From the bottom of my heart, I thank you all in the Birmingham community for embracing me as a fellow business person and offering me help and guidance when I needed it the most.

Please feel free to reach out to me at awalker@prview.com for coffee talk anytime! In the meantime, check out my new home at Panorama Public Relations as their new Senior Project Manager/Digital Strategist.

Happy Holidays to you all! I’ll see you in 2012!

Andrea

As entrepreneurs, we struggle through a daily barrage of emotions and stress that can be the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. It’s not easy being an entrepreneur. I repeat…IT’S NOT EASY BEING AN ENTREPRENEUR.  Sometimes the stress and uncertainty can be extremely overwhelming.  With that said, it’s okay to open up to colleagues and closest peers about what you’re feeling. You won’t seem like a failure or even crazy.  We’re all human and we’re not expected to have all the answers. As time goes on, I’m sure more people through blogs, social media and other communication will share their own stories of overcoming depression and anxiety.  This is a moment where I truly believe in the power of online communication…the ability to really connect as individuals and hopefully make a difference in someone’s life.

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By Kara Kennedy

Shopping became increasingly challenging for Drew Long, the mother of a 10-year special needs child, that she often dreaded going to the grocery store or big box retailer because it became a constant “push and pull” scenario.  She would push her daughter Caroline’s wheelchair (Caroline cannot walk or talk) and pull a shopping cart behind her to put items in. Most of the time, Drew made small shopping trips where she could purchase items that would fit in Caroline’s wheelchair.   Her only other options were to take someone with her to shop or to find a sitter for Caroline.  After many of these frustrating shopping trips, Drew decided to commit much of the last few years to the development of a special shopping cart for her daughter Caroline so that she too could go on family shopping trips instead of being left at home or so that Drew would not have to worry about the anxiety that shopping brought on because she had to leave Caroline at home.  “When Caroline was small, I was able to use the carts that stores had,” said Drew Long, President of Caroline’s Cart.  “Now that she’s older and larger, she no longer fit in the carts, so I began to look for other options.”

Drew began her journey to invent a cart for special needs children back in 2008 when she formed her company Parent Solution Group, LLC.   She said it was challenging at first because there wasn’t a book on how to develop the product that she needed.   “I know every possible thing about shopping carts, probably more than one should know, and when I started out, there were plenty of books on how to sell your widget to Wal-Mart, but none on how to create the widget you wanted to sell,” she added.

The problem Drew told me is that it is not that retailers are purposefully excluding special needs children and adults and their families, it’s that special needs have never been highlighted like they should be.   “There are special needs children and adults in every community in the United States, and there are big retailers in these communities. The need is tremendous for this underserved market. Our goal with our company is to send a message to retailers that they should try to meet the needs of all of their customers including those with special needs children and adults.”

In the beginning, of Drew’s business, it was trial and error and when she hit a dead-end, she had to forge ahead down a new path.   Drew is now at a point where she has the nation’s largest manufacturer of shopping carts interested, but they will on supply the cart once she has created demand.  The demand part is coming along.  Just in the last few weeks Caroline’s Cart has been featured in many national and international news stories and inquiries about the cart are coming in from all over the world.

As for Drew’s business strategy, she says that you have to be personally invested in what you are doing and don’t be afraid of stepping out of your comfort zone.  She added, “If you surround yourself with people who support and encourage you, it makes what you’re doing easier.  There were times that I hit very low points with this project, but I was motivated and encouraged by my family, so I was able to persevere.”

Another area that Drew had to work on while she was developing her business and idea was how to use her time wisely.   “My car was my office, I did work in the car pool line and also used the T-Ball field as an office,” she said.  Her goal is to have the cart placed in all major retailers around the world as well as for retailers to send the message that ALL families are welcome to shop in their stores.

Kara Kennedy is President of Kennedy Resource Development and guest contributor to S.H.E.-Network. You can find Kara on twitter and facebook.

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Learn to quickly launch an online blog, website, e-commerce, or e-zine without developing a product first.  We’ll teach you how to market it, and how to measure your early-stage success.

We’ll also recommend free/inexpensive tools you can use to test and start your online business and learn from the experts who have done it themselves.

Below is a brief class syllabus. Once you register we’ll send you a more comprehensive syllabus along with access to online class materials after each session.  Each workshop will be held every Tuesday morning from 7:30am-8:45am starting August 9th at Innovation Depot

Week 1

Working on Problem/Solution Fit-Doing the Research

Week 2

Building a MVP (Minimum viable product).

Week 3

Testing your MVP

Week 4

Presentations/Early Stage Marketing



How did you come up with alt12 apps?

Individually, my husband and I have always had the entrepreneurial spirit. We’ve always known that we wanted to start our own business; we just didn’t necessarily expect it to be together. We were very lucky that our skill set were very complimentary for a tech startup. Through our jobs at the time, we also had insight that the mobile platform is where technology is converging and we both knew that was were we wanted to be. It wasn’t until I found out I was pregnancy did I find my inspiration for Alt12 Apps.  I was disappointed by how few mobile apps were available for women like me and I wanted to change that and what better place to start than with pregnancy, one of life’s most special moments.

What role do you currently have with alt 12 apps? Who are your team members?

I’m currently the CEO, which basically means I do pretty much anything and everything that’s needed. When you’re this size, titles don’t mean much. It’s more important that you have the right set of skills and you’re able to contribute on multiple levels. More than 50% of my time is spent on product development, from defining and scoping the product, to designing the front end, and content development. The remainder of my time is a mix of necessary administrative, operational, business development and marketing. My husband is the CTO and manages a small team of two engineers. We also have a community manager who oversees our mobile community.

Why have you decided to focus your products on women?

In late 2009, when we first entered the mobile market, there was a dearth of apps geared towards women like me. Not to mention, women are the fastest growing user base of social media and yet were somewhat neglected in the app world. First and foremost, I wanted to change the mobile landscape for busy working moms like me.

How many users do you currently have with both your products?

We currently have more than 1.7 million users and growing!

How do you come up with new app ideas that are focused on just women?

I start with the simple question, “What do I need as a mom or parent?” Fortunately, for us, after BabyBump, our customers literally defined our product roadmap. When we built BabyBump we were surprised to find out there was a huge community of non-pregnant families using BabyBump. That’s how Pink Pad came to existence; we decided to build an app to fit the needs to help families planning for pregnancy.

What advice would you give to companies in terms of marketing their apps to potential customers?

If you’re a small team you need to get creative and focus your energies such as creative promotions and partnerships. App discovery is still the critical hurdle all new app developers must face. If you’re not a large company or brand with deep pockets you’re going to have to get creative. Word of mouth is still the number one way people make the decision to purchase an app. Try forming partnerships with non-competing apps to cross promote them. If you have an existing app, leverage the existing user base to promote your next app. Work on building a loyalty with your existing customers and they’ll eventually become the strongest word of mouth network for your products.

Focus your efforts: Hitting a few key influencers will have a much better impact than trying to hit too many peripheral people. Do your due diligence on who these people are and spend your time crafting strong messaging for your product.

What have been successful marketing strategies you have implemented?

We’ve been successful with building apps that continue to fit into the needs of our existing user base. We rely heavily on cross-promotion within our apps to upsell our other apps.

How has your company grown since you started?

We’re pretty proud of the fact that we’ve manage to grow the company organically. We started with just two people and we stayed that way for a very long time. I’ve always believed that technology start-ups don’t need a lot of funding to get off the ground. Today, we’re a team five with each person being very critical to the company’s success.

What is your next product?

Our next product is also by demand from our customers. We’ve covered pre-pregnancy to pregnancy, so inevitably our next product focuses on the parenting stage and stays in line with all our apps, helping people capture the special moments of life. We’re about a month away from launch but the core set of features have been driven largely but what our customers want and what I personally want, as a new parent myself.

What kind of revenue streams have you created with your apps? Do you recommend companies or developers follow this method?

We’ve chosen the freemium route. We have free apps that are supported by advertising. In addition, we have premium paid versions for additional features. This has worked well for us because it allowed us to have immediate revenue to sustain the company while mobile advertising spend continues to grow. For the majority of developers, I do think this is still a good route to take. You’ll get more users by having a free version because you’re letting them try out the product before they buy. Some people will never pay for an app, and that’s fine, it’s better to have them as a free user than not at all.

What are the pros and cons of being a product company versus a service business?

Being a product company requires more risk up front, especially if you are not funded. There’s no guaranteed or steady revenue.  After we proved our development ability with the launch of BabyBump, we got a lot of companies asking us to develop apps for them so we knew we could be a service business. These were lucrative contracts so it was hard to turn down but I knew I’d never be quite as happy and satisfied always building on someone else’s vision, at least not until I tried and failed at my own. Building your own product allows you to create something in your own vision. You define the direction and goals and if you’re product is successful it’s far more rewarding knowing you’ve had a direct impact.

What challenges do you currently see with the mobile market and what opportunities for your niche?

We have the usual challenges of any small developer that’s growing organically. We have to keep our position in a market that gets more and more cluttered with apps each day. We have competition with deep pockets that enters the space all the time that constantly threatens our position. But in a way the competition is good, it forces us to innovate in the space, bring something new to the table each time. We’re constantly looking at the space and thinking of new ways to improve the experience and deliver real value to our users.

What plans do you have for the future of your company?

We’re about a month away from our next product launch which is targeting a much larger demographic than our previous apps. We’re very developer-minded, meaning we enjoy being heads down and creating. Right now we’re focused on this next release and then we’ll see…

Jennifer has graciously allowed us to offer a sneak peek of their new product in next month’s SHE-Network newsletter.  Be sure to sign up to check it out…

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“For years I’ve read about “Life Balance or Learning to Balance. I’ve heard people talk about balancing careers and family and for years I tried to do just that…evenly.

I tried to balance the full spectrum of my life from kids, spouse, career, family, friends, fitness and school/civic duties. I was convinced I could successfully equally balance the hats of Martha Stewart, June Cleaver, Meg Whitman…you follow me. I was exhausted and not very happy, but everyone else seemed to be. Then, one day a friend of mine asked “why do you try to be a martyr”?  I pondered that question and then asked it of myself. Why did I try to be everything to everyone and make sure things were just perfect and “balanced”?  Was “balance” overrated? In a sense, I think so.

I’m not saying there shouldn’t be a form of balance. You can’t work all of the time and neglect your family and you can’t vacation all of the time and neglect your work. But it doesn’t have to be equal all of the time.

Slowly, I began to let the balance scale get off balance. I decided to juggle some things. Instead of making sure we had a home cooked mean every single night after work and before practice I started picking up something on the way home. Instead of volunteering for everything in PTA I chose one activity to help with. I started delegating at work instead of trying to do everything myself seeking more recognition. When someone told me to bring a dessert to a function and it had been a long work week, I stopped by the bakery instead of staying up late making it homemade. I learned to say no to more responsibilities and yes to more lunch dates with friends or a weekend away. I learned I didn’t have to be team mom every season or team leader at my job for every event. I learned its ok to be led sometimes and not to always lead.

Juggling became more fun and more relaxing than trying to balance it all.  There may be a week when work is busier than usual and I forgive myself for that if other things have to wait for a while. On the other hand, my children may need my attention more than usual at a certain time so work and other things may have to give a little.  Some weeks I may run 20 miles or more and other weeks I may only get in four or five. However,  it’s not the end of the world if it’s not “balanced”.

Something else I learned about juggling…there are times I may drop a ball or two, but there are plenty of people willing to pick it up for me. So, now I say to myself,  “Enjoy life and do what you can, you only have one”!”

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Trish & Angie were nice enough to share their secret sauce…well some of it anyway!

Who came up with the idea of Birmingham Mommy?

It was an idea born out of necessity!  We were new moms who were looking for information and ways to connect with our community.  There were no other sites giving us what we wanted so we decided to create our own. We wanted honesty and sincerity instead of boring parenting articles.

What thought process led to this idea, and what initial challenges did you have to face?

Our thought process was based on staying true to moms and realizing their power. Moms hold the majority of purchasing power and they should be respected. We saw something that those valuable moms would need and appreciate and we based our revenue model on genuine ways to help and not constantly sell. Our initial challenge is the same as our continuing challenge…balance. We have small children and we’re trying to build a business while being a mom. It’s hard to not feel like something is being neglected but we make it work. Another challenge we find is that mom websites aren’t always taken as seriously as they should be. The market is just now beginning to embrace the value of moms.

What advice do you have for women who are thinking of starting up their own business?

Do your research first. Not everything will make a successful business, and you don’t want to invest your time and heart into it if it is doomed.

How do you find material to put on to your website?

We live it! Our website material literally comes from our lives. Part of the magic of it is we are going through it with our readers. We write about potty training when we are knee deep in wet laundry. We write about summer car travel tips when we’re taking or returning from a road trip. It’s all inspired by our lives and from talking with other moms.

Explain your growth as a business since starting Birmingham Mommy

We started with a plan for slow growth and it exploded within months of our launch.  This is a great thing but our families weren’t quite prepared for us to go full time so quickly!

How were you able to build a business around blogging?

We had to do more than blog we had to build up a reputation for our content. We don’t post things just to post, but have meaningful articles. We wanted to brand ourselves as BirminghamMommy, so we started appearing on several television stations as parenting experts. We assisted in a nationally syndicated moms talk show and have done everything possible to make it known that BirminghamMommy is more than just a website- it’s something much more.

What was the initial feedback regarding Birmingham Mommy in the community?

The feedback has brought us to tears. Moms will tell us how crucial our website is for them and that makes us so happy. It was our goal and it has happened.

How do you find balance between working and parenting?

We don’t!  We struggle with this daily but we’ve found that working from home means you’re always at work and that just doesn’t cut it with the kids. We have to set no-work times, we have to do a lot of work at night after the kids have gone to bed. It’s hard to see a pile of dishes after a long day and know that once the kids are asleep you’ll be conquering those AND doing your day’s work.  We miss tv!

Where do you see your company in 5 years? 10 years?

We’ll never tell our secrets…

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Women Who Tech

I’ve been listening to these podcasts every day for the past week. What I love about these panelists is their focus on customer development, market research and not just technology. They definitely make tech fun! While I recommend listening to Building the Ultimate User Experience, the other podcasts are pretty insightful.

WWT – Building the Ultimate User Experience – 2010 from Rad Campaign on Vimeo.

Sometimes I just get lucky and stumble across some really good articles while web surfing. MapleButter focus on start-up stories, case studies and other helpful hints. I thought 7 Lessons Learned in Running A Lean Startup Accelerator clearly summed up what it takes to run a start-up. Plus, I just love takeaway tips.

Finally, a very good explanation of customer development using an actual start-up as a case study. This really can be applied to about any company really. In summary, the process requires you to:

• Write out your key assumptions based on the problem you’re solving
• Think about a Minimum Viable Product
• Use actionable metrics for testing
• Learn to adapt and stay lean

I’m always looking for new sites and blogs to explore..please suggest to me what online articles you recommend. Knowledge is power!

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“How Women Are Shaping the Internet” indicates 75.8% of all women online visited a social networking site in May 2010, compared to 69.7% of men. Globally, women demonstrate higher levels of engagement with social networking sites than men. Although women account for 47.9% of total unique visitors to the social networking category, they consume 57% of pages and account for nearly 57% of total minutes spent on these sites.

Shespeaks.com recently conducted a fascinating study that looks mainly at women’s social habits online. Their key findings included the following about women:

•                Are more likely to say “connect with others” as top online activity (73%), compared to 40+ women (31%).

•                Are more likely to look at consumer generated content (28%) than 40+ (10%).

•                Are more likely to have profiles. 86% of 30 & under have profiles.

•                Facebook and MySpace are most popular (78% and 79%)

LinkedIn is more popular with high earners (41% for HHI $120K+ vs. 17% overall)

Women are naturally good at building relationships and networking, and that’s why we are so drawn to social media marketing. As business owners, we realize that connections are what makes or breaks a business, and engaging in conversations with our target market is the perfect way to build our businesses.

Below are five tips on how women can best utilize online marketing to promote their business:

Find Your Network

Clearly identify your company’s niche and don’t try to be all things to all people. Find people and colleagues that share your passions and establish win-win connections at every opportunity you create. Before you do this though, really identify which groups or people you want to connect with and why this connection will be valuable to them. Also, don’t be hesitant about worrying with fellow women entrepreneurs.  There’s a comradity that you won’t find with other networks. Research Linkedin groups that cater to women entrepreneurs or women businesses. Conduct simple keyword searches on Twitter to find conversations or companies that are passionate about working with women entrepreneurs.

Content Marketing

Google loves content and as you seek to proactively market your company, conduct content marketing to increase your Internet presence. The benefits of content marketing are many — article readers learn about your company and brand; articles link to your site thereby directing visitors to your website; and this all can help your placement on search engines. The best to you and your company!

Leverage Social Media

As a woman entrepreneur, I have found one of the most cost-effective ways to market my business is by leveraging social media tools such as blogs, Facebook, and Twitter. I am able to increase visibility and build up my credibility by being an active part of these online communities.

Tell “Success Stories”

Women are typically more detail-oriented and are prone to feeling more empathetic toward people.  Strategically craft “success stories” about how you/your business helped clients solve problems. Storytelling-in-business is great because if your story fits the listener’s current problem, you just gave them a test drive of what it’s like to work with you. You’ve created connections and the opportunity to address prospective customers issue.

Use the Internet to Understand Your Customer

By tracking anonymous consumer behavior on your website, your company can display campaigns, content, offers and experiences tailored to an individual’s browsing habits. Watch what they search for and what they look at, not just what they buy. Also use online tools like Google Insights for Search and social media to see what your customers are talking about online or what types of content they are searching for.

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