MBA Class: Mom’s Business Acumen
Jul 15 2008

And now for a very cool guest post from Michelle Yozzo Drake author of a newly released book: “From the Kitchen to the Corner Office:  Mom’s Wisdom on Leadership.”

MBA Class: Mom’s Business Acumen…Or, “How to Take Skills Learned From Mom to Kick Butt at Work” 

As Aruni braves the balancing act that returning to the “formal” workplace brings for a working mom, I was thrilled that she asked me to do a guest post for entrepremusings.com. 

I love to work with women…they just get it, even if they don’t know it!  Generations of women have been successfully running the home-based business that we call “The Family”.  They have had to utilize all of the skills needed to address the same issues that Fortune 500 companies struggle with. And they’ve done it with grace, style and, okay, maybe a few bad hair days here and there! 

My version of an MBA class focuses on “Mom’s Business Acumen”: 

Risk Management-The art of baking bread, taught to me by my Aunt Giovanna Yozzo Fanelli (Aunt Jennie), yielded a surprising class in risk management, crisis management and plan-failure recovery. As I made loaf after loaf of bread (according to Aunt Jennie’s half Italian/half English instructions) and failed every time, I had to learn how to push past my fear of failure and create new plans to minimize my risks of future bread baking failure! Hours of work sometimes yielded sub-par results (a.k.a “lead-bread” – this made Aunt Jennie laugh as she encouraged me to persevere and continue on my quest for the perfect loaf of bread).  My ultimate victory (at least 20 loafs and 80 hours later) was the title of Bread Maker in my family’s eyes.  And after Aunt Jennie died at 96 years old, she passed her pans to me. I had become the bread and the baker, and she would be proud! 

Mergers and Acquisitions-My sister and a few of my sisters-in-law now have new “blended families”.  With divorce rates and remarriages at an all-time high, there are new things today’s mom has learned. Creating a family with kids from previous marriages and new ones with new husbands takes a lot of hard work and effort…no wonder the idea of running a newly merged company is child’s play for the mom that has balanced issues with siblings, half-brothers, step-sisters, etc.! 

Cultivating Strong Teams and Leaders-Lessons learned from the women in my family who are masters in the kitchen – my mother Mimi and my Aunt Marie, specifically – have been priceless in developing my ability to coach my clients on building strong teams and leaders at work.  Have you ever watched two strong women in the kitchen putting out a holiday meal for the family?  Mimi and Marie were masters at leading and following as they consistently put out a quality product (the seven-course Italian holiday meal) for their customers (35 family members and a few stragglers). The big news is, I never remember a moment of tension in either of their kitchens…but always lots of laughter! 

Budget Cuts-My mother-in-law Marty used to take her twelve children (my husband Rich is number NINE) to the beach on the ferry every Wednesday…because kids ride free on Wednesdays when accompanied by their parent! She knows how to work a budget! Examples like that guided me during my family’s lean years – when I was sewing shorts for my two young sons out of my husband’s old shirts – and during the first crucial years of my businesses when breakeven was only a dream. 

Sales and Product Issues-Have you ever negotiated with a four-year-old over why Oreo cookies are not a breakfast food?  Successfully selling those eggs over the Oreos takes a sales master! How easy negotiating with a customer over the price of your products or services is compared to “selling” bedtime to a child! 

So when I meet a mom getting ready to return to the workplace and she’s fretting over her perceived “resume gap,” I see the opportunity to educate a sister on how to talk about her degree from the “Mommy Management Training University!” 

What have YOU learned from your mom, “mom-figures” in your life, or being a mom yourself? 

Michelle Yozzo Drake is a management consultant who has just released a new book: “From the Kitchen to the Corner Office:  Mom’s Wisdom on Leadership.”  Her Workplace Wisdom Blog is hosting Lipstick Leadership Week -July 14-18 – where Michelle is highlighting other women’s stories about what they have learned from their “moms” or as a mom that helps them succeed at work!  Submit your story (and get a plug for your website!) at LipstickLeadership.com or KitchentoCornerOffice.com 

Contest for Innovative Moms
Jul 13 2008

I recently received the following email from one of Whirlpool’s PR reps.  Although I don’t recall being upset (maybe disappointed) about not knowing about the program (which I can’t recall at the moment) she was referring to, I figured I’d share her email about this contest because it seems like a cool idea.  I do have a vague recollection of commenting on a Washington Post article and if I didn’t, she’s a pretty good PR rep to tell me about this contest, because I like to post about programs that support entrepreneurs! 

The cool thing is that if you win you not only win cash but also appliances!  Also, upon reading their site you cannot submit a company/idea for a new appliance.  Your business idea has to be totally unrelated to Whirlpool’s primary business of appliance creation and manufacturing.  

I also noticed that one of the guest judges is Julie Aigner-Clarke, founder of Baby Einstein! 

I haven’t figured out yet if I can apply for Babble Soft (no issue about us being an appliance 🙂 ) but I haven’t read all of the fine print yet.  The application looks pretty simple and straight forward so chances are I will apply.  I encourage you all to check it out too and tell other mom-inventors out there about the competition. 

Hi Aruni,

I saw that you commented on a Washington Post blog entry about a grant program and that you were upset you didn’t know the program was going on.  Just wanted to share with you another grant program that I thought might be of interest to you and your readers.

Whirlpool brand has recently kicked-off the fourth annual Mother of Invention Grant Program. In the past three years, Whirlpool brand has recognized and helped more than 15 moms turn their innovative ideas into reality.

The Whirlpool brand Mother of Invention Grant Program provides seed money and expert guidance to moms to turn their invention, business or service ideas into full-fledged businesses.  Contest winners receive:

• A $20,000 grant for the grand prize winner
• $24,000 in grant money for the four runners-up
• Appliance prizes
• Invitation to business boot camp where winners will receive guidance from Whirlpool and industry experts

This year, we are greening the program by adding a new category focused on moms who create an environmentally friendly product/service or use natural/recycled materials to create their invention. 

More information and entry forms can be found at www.whirlpool.com/moms. Entries are accepted through July 31, 2008.

Please let me know if you have any questions or would like additional information about the program.  I’d also be happy to share information about our past winners, should you be interested. 

Best,

Laura

Life Always Gets Harder Near The Summit (a.k.a. Brandon and the Homeless Dude)
Jul 8 2008

OK, so I’m still trying to figure out how blogging fits in with my full time day job so I’ll continue on the fortune cookie fortune blogging escapade (they make for good post titles) until I figure it out. 

I’m not sure what’s kosher to blog about since I’m still trying to get my mind around the irony of working for a huge university which is gigantically overburdened with process (e.g., 5 copies of agreements need to be routed after being signed in blue ink but need pre-approval before they get routed, 3 documents to get approval to make often routine purchases, etc.) that at the same time helps start-ups.  A slow moving giant pays the staff (including myself) that supports the nimble, fast moving technology start-ups.  It’s mind boggling to think about so I try not to think about it too much. 

So on to the fortune cookie that produced “Life always gets harder near the summit.”  Along with the Lucky Numbers 2, 10, 7, 31, 54, and 12…too bad I’m no longer playing the lottery. 

I wouldn’t say that life is harder but I would say it’s insanely more a bit more mentally taxing given that after a full day at my day job of running Operations for the Austin Technology Incubator I need to think about and act on activities to promote Babble Soft.  Thankfully, I have an intellectually smart husband who helps out and is currently giving the kids a bath while I type up this blog post, drink red wine, and respond to press queries.  He has to be smart because his current career choice is one of the reasons I now have a day job!

So on to life being hard for Brandon and the Homeless Dude which made the title of this blog post way too long!  Over at IttyBiz, they are running a ‘who can come up with the craziest story about Brandon and the Homeless Dude’ competition as a break from their regularly scheduled home business tips.  So the challenge is to come up with the ‘next step of the journey’ for Brandon and the Homeless Dude.  If selected, my name, company, blog, and dirty laundry will be featured on the ever so popular IttyBiz blog that is normally written by Naomi with an occasional guest appearance by her husband, Jamie.  It’s highly unlikely that I’ll get picked because I’m not following their directions of discreetly emailing Jamie my story but instead I’m writing it on my blog.  I’m not one to regularly follow directions, which makes my day job extra mentally taxing.  So here it goes: 

Brandon and the Homeless Dude woke up under a bridge one day.  They wondered to themselves firstly why the bridge had not fallen on them while they slept given their notorious luck.  Soon after they wondered what they should do for the day.   

The Homeless Dude then asked Brandon why he was sleeping under the bridge with him given that he was not homeless and Brandon mumbled a reply about being a prick (Naomi’s word not mine) to his wife.  As an aside to those who don’t know Brandon, his wife pays the bills for his extravagant lifestyle which includes trying to build an online business. 

After that meaningful brief discussion, they headed toward the closest lemonade stand and asked the kids if they planned to attend SEO school.  The kids stared blankly at them and asked them what SEO meant and oh by the way if they wanted lemonade they would have to give them $2.00 for a tall, refreshing glass of fresh squeezed lemonade with a spoonful of organic brown sugar.  A twist of vodka would cost them $1.00 extra. 

Brandon told the kids that SEO stood for Seeking Extra Opportunities and their eyes opened wide.  Of course they were ‘seeking extra opportunities’ to sell their lemonade because the more money they made the more they could spend on impressing their teenage friends with highly perishable, bad-for-the-environment, alcoholic, dumbass crap. 

The Homeless Dude then told them they were in luck because if they wanted to turn their lemonade stand into an online successful business all they had to do was do what he did which was spend time and money on SEO only to discover that most people did not want to buy lemonade online but oddly preferred to get it from their local grocery store, kid-friendly restaurant, or nearby pre-teen managed stand. 

They immediately realized The Homeless Dude was wise in his homelessness and decided that after they made some cash from their lemonade stand from joggers, bicyclists, parents who thought they were cute, other teenage friends, and old people who felt nostalgic and proud that teenagers actually attempted to do an honest day’s work, they would then open an online business telling other kids how to set up a successful lemonade stand. 

The End.

On the chance you want to read about my attempts to build an online business, while at the same time working at a place that helps other technology start-ups, you can painlessly get free email updates about the continuing saga of a blogging entrepreneur (moi!).

Happy 4th of July – eMail Our Military
Jul 3 2008

I hope everyone here in the US enjoys their long 4^th of July holiday weekend.  We’ll be heading to a couple of parties with some fireworks and sparklers so I know the kids will enjoy themselves immensely and we’ll be making sure they don’t burn themselves on the sparklers. 🙂

Since we no longer have a tree to put our US Flag on, I’ll have to do an extra patriotic blog post! 

By now most people around the world know that July 4^th is when we here in the US celebrate our Independence as a country.  We celebrate our freedom by getting together with friends to watch fireworks. 

I’m not sure what our troops overseas do on July 4^th or even if they will get to see fireworks in Iraq, Afghanistan, or elsewhere.  I bet they miss their home and would look forward to communicating with people back home. 

So, if you would like to share emails with someone in the military, you should sign up at eMail Our Military and have them assign you an active duty military personnel to communicate with.  I signed up and hopefully soon I’ll get assigned someone to share experiences with back home.  It only costs $2 plus a couple of stamps! 

Also, my company, Babble Soft, partnered with eMail Our Military to offer free subscriptions to active duty military personnel with newborns to help them stay connected while they might be separated by thousands of miles. 

Happy 4^th of July!

We Lost a Tree to the Ravages of Time
Jul 2 2008

This past Sunday, my husband, Erin, happened to look outside one of our front windows and noticed that one of the limbs of our big tree was leaning on our roof.   It had not been doing that just the day before.  This tree was unique in that instead of a big trunk with several limbs it had 5 separate big trunks growing from the same base.  I’m guessing it had to have been at least 30 years old.  We have oak trees in our back yard that must be 50 to 75 years old. 

Fortunately, the limb was resting rather comfortably with no sign of roof damage.   The next day while I was at my day job Erin met with the tree inspector guys who said we had to cut it down. 

We were so sad to see it go for many reasons including shade, beauty, the birds/lizards who would visit, and the fact that we used it to hang our US Flag on during holidays like the upcoming 4^th of July!  However, it was apparent while they were cutting it down that it was rotting at the core for quite some time (see pictures below) and the limb that had fallen on our roof had been hanging on for dear life for a while now. 

What I found really interesting is that although on the outside we noticed one dead limb the other trunks/limbs (even the one leaning on our roof) was full of leaves and looked healthy.  I guess it goes to show you that something can look healthy on the outside but be sick, diseased, and dying on the inside.  That’s really kind of a sad, yet eye-opening thing to think about. 

Now we are wondering what we should do next.  Should we plant another tree?  If so what kind? Or should we just let the grass grow over it? 

Emma’s Family – Baby Jaundice and a Heart Condition
Jun 29 2008

It’s been a while since I’ve shared a Parent Story and now we have a great one!  I met this fabulous mom (Kerry Reynolds), who also happens to be a doula, on twitter.  I was introduced to her by none other than her mother, Susan Reynolds, of Frozen Pea Fund and Boobs on Ice fame!  Check out the post I did on the Frozen Pea Fund back in December 2007.

Stories like these are what keep me going and and make all the ups and downs of being an entrepreneur building Babble Soft all worth while!

Mother:  Kerry (SAHM/Birth Doula)
Father:   Mike (Project Manager)

Baby:      Emma
Born:      April 2008
Place:     Burke, VA 

Browser:  Mozilla Firefox v2.0.0.11
Website:  www.birthinbloom.com 

Kerry’s story 

Emma is my second child and her birth was long awaited as she was seven days overdue!  Labor lasted 20 hours and was exhausting. In the process I was up for 50 hours straight and was so ready to come home.  After Emma was born we brought her to her first doctor’s appointment only to discover she had a worrisome case of baby jaundice.  We were concerned about her health and the doctor told us to make sure we kept careful watch of her weight gain, feedings, and diapers.  We were very worried about little Emma but little did we know at that time, jaundice would be the least of our concerns. 

When Emma was one and a half weeks old she had a frightening episode which resulted in a trip to the emergency room. We discovered she has a heart condition called Wolffe Parkinson White and learned she would need to be on a heart medication until she reaches three years old, when her heart will be large enough to have a surgery to correct the defect.  After three nights in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) we arrived home frantic and sleep deprived, her medication schedule had to be so exact that we needed Baby Insights to help us keep track of every detail of her routine. In addition, her dosage was on a schedule to increase as her weight increased so it was imperative that we monitor it closely. 

Babble Soft helped us through some challenging times  

The information I got from using Baby Insights was and continues to be extremely useful!  It helped us think in a time we could barely add two plus two or string coherent sentences together.  The ability to go to one place and see all of Emma’s information was a life saver. I use Baby Insights to: 

• Keep detailed notes on how often and when she was eating, which helped us track improvements in her jaundice and report feedings to her pediatrician and cardiologist.
• Monitor her diaper changes so that we could feel comfortable she was in fact absorbing her food and that all was working well.
• Monitor her heart medication which helped us remember the exact time and dosage as that is a critical part of keeping any further episodes at bay.
• Keep track of how much breast milk I was pumping to make sure we had enough to give to baby Emma and to ensure my milk supply would stay steady and increase over time.
• Stay aware of any decreases in her appetite as this could be a sign of another episode with her heart.

—End—

If you are interested in participating in your very own user story, please activate a FREE Babble Soft Trial.  All you need is an email address!  If you find that Babble Soft applications work for you and you want to tell the world about your great experience, please email us at info at babblesoft dot com for more information.

Look Forward to a Great Fortune and a New Lease on Life!
Jun 25 2008

Photo by: Unknown – could not find link to original creator

So continuing on the fortune cookie blogging escapade, I recently got a fortune (for some reason I eat at a lot of Chinese restaurants) that said “Look forward to great fortune and a new lease on life!”  Of course I saved that one.  I still have a few others on my home office desk that are a little more realistic, but who’s to say a great fortune and a new lease on life isn’t around the corner for me! 

I can definitely say that a new lease on life is definitely in the process of happening just by the sheer fact I’m doing something different day-to-day than I have before.  Whether it’s a good lease or a bad lease depends a lot on my landlords. 😉

The Austin American Statesman (the main newspaper for Austin) mentioned my new position today in their Up The Ladder are in the business section.  They happened to use a picture of me that’s probably 7 or 8 years old which was when I weighed 10 to 12 lbs more than I do now.  (Of all my New Year’s resolution goals, I have achieved the ‘lose 5 lbs’ goal and ‘take yoga classes’ goal but I’m still working on all of the rest – Sigh). For a more recent picture of me, you can check out the page where I show the articles I’ve co-written on the topic of success and entrepreneurship or even the About page. 

If you were too lazy busy to click through the Up The Ladder link above, my new day job is running Operations for the Austin Technology Incubator (ATI).  I am acting as the COO/CFO of this small organization (5 to 6 full time employees) that is part of the University of Texas at Austin (and yes subject to the positives of great HR benefits yet at the same time monumental bureaucracy).  It’s a very unique initiative in the university because it supports 15 or so technology companies by helping them get to market, find funding, and build their professional support network. 

The companies get access to student help, consulting support from the directors, flexible space allocation, senior advisors/talent, discounts from ‘incubator friends,’ etc.  ATI is supported by rent and membership fees it collects from the companies as well as grants it receives from various government related entities that are interested in creating companies (thereby jobs) and furthering technology related initiatives in the Austin area related to Wireless, IT, Biotechnology, and Clean Energy. 

My job duties are varied but include helping make sure operations run smoothly internally, the companies are supported, and we have enough money to continue providing a great service to Austin technology companies and the Austin community in general.  I’m most excited about the potential to help entrepreneurs – it can be a lonely/tough job and having been there, done that, and doing it, I believe I can at least share my experience and contacts. 

Now working for the University does not lead to great fortune, but I’m open to it offering a ‘new (and different) lease on life!’

Calling All Breadwinning Moms!
Jun 22 2008

Nataly Kogan, founder of Work It, Mom!, just told me about a survey they are doing for working mothers who are the main breadwinners in their family (i.e., they have higher salaries than their husbands and foot the majority of the bills).  If you are a breadwinning mom or know someone who plays one on TV or real life, go check out the survey HERE for a chance to win a Sony Reader prize pack. What a cool prize!  Check out Nataly’s post called Breadwinner moms, listen up! 

Since I took time off and then started working on Babble Soft from home, I have not had the opportunity to experience being the breadwinner mom.  Prior to having kids, my husband’s and my salary was the same until I left our first company to teach, consult, and have kids.  I’ve been wondering if I’ll ever make that kind of salary again!

I have a few breadwinning mom friends and the one common theme amongst all of them is that their husband a) either stays home with the kids or b) has a very flexible job whereby he takes off if the kids are sick, takes them to doctor appointments, buys the birthday gifts, helps with meal planning, etc.

Now, that I have my first come-to-the-office everyday job since the kids were born, I’m working my way back up the salary scale.  However if I find a way to grow my company to the point that it more than sustains us, or if it gets bought by some fabulously generous company, then maybe I’ll get a taste of what it’s like to be the breadwinning mom in the house. 😉

If you are a breadwinner, regardless if you are a mom or not, please share how that affects your frame of mind or if you don’t even give it a second thought.

Blog Transition Time Period And Fortune Cookies
Jun 19 2008

Now that I took a day job, I’ve been wondering what I should post about.  Should I post about my new job or other stuff?  It also takes time to write meaningful posts and time is harder to come by now.  My new job has a lot to do with helping entrepreneurs or I should say it will once I get past the administrative day-to-day stuff of getting up to speed.

So in the meantime until I figure it all out, I’ve thought about posting about the fortune cookies I get when I go to Chinese restaurants or other restaurants who for some reason hand out fortune cookies. 

Hey, the last time I blogged about fortune cookies, I almost got mentioned in the New York Times!  It started with Comments and Fortune Cookies, went on to Those Darn Fortune Cookies, and ended up with Portuguese Fortune Cookies.

So, a couple of weeks ago I was having lunch with one of my business advisors at a Chinese restaurant in this place in Austin called Davenport village, and I got the following fortune:

“You can’t ride in all directions at one time.”

We both thought it was appropriate considering what was going on in my life.  Of course, I then thought to myself ‘well all directions isn’t the same as two three directions’ and ‘there’s no point in going no direction.’ 🙂

So here I go (the multi-tasker that I am) attempting to go one direction with a few detours here and there along the way…

Opportunity Knocked. I Opened The Door.
Jun 15 2008

You’ve probably seen those Nationwide insurance commercials that go something like “Life comes at you fast. That’s why there’s Nationwide.” And they show people whose car gets hit by a garage door, a leaf blower or some other random, humorous, or shocking thing.  Check out some of their video ads on their site.

Photo by Sandy Blanchard
Well in every entrepreneurial journey things can happen fast and often there appears a fork in the road.  I decided to pick one of the paths that will have quite an impact on my ability to spend time on Babble Soft.  The opportunity presented itself when I wasn’t looking and I had to take a cold, hard look at it.  The difference between success and failure can often come down to being open to opportunities that seem to randomly present themselves.

The decision on which path to take was not an easy one.  It was not made without much thought, stress, doubt, questions, frustration, etc., but I believe it is the right decision for me, my family, and yes even for Babble Soft.

I  worked part-time on Babble Soft for a while and started full time in late 2007.  As some of you know, I went out to raise funds in early February 2008.  By end of March and early April (because I’ve raised funds before and could see the writing on the wall) it became clear to me this was not going to happen right now for a variety of reasons including: 

1. We are too early.  In other words, we don’t yet have enough users or market traction to make investors comfortable enough to take the bet given they have started losing money on many of their Web 2.0 companies that they invested in at the concept or early beta stage.  It’s become clearer to me that we are trying to “create a market” which is often quite painful and takes a long time.  Therefore, I cannot yet prove that the market is HUGE for what we were trying to do.  By the way, what you see on the site is just a fraction of what I envision as a site for new parents.  It also did not help that we continue to struggle to find a good SEO rhythm due to a variety of reasons including the fact we are, as I mentioned, for all intents and purposes making a market.
    
2. I need a business partner.  It’s tough going it alone without someone to bounce ideas off of on a daily basis.  What I need is a strong technical co-founder and/or an expert consumer marketing partner.  I remember meeting with another Austin entrepreneur, Chris Justice of Sparksight, a while back and he shared with me a sound bite from one of his mentors: “People fund teams, not individuals.”  My husband helps me a lot, but he has a full time job and isn’t really into the business concept the same way I am.
    
3. The economy is in flux.  Investors and consumers alike are concerned about the economy, high gas prices, home foreclosures, job losses, the presidential election, impending tax increases, etc. and their behavior and outlooks have changed.  I won’t freak you out with links to all the articles about the demise of Web 2.0/social networks and people losing their money and their jobs but suffice it to say there are many.  There’s also a lot of good stuff happening but uncertainty is definitely in the air.
    
4. Other personal stuff I can’t blog about yet but which is probably the biggest driving force for choosing this path right now.

So, not being one to continue banging bang her head against a brick wall, I took a J-O-B (another form of insurance that I don’t think Nationwide or any other insurance company offers) to support my entrepreneurial addiction!

I wasn’t looking, but the opportunity arose for an interesting, most likely fun, hopefully low stress job working with people I like.   My boss (who has been a long time subscriber to my blog) is a very cool guy who I’m sure I’ll enjoy working with.  He knows I will continue working on Babble Soft and is very supportive of my doing so.  He also knows I’m a mom to two great kids and wife to a pretty good guy. 😉

I’m excited about the potential of this job combined with what’s going on in the rest of my life.  Of course, I will have to become a guru in time management to make it all work.

The entrepreneurial lifestyle is not made up of beautifully paved, straight roads.  There are often detours and roundabouts.  Right now I’m crossing my fingers that this path I’ve chosen will lead to bigger and better things for me, my family, and my company.  A friend of mine, who is a screen writer trying to make it big in Los Angeles, CA (probably similar odds to building a successful company), wrote an excellent post about his decision four years ago to do the same thing I’m doing now when he took a job.  He reflects on how its been both a good and bad decision for his goal to become a recognized, well-paid screen writer.

I’ll continue to blog and will eventually tell you more about my new ‘day job’ so Sign up for free email updates so you can see a) how I make it work or b) a train wreck in action.  If you see a train wreck about to happen, please leave comments and maybe if I read enough of them, I can find a way to build another track or jump off the train beforehand!

Aruni

Father’s Day Is Around The Corner
Jun 10 2008

Father’s Day is coming up on June 15!  Fathers are playing an expanding role in the care and nurturing of their kids especially while they are little…more than they ever have before.

I would like to wish the many great father’s out there a Happy Father’s Day a few days in advance.

For those new fathers who can’t be there when their babies are born or soon thereafter because they are in the military, we offer free subscriptions to Babble Soft applications through our partnership with eMail Our Military.  Even though we now have men and women in our military, the majority of the military is still men and often young fathers.

For all other father’s you know who want to get involved in the early care of their newborns, we are offering 15% off purchase of all subscriptions through June 15 using code FATHER#1.  There isn’t a better reason for new dads to be on the Internet or their mobile devices than helping keep up with baby’s activities and milestones. 🙂

So in addition to all of those power tools, electronics, toys, and other gadgets that are typical gifts for Father’s Day, you can also give a new or expecting dad a fun and easy way to can get involved in those early days of childhood.

And again, a hearty thanks to all of those who mentioned our partnership with eMail Our Military.

Kung Fu Panda – A Fun Kid Movie
Jun 8 2008

We took our kids to see Kung Fu Panda today and it was a lot of fun.  Our son enjoyed it more than our daughter.  Because it wasn’t Dora the Explorer or Go-Diego-Go on the big screen, she just wanted to walk around but overall she did a good job of sitting on our laps. 

We saw it over lunch at the Alamo Drafthouse.  We love the Alamo Drafthouse because you can order food and eat it while watching the movie.  It’s sort of like an indoor drive-in theatre!

It’s a cute movie about a Kung-Fu loving Panda who by a sequence of events gets the chance to be the Kung Fu champion he’s always dreamed of being.  He’s not very good so the master has to get creative on ways to teach him how to learn his innate kung fu talents naturally. 

I guess in the real world you could think of a very out of shape, clumsy guy who dreams of being a world famous boxer and then all of a sudden gets the chance to be the heavy weight champion of the world.  The coach only has a few days to get him trained and into shape to fight the biggest, meanest boxer in the world.

Both feats are unlikely to happen but when you put it in a cartoon, everything becomes much more plausible. 🙂

How To Recover From A Scathing Blog Post
Jun 5 2008

Just over a year ago, we officially launched Babble Soft’s first web and mobile application (then called Baby Manager, now called Baby Insights).  A prominent blogger, Jennifer Laycock, whose personal blog is called The Lactivist, a popular blog on breastfeeding, saw the release and created a post that made me feel shocked, anxious, depressed, angry, and misunderstood at the same time.  Jennifer also happens to be the founder, editor, and a writer for Search Engine Guide, a widely read blog on all things search. 

Fortunately, soon after discovering Jennifer’s post, I contacted Connie Reece who blogs at Every Dot Connects.  Connie helped me set up the first incarnation of this blog and gave me advice on how to get started blogging.  She is a veteran blogger and a social media guru.  I took several deep breaths, typed up something that I felt would be a good comment to Jennifer’s post and sent it to Connie for a sanity check.  She gave me a few recommendations and I posted it. 

Turns out that comment led to a few other comments and then an amicable online relationship with Jennifer when we both realized that we were supporters and donators to our local Mother’s Milk Banks.  Jennifer and I now follow each other on twitter and read each other’s blogs.  [As an aside, we offer all eligible milk bank donors a free subscription to Babble Soft applications to help them keep track of their pumped milk!]

Last week, Connie decided to create a case study on the incident and did a post called Case Study: Engagement Turns Critics into Allies.  Where she outlines what happens:

Company
Babble Soft, provider of Web and mobile software for parents of newborns

Challenge
A press release for a new product launch was picked up by an influential blogger who wrote a very negative review.

Solution
Every Dot Connects worked with Babble Soft on a strategy to engage the blogger in constructive conversation.

Success
The blogger apologized for the tone of the review and continued to interact with Babble Soft founder via her blog, email and, later, on Twitter and other social networks.

Well soon after, Mack Collier who blogs at The Viral Garden and Marketing Profs did a post about it too called Worried About Bloggers Dissing Your Company? Read This and he starts with:

“Babblesoft founder Aruni Gunasegaram found herself in a position that any company would dread. She had launched a new product that she had hoped would be well-received by her target audience, mothers who breastfeed their children. Unfortunately, the product was immediately reviewed, and shredded, by Jennifer Laycock, a very popular mommy-blogger who blogs at The Lactivist. What happened next is a great lesson for companies wanting to handle crisis-management in the blogosphere.”

Then, Jennifer decided to write her own post about it. I was just beside myself with 3 blog mentions from 3 prominent bloggers within the span of a few days!   Jennifer called her post Bloggers Need To Accept Responsibility Too and she says:

“Last year Aruni was launching her new parenting software. I happened to pick up the press release right as it went across the wires and had some pretty harsh words for the idea on my Lactivist blog.

‘Apparently, the company feels that there’s an untapped market in parents with extreme breastfeeding OCD issues, so they’ve made available some snazzy (I use the word loosely) new software that will allow these Ezzo-wannabes the absolute, total scheduling control that they long for.’

It got worse though. In fact, rereading that post I made more than a year ago I found myself chuckling and wincing at the same time. Chuckling because some lines in my post were really funny, but wincing as I realized just how biting and scathing my critique was. I’m generally a pretty easy going and nice person. I don’t tend to like to rely on snark, and yet there I was, throwing out snark like I was Perez Hilton.”

And continues:

“Ultimately, many of my readers ended up checking out the software and seeing the value in it for certain situations and while I still think the software’s a little on the anal side for the average mom, I fully recognize how helpful it could be for moms who DO need to track things.

Even more important to the story is the relationship that developed because of the way Aruni responded. Aruni became a regular reader of my blog and I became a reader of hers. We follow each other on Twitter and we’ve exchanged quite a few emails over the past year. Not long after the incident, I ended up sending her an email to share how refreshed I was at the way she handled things.

‘I want to compliment you on the way you handled your response to my blog post. I was pretty hard on you guys and you came in with class and style and really did a great job of turning the situation around to make yourself look good. I work in online reputation management and it’s rare to see a company respond so well. Just thought you should know that you gained my respect with that.’“

So needless to say, I am honored at their mentions and I have learned a lot in the past year.  I hope I have at least become a better press release writer. 😉

Personally, I think the biggest lesson that I have learned over the year is that although Jennifer’s choice of words were hard to read, her sentiments are reflective of what most new moms and parents think.  It’s not easy to introduce a new way of doing and looking at things to the truly oldest and arguably the most important profession in the world: parenthood! 

I think our applications can help a new mom having trouble with breastfeeding reach the other side of the breastfeeding bridge.  It can help her and her family understand patterns, positions, pumping schedules, etc.  But at first blush, most people don’t think of what we do that way.  The reasons why that’s the case would be a good topic for another case study! It always takes longer and costs more money to build a business than anyone ever thinks when they first start out.  Hence, my recent Fork In The Road post.

I just read a quote I can definitely relate to by James Cherkoff left in the comment section of a blog post that Fred Wilson of A VC did about sharing information on your company:

“Or in the words of Howard Aiken: “Don’t worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you’ll have to ram them down people’s throats.””

I saw it as I was finishing up this post and it made me smile  laugh out loud!

A Fork In The Road
Jun 3 2008

This is a philosophical post at best and a rambling, forky post at its not-so-best.  Everyone’s life is filled with predictable stuff and non-predictable stuff.  And it seems like the life of an entrepreneur has more unpredictability than most.

Entrepreneurs often have to create a path where none existed before so the chances of seeing beautiful and amazing things as well as the chance of staring at the face of a lioness with her jaws open wide in a snarl about to pounce on you are higher than say going to work at a “predictable” day job. 

Of course predictable day jobs are also subject to stress, crazy bosses, insane co-workers, and layoffs, but it’s not your company that you might just have to see on the wayside as road kill OR on the plus side helping tons of people, purchased by a reputable company, or with a Wall Street ticker symbol. 😉  Either way you end up with some sort of vultures around you.

Sadly, yesterday afternoon there was a car-squashed dead squirrel in the road outside our house.  Our neighbor across the street told me she saw a big vulture hanging out in one of the trees outside of her house.  I told her about the dead squirrel and it immediately made sense to both of us why it was there.  Needless to say, this morning the squirrel was no longer on the road.  Anyway, I digress…

Everyone knows intrinsically that high risk can equal high rewards but we often forget it also can mean high loss and sometimes making odd, creative decisions. 

So what’s an entrepreneur to do?

Well she doesn’t give up easily.  She looks at her situation, looks ahead at the several uncharted roads ahead of her, gets manic stresses about it for a while, and then puts her foot down on one of the paths on the fork in the road ahead and starts walking.  If she’s got control of her thoughts (which I don’t usually) she won’t look back and wonder “what if?”  She’ll move forward and hope the path will eventually rejoin, and perhaps even speed up, the wider, bigger path to achieving her vision.

I have just encountered such a fork in my entrepreneurial road. [As an aside, why do they call it a fork when the utensil we eat with has 4 prongs (sometimes 3) but when we think of a fork in the road it usually is shown with 2?!]  I’m hoping it will lead to bigger and better things for me, my family, and my company.  Time and presence-of-mind (what’s that?!) will tell.

Summer Memories
Jun 1 2008

I was just tagged by Carole at Alias Tex for a meme called Summer Memories.   I was going to work on a longer post today but a sick kid took up most of our time this evening.  She’s sleeping now so hopefully she’ll feel better in the morning. 

This is a light and fun meme that was pretty quick for me to write-up.  A few of Carole’s memories were some of my favorites too.

What are your top five summer favorites?  It can be memories, places to go, things to do, sights, smells, whatever. . . . What says “summer” to you?

Here are 5 nice things I think of when I think of summer:

• visiting my cousins in Ohio
• visiting my grandparents in Sri Lanka
• lightening bugs and the sounds of crickets and cicadas during a clear star-filled night
• swimming at a beach or a pool
• sleeping in late in the morning knowing I had no big responsibilities.  Of course sleeping in with no cares in the world disappeared after graduating from college and became the stuff of fairy tales after the kids arrived. 🙂

Now being in Texas there are also a couple of downsides to summer:

• the often unbearable heat! Hot days and hot/sticky/humid nights
• mosquitos that want to eat you (well me) alive and other weird bugs like June bugs

I’m not going to tag anyone specifically for this meme, but if you feel like playing along, leave your top summer fancies in the comments below or in a blog post of your own!

Have a great summer everyone!