The United States government is giving every momtrepreneur a one-time only no-questions-asked $10,000 tax credit for being you. If you started your business after 2006, or plan to start one in the current tax year, you qualify to receive nearly eleven-thousand bucks for creating a new small business that will contribute to rescuing our weak, limping dog of an economy.
Better yet: all momtrepreneurs will receive a special one-year supply of Obama Administration Diapers (“Change starts at home!”), free membership to the new national children’s hygiene service (The Audacity of Soap), and will be shipped a 1” x 1” piece of Hillary Clinton’s Shattered Glass Ceiling.
Have you been to Spanx’s website? I was going to ask Sara Blakely if I could interview her about her story, but then I visited the About Us page on her site. And voila! There’s an interactive timeline of how Spanx came to be…Spanx.
Don’t believe everything you read–her timeline starts in 1998 with her cutting the feet of her stockings out and that very same year, she was reportedly granted a patent for Footless Body-Shaping Pantyhose. Patents take more than three days to get, let alone apply for…but generally-speaking, it’s a neat story and redirected my thanking-the-Spanx-Gods efforts.
So many momtrepreneurs seem to live in Baltimore! Or at least, their local news station is taking notice of them (big kudos to WBAL TV!).
Staci Berner of Baltimore, MD, had her very own lightbulb moment and turned it into a company called Shapeez and a product called The Unbelievabra. This self-taught seamstress eradicates back bulges and muffin tops, discusses time management with company and kids, and proves true that, in her words, “If it’s something that you believe in, it’s not gonna fail.”
There are only 375 qualified interpreters in the UK for over 70,000 users of British sign language. To whom did it occur to do something about the lack of education for the deaf there? Who set up a sign language school and raised lots of money for it all? A mom.
Debbie Reynolds, a single mother of two, is hard of hearing. As YouTube explains, “In 2003 she was in debt, had no qualifications and was struggling to make ends meet. In spite of her problems, she enrolled as a volunteer for a local deaf charity and in April 2006, set up the School of Sign Language which now employs a staff of 28 deaf and hearing workers and volunteers.” She discusses putting together a business plan, getting grants, and fortunately for us Anglophiles, has the best accent ever.
Myra Roldan has offered up the story of her experience on Oprah in the latest edition of Mommy Millionaire Magazine. It’s an interesting read and may have walking, not running, to get to Harpo Studios.
“After appearing on Oprah, I became very depressed and almost walked away from my business. I was receiving nasty phone calls from people who were not chosen as finalists. Cease and desist letters came in from two individuals…”
