Mom-Owned Business of the Month - May
Tell us a little about Lauren's Hope.
My name is Denise Gaskill and I am co-founder of Lauren’s Hope Medical ID Bracelets. It all started in 2001 when I was a stay at home mom who had a kitchen table business with a friend, LeAnn Carlson. We would travel around and exhibit at local craft shows selling personalized kids gifts and mother’s bracelets. My babysitter at the time was Lauren Philips, a 13 year old girl with diabetes. Lauren's mother knew of my craft business and asked if LeAnn and I could come up with a medical ID bracelet that was cool enough for a teenage girl to wear.
You see, even though Lauren had experienced seizures she was still unwilling to wear a medical alert that would inform others of her condition when she was away from friends or family. Teenagers are touchy. They want to fit in NOT stand out and Lauren felt that the ID you normally see was too obvious and made her look weird to her friends.
LeAnn and I put our heads together and tried to come up with a design that teenagers or anyone, for that matter, would be willing to wear. It occurred to me that I didn't want to wear the same bracelet everyday so why would anyone else? With that in mind we developed several styles of bracelets that could be inter-changed with one medical alert tag that was engraved with Lauren's personal medical information. This meant she could pick a bracelet that matched her outfit on any given day and wear it. Voila! Safety with style! Lauren was protected because she was wearing the alert on her arm where it could be seen by medical personnel in an emergency but her privacy was protected because the tag rests on the underside of her wrist and didn't stand out.
Long story short, we put the kid’s gifts business on hold, built the web site www.LaurensHope.com , purchased a 800 number (1-800-360-8680), marketed to diabetes educators and doctors offices and started writing press releases to magazines. We were lucky enough to have two short stories run about our product within the next few months. We were off to the races. Our company has been featured in numerous magazines including PEOPLE, InStyle, Woman's Day, Family Circle, The Wall Street Journal, Health, The Los Angeles Times, and The Rosie O’Donnell Show. Since then, we've hired employees and moved out of the kitchen into office space.
What made you start your own business?
How did you come up with your business name?
When we originally started our craft business, it was just so we could have a little extra spending cash. LeAnn and I were used to working before we had kids so the extra cash was nice for spending money. We had no idea there was such a void in the market for fashionable medical jewelry. We just thought we were helping out a friend in need. We really just fell into it by luck. We had no idea it would grow into the business it is today!
What do you enjoy most about having your own business?
The original name for our business was Lauren’s Hope for a Cure. We named the business after Lauren because she is our inspiration! We donate to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation in the hopes that some day there will be a cure for diabetes.
How do you balance family and your business?
I love the freedom I have as a business owner. I never want to miss my kids’ activities. To me, family comes 1st above all! I am fortunate to have a business partner with the same beliefs.
I also really enjoy our customers! We have the nicest customers! They are extremely appreciative of the service we provide. Many of them have refused to wear a medical ID in the past because the traditional ones are ugly and draw attention to their illness. We have files and files of nice letters and emails from customers. Sometimes I like to sit down and read them. It really makes me happy.
If you could offer one piece of advice to those new in the business what would it be?
I would say to take advantage of publicity. It is free and can really boost your business. Send press releases about your product or business to magazines that would be interested in your story. Many women’s magazines like to write stories about companies started by women. If your product is helpful in a certain market look for a magazine that fits in with what you are selling. We used to go to the book store and look at the inside cover of magazines to see who the appropriate editor would be to send a press release. There are also sites like www.mediamap.com where you can join their service and have access to all of the editors and producers for every magazine and television show. This is a neat service but it is very expensive. It might be more cost effective to just hire a PR firm.
If you knew then what you know today would you do anything different?
It has been a big adjustment for me! When we first started, LeAnn and I would set up the business in one of our basements for a month. Who ever had the business in their basement would work and the other took the month off. (Unless we were crazy busy and the other would come over and help out). At the end of the month, we would load up our minivans and move everything over to the other person’s house. It was wonderful because when I was working I was still at home and I could run up stairs and put in a load of laundry, or fix the kids lunch, etc. Now the kids are all in high school and we are in an office building. We have hired wonderful employees so it makes it easy if we need to leave for the kids activities.
Knowing what I know today I probably wouldn’t change too much. Of course we made mistakes along the way but I believe that you learn from your mistakes and you are a better business person because of it.
