Mom Central Grant

As you may already know from our facebook page, I've entered a grant competition in hopes of being able to get my business up and running. The Mom Central Grants Program is for mommy bloggers (like me) who want to expand their personal brand. I was so excited when I came across this because I've been planning something for a long time but I need a grant just like this one to get off the ground. Ever since my son was born, I've felt the urge to be a mompreneur. I've been inspired various people including:

• Lisa Druxman, the founder of Stroller Strides

• Mindee Doney & Julie Pickens aka "The Boogie Moms", the inventors of Boogie Wipes

• Jana Francis, the founder of babysteals.com 

My passion has become finding haute ways to be eco-friendly and use safer products for my son. I already share these ideas and products with other moms through this blog, but would like to expand my platform.

Almost two years ago, a couple months after my son was born, I won a free ticket to the inaugural Moms in Business Unite conference from The Boogie Moms who were the key note speakers of the conference. I took my son with me and was really nervous about leaving him in the daycare they provided (even though it was wonderful) because I had never left him with anyone before so they were nice enough to let me take him around the conference with me. Thankfully, he was still in the sleeping-all-day stage and I nursed discretely at the back of the rooms when he woke, so I don't think he bothered anyone :)

♥ sleeping on the chair next to me ♥

I learned so much from the conference and have been working on my business idea ever since. The conference encouraged me to blog in order to help grow my idea and brand. I would love to be able to attend the conference again this summer, this time with my business launched (or at least close)! But I need your votes to help me win... you can vote once every 24 hours. Thank you so much to everyone who takes the time to read this and vote (it only takes a minute to vote!) Please click the button at the bottom of this post to vote for me!

My son with the MIBU chairwoman Randa Cote

From the Mom Central grant description...
"The Mom Blogosphere is brimming with talented, smart, passionate and ambitious women. We feel so grateful and want to do our part in helping take Moms’ personal brands to the next level: be that a broader audience, getting media exposure, becoming a spokesperson, starting a small business, or better monetizing your platform. The possibilities are endless, and tie inextricably to the vision you have for yourself. So whether media training, graphic or technical help, a site redesign, shared office space, some intern hours, new business cards, self-publishing a book, launching a new blog, or attending a key conference will help you get to the next level – we want to pitch in to provide the support. So tell us what inspired you in the first place, your journey to take, and what you aspire to do next – because we care, and we want to help!"

Samples of my answers to the grant entry questions...
"The vision behind your personal brand: To help bring modern cloth diapers more mainstream by reaching moms who wouldn’t otherwise be exposed to them. I wasn’t exposed to modern cloth diapers and a lot of other great eco-friendly boutique baby products until after my son was born and I became an avid researcher of baby products online. I want to promote cloth diapering and other green living products to new and expecting moms in a fashionable manner.

What do you aspire to do next? Launch an online baby gift bag business and expand that business over the years to include more options and products. I would also like to find creative ways to get involved with certain organizations that share my vision."