Holding Pattern...

Patience is a virtue that I don't possess. Funny thing is, only way to get patience is to learn to WAIT. The good news is, I surpassed the 250 required votes to qualify for the Mission: Small Business grant contest. And it was no easy feat. I begged harassed reminded people daily on Facebook. With 700 FB "friends" and over 3000 "Fans" for Gumdrop Swap's Facebook Fan Page, I thought getting 250 votes would be a breeze. I'm sure Facebook's new "Pay to Promote" posts fleecing of businesses, had something to do with the majority of my fans not seeing my posts but geez.... I was practically begging once I hit 200. I can accept if I'm not chosen as a recipient but I would have been so disappointed if I didn't even qualify. Thankfully, people came through. THANK YOU if you voted and especially if you asked others to vote for me! Winning this grant will be amazing for the 12 small businesses that are selected. Now, for the hard part... waiting until September for the announcement. It's going to be a long summer.

‘Hardest Working Small Biz Mom’

Saturdays are bring-your-kid-to-work-days at Gumdrop Swap Kids Boutique. It's part of the reason I started my own business almost two years ago. Setting my own hours, not having to lie about when I have to take time off for my child's illness, finally being praised for all my hard work were all the "freedoms" I thought I'd enjoy as an entrepreneur. Sure, there's a lot of fulfillment in working for yourself. But I now realize, I work more hours than I ever did in corporate America, it's going to be a while before I can pay myself, and I took employer-paid benefits for granted. Self-employment is NOT for the weak! You have to push forward every day with blind faith and determination.

As a new (unemployed) mom in the recession of 2009, I launched what I expected to be online national kid's clothing swap club. The interest from local parents to swap in person pushed me to open a retail location. I invested my personal savings. In a year, I've built a customer family on little more than word-of-mouth referrals.

I laugh as I write this. This is an entry to Verizon’s ‘Hardest Working Small Biz Mom’ Contest and I'm supposed to answer " how do you manage running your own business and your household?" If I'm honest and brief, I'd answer "Not very well." As I type, my 3 yr old daughter, Corinne, is yelling "Mommy!" because I'm not participating in her  impromptu Knock Knock joke. I just celebrated my first anniversary of my children's boutique, so maybe I'm being a little hard on myself? I get discouraged after a long day at work and I come home to a sink full of dishes or hampers of dirty clothes. No matter how hard I work in my business, it doesn't cancel out any mom/wife responsibilities. I "manage" because my customers tell me what a blessing my business is to them. That helps.

4/23/11, 1pm-4pm Eco Kid Bash at Gumdrop Swap in Downtown Bridgeport

So excited to announce this FREE event for Fairfield County! Like our Halloween event, Boo Bash, last fall, this event is open to the public. We will feature sponsors and vendors geared towards families, children, sustainability, wellness, and recycling. Kids will make crafts from recycled material and can plant seeds in a container they decorate. The Bluefish mascot (minor league baseball) will make an appearance at 2pm. Please RSVP on Facebook! If you have a business and are interested in sponsoring, opportunities start as low as $20! As of 4/4/11 there are 2 vendor spaces left.



Event planning by Pryceless Consulting. Thank you to all of our vendors and sponsors so far!

Community Residences Inc.
Clockwork Learning Center Black Rock
Veridian Energy for Less
Foster Adoptive Mission
Greater Bridgeport Transit
Snappy Dawgs, Gourmet Street Food
Cook and Grow, A Healthy Classroom Project
Uniquely Yours Handmade Greeting Cards
Natural Awakenings Magazine (Fairfield County)
Bridgeport Theatre Co.
Center for Green Builders
Main Street Pharmacy
Toppings Cupcakes
Gofer Ice Cream
Viva Cantina Mexican Restaurant
Moe's Burger Joint
City of Bridgeport
Email gumdropswap(at)gmail.com with any questions. We hope to see you there!
| FCBuzz.org

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I am the featured Venture Mom!

As a solopreneur, I constantly need inspiration. Nothing is more inspirational than hearing the story of other people who have started their own successful business. Its even better when they are women and I can relate even more when those women are moms. As working moms and wives, there's is not much time left in our pies (think pie chart) for much else, especially running a business. So when I stumbled upon a website called Venture Mom a few months back I sighed in relief. "I'm not alone" I thought to myself. People (usually customers) ask me how I came up with the idea for Gumdrop Swap. So, after reading a few of the stories about Featured VentureMoms I decided to submit my story. I heard back from Holly (woman behind the site) and she interviewed me for a future feature. Which you can read here. Her site also allows you to submit your business in her online directory of Mom Ventures for FREE! I highly recommend that you sign-up for her newsletter. That way you'll never miss a featured VentureMom. She also shares tips and advice for those who are just thinking about starting a venture of their own. Holly can be hired for speaking engagements. She is based in my state of Connecticut but willing to travel and inspire!

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DIY Small Business Accounting Made Easy

 When you are running a small business one must wear many hats. As solopreneurs, we're always looking to save money and do things ourselves to cut cost. Many things are worth hiring a someone else to do. Lots of administrative duties can be outsourced because, lets face it, our time is often more valuable elsewhere. I highly recommend hiring a CPA to file end-of the-year taxes. Tax laws change and professionals know about all kinds of write-offs we may not know about. But how do you handle the day to day numbers? If you are a public speaker or consultant, you may not have daily revenues or expenses to track. You are doing yourself a disservice by saving receipts and check stubs all year and waiting until the end of year to tally everything. You may be in for a shock.

Since I run a retail business, Gumdrop Swap, I have to record data daily. I wasn't sure if I should invest in a program like Quickbooks. I've heard good things about it but I just didn't want to purchase it yet. I designed a spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel with my basic skills in formula making. It was beautifully colored and prettified and then... my laptop was stolen (my mistake for not backing that document up and I encourage you to back up everything! Even email it to yourself if you don't have another drive to save things on.) I knew I wouldn't be able to duplicate that Excel spreadsheet so I went on the hunt for a (free) or cheap one online. I figured if I could find a sample one I could tweak it to my needs. I stumbled upon a site called Basic Accounting Help. I read a few articles and then there was a claim to have free spreadsheet for download. I bet this is a scam or virus, I thought to myself. But I dared to download it and I was so glad I did! There was a simple but sophisticated Excel workbook that has 12 months and an end of year summary. You plug and play to tailor it to your needs. It was better than the one I had designed from scratch! So, I am sharing this with you. The woman behind the scenes is named Vickey and she'll answer any questions you have. She is passionate about helping small businesses. Soak up her advice. All she asks is that you sign up for her Small Business News (enewsletter) then she'll send you a link to download the spreadsheets. Feel free to tell her you learned about her from my blog. I told her how much I appreciated her and that I would spread the good news.

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I'm Living My Moment. How 'bout you?

As a mompreneur, I am always on the lookout for legitimate inexpensive (preferably FREE) way to promote my business. I take customer service seriously because keeping a customer is a lot cheaper that advertising to acquire a new customer. And word-of-mouth from satisfied customers referrals are more valuable than a printed ad. Don't you get the opinions of others when shopping for a product or service? I know I do. Social networking is paramount! It's time consuming but worth it.

When I stumbled upon the website Living My Moment, I thought their offer to list parent-owned businesses for FREE was truly too good to be true. But sure enough, I submitted my info and now I have a content rich feature page there with links to my site, this blog and all my social accounts. What's that I hear? My Alexa and Google rank rising? Uh huh. Mama likes! So, now it's your turn. Go to my link to see how sweet it is. Then, submit your business for FREE. Want to thank me? Just mention, you heard about Living My Moment on Gumdrop Swap's blog when you submit and I'm sure some good karma will flow to all of us. Now, that's social networking!

Gumdrop Swap Online Clothing Swap Club & Boutique

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