Transmenu powered by JoomlArt.com - Mambo Joomla Professional Templates Club

Kimberly first saw the product that launched her company at a family holiday gathering. Her sister-in-law, Lisa Harrington, was then a pediatric nurse. She designed and sold glass-beaded necklaces for employee ID badges to her coworkers. Orders were jotted down in a little green notebook and Lisa’s kids helped with production, busily beading with their mom after school.

A financial services executive at the time, Kimberly eagerly looked through the notebook and did some quick math. "She had sold to over 10 percent of her co-workers without any marketing whatsoever," Kimberly remembers.

Admitting to being high on adrenaline and Christmas cookies, Kimberly scribbled a business plan on a holiday-card envelope and convinced

Lisa that her idea had true potential. They went to work, and today, BooJee Beads has sales projected at $2 million for 2007.

By the third year, however, the future of the business had become less certain. "We had spent our savings, maxed out the credit card and cleaned out the First National Bank of Dad," she recounts with honesty. Hoping for some financial support, she applied to the Make Mine a $Million Business program and won. Becoming an award recipient earned BooJee Beads a business line of credit from American Express and a $45,000 loan from Count Me In. "It was a godsend for the company," says Kimberly.

Equally valuable was the safety net of support the program provided for Kimberly. "I hit a stretch last winter where I just couldn’t pump myself up anymore," she recalls. "My self pep-talk rallies were wearing off too quickly, and I needed to find a way to keep my eye on the goal instead of my struggles."

Reaching out to her fellow winners, Kimberly was astounded at the bevy of e-mail and phone calls with everyone sharing their support, compassion and the strategies that had worked for them. "To receive emotional support is great—to have women who understand your struggles and share practical advice is priceless," Kimberly says.

BooJee Beads is a company that many working moms would clamor to work for. Having three kids ages 5, 6 and 7 (no, it’s not a typo), Kimberly fully understands the issues that her employees, many of whom are working mothers themselves, confront when trying to balance all the hybrid facets of their lives. In an arrangement she calls Business.Mom, Kimberly allows her team members to work out of their own homes. "I don’t need to see someone’s head in a cubicle to know they are doing their job. Our team knows what their responsibilities are; we have clear systems to measure results and the work gets done. And we are happier because of it," Kimberly says. Now who wouldn’t want a boss like that?

Kimberly continues to impress with the creation of work projects to help women in the disadvantaged areas of South Africa, Haiti and Guatemala learn business skills that will give them the financial ability to care for their children. It began on a trip to South Africa where, after witnessing challenging realities, she created a social mission called A Mother’s Promise. I saw mothers that couldn’t guarantee their kids food and it is unfathomable how that must feel," Kimberly says. "We try as much as we can to direct manufacturing to areas that need it."

Kimberly’s message to women about to embark on an entrepreneurial journey is that they take time out for themselves. "There is a reason they tell you to put the oxygen mask on you first in an airplane," she jokes. "Once I finally stopped living my life at warp speed and started to really live consciously, positive things started happening to me in every area of my life." o

Take a look at BooJee Beads