From Nov. 2011:
My Dearest Dr. Laura,
It was such a pleasure meeting you on Sunday at the Work At Home Business Expo. Words cannot express my adoration and the thankfulness in my heart for your endorsement by wearing our t-shirt. It was quite funny actually to instantly become the "cool kids" on the block as all the other exhibitors wanted to know who we were and how we pulled that off.
Our mission is to offer support, resources and earning opportunities to the Work At Home Mom (WAHM). I know we need to iron out a lot of kinks but we were not looking to fully launch until 2011. We were at the Expo to gather interest. We have submitted a trademark application, filed our non-profit Articles of Incorporation, filed for our Tax ID and still need to complete our 501(c)3 application. We have finished our charter operational manuals for charter chapters and rules of conduct as well as support group by-laws. Our vision is to become a National organization with chapters across the country.
In doing our research, we looked at various consulting and support group formats. Few were specifically for the WAHM and the one company who was, was not a non-profit offering the "sweat equity" aspect. Our goal is to sustain each mother's decision to work from home. We are offering monthly support group meetings with invited speakers talking to the group on a range of topics from legal protection of your business, infrastructure, insurance, marketing, advertising, accounting, etc... Because we want to affect the "whole" woman, some meetings will be about juggling it all, fitness, healthy meals, establishing systems, maintaining the romance, scheduling, stress management, the kids, etc...
We will have monthly Support Group Meetings every 3rd Saturday from 10am to Noon at one of our mom's homes. We have lunch and child care. We will have a monthly mom's night out, play dates and date nights with the husbands. We will offer webinars, seminars, conferences, e-newsletters and tips to juggling it all. Most importantly, we will have a babysitting co-op. Our initial chapter had 11 women in it. On your weekend, you were on call for either that Saturday or Sunday; your choice. If another mom needed to meet a customer, get a report done, get a pedicure, go to the movie with her husband or simply take the ever elusive nap - if I am on call any and all moms can drop in and drop off the little ones. While it may be a sacrifice, my weekend would only come up once every 3 months. All moms are First Aid and CPR certified.
Most mommy groups have a zero solicitation policy. We WANT our members to promote their businesses within, on our websites and among each other. It is with this support that she will be able to sustain her decision to work from home.
For the SAHM who does not have the entrepreneurial spirit or does not have a vision as of yet, we want to bring in "life coaches" to assess her skill set and help guide her into a venture that would be most suitable for her. At some Support Group Meetings vendors like those at the WAHB Expo will be able to come in and have a captive audience and pitch their opportunity to our moms.
We want a page on
our website eventually that will be a "Hire My Mom" type page. You may be an executive secretary who has decided to stay home with your children but still type a million words a minute. A business will see that mom's skill set on our site and can hire her to do a temporary assignment from home; dictation, transcription, etc...
Even still for the mom who is a SAHM and wants "milk money" we will have opportunity to earn money through quarterly chapter ventures where profits are split.
Sweat Equity - because we are a non-profit, we want to ensure that we give back to the community. The mom-e who participates in a charitable cause in the community earns sweat equity. So, because she did a breast cancer walk, when she needs our support, she gets free labor or services. For example, we have a mom who is a caterer. If she has a big event, the rest of us moms will roll up our sleeves, become her prep chef, servers, etc... that is money she saves on staffing and recycles back into her family.
I know it sounds like much but it is quite functional when practiced.
I'd love to discuss this more with you or your team.
Charisse McCoy
http://mom-e-preneurs.com/
