Embroidered and Personalized Burp Cloths - Meet Sheila Goldrick
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| My guest today is Sheila McGoldrick. Sheila is a ‘mom inventor’. This is how her business story began - Her three children suffered from acid reflux. Sheila was allergic to a preservative found in most of the baby toiletries. This allergy caused the skin on her hands to open up and form blisters. When the kids spit (when they burped) touched the skin on her hands, it caused an extremely painful burning sensation. Initially Sheila did not know what was happening but after a visit to an allergy doctor, she found out what the reason was.She then found a solution to this pain by inventing the burpee cloths. She donated a few of these to a local hospital. The response was extremely positive. | |
| This prompted her to take her business further - Today she offers burpees in various colors and patterns. She even offers embroidered and personalized burpee cloths. Apart from burp cloths she also sells diaper cakes.Read and be inspired…. | |
| How did you come up with the idea for your business? | |
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The reason for inventing this product was due to having an allergic reaction to a preservative found in my children’s body washes and wipes. This preservative caused my hands to blister and break open badly. My babies were HUGE spitters and I always managed to wear the spit-up on my hands and everywhere else as well. On day, after no longer being able to stand the pain of constantly washing my hands, a picture of this style burp cloth popped into my head and I immediately started working on a prototype. |
| What was your main motivation behind starting your own business? | |
| My main motivation behind my invention was to save myself from any further pain I was in due to wearing spit-up. My main motivation behind starting my own business was to help other parents with the same or similar problem of constantly wearing spit-up. If this product helped me so much I was sure that it would help others. | |
| I have visited your site and I love all the wonderful and different kinds of patterns you have. Can you tell us how a ‘burpee’ works? |
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| Slide your hand into the protective pocket leaving your thumb out. Cradle baby’s face with covered hand. Lean baby forward, gently patting and rubbing to help baby burp. Now, when baby spits up, it will run onto the Handy Burpee keeping your hand and baby free from spit-up. You can continue to bottle/breastfeed your baby while this unique burp cloth is still on your hand. It won’t get in the way and is always ready for use. Of course, the Handy Burpee can be put over your shoulder as well, so whether burping baby on your lap or over your shoulder, our unique burp cloth will keep you and baby free from spit-up. Handy Burpee is made big enough for a man or woman’s hand and can be used by both right and left-handed people. |
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| How is a ‘burpee’ different from traditional burp cloths? | |
| This burpee is so different because it has a protective covering for your hand that is made specifically for protection. No other burp cloth on the market helps protect you in this way. The towel like material that hangs down also protects baby as well from becoming wet and wearing their own spit-up. This burp cloth has a patent pending and is mom-invented. |
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| In the initial days what were some of the problems you faced and how did you overcome them? | |
| I remember in the VERY beginning I contacted a company that was resourceful in helping small businesses get started. I remember speaking to a woman from the company who had pretty much shot down my entire product and dream for my product. I was truly upset and it did get me down for a few days. Then I realized that “I” believed in my product and it was up to me to get it out to the public and prove that it is an extremely useful burpee. I realized that she made me work harder to prove how wonderful it is and I will never give up if I truly believe in myself and my product. You will run into those who are pessimistic about your idea and you have to learn to learn from them and ignore the downside of their comments. Do not give up because a few people tell you it is no good! Believe in yourself! |
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| Being a mom and managing a business is tough. Have you got any tips for our readers on time management? | |
| Hmmm, time management is tough. Honestly, the time that I seem to give up is sleep time. I try to work on almost everything that has to do with running my business when my children are sleeping. If I need to hit the hay early, I try to schedule a certain amount of time during the day to work on my business and not All day. That would take away too much time from my children. At night, when it is quiet, is my best bet. There are some days where I don’t have a chance to work on it at all. Life happens and I try to remember what is the MOST IMPORTANT thing in my life. And definitely my family comes first. |
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| Finally, your five keys to success? | |
| Belive in yourself Networking - you have to educate the world about your product and what better way to do that than networking Stay true and honest and don’t become GREEDY! Be open and motivated to continue to learn each day about new ideas and ways to run your business Stay optimistic - You never know what is coming your way around the next corner. |
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| Sites Of Interest | |
| http://www.loveprints.net/ | |
| Visit Sheila’s business website to get more information about her embroidered burp cloths. | |
| This interview was published on 28th February 2008 To read more stories about women in hip maternity clothes and natural baby care products businesses click Natural Baby Care Products |
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