A few months ago, I discovered MommyMixer and thought, "Why didn't I think of that?!" Mary Sullivan Cooper, Chief Founding Mama and President of MommyMixer, identified and addressed a need among parents and turned it into a very successful business. Read more about how she got started in her business below. Also, MommyMixer is hiring! Info on employment opportunities are within the interview below.
Meet the Mom Behind MommyMixer!
Who is MommyMixer and what makes your business so unique? Where are you located?Founded in 2003, MommyMixer unites families with local university students through exclusive face-to-face sitter networking events. Deemed by MommyMixer veterans as the exclusive national face-to-face provider of "college-aged sitter connections," MommyMixer has expanded to 26 cities to date, with plans for continued growth. Please find below (at the end of this interview) at our national expansion press release showcasing how we are hiring moms to be our City Managers in local markets and college girls to be our College-based Sitter Recruiters. Angel investors fund the company.
How did you come up with your business name?
Actually our babysitters kept call our events mixers because it reminded them of sorority mixers or similar events but with MOMS. We loved the name and it stuck. Last year through our PR and Marketing work we added the tagline -- Great Sitters, Great Families, Great Connections.
When and why did you decide to start your own business?
I was inspired to create MommyMixer -- because of my experience as a babysitter in college at UT. All through college I was babysitting 30 hours a week and I constantly found that moms and dads that were strangers to me -- would approach me asking if I could help them with childcare for their children or if I had friends that could help. I recognized that if this was so in Austin -- it was probably true in many other cities. Parents have trouble finding great sitters and at the same time college girls are moving to their college towns and don't have a comfortable safe means for meet local families to babysit for! MommyMixer events connect two parties that desperately want to meet each other -- parents and college aged babysitters that otherwise may never have met -- even though they are sitting in the same town or city!
How did you get started?
I started MommyMixer out of Austin 4 years ago and today we're in over 26 cities with plans to expand further this Spring with more cities and more mixers per city! For the first 3 years I grew the company by myself and through word of mouth and only 1 year ago brought on my first full time employee. Then, approximately 8 months ago brought on experts in marketing and operations while building out our corporate team. Today MommyMixer is running events in cities across the US by hiring local moms as City Managers and local college students as campus babysitter recruiters. We are about to announce our next wave of national expansion.
What motivates you to keep your business going?
The faces of the moms and dads that come to our events and are so relieved to have found this sense of security and peace in finding great sitters. Also the young women that are so thrilled with how they are received by these families and the wonderful work they are doing with the children -- is really amazing to see and hear about. I hear from moms and sitters daily about the positive impact our events have had on their lives. And of course the kids that are benefiting are also great testimonials for the quality of the service -- we had one little girl tell us that her sitter is really like having a big sister -- the one she always wanted!
How do you advertise online and/or offline and which methods proved worthwhile and successful?
I set out to grow the business by word of mouth and I've done this from the beginning. We don't advertise -- instead we hire great people in each of our markets, we supply them with the tools they need to market locally to moms and to sitters and we depend greatly on word of mouth. Last year we started having a focused press relations effort and that has brought in a lot of interest. In fact our recent appearance on Good Morning America brought in over 9000 people visiting our website in less than 24 hours, signing up of course it has also introduced us to a number of moms in new markets that want to help start MommyMixer in their cities.
How do you juggle family and work at home?
I'm a big user of my own service and I make sure they there is time for work and time for family every day. I also surround myself with great people that believe in the business and help me make it happen. I am a walking testimonial for my own business -- now with 2 toddlers and a brand new baby girl, Caroline Kelly Cooper! My sitters are all MommyMixer girls.
What advice would you give to moms seeking to become a WAHM?
Be sure to have your resources sorted out so you can focus on work when you need to knowing your children are in good hands. The biggest distraction for a mom is not feeling good about a crying baby in the next room or a toddler knocking on the office door. You can work from home but in order for everyone to enjoy the experience you need to have the right sitters lined-up and MommyMixer is here to help you find that perfect sitter and therefore have the right environment for working at home. Also -- make sure work time is work time and when you're off the clock you're off the clock and able to focus on your family. There's a place for everything and managing that under one roof takes discipline.
Visit MommyMixer at: www.mommymixer.com
Employment Opportunities at MommyMixer!!
We are actively recruiting fun, motivated and accomplished individuals to act as City Managers and Campus Representatives in: Tuscon, Boston, Pittsburgh, Columbus, San Diego, San Jose, Orange County, New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. In most of these cities we are hiring at least 2 City Managers and a number of College Reps to meet the growing demand for MommyMixer. Plus we are recruiting all over the US in major metro areas where families and sitters are expressing their desire to have MommyMixer in their location!
City Managers serve as the hostesses of all events by planning and executing the events, promoting and building MommyMixer’s awareness and reputation, and acting as the point of contact for moms and sitters alike. Campus Representatives are college students who deal primarily with the sitters, and act as recruiters on their campuses, as well as assistants to the City Managers in hosting the events.
Both positions call for enthusiasm and a knack for keeping connected with the surrounding community. Both roles are part-time with flexible hours, and pay based on the success of the mixers themselves.
For more information about these positions and for contact information, please visit:
http://www.mommymixer.com/join.aspx
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