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<span class="basic_member_name">Deb Grover</span>
Deb Grover
Maternity and Nursing Band
Bellevue, Washington
Posted by Deb Grover, Bellevue, Washington | Jul 04, 2008

Subscribe to Introduce your bad indie self Mom/Business Owner new to BizNik

Hi! While I signed up months ago, I am just now starting to spend some energy exploring the Biznik website. My name is Deb and I started a business on accident and out of necessity 3 years ago when I was pregnant with my first born. It is called BellySock (www.bellysock.com). Up until now, BellySock was a fairly low impact slice of my life. I work on it in the evenings, during kid naptime and during a few hours of babysitting time I manage to find intermittently throughout the week. My dream with BellySock is to be more than a company that sells a simple maternity and nursing product. I want to wake up one day and know that what I am positively making a different in many many people’s lives. Right now BellySock donates 10% to prenatal care non-profits, and sponsor as many pre-natal and breastfeeding orgs it can afford. This is not enough for me. I am still searching for what I truly want BellySock to become in this regard. About 2 weeks ago I reached a huge crossroads with the company. I established my first business debt. Up until now I have been able to survive off of a small personal investment in R&D, grassroots marketing, and production. The company has sustained itself over the last few years. 2 weeks ago my first international inventory PO arrived. 6000 Organic BellySocks! Wow! 20K later and a garage full of organic cotton BellySocks, I sit here wondering how on earth I am going to move this product and successfully build my business. I figure now is the time to shine. On June 15th I graduated with my MBA from Seattle U, and one week later my 2nd child turned 2 years old. I think I am armed and ready to get going…I just need to figure out what to do next. I am hoping to find inspiration and community via Bisnik to help me on my journey. In my experience so far, I have learned how powerful networking can be in terms of building successful business relationships. It is through other small networks that I have found business advice, opportunities to barter, and the opportunity to share and help others with what I have to offer. In addition to looking for advice on what I want BellySock to become, I am looking to continue to build the biz through a team of commission based sales reps (those that want to own territories and even those that want to own online communities). Any leads, advice, inspiration to share? I look forward to growing with you all!

3 Bizniks have posted replies

  • Amy Woidtke (woid-key)
    Posted by Amy Woidtke (woid-key), Greater Seattle, Washington | Jul 04, 2008

    Welcome!

    Check out Sisters of Sustainability, run by one of my green gal colleagues. There is a mom's event coming up that will be PERFECT for you to talk about your organic product at. Very informal so no worries if you're not into public speaking. It's small biz gals supporting each other growing each other's green bizzes. http://www.sostane.com or is it .org?

    I think there is another site to check out too: Cool Moms http://www.coolmoms.com

    I find a bit of eco product related stuff for moms and babies in Conscious Choice and Seattle Woman so make sure to browse them, if you haven't already, to look for good network connections!

    Best to you and congratulations!

  • John Huddleston
    Posted by John Huddleston, Seattle & Bellevue, Washington | Jul 06, 2008

    Deb, Welcome to Biznik. I agree that networking is a valuable tool. Not only for marketing but for sharing expertise from other business owners. Good luck.

    John

  • Andrey Rozmaity
    Posted by Andrey Rozmaity, Seattle, Renton, Kent, Tacoma, Washington | Jul 07, 2008

    Welcome to Biznik Deb!

    Cute kids!


    Happy Networking,

    -Andrey

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Post tags

  • bellysock
  • maternity
  • breastfeeding
  • mom
  • mba
  • entrepreneur