Here in Canada, we have the luxury have being able to take a full year (yes, that’s right - 12 whole months, ladies) for maternity leave while on government sponsored employment insurance benefits. Some employers also will “top up” our maternity leave so that some fortunate women will have all or close to all of their pay while looking after their babies.
However, with both of my children I went to back “early”. With my first daughter, I went back to work at eight months because my husband and I were incredibly strapped for money due to our struggling small business. With the second, I returned back so that my husband could have some time looking after our daughter and also because I had only been at my new job 8 months when my second child was born and I was eager to return back to work.
Even so, I was able to breastfeed my oldest daughter until she was one year old and my younger daughter until she was 15 months old. I did this with the help of a breast pump and often thought how great it would have been to have a way to hold the shields in place! Well, it seems that someone has invented something that has solved that!
August is National Breastfeeding Awareness Month and today I wanted to introduce Gretchen Penny, a mom who founded the Easy Expression Hands-Free Pumping Bra - a bra that holds the breast pump’s shields in place so a woman can pump and still maintain use of her hands.
Gretchen Penny, founder of Easy Expressions
Go Go Mama Go: Tell us the story of your business and what inspired you to start it.
Gretchen Penny: I know it would sound great to say that pumping moms everywhere were my inspiration and, after I got started with my business and heard how much women were helped by my product, they truly were an inspiration; but the first and main inspiration for me to start my business has always been my husband. When I had my first son, Leo, I really enjoyed breastfeeding him and wanted to continue to do it after I returned to work. At the time, I worked at the corporate headquarters for American Airlines and several pumping moms shared the pumping room, so we got to know each other. I made a couple of hands-free garments for myself and then other women at my office found out about them and I started making similar garments for them. That’s when my husband suggested that I should get a patent and try to sell them. I thought it was a long-shot, but he encouraged me.
So, on his urging, I applied for a patent. However, the whole patent process took much longer and was much more expensive than I expected. After going through more than $10,000 during the patent process, I was feeling a lot of guilt and anxiety (Ack! I’m risking all our savings – like our kids’ college money – and I might fail!) and I wanted to quit. My husband encouraged me to continue and to see it through to the end.
GGMG: How long did it take to get your business off the ground?
GP: After I got the patent, I thought companies would beat a path to my door to buy the patent or license it from me. Boy, was I WRONG! In fact, I couldn’t find any company that was interested – not a bra company, not a breast pump company, no one — nothing! That’s when my husband encouraged me to find a manufacturer and have some of the bras made so that I could sell them myself. Of course, that took more money. When people ask how we capitalized our business in the beginning, I often borrow a line a heard from another entrepreneur and say “Our business was financed by Uncle Visa!” And it was. We started building up some impressive credit card debt, but my husband never got worried. He said we would make ends meet somehow. So, I started my business and had about 800 “sample” bras made.
GGMG: Your husband sounds amazing! Tell us more about how your husband supported you through your venture.
GP: Sales were very slow in the beginning, because I was still working part-time at my “real job” and, of course, I now had two small children at home. Then, a couple of years later, when I found myself at another company and very unhappy with my work situation, it was my husband who told me to leave my job and try to give my bra business a real, full-time effort. He helped me convert our guest bedroom into an office and, when things were tough and he found me looking for a “real job” on the internet, he told me to just be patient and stick with my business. When I left my job to start this business, I asked him how long we could live comfortably without my paycheck. He said probably about three months. Thirty months later, I wrote myself my first paycheck from my business. So, it took me 10 times longer than I expected and money was VERY TIGHT, but he never complained or pressured me. And, when I would wake up in the middle of the night with anxiety attacks about money or manufacturing problems or any sort of business blunder (and I had my share), he was the one who would calm me down.
So, that is a long explanation, all to say – I never could have done this without the full support of my best friend, my husband. He is the best cheerleader in the world. Every entrepreneur needs a cheerleader, because the work load and the stress can make you lose sight of the goal at the end, and your cheerleader will be the one who keeps the megaphone to your ear, reminding you why you’re doing this.
GGMG: Sounds like you went through some tough times. What keeps you motivated?
GP: My customers motivate me. Most of my business is wholesale, selling my products to maternity stores and hospitals, so I don’t have a lot of contact with the end-user anymore. But the wholesale customers often pass on comments they hear from moms who use my products. They remind me that my company makes a product that helps a lot of women at a time in their lives when they really need some help. When one of my wholesale customers calls and says that my products are flying off their shelves (when few other things are, these days), and that they are grateful to have products like mine in their stores, I can’t help but want to meet their every need – as fast as I can! A lot of my customers are also small business owners and most of them are women, so I feel a great sense of camaraderie with them. They motivate me every day!
GGMG: Talking with mompreneurs, it seems that we have some unique challenges trying to balance family life and entrepreneurship. How do you do it?
GP: Not very well! Like any working mother, I have to try hard to balance my work life and my home life. For example, as I answer these questions, it is a Sunday afternoon and I have a rare moment at home by myself, so I am taking some time from my long list of things to do around the house and using my time to get a few things done that were calling to me from the big bag I use to carry work back and forth between home and office. Up until about 2 years ago, I worked from home. It was great to work from home, especially when my boys were small, but I have to say that having my office a couple of blocks from my house has really helped me separate my work life from my family life and has helped me create a better balance. Of course, with a laptop and a Blackberry, I am never too far from work, even at home or on vacation, but knowing that there are other people with keys to the office who can keep things running when I am gone helps me detach a little better now.
GGMG: Many moms go into business because it helps hem balance home and work life, and be a more involved parent. Did you find that as well?
GP: I love the flexibility my business gives me. While I don’t work from home exclusively anymore, I do have control over my schedule most of the time. Since I have a wholesale/manufacturing business, and not a retail store, I don’t have to have my business open every day or keep set hours. Having that flexibility gives me the time and opportunity to be a more involved mom. In fact, I think most of the parents at my kids’ school think that I am a stay-at-home-mom. I am able to volunteer for field trips and other activities at their school – things that a traditional job might not accommodate. I LOVE THAT PART OF MY JOB!
GGMG: You have so much passion for your business. What do you love most about what you do?
GP: I feel a strong sense of camaraderie with other female entrepreneurs. I am lucky that in the juvenile products industry (which includes breastfeeding and maternity products), there are a lot of women-owned businesses. Because of the nature of my products and the industry in which I work, I have made some GREAT FRIENDS through my business. Some of my long-time customers – the ones who carried my products from the very start and, thus, carried my business to success – have become some of my best friends. I love going to breastfeeding conferences or trade shows and seeing them. It has been great watching my friends’ businesses grow, too. We have great stories to tell and have formed a sort of “sisterhood.”
GGMG: Many of my blog readers are starting their own business. What’s the most important piece of advice you could give them?
GP: Wow! That’s a tough question. I would say that confidence is key. Try to look for opportunities to pat yourself on the back and be your own cheerleader– even if you just capture the small victories and celebrate them. Also, build a good network of entrepreneurs who will share information. Join professional groups and attend their meetings. Network every chance you get. Every time you meet with someone to get help for one area of your business, ask that person a couple of questions you might not have planned, even if they have nothing to do with that person’s expertise. Try to get the confidence to ask at least one off-the-wall question of everyone you meet.
GGMG: I so agree that networking is critical in the success of a business, as well as helping an entrepreneur’s confidence.
GP: Entrepreneurs tend to have a broad knowledge base and you never know where you are going to get that one valuable piece of information, that one great piece of advice or that one golden nugget of knowledge. Ask the website designer if she knows a good accountant. Ask the photographer if he knows someone who knows how to process international shipments. Ask the accountant if she knows a local company that makes custom packaging. Just keep asking…eventually someone will point you in the right direction.
You can find more about Gretchen Penny and the Easy Expression Hands-Free Pumping bra by visiting her web site: http://www.easyexpressionproducts.com/. She is also available on Twitter: @gretchenpenny.
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what an inspirational story – my husband is super supportive too -it helps a lot. way to go gretchen!
My husband is awesome too. I am always amazed at how lucky I am.
You ‘ve got a great product that helped me through two back-to-back kids. And, you are an inspiration for my new business. –Frances Moore-Jones, founder of Translated Phrase communication flash cards, for housekeeping, child care, elder care and lawn care.
Great story, Gretchen, and as you know, I was with you advertising-wise from the beginning. You thought big and it paid off. Your MBA from Rice University surely helped you to think that way. Keep up the good work and keep networking. It definitely pays off.
Keep it up Sis.! I, along with many, never doubted you would succeed. Now, let me see if I can find Jay Leno’s email address
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