Kim's BizBlog

In my last post, I mentioned people from around the country contacting me because they too, wanted to start a baby planning business.  

Let me share the feelings I had the first time this happened.  It was Spring 2007.  I came back from lunch to find a voice mail from a woman on the West Coast.  She says that she and a friend want to start a baby planning business and want to learn more about Peekaboo.

I nervously call her back.  Nope.  No franchise.  She just wants me to tell her how I operate my business so that they can start their own.  She proceeds to tell me that she and her friend have been trying to figure out how to structure this thing and finally decided to call the only baby planner they could find. 

After a brief conversation of me not telling her exactly what she needed, I hung up the phone to a plethora of feelings.

First, I thought, “This is great!  Other people are recognizing the value in a baby planning business.”   That excited me.

Then a wave of fear hit me because I now had someone nipping at my heels.  How would they structure their business?  What services would they provide?  What if they had thought of something I didn’t and their processes were better than mine?

I learned really quickly that competition is WONDERFUL!!  Nothing keeps you on your toes more.  I’d been rolling along for so long with no one to compete with.  The phone book didn’t even have a category for my business.  Now, the game had changed.  I was no longer playing solitaire.  Someone had decided to sit at the table with me.

Several months later, I did my usual Google search looking for competition.  It’s kind of like being on a desert island and wondering if someone else is on the island with you.  Anyhow, up popped the new baby planning company I’d been waiting for.  My hands trembled as I clicked on the link.

I read through their mission statement.  Huh?  I clicked on the services they offered.  What?  I read their bios.  Son of a *$%#@!!!   Right there in black and white one of the girls called herself, “ the visionary behind this brand new concept.” 

Immediately, I ran to my number one cheerleader, my husband.  “Baby, take a look at this.”  I was calm so not to taint his point of view.

He read the mission statement.  “That’s your mission statement,” he said.

He read through their services.  “These are exactly your services.  Even the surprise nursery,” he said.  “The package names are almost the same as yours and look, this whole paragraph was taken directly from your website.”

Needless to say he lost it when he got to the "visionary's" bio page.  After all, he’s struggled through the start up of this business, too.  He sees the tireless hours of work that goes into it and is also living on less than we’re used to in the hopes of it taking off.

The next morning I met with my attorney.  After comparing their site to mine, he confirmed that I had a case and offered to send a cease and desist; though he advised against this.  He said that all it would do is force them to shut down temporarily until they corrected their website.  To boot, it may serve as a motivation for them to come after me in future.  He suggested that I use this energy to create the best baby planning company in the new field.

Turns out he was right.  I shouldn’t have been worried about someone who had to replicate someone else’s work and call it their own.  They’re now out of business. 

Six years later, the field of baby planning is starting to make a name for itself.  We have at least 3 others in the Dallas area now...all able to write their own mission statement!  So, to them, I wish the best of success!

Please note the thoughts and opinions expressed in this blog are based on the experiences of the author.  The information contained in this blog is in no way meant to take the place of professional advice.  It is only meant as insight into the world of a small business owner.   As always, thank you for visiting and feel free to share your own experiences or conerns by leaving a comment

I'm one of those annoying people who are always trying to think up the next BIG idea or product.  I've been that way my whole life.  And, my whole life I have thought these BIG ideas were only to be shared with the mirror and me. 

Then, I read somewhere that if you have an idea you think may be good, share it with everyone you know, especially those who may purchase your product/service.  This went absolutely against everything I'd been told.  The author's point, that I now know firsthand, is that it is incredibly difficult to start a new business, and even harder to sustain that business.  The chances of someone stealing your idea and actually making a go of it are very slim. 

That said, I would add, know who you're talking to.  I'm not going to sit down with Gerber to bounce off my idea for an automatic baby feeder.  They have the means to research and put that puppy into production much faster than I do.  Now, if I've tested the idea in the market and determined it's a product that would be profitable, then I may talk to Gerber with my prototype and patent displayed proudly on the desk between us.

It's important to speak your idea out loud.  Things often sound better in our thoughts than they do as spoken word.  Find your target audience and ask their thoughts on your service or product. 

What if the feedback is bad?

This was the case with Peekaboo DG, which, by the way, started with the name, Mum's the Word.  Talking about my idea made me realize that no one could remember the name, "Mum's the Word."  That's when I switched to Peekaboo.  That stuck.

Approximately 55% of the overall feedback to my idea was negative, these people told me the the idea stinks.  But, then there was my true audience, working women.  They not only told me the idea was genius, they offered suggestions to make it better.  The clincher for me was my own situation.  As a working woman with no time to shop for my own clothing, I wasn't sure how we were going to prepare for a baby when the time came, much less keep the surprise.  Yet, after hours of research, I knew there was no one I could call to help...in the entire country, even.

This made it scarier.  Not one person in the entire country had started this simple idea?  Maybe there wasn't a true market.  The final nail would have been put into the Peekaboo coffin if it hadn't been for my brother and sister-n-law allowing me to test the idea with their 3rd pregnancy.  My husband, who wasn't completely sold on the idea himself, helped as we took them through the process.  By the end, he was sold and ended up being the one to encourage me to take the leap.

So, I took all of the fuzzy knowledge listed above and decided to take my idea to market.  Was it a smart move?  That's yet to be answered.  I can tell you that in the 3 years since I started my business, other businesses like mine have popped up.  One in particular popped up looking oddly like mine...you know, in a not so original way.  This was very irritating, but, at the same time, kind of flattering.  Several of those businesses have come and gone.  And, I still stand. 

There are very few people I would encourage after receiving feedback like mine.   I believe in the business I have built 210% and am willing to do what it takes to make it successful.  It's a question that you have to ask yourself.  How far will you go to make your idea a reality?  A profitable reality?

NEXT TIME:     Funding your first time business venture...

Please note the thoughts and opinions expressed in this blog are based on the experiences of the author.  The information contained in this blog is in no way meant to take the place of professional advice.  It is only meant as insight into the world of a small business owner.   As always, thank you for visiting and feel free to share your own experiences or conerns by leaving a comment.