I need to start this blog entry with a bit of a disclaimer. Please don’t think that I sit around and watch daytime talk shows all day. I just watch them *most* of the day, and I have never, ever eaten a bon-bon while doing so. (End of disclaimer).
I actually have a valid reason for vegging in front of the TV this afternoon…blog research, of course! Both Oprah and The View featured “millionaire moms” and I couldn’t wait to share two inspiring stories with you.
The first multi-millionaire that was featured on The View this morning was a single mom who was broke and desperate. She was ringing out her mop one afternoon and was annoyed because her hands kept getting wet and filthy. She invested a mere $250 dollars and created her own self-ringing “Miracle Mop” prototype. She sold the mops at trade shows and eventually was featured on QVC where she sold 20 thousand mops in 20 minutes. Since creating the Miracle Mop, she has invented numerous other “problem solving products” and has sold over 20 billion of them on the Home Shopping Network.
Oprah interviewed another millionaire mom who invented “Jibbitz”. If you are a mother of a school-aged child or teenager, I am sure you are familiar with Croc shoes. (They are the lightweight, rubbery clogs with all of the little air holes). This stay-at-home mom of three young girls was working on a craft activity when one of her girls stuck a silk flower in the hole of her Croc shoe. They thought it was cute, so they started making more Croc decorations out of buttons, rhinestones and other items. When all was said and done, this mother-daughter craft project turned into a business worth millions.
How many times have you had a brilliant idea but not followed through with it? Have you ever used a product and thought, “if only it looked like this, or worked like this…”. We all have, haven’t we?
We all need to remember the stories of these “millionaire moms” the next time we think of an invention or business idea and decide to shrug it off as impossible. These moms were not wealthy and they had absolutely no clue what they were getting into when they started their money-making adventures. They were simply determined, enthusiastic…and often simply desperate to make it work.
They don’t call moms “domestic engineers” for nothing!
Did you happen to see the shows today? What are your thoughts? Post them in the comments section.
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