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Helpful tidbits for parents and entrepreneurs
Mar 07, 2010
OMM Gives Away Products and Services Donated by Self-Employed Parents on National Podcast
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Mar 03, 2010
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Feb 26, 2010
We Are Giving Away 52 FREE ANNUAL Memberships & more than $5000 in Ads!
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Feb 11, 2010
Live Internet Radio Broadcast Motivates Parents to Leave Their Jobs and Come Home
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Feb 04, 2010
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Jan 21, 2010
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Oct 04, 2009
We must be doing something right! Read what others are saying about us...
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Helpful tidbits for parents and entrepreneurs
Sep 23, 2009
An Exclusive Interview by Ally Loprete
An Exclusive Interview with Lori Lite, Founder of Stress Free Kids, as seen on ABC's Shark Tank!
When I first saw Lori Lite on Shark Tank, I knew that she belonged right here in the Our Milk Money Family. I contacted Stress Free Kids, and spoke with her husband about becoming a member. Not only did they join right away, they agreed to give me an hour long interview. I enjoyed getting to know Lori and found her to be a wonderful source of inspiration. A terrific sense of humor and a true passion for what she has created, it’s no wonder the sharks gave her 3 different offers. The thing that most impressed me about Lori was her commitment to her integrity while in the shark tank, and her determination not to back down just because she was being offered a ton of money. Like so many of us, she started off with an idea, invested her own time, and her own money. She publishes all of her own books, produces her own cds and up until recently she did all of her own public relations. Talking with her, it is easy to feel like you’ve known her for years, and there is still a sense that no matter how much fame and glory comes her way, this mother of 3 kids will always stay grounded.
Watch Lori's Audition Tape Here!
The Interview
What can you tell us about Stress Free Kids, and how you decided to get started?It all came to life when I was raising my very young children. I was going through a very stressful time. My son was sick all of the time, he was hyperactive and it took me at least 2 hours every single night to get him to go to sleep. Then my younger daughter started developing stress related night terrors. This created a tremendous amount of stress for my entire family. My husband and I were fighting about who was going to put our son to bed, and nobody was getting any sleep. I actually became very sick from the stress. One day, on a visit to see my parents in New York my Aunt picked me up from the airport, put me in the car, locked the doors, and told me that she was driving me right over to see a stress consultant. That appointment changed my life. I learned to do 2 very simple relaxation techniques that were brilliant and made a big difference for me. At first I used these techniques only for myself, but then one night, I tried applying these techniques with my son. I was putting him to sleep, and I started to create a story for him that was entertaining, but also incorporated a stress management technique. He started to follow along, and he actually fell asleep! My husband was listening from the hallway and when I came out of his room, he told me how great he thought the story was. He encouraged me to write the story down and helped me to see that I could help thousands of other parents and children. From there an entire business has been inspired. I now have 8 books, 6 cds, and 2 curriculums.
Before you went on Shark Tank, had you considered getting an investor to help fund your business? Actually, no. We were not thinking in that direction. We had looked into getting a bank loan in the past, but we’d only come up empty handed. 3 different banks rejected us- which is a real shame. It just shows you the state of the economy when we can’t get a loan from a bank after showing them that we have already made a profit, we are looking to hire employees (which would help the economy) and we have great credit! To be honest, we didn’t really know how to go about getting an angel investor.
How did you end up on Shark Tank? A friend of mine who is very technical and internet savvy, received something on Facebook about a show that was looking for mom entrepreneurs, and she forwarded it to me. I looked at it for about 5 days before I finally applied. At the time I had no idea that the show was produced by Mark Burnett, or ABC or that it was going to be such a big deal on national TV. I just thought it was a little tiny station in some obscure part of the world. At first, I didn’t even want to apply because I had sent out so many things over the years trying to get exposure, and I had gotten very little response. But a little voice inside me told me to do it. Lo and behold, I received an answer within hours. From there, everything started to move very fast. The process started in mid-May and I was in Los Angeles by mid-July filming. It aired August 23rd.
What was it like standing in front of the Sharks? It was probably one of the most stressful moments of my life. You know that long hall that I had to walk down to meet the sharks? Well it is really long…much more than it looks on TV. It took forever to reach the sharks in that room.
When you finally get out there, you have to just stand there silently for at least a minute or more while the cameras and the lights are adjusting, and the sharks are just looking at you during this process. They tell you ahead of time that you only get one take. So if your forget what you are going to say, go completely blank, or you stumble on some words… its too bad, because everything is live and its very likely that it is going to end up on TV. So now, you are standing in front of 5 sharks, 5 ruthless business people, complete strangers on national television, with all the lights and cameras, and you have one chance to get it right.
Did the sharks know anything about you before you came in? No, they didn’t know anything about me or my product. I was grilled for about 45 minutes, but really only about 15 minutes was shown on actual TV.
What did you do to prepare for your big meeting with the sharks? Actually, I used my stress techniques. I really dug deep and stood there visualizing myself being confident, speaking clearly, and speaking from my heart. I gave myself positive affirmations, and told myself that I am equal to them. I realized just as I was walking down that hallway is that they are just people. They are just like me. They cry, they laugh, they have families, and they have problems. The only thing that they have that I don’t have is money. I really just tried to put myself on equal terms with them. Also, I knew that it was not just about me…And it was not even about the sharks! This was bigger than all of that. This was about the children. When I was standing there, I felt like I was the voice for the millions of children that would benefit from these books. That is really where my source of power came from.
The Sharks were very interested in you, and unlike many of the other guests on the show, you were actually offered 3 deals. What can you tell us about those offers and why you chose to accept the one that you did? Kevin’s offer kind of seemed like a joke to me. He offered me $250k for 100% of the company. Of course, there was no way I was going to do that. Damon offered me $250k, but for a 51% stake in my business, and then Barbara offered the $250K for 50%. To me, that was the only offer that was worth considering.
Damon wanted to give you more than the money. He offered you a branding of your products, and an entire line of consumer products. Why did you turn that offer down? I wasn’t even going to consider Damon’s offer. I was not going to give up 51% of my company just so that I could wake up tomorrow and discover that he might have fired me. I can’t even make sense of that kind of deal. So really, Barbara was the only contender in my mind.
Tell me about what it was like dealing with Kevin? They cut out a lot of dialogue between me and Kevin. He was really hard on me, kept picking at me, and hammering me. They showed my response on TV which was when I told him that I didn’t believe that he didn’t appreciate what I was doing here, but they didn’t show the 10 minutes before that of him hammering me. I do wish that they had shown some of that because there was a real build up to when I finally said that.
I would never want to be his partner. I mean, I don’t want someone who only cares about the money. This whole thing was not built on making money. It was built with heart, and the desire to help children. Yes, we need to earn a revenue from this…it’s a business, and we need to earn to survive, and to continue to grow. When I do more business, I can give away more books, I can donate more, I can create more product to help children. It’s all cyclical. I don’t need a guy like Kevin who can’t see that I am in it first and foremost for the love of helping children.
Barbara seems to have a lot more passion than the other sharks on the show, and it’s definitely what sets her apart. Now that it’s all over, are you happy with the decision you made to accept Barbara’s deal? Oh yes, I am very excited to start working with Barbara. I know that we are going to work great together. We are very similar. We are both New Yorkers, we are both feisty, we are both moms, and I knew right away that she definitely gets what I am doing. And yes, she is very different than the other sharks.
What is happening with the partnership right now? It’s all still very new and we are still in the middle of the process. It’s not like I came home with a big fat check. That is not really how it works. Right now, Barbara’s people are still taking a look at my business and doing their diligence now, then we still have to work out all the details, and it still might be awhile before I see that infusion of funds.
What exactly are you using the funds for?
I need to order some inventory! That is the biggest problem with our business is the inventory situation, because everything is paid upfront. Also, once you send everything out to the distributors, they don’t usually pay until 30, 60 or 90 days later. So I have to float large amounts of funds for many months. That is where an investor is really going to be able to help us out. Right now we have to make decisions about where to spend the budget each month. One month we might have to order an affirmation waiver, which means we can’t afford to go to the book expo until next time. We are always trying to figure out where the funds are coming from and inventory is always priority.
You called your husband in the middle of the show to ask his advice about what you should do. What can you tell us about your relationship? He is my partner in everything and we share it all together. We have been married for 23 years, I actually met him at work, so we’ve come full circle.
How do you do in regards to the business? He works ion the basement, and I work upstairs in the kitchen…. We have little walkie talkies so that we can communicate from different rooms in the house. It works out well for us. We also have a lot of very supportive friends who love to come over and help us with our shipments.
You mentioned that you have donated a lot of your books to charity and other good causes. How are you able to draw the line between that and earning an income? It’s funny that you mention that, because it is something that I have struggled with. For a long time I almost felt guilty. This is about helping children, how can I not feel bad making money off of it? And it pulls on my heart strings because I love to donate. I give to shelters and abused children, children in the hospital…and as much as I want to continue, we really are not able to unless we make more of a profit. This is a business and I need to earn an income to take care of my own family. I have come to terms with that.
Where else have you donated? We’ve donated a lot of books to the make a wish foundation. The books are currently being used by child life care specialists and are helping children deal with terminal illness. They are being used not just for anxiety, but also for pain management…and that is actually funny to me because I didn’t even know it could be used for that when I wrote them! It’s a wonderful and beautiful thing to discover. Also, I donated 700 books after 9/11. I had people standing on the street corners in New York handing out books for free. So I am really all about the giving.
How involved are your kids with the family business? My 12 year old loves helping with the outgoing shipments and gets rewarded if she finishes her homework. She can help Daddy down in the basement.
Tell me about the fame that has come your way since being on national television? I was some local shows and had some nice interviews. There were some articles written in the Atlanta, GA Constitution. We are grateful for the media, but to be honest, it is really not at the level that I was hoping for. I guess I was hoping that Good Morning America would call, or maybe Oprah… fingers are still crossed! I have been trying to get this story out for years, and I just know that it is one that parents are going to want to hear.
Have you felt that you are at a new advantage because of the people that you are now connected to since Shark Tank? It’s still an ongoing struggle to get in touch with people. Barbara definitely has connections, and I am hopeful that she will use them to help me, especially since she is now invested in our products. I am excited about what she will bring to the table, but it’s important to me that I am able to stay the voice of the company. I am the one with the passion and the excitement, and I am pretty sure Barbara knows that about me.
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