It's Official! We're Moving!

I have just imported our blog posts to our website. We're all inviting you to visit our new HQ. We hope you like it - it's a labor of love. :)

A Thank You Note From HQ

Dear Mommies,

This month, Mommy HQ just turned one. We're happy we made it this far - considering neither Mommy Issa nor I have any experience in business or marketing. We're far from being called a "success", but we're still here and we're still kicking. (Oh yeah!)

We're still here because of you, mommies. Your continued support and kind words give us the fuel we need to keep on moving towards our goal. For that, we will always be grateful.

With this in mind, we have decided to have our 1st ever annual awards. For this year, we aim to recognise the top 5 loyal customers AND our top nappy tester. As our way of saying thanks, we will be sending out a small token of appreciation to the chosen moms. :)

We wish we could send out more tokens, but budget is limited. Hopefully, next year, we can come up with more categories. (I'm excited already!).

Once again, thank you for trust. <3

Love,
Mommy HQ

P.S. If you have comments or suggestions on how we could serve you better, please feel free to email us at mommyhq.ph@gmail.com. Looking forward to your feedback!

Our SweeTEEs Story

Hey mommies!

As of writing, we have already launched our own line of infant statement tees called SweeTEEs. Mommy Issa and I are both excited to see how you CD-ing moms (and dads, of courcse) would accept our latest offering. I, for one, am so excited that I felt compelled to write a blog post dedicated to SweeTEEs.

A Little Overview

Mommy HQ's aim to is release our own products this year. We have conceptualized a number of products, but due to budget constraints, we aren't able to move forward with our plans. (Yes mommies, compared to other retailers, we are but small dilis.) A couple of months ago, we were able to come up with something that is actually doable. So without much hesitation, Mommy Issa and I said: "Gowwww!".

Why Infant Shirts?

I believe we are best known for selling cloth diapers. And as sellers, our main challenge is to creatively promote them.

We tried to post helpful information on the benefits of cloth diapers to our Facebook friends. I also gave cloth diapers as gifts to friends so that they could experience it first hand. Mommy Issa is already doing a great job of promoting cloth diapers. I, on the other hand, have yet to receive any CD related queries from my friends. Little did I know, our yaya has been receiving queries from our neighbors.

I realized that all along, my son is the best cloth diaper endorser in our neighborhood. At home, his typical outfit consists only of a sando and cloth diapers. And when he plays outside, it's the cloth diaper that the people notice. Did you experience the same thing?

There's our light bulb moment. We came up with the idea of statement t-shirts to be paired with cloth diapers. With the shirts, we can help raise awareness on the existence of modern cloth diapers (or modern lampins - we noticed it's easier for others to understand if we used that term). Add a dash of nappy humor, and (voila!) we can show them that cloth diapering can be fun.

Our Prints

Mommy Issa and I are not graphic designers, so we try to keep the designs as simple as possible. It wasn't difficult for us to come up with the statements to use - we simply need to draw from our own experiences as cloth diapering moms. For the 1st batch, we've decided to print just 3 designs.

Give Cloth A Chance

Inspired by "Give peace a chance.", this is a plea for other parents to try out cloth diapering as an option. We've added "Ask mom about it" because we all know we are more than willing to talk about it - right mommies?

Oh So Fluffy

How many here have those adorable fitted cloth diapers? When Baby Chic released fitted diapers, I immediately bought one for "research purposes" *wink wink*. At 2 years and 5 months, Lucho is already wearing bigger cloth diapers-which means there's a chance that the fitteds won't fit. But I'm glad it did. And I fell in love because it's sooo soft and sooo fluffy!

I Said The Word Potty

A couple of months ago, my son began to express his desire to sit on the toilet when nature calls. It broke my heart. No more excuse to buy nappies, not even for "research". I'm sure a lot of you can relate to  this. ;)

What's Next?

For the next batch, we  still have a lot of prints to choose from. By then, I will have enough confidence to hand stamp the shirt labels as we initially planned. Packaging will still be the same though - we will wrap the shirt in kraft paper. Plastics are banned in Makati, so we're doing our best to use eco-friendly packaging.

We hope you like our shirts. Mommies, if you have comments or suggestions for improvements, we're definitely all ears. Your feed backs are greatly appreciated by us. Promise! :)

Thank you very much for your continued support. :)

Real Ways To Be A WAHM : My Adventure

I'm officially  a fan of Manila Workshops. Yesterday, I attended my third workshop: Real Ways To Be A WAHM (Work At Home Mom) and I'm glad I did.

I have been working for more than a decade now. And all those years, I have planned my career path. But after I gave birth to my son, I began to listen to a different tune-motherhood can change your priorities. I am beginning to see the value of staying at home to raise my son. Thus, becoming a WAHM or SAHM (Stay At Home Mom) is something that I could consider.

Prepping for future bazaar activities - needs improvement,though.

Although quitting my job is not in my short-term plan, it won't hurt to do my research now. Methinks the topic is perfect because we're in the middle of creating a shiny new e-commerce website. Plus, participants have the option to setup a small booth for a minimal fee. I was initially hesitant to get a booth, being an introvert can be a disadvantage. But with encouragement from Papa B, Mommy Issa - and even Ginger of Manila Workshop, I've decided to do it. My exact word to myself was: "gow!".

I had two goals in my mind: 1) learn as much as I can from the speakers and 2) promote cloth diapers and Mommy HQ. Honestly, I'd be happy if at least one person will take my business card. Yes, ganoon kababaw ang kaligayahan ko. :)

Workshop Alert: Real Ways To Be A WAHM

Hey mompreneurs!

Are you thinking about quitting your day job for a chance to become a work at home mom (WAHM)? Are you planning to become a freelancer? Or are you considering putting up an online store to augment your income?

If you answered yes to at least one of the questions above, then there's an upcoming workshop that's perfect for you.

Personally, I think this is a very interesting workshop that's why I signed up as soon as I learned about it. I'm hoping I would learn more strategies for e-commerce management- something that Mommy Issa and I need for MHQ. (Seriously, we need to invest on good systems or processes so that we can be ready for expansion *naks, fingers crossed*).

To register, click here.

Business Cards, Finally!

For several months, Mommy Issa and I have been talking about the importance of having our own business cards. They're not just fancy stuff that you give out to people (ay, big time si ate!). They're tools to help you reach out to potential customers and suppliers.

Unfortunately for us, there were a couple of  networking opportunities we missed because we didn't have contact cards. One was when Mommy Issa joined a bazaar. The other was when I attended the 2nd Mompreneur Summit-I noticed that most of the mompreneurs came prepared.

It took us several months before we finally settled on a design we both loved. Actually, I'm the cause of delay. I just wasn't satisfied with the earlier designs. Either the logo was too bland, or the color combination was too blah. Once I resolved those blockers, it was smooth sailing from there.

Our own design!

Do you know what the best part is? I only paid Php60 for those lovelies! One of the freebies given to those who joined the 2nd Mompreneur Summit was a discount voucher from The Candy Shop Prints, worth Php250.

Their rate for business cards is Php240 (100 pieces). Mommy Issa (The Thrifty One), suggested that we try to negotiate for two sets - each set having 50 pieces - for the same price. Thankfully, Ms. Pat (of Candy Shop Prints) agreed, as long as we provide a print ready file.

Total processing time was just one week. We're so happy! Upon inspection, I realized there were some flaws with the design (ugh, I am my own worst critic!), but not so noticeable. Still, we love them!

Mommies, if you're planning to have your own contact cards for your business, do try to browse The Candy Shops Prints website. We have been drooling over the contact cards catalog (so dainty!). If there weren't any budget constraints on our part, we would have picked something from the Powder Room Collection (oh the chevron!).

If you're planning to DIY, I'm planning to write a separate post about that, so stay tuned! :)

2014 Goal: Ultimate Cloth Diaper Guide

Hey mommies!

The last post was all about the lessons we learned last year. Today's post is all about our one of our dream projects for 2014. I'm sharing this because at some point, we will be asking for your help to achieve this. We sometimes like to think we're all knowing (hubby's cue to raise eyebrows), but really, this is a project that we'd like to work on with other moms.

The Common Problem For Newbies

For the past months, Mommy Issa have been answering queries from moms who are interested to know more about modern cloth diapers. So similar are the questions, that we already have a template prepared. Sometimes, we feel that we're able to help. But most of the time, we feel that we've given a little too much information in one go. It can be overwhelming for first timers.

2013 In Review: Lessons Learned

When we launched Mommy HQ a few months ago, we didn't have a business plan. Nope. Mommy Issa and I didn't have projections and sexy numbers to attract potential "investors" (my horrified husband, for one). We could have (or should have) spent a little more time planning, but we felt time is of the essence. That we should act sooner, rather than later.

On May 1, 2013 we opened our online store (nothing fancy, just a Facebook page). I chose first of May because it's Labor Day. It's like giving birth all over again. (I know, it's kinda corny-but hey, I wasn't crowned Queen of Corn for nothing!)

Mommy Issa and I have no background in business - she is a doctor and I'm a software developer. Everything we learned, we learned from google. And experience, of course.

You may have wondered why we've been quiet since we got back from vacation. We have been busy with the dreaded audit-we didn't expect for the audit to last that long. And we didn't realize it can be such a pain in the bum. Birthing pains, we suppose. But as long as we take note of the things we learned, it should no longer be a problem in the long run.

We don't consider ourselves experts, but we would like to share some of the things we learned based on what we've experienced (so far!). I am listing those down so that others can learn from it as well. If you're planning to start an online reselling business, then have a look at this before you give it a go.