Why would a mom start a family and a business almost simultaneously? There is a saying…Necessity is the mother of all inventions. The reality is that moms and dads are often faced with everyday parenting challenges that bring ideas to their minds on how to make it or do it better, easier, less expensively. Here’s how an idea turned into a series of products which turned into a family business.

My guest on this episode of the Business Edge Andrea Thomas, Owner and Creator of the ScratchMeNot. The parenting challenge that started her entrepreneurial journey was designing a product to prevent her daughter from damaging her skin by constantly scratching her eczema. Andrea will share how she is making her product visible to the masses as well how she navigates these two very different world…mom to 4 kids and business owner growing a company.

Listen to this Podcast and Learn
* Why you must be strategic when selecting the right product or service to bring to the marketplace.
* How she’s making her children part of her business educating them in business 101 so they won’t feel left out
* The identity crisis and other challenges she tackled transitioning from a corporate career to being an entrepreneur
* Her preparation for the growth of ScrathMeNot: hiring the right people, creating a * culture, building a management team
* How to deal with your spouse becoming part of “your” business: The solution regularly negotiate roles and responsibilities

The key take away: Before taking the leap, know what you’re getting into. Talk with other entrepreneurs and ask lots of questions. Get past surface answers. Really find out what the challenges are, how they dealt with them, their lessons learned. Get a variety of opinions and insights. Take it all in and then decide if it’s right for you. She realized that she should have done more research especially when expanding her product line and finding suppliers

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