Roads to Success Stretch to the 50 Top Mompreneurs

They have been immortalized in marble, regaled in poetry, noted in song, and celebrated with commemorative days around the world. In more familiar media, they have been reflected in the adoring faces of little children — even had their names tattooed on their sons’ arms and their figures captured in crayon on their daughters’ refrigerator art. In whatever language — madre, muti, moeder, mère, mãe — they are mothers! They are moms! They are businesswomen!

Today, some moms wear yet another title that attests to their accomplishments: Mompreneur — a mother who runs her own business from her home, marketing her business and probably selling over the Internet while shouldering all the responsibilities of family and home management. That can be a tricky business fraught with multi-tasking and long days with no pay for overtime and no sick leave!

Recently, www.Babble.com chose the “Top 50 Mompreneurs of 2011” to honor for their entrepreneurial spirit and prowess. Their stories, inspirations, trials and tribulations are as varied as the daily chores they juggle in support of family and business. What they have in common is that they are all mothers, business women, and successes! Read about a few of them below, but please visit www.Babble.com to learn more and give every one of the 50 mompreneurs the attention they deserve. Truly, they have earned it!

Big Sized Style for the Little Ones in Our Lives

Need and creativity inspired mompreneur Kelly Meyer Douglas to found Itzy Ritzy because she and her husband could not find the baby products they needed in the eco-friendly styles they wanted. They didn’t start from scratch, but bought a baby product company needing their management and marketing expertise to survive and excel.

They rebranded and repackaged the acquired company’s goods. They also expanded and re-imaged the company, forging partnerships with other mompreneurs who needed Itzy Ritzy to help kick their fledgling products out of the nest and teach them to fly. Meyer Douglas and spouse invested their savings, energy, and confidence in Itzy Ritzy’s success. And successful it was and is, with products now carried in boutiques across the United States and boasting a yearly growth rate topping 100 per cent!

Follow the product line of success at www.itzyritzy.com

A Jungle of Eco-friendly Products

Before having children of her own, mompreneur Jenny Ford took an art class and found inspiration for hand-painting animal and insect designs on children’s shoes. She launched her monkey business as Monkey-Toes, and the media and consumers thought her product line was a shoe-in!

Along the way, Ford borrowed money from her parents, lost her full-time employment, parted company with her husband, come close to losing her home to foreclosure, and spent her credit cards to the limit — all this while raising two little children and managing a full-time business venture. Others might have given up, but Monkey Toes is debt-free, swinging through the profit treetops with socks and shirts added to the painted product line.

Find a jungle of eco-friendly products at www.monkey-toes.com

World Knowledge for Babies and Toddlers

Mompreneur Julie Aigner-Clark was a teacher wanting to reveal the worlds of language, art and other interests to her daughter. When she couldn’t find the right stuff, she created a combination video/book to launch her product idea, shooting the video in the basement. Aigner-Clark and husband invested time and money to edit and add music to the package and, through a fortuitous meeting with a buyer at a trade show, Baby Einstein was born into the world of children’s interactive media to cover the spectrum of art and music, words and numbers, colors, animals and nature, and more.

Aigner-Clark sold the business, but is still deeply involved with the company through consulting and blogging. She also has written a children’s book about helping family members deal with cancer (knowledge gained through first-hand experience), and donates the proceeds to research.

Learn more, literally and figuratively, at www.babyeinstein.com

Sometimes a Mother Needs More Than Tough Skin

She did her homework! Mompreneur Aileen Chen researched to learn about the potential impact of computer and cell phone-level radiation on an unborn child. Mother-to-be worked with an industrial engineering team to create Belly Armor, a breathable textile that shields pregnant tummies and the baby within from such radiation exposure.

Despite some harsh criticism in the press, what Chen generously attributes to “insufficient knowledge about… health risks,” mother and Belly Armor are doing well, expanding from a domestic operation in the United States to one with a strong pulse across North America, into the Caribbean, Brazil, Europe, and Asia.

Read the science and see the products at www.bellyarmor.com