Your Link To All Businesses Mom-Owned

With the rise in mom-owned businesses comes another trend, a rise in the number of people that go out of their way to buy their products. For that reason there has been a lot of attention on ways to bring these customers to these mompreneurs.

Instead of going out and starting a business, Toni Bloomfield went out and started a directory instead. Her directory, MarketMommies, lists over a thousand mom-owned businesses in a variety of categories.

I recently spoke with Toni about her directory and how mompreneurs can become listed.

Tell us a little about MarketMommies.

Marketmommies.com is an online business directory of Mom Owned Businesses. Since going live in November of 2009, over 1,300 Mom Owned Businesses have listed their business. The goal of the website is connect shoppers with Mom Owned Businesses who can provide the products and services they need while support Mom Business Owners.

What inspired it?

My search for window treatments inspired me to start Marketmommies.com. I couldn’t find what I was looking for until a friend of a friend recommended a mom who sewed curtains during naptime. Her name was Lindsay and she made the most beautiful custom window treatments for my dining and living rooms. When talking to her about her business, she told me how difficult is was for her to market her business. My background is in marketing and I knew I could help her… but what about all the moms out there who were having the same problem. I batted the idea around in my head and eventually came up with the idea of a yellow pages of Mom Owned Businesses. Marketmommies was born!

When did you launch?

Marketmommies went live in November of 2009 – but the idea was born about a year before. I was pregnant with my third child. It was a rough pregnancy and I put off starting the website until after my daughter was born. It took me a couple of months to find a designer I wanted to work with.

Approximately how many mom-owned businesses would you say are listed in your directory?

As of today (Sept 8, 2010) we are coming up on 1,400 Mom Owned Businesses in our business directory and we are adding more every day.

What does a mompreneur need to do to get listed? Costs?

Mompreneurs just need to create an account to list their business. Its free to any mom with a business. It was important to me that it be free – so any mom can take advantage of the website.

What goals do you hope to accomplish with MarketMommies over the next year or so?

Really, my goal is to get the word out about shopping and supporting Mom Owned Businesses. While the first year I really concentrated on getting Mom Businesses to join the directory – this next year I will really focus my efforts on the shopping aspect of the site. Making Marketmommies the first place people go to shop for unique, one of kind items made by moms.

What are some lessons your business has taught you?

Well, the big one is that when starting a business you truely have to love what you are doing. Its a lot of hours – shouting from rooftops, twitter, facebook – anywhere to let people know you are there and open for business.

Do you have any advice that you’d like to offer mompreneurs that are just getting started?

Don’t spend a ton of money on services to help you do PR and social media. You can teach yourself to do many of the things that it takes to get the word out about your business. It does take time. But its well worth it.

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