things exceptionally well. I base all of our decisions off what I would want if I were the customer. I want Mom 4 Life to be a help and resource to moms everywhere. I want them to be so excited when they find Mom 4 Life that they tell their friends about us. To do this, I have to “get it right” in as many ways as I can the first time and be willing to grow and improve along the way to continue to meet the demands and needs of our customers.

6. Do moms approach you to carry their products or do you seek them out yourself?

It happens both ways. In the beginning I did most of the work contacting other moms but now they often find me first.

7. With your business growing as it has, do you plan to continue to work from home or see a need to move to larger headquarters soon?

Our recent move last June from CA to ID was much needed as we were being pushed out of our rented home in CA by all the products being stored in our closets, garage and under our beds! We now have a shop on our property that holds our products in one area and has office space for our employees in the other. I foresee that we will likely have to expand this shop as we grow and eventually will have to move business off of our property but for now, it is nice to keep it close to home so I can continue to work out of our house.

8. Mom inventors have come up with some really brilliant products, what are some of your favorite mom invented products that you carry?

My favourite products are the ones that solve the everyday problems that moms face in a way that is fashionable and fun. Hooter Hiders nursing covers, The Peanut Shell Baby Carrier, The BellaBand and BabyLegs are great examples of this. With a product line quickly approaching 1,000 products it is really hard to choose favourites but these four products are popular Mom 4 Life customer choices and I really like them too.

9. With your growing business, how do you strive to achieve a work/life balance?

I think this is an area that is a huge struggle for all work at home moms. I often don’t have a balance. Mom 4 Life is on my mind a lot and I can’t help but think of it throughout the day even when I am not actively working on it. I do my best to keep my work time limited to when my kids are sleeping but this doesn’t always work out. Thankfully my husband just gets more time with them in those cases and we don’t have to go the daycare route. I want to be a mom that is here for my kids. I struggle with guilt from time to time as all moms do. In the end I hope that what is being built is something that is worthy of the time I have put into it and that those that are benefiting are able to help pass on their blessings to those around them.

10. What’s next for Mom4Life?

We have plans to open up retail locations once our kids are older. That will be a new adventure and I look forward to being able to interact with our customers face to face. Until then, we hope to continue to explore fun new ways (such as with our YouTube videos) to connect with our customers online and make Mom 4 Life a destination that is well known to moms everywhere!

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