Premier Baby Concierge simplifies modern motherhood - bizjournals:

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“You can be the most professional person in the but if you area first-timde parent, you are a first time parent,” said Meredit Huffman. “There’s lots of stuffr you just don’t know.” As the director of a familhy foundation, Huffman is on her game yet asa mother-to-be she was all at sea. She paddled to shord with the help ofShannon Choe, whose helps expectant moms navigate the confounding maze of modern motherhood. “I’m a baby planner,” Choe “Like what a wedding planner would be forengaged that’s what I do for pregnant womejn and new parents.
” Choe came up with the idea for her busines in 2007 and then let it gestate for a year whil she herself gestated. Following the birth of her third baby she openedf the doorslast year. Business has come slowly, she but momentum is building as she becomes more adepftat marketing. “I had no budget for PR Call it amajor oversight,” Choe said. Word of mouthj didn’t simply materialize as she had hoped,. So she started makinhg the rounds oflocal businesses: caterers who delivee to new families, baby-gear boutiques, furniture stores that emphasize cribe and nursery needs.
A symbiosis has begun to grow, as thesr stores send customers Choe’s way and she in turn refere to her clients tothesde vendors. “They have been very responsive. ‘You want to bring peoplre throughmy door? Fabulous.’ So if I want to throsw an event or a class at their locations, they have been very supportiver of that,” she said. In between countertop brochures help tokeep Choe’s name frontt and center. Choe’s overhead is light. Most of what she sell is her own expertise, her sage advice. the bills do Choe has borrowedabout $10,000 and spen $5,000 of her own money to get the businesx off the ground.
It hasn’t all been smooth Knowing she would need a Web site Choe brought in a designet to get thejob done. Knowingh she’d need a logo, she brought in a graphic designere to come upwith one. Both did nice work, but neithert end result resembledthe other. Therer was no unified image, no common theme. “u felt like, these are the peopl who should haveknown better,” Choe said. Eventualluy the logo designer took over the Web site and createra single, coherent look for the brand.
Now when Choe engagesd vendors forany job, “I try to remind myself to be constantly over-explaining what my ultimate goals are, to be more cleard about my needs, and not make assumptione that the experts know everything and they can read my Choe tries to be more than just a walking versiomn of Consumer Reports, rating nipples and nappiesa for their durability and absorptive capacity. Consulting is all abouty the personal touch, she said. Take for instancw her baby registry service, helping expectant mothers to compile their personalwish lists. “ want to find out, what’s their lifestyle? Do they live in the city? Do they have a big space?
Do they want a boutique place, or a baby super-store? Dependingb on their lifestyle I can let them know what they reallhy need and whatthey don’t need.” She has been deep in diapersd for many years. Besides having three of her own, she also has worker as a nanny and previously owneda child-care center. “I am a mom of three, but that is not why peopler should listento me. I am also on top of I am on top of she said. Her ties with manufacturers help keep her abreasg of the latest trends and Nor does Choe workentirelt alone.
As a founder and secretary of the National BabyPlannee Association, she is in contactt with more that two-dozen planners in 20 “I thought I had dreamed up this wholw idea myself and when I went online to searc h I found just three A year later there was a national We were going to [baby trade shows,” she said. “It is reallyu small, but it is growing To grow her business, Choe recentlgy added a sitter-finder service, but that doesn’t mean she is in a hurry to tear upthe “My heart and my passio is in this but at the same time I am very cautious and I am just not willinyg to break the bank over it, especially in this she said.
“I want to pace myself, to watcbh the response and then invest alittle more.”