What It's About
A self-care box to save new moms awkward trips to Target.
Business Model
Skills Required
Complexity
Profit Potential
Words of Wisdom
According to Kate, you should make a list of the first five things you need to do and go do them—they don't have to look glamorous or polished! Wake up the next day and repeat. Eventually, after you put one foot in front of the other for long enough, you'll have your side hustle.
Fun Fact
Kate gave birth to MOMBOX right after she gave birth to her son. When her trip to Target turned up a limited selection of postpartum recovery products, she knew there was something wrong. In a time where Amazon can deliver toothbrushes and groceries to your doorstep, it was absurd that women who needed the convenience most couldn’t get any help.
Notes from Chris
Episode 915
When Kate Westervelt gave birth to her son in 2016, she thought that the most painful part of pregnancy was over. But what she didn’t realize was that the postpartum recovery period for moms can be just as difficult as well... Just 72 hours after delivering her son, Kate found herself headed to Target alongside her husband. Nobody had told her that so many things were required for her own self-care, and she only found out from the nurse that she would need things like pads, creams, bath soaks, and nursing aids. Kate had prepared the nursery but failed to prepare anything for herself. Rather than risk sending her husband into the store to figure out which nipple palm was best, Kate decided to go itself. In pain and with an ice pack stuffed in her underwear, she found herself wandering the aisles of Target. To her dismay, the store had an underwhelming selection. By the time she was done shopping, she was so exhausted and upset that she snapped at the in-store barista simply for not leaving room for milk in her coffee. That was when Kate realized that she was under far too much stress. The entire experience was too much for her, and something had to be done. In the age of convenience where Amazon can deliver anything from groceries to razors to our doorsteps, Kate knew there had to be a better way for moms to get their postpartum products. After all, they were the ones who needed the convenience the most. But her research in the online space turned up few results—and there was no serious conversation happening around the topic. This was an opportunity that she knew she could take advantage of. With that in mind, Kate decided to build MOMBOX, which would provide a range of quality care products in packages. To determine which products to include in each box, Kate first relied on her personal experience during her postpartum recovery. But as she expanded, she started testing the products herself. One memory she will never forget is wearing different maternity pads around her house for an entire year just so that she could figure out which one was the most durable. She also did more homework in the form of customer surveys and market research. This led to several findings, one of which was that over one-third of women giving birth in America will have a cesarean section, and these mothers would have very different needs from those who had just given birth to their child vaginally. This guided her in deciding the type of products that she should offer. The first sale that Kate made came through a social media post. Her friends who noticed her new business idea supported her, and eventually, news of MOMBOX spread through word of mouth. This customer acquisition strategy was cheap, and Kate could just focus on building a product so good that women would talk about on their own. It also aligned with something she found in her research: women are innately social and 60% of them would look around social media before making a purchase decision around motherhood. With a strategy that focused on keeping costs low, Kate managed to grow MOMBOX into a profitable business. Fast forward to today, and MOMBOX now generates over $5,000 a month in profit. She typically sells 100 - 200 MOMBOXs each month, with 60 - 70% of boxes being purchased as gifts. She’s now exploring paid advertising as a customer acquisition channel, and working on improving her inventory management. To that end, Kate is in the midst of hiring a fulfillment manager to handle her shipping. The ability to get additional help has given her the flexibility and freedom to spend her time as she pleases, which is what she calls the best part of growing MOMBOX.MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
- MOMBOX: Learn more about this sanity saving side hustle over on Kate's website!
SEE ALSO:
- Lawyer Creates Online Course for Mothers Returning to Work: For her first side hustle, a Washington, DC attorney creates an online course for new mothers returning to the world of work—and then finds a way to get employers to pay for it
- New Mom Uses Pinterest to Launch Parenting Blog: With a goal of avoiding “fluffy” content, a new mom launches a parenting blog that provides lots of detailed, practical info. In one recent month, she earned more than $1,500 from advertising and referral fees
- Canadian Moms Invent Baby Monitors for Active Toddlers: This Canadian mom woke up to find her son cuddling a sprinkler she’d left on the porch the night before. The realization her son had left the house in the middle of the night prompted her and a friend to create the next stage of baby monitors
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Resources
CREATE YOUR ONLINE STORE
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