Smock It To Me, Success Story

Smock It To Me is a children’s clothing company offering great deals on name-brand smocked, appliqued, and monogrammable apparel. I personally love their clothes and infamous Facebook auctions.

Here is owner Kayla’s Work at Home Success Story, sure to inspire the masses!

We became parents when our first daughter was born March 31, 2010. We are excited to be expecting another Smockling–a boy– due March 21, 2012.

I have had a really great job for the last ten years tutoring for one family. They were very open and supportive of me bringing Brynlee with me. As Brynlee was getting older though, it was harder and harder to take her and even harder for me to leave for a few hours every day. We began looking into options that would help decrease my hours away from home.

Getting invloved in this business was really such a fluke thing. We were having a hard time finding dresses for Brynlee in area stores and when we could find them the prices were ridiculously high. We ordered from one facebook company and had a really bad customer service experience. Sitting at lunch one day with my mom who taught school for 36 years and was about to retire I said, “We could do this”. We were extremely naive about the process, but not afraid of hard work. We have put in lots of 14-18 hour days (but all from home:)

I wish we could take credit for our success. We are a family of faith and there is no other way to explain how this has happened so quickly other than that God has provided for us beyond anything we ever hoped or imagined. We had no plans of me leaving my job. Mostly because we did not think this would be anything other than a part-time job.

When we found out we were expecting number 2, it really became the desire of my heart to be able to be at home full-time. Never in a million years did I imagine it would happen this quickly. It’s beans and rice and rice and beans, but every bill is paid and it is so nice to be at home.
The three keys that we feel like have made us successful as a company are…

1. We are very upfront and honest. We won’t try to sell a 2t for your 14m old knowing it won’t fit. We try to get to know the moms who are buying from us. We know when they are expecting new babies or buying for a special birthday. We really do look at every single picture that moms send us of their little ones.

2. We price fairly. We price our outfits low the first time we list them. Our profit margin per outfit is extremely low. Our hope is that when you get treated like family, you will want to buy from us again and again and tell other moms. We have to sell a lot more to make as much as a retail store would make, but we know we are giving moms a truly good deal and treating them as we would want to be treated.

3. We ship quickly. It sounds like such a simple thing, but customers can’t believe we really do stay up until 1 or 2 in the morning to make sure their package is in the mail the day after they pay. We really appreciate that our customers are willing to buy from us online without seeing the outfit in person and having to wait for it to arrive in the mail. The least we can do is get it to them quickly.

I love working from home and following our own family’s schedule. Here’s an example of our Daily Routine:

9:00 Wake up (did I mention we wrap until 1 or 2 in the morning)
9:10 Bible study and breakfast
10:00 Walk upstairs to the office
10:00-noon Morning routine (emails, taxes, facebook questions, paperwork, inventory) All of the not-so-glamorous parts of the job.
Noon: Family lunch
1:00-3:00 We work on ongoing work projects
3:00 Brynlee naps and we work like fierce worker bees
6:00 Family Dinner
7:00 We get ready for the sale on Wednesday or Sunday nights/other nights we try to do something fun as a family
8:00 Sale time
10:00 We start shipping
1:00 Lights out

One of the neat dynamics that has come from this is that my husband, Matt, is a graphic designer who has had his own design company and was already working from home. As Smock It To Me has grown, we have really needed a professional graphic designer and he has joined my mom and I in all of the daily activities.

Our hope is that we do one day do grow into a “family business” full-time for both of us.

View their website:

www.smockittomeonline.com

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Megan’s Story: Stay at Home Mom and Piano Teacher

Being a SAHM was something that I always wanted to be. However, when you find out you’re pregnant a few years earlier than expected, things get in the way of that. During my entire pregnancy with my son (now age three,) I was devastated at the fact that I would have to leave him everyday for work. I had everything ready to go back to work and send A to daycare, but God had a different plan for me.

About one week before returning to work, my son had to stay in the hospital. He had woken up the night before and was gasping for air. They kept him overnight in the hospital to do a routine apnea test and check for reflux. The next day we were told that he was a high SIDS risk and would have to wear an apnea monitor 24/7 for the next 6 months. I was devastated and terrified.

That night I sat down and thought everything through. There was NO WAY I was going to be able to head back to work. While visiting neighbors that weekend a friend asked me to teach her daughter how to play the piano. I have a degree in music, and why that never had crossed my mind before, I’ll never know.

Right then I knew how I was going to be able to stay at home with my son. I began putting my name in the paper, contacting local schools, and bothering everyone I knew to get my name out there. It wasn’t easy, and in the beginning finances were tight. But I knew that I wanted to do this, and I didn’t care how much I had to cut out every month.

I cut coupons, cut my cell phone plan, and started cooking every single meal at home. Now, three years later, I have a cell phone, we eat out every once in a while, and I still coupon (because who doesn’t love to save money!) And as luck would have it, my piano lessons have become so successful that I am completely full with a waiting list of over 10 people. It’s not always easy to stay at home, the pay is awful, and some days are really rough–but the benefits are priceless!

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Julie’s Story: Stay at Home Mom and Photographer

My name is Julie. I am a proud mama of a 25 month old, and am expecting my second child this month. Prior to having children, I was an elementary school teacher. The moment I held my new baby girl, I knew I would not be returning to the classroom for a few years. My husband and I looked at our finances and decided that if we committed ourselves to a strict budget I would be able to stay home with our little girl.

During the first year of my daughter’s life, I discovered my passion for photographing little ones. I had always considered photography a hobby of mine. I enjoyed learning about photoshop/editing tools and camera and lens options. I had attended photography workshops, as a teacher, and have always documented moments in our lives with a camera. But once we had a child, my hobby became a passion. I was obsessed with photographing her, documenting each milestone in her life. I was constantly putting a lens in front of her.

As my daughter was nearing her first birthday, I found myself “stretching” the budget each month. I often wished for just a little extra money. This is when I decided to share my talent and passion with others, and began working from home as a part-time photographer. My expectations for my photography business has always been to provide “grocery money” and to entertain this talent of mine.

Keeping my business small allows it to be manageable from home. I am able to make my own schedule. For example, I can be working when my daughter is sleeping. I often schedule shoots when my husband is home to watch our daughter. Then I edit when “mommyhood” allows. The key to being successful for me is to provide the same quality photographs for others that I want for my family, without sacrificing quality time with my loved ones. I feel truly blessed to have the oppurtunity to provide extra money for my family, while raising my children in our home.

You can view Julie’s work:

https://sites.google.com/site/limabeanphotography/

Or contact her:

limabeanphotography@gmail.com

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