Guest post by Laurelle Johnson

My daughters are allergic to anything “mom” says or tries to impose when it comes to their health. So the idea of taking vitamins, eating more fruits and veggies and laying off MY coffee in the morning is met with a resounding “NO!” Feels like the terrible two’s all over again.

Subversion is the only tool left to me to insure their continued health.

D#2 has decided not to take her asthma medicine. “Ok,” I say. “Where are your inhalers?” Why-are-you-bothering-me roll of the eyes tells me she has no clue. So I crush the pink pill and sprinkle it over a cup of “froyo,” which she eats without an ounce of suspicion.

D#1 has a great immune system. All that breast-feeding really paid off. But think she’d take calcium supplements to boost her bone strength? The eye rolling happens here too. I bought good-tasting Tums - stuck them on her computer with a note stating that her password was changed and the consuming of 2 tabs a day will keep the computer humming in her hands. Worked like a charm!

But the Hubby, he’s another issue. He’s leery of anything promoted by his wife as “good for your health.” He rarely gets sick except if he’s been on a plane. Then he is miserable with sneezing and coughing all over the house.

I shared my frustration-Husband syndrome with a friend of mine from India. Samir Doshi, of Telecomers, mentioned they use Turmeric powder as an anti-septic. “How does it taste?” I ask. My mind is busy flashing pictures of me sitting on the Husband whilst pouring this powder directly into his mouth. “Of nothing,” he replied. “It just turns the food a bit yellow.”

Yellow? I can do yellow! I rushed off to the market, bought some turmeric powder, yellow squash, tomatoes and made a ratatouille. I liberally sprinkled the Turmeric on the squash before drenching everything in garlic, caramelized onions and olive oil.

I served the dish on a decorative platter and made it look FANTASTIC, key to getting the family to eat new dishes. They ate it up and suggested we have this dish more often!

Gosh, I love subversion.

Popularity: 74% [?]

Started by a shrink and a stylist, Retail Therapy provides the latest in “feel good” apparel & accessories.  Their motto “take care of yourself, take care of the world” inspires us all to be organic, recycled, and earth-friendly in our products.

My twins have these tees and we just planted the hangtags in the garden.  I am so excited to see the flowers grow!

A LITTLE SOMETHING ABOUT THEIR COOL TEE SHIRTS…
• Tees made of organic cotton, recycled polyester & naturally occurring rayon
•  Tees made of 100% organic cotton
• Even our RT logo tag is organic cotton!
• “Feel good” shirts with positive messages
• Silk screened with non-toxic water based inks
• Prewashed so they are super soft & won’t shrink
• Individually rubbed with rocks to get that funky worn look
• Hang tags made of 100% post-consumer waste & embedded with flower seeds
• When tags are planted, wildflowers will grow… really, we’re not kidding!
• Hang tag string made from handmade recycled paper & tinted with vegetable dyes
• We donate a percentage of profits to charity
• Retail Therapy tees have already been seen on TV & are worn by celebs!

Popularity: 78% [?]

I just have to blow the horn for this awesome company. We just got the Safe Sippy™ cups for our 18 month old twins and they LOVE them. But most of all what I love is that they don’t leak or drip. We have tried countless brands - big famous ones - and they all leak or drip when the turn them over. And these look super mod.  How awesome is this?

Kid Basix created The Safe Sippy™ drink cup in response to parents’ growing concerns about Bisphenol A and other harmful chemicals present in many plastic bottles. Now, we have expanded the “Safe” brand to include The Safe Starter™ stainless steel baby bottle and The Safe Sporter™ sports bottles to provide safe, reusable drink ware for the entire family.

Why go stainless when so many BPA-free plastic bottles are available now? We can give you 300 billion reasons. That’s the approximate number of plastic water bottles discarded around the world every year. Enough to power 12 million cars for an entire year. And that’s just the water bottles! It doesn’t include all the plastic bottles used for sodas, sports drinks, fruit juices and the like. All told, the plastic bottles we throw away each year would reach to the moon and back – 1500 times. So using reusable stainless steel bottles makes sense on every level: personal, local and global.

Popularity: 46% [?]

Interview with Gina Flanagan of Lunch Box Cards - Creative cards to make your child giggle

Q: What is your name? Gina Flanagan

Q: Company name and website? KidsLunchBoxCards.com

Q: We launched in: March 2008

Q: What is your business or what do you sell? We manufacture and sell fun, colorful lunch cards full of interesting facts, riddles and wacky true stories to make your child giggle at lunch.

Q: Who or what was the inspiration behind your company? My daughter Leila. When she was in 2nd grade, Leila would complain about not having friends at school. During those days, when I went to kiss her goodnight, I would feel tears running down her cheeks, and

she would tell me about how she would sit alone at lunch and how humiliating it was. It felt like my heart was splitting in half, and I knew I had to do something. I had recently quit being a costume illustrator for feature films to be a stay at home mom. I started drawing fun cartoons with riddles, quizzes and true wacky stories that I knew would make her giggle, and I put them into her lunch.  The lunch cards worked so well, it changed my daughters life. Kids

would gather around her to see the card-of-the-day and try to answer the quizzes or riddles correctly. The cards sparked conversation, and now she has a huge group of friends. I also used them for my two little girls -if there was a card in their lunch- all of a sudden

mornings were easy!

Q: How did you get started? Other moms started calling asking where I got the lunch cards. I realized I might have a business so I decided to try to go to print with one set and see what would happen. I knew I would need graphics, so I asked my friend Rose to come on board. We

created test cards- to see what  kids of different ages and genders liked and didn’t like, and what size would be best. After that was accomplished, I asked my retired father (who

created Rice-A-Roni and was the president of family owned Ghirardelli

Chocolate & Golden Grain Macaroni) to be my investor, my husband Markus (an actor who plays the dad on the t.v.show “Unfabulous” )to be in charge of marketing and my very

smart brother to handle all the legal stuff!

Q: How long before your business was profitable, or when is it projected to become profitable? It may be another year before it becomes financially profitable, but emotionally it has been profitable from day 1!

Q: What significant obstacles (if any) have you faced & how did you overcome them? I think our biggest obstacles so far have been what size to make the lunchcards, how to prepare the artwork for print, how the cards should be packaged and displayed.  We are still working out all the kinks but are moving along at each step of the way.

Q: Do you ever feel like giving up at times? If so, what keeps you going? Never. I love it and I see how happy it makes my children. It inspires me work to harder and to share it with other children.

Q: What qualities (i.e., family support, discipline, time management) do you think are necessary for a women entrepreneur? I think the most important quality is to love what you are doing. We already have too much to do- if our work isn’t a haven, we run the risk of being miserable.

Q: What is the one thing (book, website, coach, mentor, tool, blog, service, etc) that you value and can say has contributed to your success?  I think all my years working on movies with talented Costume Designers really helped me understand success and be able to be more organized and understand deadlines.  Doing my own thing now, I have to rely on my own sources for networking and marketing. I book reviews and giveaways on mommy type blog sites.  The internet is a powerful way to market your product in a very cost effective way.

Q: What was the worst advice someone gave you? To hurry up. I rushed going to print and ended up paying a fortune in printing costs. NEVER rush, always do your research and find the best manufacturing price or your profit margin is blown and your prices become too high.

Q: What are your business or personal goals for the next year? To redesign my website and attract advertising.

Q: What advice would you give to someone just starting out in business or thinking about taking the leap into entrepreneurship? Starting a business is time consuming. Make sure you have the time to commit to it, if you don’t, you will always feel frustrated.

Q: is there anything else you wish I had asked?

Yes. How do you market to your customers?

I created a monthly e-newsletter as a marketing tool.  I have a blast creating it. In writing it I meet moms doing amazing things, and find healthy products I would have never known about. In sharing my findings with other moms I am able to stay in contact with my customers and hope they share my product and newsletter with others.

Popularity: 55% [?]