Word: antonetti
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Something was wrong with Amilya Antonetti's son David. She knew it shortly after arriving home from the hospital six years ago. "He never turned that pinkish color babies turn," she says. "He looked gray, and he would cry until he passed out." At first doctors thought David was colicky and that his crying spells would end. They didn't, and his doctors diagnosed asthma and severe allergies, but they still couldn't explain what was sending David to the emergency room. "We were in and out of the hospital, and we were losing him," says his 32-year...
...that's how SoapWorks, a $2 million company that produces nontoxic, soap-based cleaning products, was born. Today, four years after starting the company in her garage, Antonetti employs 52 people, most of whom are themselves moms of children with severe allergies or other ailments...
Mompreneurs are often professionals who decided to stay at home to spend more time with their children. Those who are successful do what Antonetti did. They research whether a similar product or service exists; then they shop the idea around to other moms and stores to see if it's something others would purchase...
That approach certainly helped Antonetti. Before launching SoapWorks, Antonetti put an advertisement in her local penny paper that read, "Calling All Moms: Mom looking to start a company, and I need your help. If you could create your perfect cleaning solution and body-care products, what would it look like? Providing free lunch, guaranteed entertainment. Bring your kids...
More than 220 mothers turned out. Antonetti had prepared lunch for 30. "The response I got from other mothers was amazing," she says. It was in response to the meeting that Antonetti convinced her lawyer husband Dennis Karp that they should sell their four-bedroom house and her Mercedes and move to a smaller house down the hill so that they would have enough money to start a manufacturing business. "The hardest thing for most moms is the fear factor of starting their own business," she says. "Once they get over that, it's easy." Above all, advises Antonetti, "trust...