Leslie Smith was a school teacher who loved kids so much she had three right in a row. That’s when she realized that she would have to take time out from the classroom she loved to stay home with her “Lil Darlins”. It wasn’t long before this new mom realized that babies are messy eaters and she quickly tired of changing outfits three and four times a day and doing mountains of wash. All the bibs she found just didn’t do the job so, after some experimenting and putting their two heads together, Leslie and her mom designed the Bib-A-Roo. You can see that it certainly does the trick of keeping baby clean and containing the mess! 

Leslie’s mom, Jeanne Roth, had retired but as a former small business owner ( a luggage shop and a bakery are two) she knew how to organize a start up operation. Even though they only had one product, they discovered that they had a winner and went to work finding fabrics, trims and sewing up a storm.  Jeanne handles the sewing and Leslie does the selling.

“I never knew how much fun sales really was until I made my first sales call.   My competitive edge really went into effect and I got this adrenaline rush from selling our product and meeting new people” she says.

When I asked about the best part of having their own business, Leslie answered that she likes being her own boss and doing her own thing. 

“It allows me to believe in myself and make decisions that I feel confident about.” She admits to being a Type A personality and a perfectionist who sets high standards for herself and her products so she won’t settle for a no or a maybe from a supplier.

Budgeting time is the biggest challenge. Figuring out how to clean house, cook for the family, pay bills, raise three young girls and be a good wife along with running the Lil Darlins business takes a lot of juggling, but she is willing to work hard at it.  It is a great example of a true “cottage industry” and one of my favorite ways for a stay-at-home mom to continue to be active out in the world and to earn an income.  Starting small with one product is easy to do if you have a good idea and the discipline to get to work on it.

Once the Bib-A-Roo took off, they started designing new products and have just added their fifth - the ApronAll is a great catch-all for older children to wear to protect their clothes as they do crafts, help mom clean house or cook.  You can see all the products at www.lildarlins.org  They are planning to start hiring sewers to help with production and will be attending several national wholesale gift and kids shows this fall and next year. They have come this far in little more than a year and their products are now sold in over a dozen retail shops in the Philadelphia area as well as on the internet.

A caution here - I always tell my clients that I am practical and will be objective in my advice.  Lil Darlins LLC has yet to show a profit - although I think they are probably about to get over that mountain. Too many people have dreams of earning a whole lot of money instantly when they start a home-based business. With some businesses that sell services this is possible, but when manufacturing is involved, the cycle is longer because you have material and labor expenses that have to be accounted for. Leslie and Jeanne admit they didn’t know enough about buying wholesale supplies at first - if you aren’t sure how to do some facet of your business idea, talk to others in the same type of business or better yet, go to work for them for a short time to learn some of the ins and outs.

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