Recently I stumbled across a website called handmedowns.com that will change how moms buy and sell their gently used baby/kid gear.

Visualize with me. My 2.5-year old daughter’s room is full of toys she’s no longer interested in and clothes she can’t really fit into anymore. Her overflow of belongings has taken over our garage, living room, my bedroom, and even backyard (whose idea was it to buy that slide?).

How one 25 lb child can have more in terms of belongings than I do blows me away.

That’s where handmedowns.com comes in.

I’ve tried eBay before. Not only does the whole bidding system irritate me, I’m not really into the post office scene. Craigslist is better but the popular website hosts plenty-a-weirdo and I always wonder who is really coming to pick up my used high chair.

Los Angeles mom and former lawyer, Norah Weinsten, is the brains behind the genius idea to give moms their own place to buy, sell, trade, and donate their children’s everyday items. handmedowns.com users list everything from infant clothing to designer strollers at amazing prices. There’s no need to pay retail. Save the environment and your pocket book by purchasing used goods. Search for items in your own city; no need to calculate shipping or stock up on boxes and tape.

Last week I completed the 6-second registration (seriously, you couldn’t warm a bottle faster) and listed and sold some of my precious toddler’s excess. It was great! Not only am I tripping over less during my middle of the night paranoia-is-she-still-breathing checks, I have some extra cash to buy her even more toys! The cycle continues…

Bonus: handmedowns.com features regular contests. Register with handmedowns.com before Febuary 13th, and you could with a Clek Olli Booster Seat in Bubblegum Camo.

Retail Price: $89.99

This week I’m bringing you three mom-inspired ways to feed your kids better and faster. Summer can be an especially trying time for parents. There is always a meal or snack to prepare. It doesn’t matter how newly remodeled your kitchen is, it’s no place to spend June through August.

We all know the Internet is packed full of more information than most people have time to wade through. That’s why I scoured the momosphere to find easy ways to feed your den. Mom entrepreneurs helping moms…I love it.

Making Summer Taste Better: Three Simple Ways
1. Weelicious. Model-turned-chef-turned-mom Catherine McCord blogs the most unique and simple recipes for babies through toddlers. If you have wee ones circling your feet, try some of her baby-tested concoctions. What makes this food blog different is that her recipes are actually fun to make! Common ingredients, little prep time…Catherine knows how to please the part-time cook. Try her natural rendition of fish sticks. No microwave needed!

Blue Corn Chip Crusted Fish Sticks Try it

You’ll also love watching her Food Network quality Weelicous productions. Double props for the fact that she cooks with her son Kenya right there next to her in true mom fashion. Warning: do not visit the website while hungry.
www.weelicious.com

2. Tastybaby. It seems as if a frozen baby food company puts out a shingle every other week. What makes this mom-owned company different is 1) they’re certified organic, 2) their website hosts a network of blogs and articles by parents and bloggers, and 3) it’s not just for babies.

With flavors like Bangoes™ (banana mango) and Corn in the USA, it’s hard not to be curious. With an entire recipes section of the website where the pureed fruit and veggies can be used to make everything from scrumptious corn muffins to Life’s A Peach Bellini’s (peach puree and champagne), it’s impossible not to fall in love. There isn’t a parent out there who isn’t actively trying to increase the fiber and nutrient count in their child’s daily goldfish cracker routine. Tastybaby makes it easy.

Corn in the USA Muffins More Recipes

Tastybaby is also on Amazon with free shipping included.

www.tastybaby.comÂ

3. OnTrack Fruit Energy Bars. I recently blogged on One Crazy Mother about a trip I took with my husband and two year-old to Canada. Kids have been making the news lately by being bumped off of planes for so-called “unruly” behavior. During the weeks leading up to the trip I found myself getting more and more nervous about how I’d keep my toddler entertained. It was her 4th or 5th plane trip but she’s a definitely wild card. Would the sticker book work? I had no idea.

In a moment of weakness I grabbed some Fruit-Roll-Up snacks and ended up giving one to her during the five hour ordeal. The only thing worse than the burst of high-fructose fueled energy that followed was the length of time it took me to scrub the sticky goo off of her molars. The new alternative to sugary fruit snacks? OnTrack Fruit Energy Bars by Bouquet of Fruits. They’re not in Targets (don’t faint), but they’re worth visiting the website and buying online for. Why? Because when the kids need a snack and they’ve had enough crackers to crash 500 Atkins diets, the fruit and nut combo will save your sanity. I loved having them as a pre-dinner 4pm alternative to a spoonful of frosting or other diet disaster. They’re natural, delicious and priced well below trendy sports bars.

Contest Alert! If you’d like to receive the OnTrack Prize Pack that I was given with all of the flavors, send an email to me at bunmizalob@gmail.com with your name, phone number and why you need a little more energy. More details here

www.ontracksnacks.com

Happy Eating and Stay Cool!

First it was Spanx, a nylon solution created by the Sara Blakely and adored by Oprah to smooth out rear ends across the nation. Now, two fashion-savvy northern California moms have solved another fashion faux pas: the exposed derriere.

Whether it is the backpack toting teen, a bright pink thong peeking out of her low-rise jeans or the young mother bending over to pick up her toddler, most would agree that “southern exposure” is a growing problem.

Best friends Christine Meeks and Kelly DeSerpa have created a solution that has created such Internet buzz it has been dubbed “the holiday must-have and must-give” by bloggers across cysperspace.

The Salinas, California mothers are the minds behind Hip-T. I stumbled across Hip-T when surfing the web and was immediately intrigued. It seem sometimes as if clothing manufacturers don’t realize that moms need jeans that will *ahem* keep us covered when we’re swooping down to pick up a carseat or give a two year-old a hug.

As a mother and an entrepreneur, I love it when I can say I use and adore a product made my another parentrepreneur.

Similar to a tube top, the Hip-T is a snug, surprisingly stylish cotton garment worn around the hips. It covers any backside pop-ups while giving the wearer a layered look without the bulk of an additional long tank.

“There’s nothing else like this out there,” said DeSerpa, “It’s such a new concept.”

Women have been flocking to the site to buy Hip-T’s not only for themselves, but for their daughters.

Meeks and DeSerpa understand why: they have teenage daughters of their own.

“They wear them all the time,” DeSerpa said. “They’re our biggest supporters.”

It’s impossible to tell if a woman is wearing a Hip-T; the end result appears to be an extra fitted t-shirt or tank. I’m giving out Hip-T’s to my cousins and friends this year. I can’t wait for them to see the cute packaging and even cuter product.

Here’s to bending over!

You can find Hip-T’s online and in retail stores in the Bay Area. www.myhip-t.com

If you know of any great, undiscovered products by parent entrepreneurs, leave me a comment and I’ll write about it!

I sold my first business as a mom last month. I know I promised details but the two weeks it took to go from “Mine” to “Theirs” were hard as hell challenging.

This is what you need to know if you’re planning on selling your business. I wish I’d known this in hindsight!

• Be clear on what is included with the sale: Photos, articles, business email archive; what is the new owner entitled to?
• Decide pre-sale how much time you are willing to spend with the new owner to get them acclimated. Put it in the contract.
• Make sure you know where all of your business documents are! That business license is going to need to come out of the filing cabinet!

Selling a business is an emotional process for most entrepreneurs. Make the process less difficult by being prepared.

Another hard part of selling your business is seeing the new owner do things a little differently from how you did. The solution to this? Get over it! It’s not your baby anymore.

What’s next on my agenda? I founded NACEM- the North American Council of Entrepreneur Moms last month. It’s important for moms to be advocates, no one knows our issues better than we do.

Every entrepreneur encounters the crossroads. The moment when you look at your business, your brainchild and have to ask yourself the question, “Is it time to move on?”

I did that recently and decided that the answer was a resounding, “Yes!”

For those of you who have no idea who I am, I’m the mom behind BusinessMom.net, the social networking site for entrepreneur moms. I sold BusinessMom recently, but definitely clung to my seminal venture as a mother, Mommy’s Company.com.

My online magazine for entrepreneur moms launched in 2006 and has been an incredible journey. The highs (being mentioned on ABC) and the lows (hard drive crashing) helped me become the business person I am today. But what do you do when life is calling you to a new path?

I live in southern California and work as a screenwriter for television. Recently my career has taken off and I’m working hard to keep up with writing obligations. Staying up until 1 o’clock in the morning to update my website and finish scripts was only exciting for about two weeks. What is a mom supposed to do?

My first option was so sell my portion of the website to my business partner, Brianna. When I mentioned this, she admitted that she’d been thinking of selling too!

Selling the Biz Lesson One: Be Honest to Your Partner, You Never Know Where THey Stand

Brianna was just as ready to sell as I was. What a surprise!
Because Mommy’s Company has been successful because of moms, we decided that instead of going with a private deal with a sales company that targets mothers, we’d put the website up on eBay. Risky? Yes. Fun? Oh yes.

The first steps we took was putting up an alternative design of the website on www.mommyscompany.net so that the new owner could see their options.

Selling the Biz Lesson Two: Appeal to As Many People As Possible

While the Wordpress format might be neat to us, someone else may prefer the standard html website. After both websites were up it was time for promotions! The first place to promote anything with a venture is through a a press release. I have always used PRWeb.com with fantastic results. The average release costs $40 but it well worth it! There are websites that submit releases for free, but in this case, you get what you pay for.
I’ll be writing about the steps Brianna and I are taking as kind of a Real Life: Selling the Biz chronicle of events. Stay tuned!

Check out the auctions! Bidding ends Friday, October 5th!

eBAY Auction

If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it a million times.
“I’ve got the best recipe for brownies ever. Everyone tells me I could sell them, but I don’t know how to get started.”

“I’ve been making custom baby slings for years, how do I turn this into a career?”

There are innovative and talented moms all over the country who are just a few steps away from turning their hobby into a successful business.

Moms email me everyday asking how they can make their pastime into money, so I thought I’d give you 5 Tips to Launching Your Business Today.

Tip 1: Before investing a dime in your potential business, make sure that you are either extremely skilled or extremely passionate about it. If you aren’t a die-hard fan of hockey or have a background in the sport, DO NOT open a hockey supply shop just because you think your town needs one.

Passion is an essential ingredient in business because it will be the motivator when things get tough.

Tip 2: Find someone who is doing what you want to do and study them.

Notice how I didn’t say copy them. Check out their websites, study their inventory, research their suppliers, hell, even pretend to be a reporter and call and ask them questions. Do your due diligence.

Tip 3: This is my favorite part of business planning. After you’ve seen what your your future competition is doing, write out exactly what it is you would like to do. Be specific. With you as CEO of Your Business Enterprises, write out what an entire day would look like. What are you selling? Who are your customers?

Then write a business plan. Here is an easy model. You don’t have to follow it exactly, but pay attention to key points.

Tip 4: Based on your research, write out a budget of how much it will cost to stay in business for one year. Now double it. Brainstorm ways to fund your business. I’ve heard it all from taking out a home equity line of credit to selling one’s own plasma.

Don’t even think about leasing office space overlooking the beach or investing in flashy 10 color brochures. Keeping expenses low for as long as possible will be key to your success. One of the main causes of business failure is underestimating costs and running out of money.

Be creative when thinking about financing your business. Can you cater a web savvy friend’s event in exchange for a website? Babysit a Kinko’s employee’s kids for business cards? More Financing Tips.

Tip 5: Decide on a name and buy the domain name (I use GoDaddy.com). Putting down cash and owning the online name for your business will put you in the a business owner frame of mine.

Next step: File a ficticious name statement or DBA (Doing Business As) to make your business name official. Then, tell everyone you know about your new business. Not only will you develop future customers, now that you’ve told people, there is no going back!

It’s within your reach, but you have to stretch!

I wish you tons of success.

More Resources

Don’t do it alone.Meet and network with other entrepreneur moms: BusinessMom.net

Small Business Administration http://www.sba.gov

Ladies Who Launch http://www.ladieswholaunch.com

Entrepreneur.com Mom Guide

Read MC’s Business Profiles for more ideas and inspiration for launching your venture.

Tuesday, February 27th had me a little worried about the state of economy. As an entrepreneur, the sunny days are what I live for. When money is moving, people are spending, and businesses are doing well, everyone is happy!

When the closing bell rang yesterday at the NYSE, there were probably more than a few people crying into their double machiattos. The drama began with a 9% slip in Chinese stocks, the Dow began to fall, and then the poo poo really started to hit the fan when the computer automated sell programs started to kick in. By the late afternoon, $632 billion was lost in US stocks touching every sector.

It was the worst day in the market since 9/11.

Today the Fed Chief issues some comforting words about our economy(check out the Must Read Media on MC) and seasoned investors seem unfazed calling the tumble, “all part of the market’s cycle”.

You know what the problem seems like to me? If you have multiple children or have ever babysat at least three kids at once, you’ve been in this situation that I think mirrors the stock market and consumer confidence almost perfectly.

Imagine having three kids in a car. You’re rolling down the highway, everything is going fine until Kid #1, overtired because he missed a nap, throws a sippy cup, splashing juice on formerly happy Kid#2.

Kid #2, annoyed because the orange Tampico got in his eye hence momentarily distracting him from his Nintendo DS marathon session, spits in Kid #3’s ear.

Kid #3, who was looking for a reason to act up, begins kicking the back of your seat. Hard.

And then you crash the car. Just kidding.

If mom, in her infinite authority, saw Kid#1 start getting fussy, turned back and in her serious-scary-mom-voice and said, “Don’t even think about it,” therefore cutting the chaos off at the pass, the whole catastrophe could have been avoided.

Someone needed to get up on a giant platform and tell all of the world’s traders, “Don’t even think of freaking out. Calm down,” before the panic selling started.

That’s why moms should be in charge of the stock market.

I believe it was Hemingway who said, “All things truly wicked start from an innocence.”

That explains my work situation.

The idea to start a business from home; or work from home (ironic as that term is to me now), came to me soon after my daughter was born. Like many new moms, the thought of jumping into the rat race and leaving my helpless offspring with a licensed but undeserving stranger was about as attractive to me as a freshly-birthed placenta.

After much thought, a voice of genius (who I now refer to as “The Devil”) whispered to me one evening: “Why not start a business?”

Fast forward six months to me engaged in a perpetual dance between my laptop and very curious 7 month-old who would love nothing more than to chew through every single document on my desk.

Don’t get me wrong, I feel very privileged to be able to catch all of those Kodak moments with my daughter: Seeing her discover her feet for the first time, listening to her giggle as I make breakfast and leisurely cuddling with her in bed at an hour when more serious types are buzzing about in offices and on freeways.

I’m lucky and I know it (clap your hands).

I’m sure there are many moms who are pondering ditching their day jobs to work at home, whether it is to telecommute or start a business.

A word of advice: Don’t trade your Ann Klein power suit for sweats just yet. Working under the supervision of a child, or children, is not for the faint of heart. There are things every mom and mom-to-be must know before hanging up their time card.

1. Your children are not your coworkers. They are not dedicated to your corporate mission statement and purpose.

Getting everyone “on board” to make mommy’s business dream a reality may seem like an appropriate preliminary step, but let’s take a giant leap into reality. If your kids are under five, hell, even if they’re old enough to drive, the truth is that they don’t care.

Children are first and foremost concerned with being children. If your chain emails are going to create a kink in their lifestyle, they’ll unmercifully let you know it.

This is not to say that there won’t be moments where they will be great little helpers and lick envelopes, but don’t fool yourself, having mom half there is not better than having mom not there at all. Mom’s business hours are usually during naps, in the middle of the night, and during play-dates.

2. You only have so much energy and no combination of wishing and/or Red Bulls can change that.

If you decide to join the thousands of entrepreneurs who create businesses every year, be prepared for one thing: to end everyday exhausted. It is a self-satisfied exhaustion, but exhaustion all the same.

The tenacity that accompanies a fresh, exciting business idea forgives the late nights at the drawing board. Six months, 18 months, three years into a business and many owners not only feel the burnout, they embody it.

Symptoms of spreading yourself too thin include: your family hating you, hating your family, hating your business, and “the shakes” (an involuntary twitching that is more commonly observed in drug rehabilitation centers).

The #1 way to avoid burnout is to develop the ability to say three words that will revolutionize the way you do business: “It can wait.”

Sometimes, dropping everything to roll around on the floor with your kids, have a conversation with your husband (remember him?), or enjoy a Frappuccino break is essential.

Running a business is like having an extra child: it needs grooming, feeding, and attention. But unlike the real children tearing through your office, your business is not your reason d’etre.

This leads me to my last point.

3. Where your ego lies, there your heart will be to. Run your business, don’t love it.

It can be very easy when you’re burning the midnight oil with only the soft glow of the computer monitor to warm you to begin to have strong feelings for your business.

You two have been through it all: the first customer, the first newspaper write-up, the infamous Hardrive Crash of 2004…so many memories.

Unlike the human beings in your household, your business is also a constant ego stroke which can allow a rational mother to transmutate into a selfish, stressed workaholic.

One can learn from the literary work of Mary Shelley. Your masterpiece will soon become your Frankenstein if you fail to control and remain the master or it. Remember who created who.

-

If a stranger were to peer into my window to find me in front of my laptop at 4 a.m. answering emails and noting invoices, they might deduce by the tired skin around my eyes and the colorful mugs filled to various levels with stale caffeinated beverages strewn about my workspace that perhaps I am over my head.

Maybe. While being a mom business owner does add one more trip-inducing Lego to the proverbial playroom that is my life, I just remind myself that the essence of motherhood is not mastery and calm, but learning and taking joy in the mess.