By
Kadzi Mutizwa
As a child, Melissa Bernstein dreamed of becoming an
international lawyer. After graduating from Duke in 1987 with a degree in
Public Policy Studies, she accepted a financial analyst position with Morgan
Stanley’s New York office—even though she never liked math, finance, Excel, or
spreadsheets. In 1988, Melissa and her then-boyfriend/now-husband Doug launched
Melissa & Doug, a Connecticut-based children’s toy company. Here’s how she/they
did it:
1) What motivated you to take the
entrepreneurial route?
My husband Doug and I are very strong, passionate people,
and although we both had very brief working careers before taking the plunge, we
knew we were much too independent, driven, opinionated, and creative to be held
down and guided by others. So at ages 22 and 24, when we were dating, we pooled
our meager savings together and decided to set out on our own. We have always
been passionate about education, children, and children's causes. Three out of
four of our parents were educators, and we felt there was a lack of simple, yet
innovative, products for kids. That was
our inspiration: to create simple, innovative, and enriching playthings for
children to help build basic learning skills and confidence.
2) Aside from ambition, what kinds of
attributes/personality traits do successful entrepreneurs tend to have?
You cannot win as an entrepreneur without taking a lot of
risks, and being comfortable knowing that some of them will lead to big wins, while
others will fail! We never think we are above learning new things, and although
we always hold onto our key tenets, we are constantly
making changes and improvements based on feedback from our customers and
employees. Most of our biggest revelations have come from the mistakes we have
made! Lead by example and never ask anyone to do anything you wouldn't do
yourself—as an entrepreneur, you will often need to engage in the heavy lifting
yourself. Additionally, we never make decisions that are financially-based—we
only consider what is best for the company, products, and customers. And most importantly, although we are always
presented with exciting opportunities that could take us away from who we are
and what has gotten us to where we are, we always stay the course.
3) How did your educational and/or employment
history prepare you for what you're currently doing?
My educational and employment history only served to
illustrate what I didn’t want to do
and how I didn’t want to be. Until I
was out of college I had the female pleaser syndrome—I completely disregarded
and ignored who I really was and what made me tick to avoid displeasing others.
I was trying so hard to be someone I wasn’t, pursuing the vision of success I
believed was meaningful to others, that I never developed a sense of myself. I
was always a loner at heart: an intense, creative, and shy introvert who was
somewhat of a misfit and would have naturally spent all my free time in a
corner writing music and poetry, playing with my imaginary friends and sewing
clothes for my dolls from scraps of fabric. But, instead, I fought to fit in
with the popular crowd and hide my intellect, dating the not-so-smart athletes
and traveling the path of convention. I was also in a complete panic about
“being successful,”doing what I believed others expected of me at the expense
of digging deep to find my own voice and passion. When I worked at Morgan
Stanley, from day one I was more miserable than I had ever been. Doug was going
through a similar life experience and we both felt the time was right to take
the leap.
4) What were the
biggest challenges you faced when you first launched/were in the process of
launching your enterprise? You co-founded it with your significant other—how
important has this partnership aspect been to your company's success?
Doug and I started our business from nothing, and have faced
every conceivable challenge. At
the beginning, no one wanted to carry our one and only product, so we had to
hit the road and sell it to stores ourselves, with lots of begging and
pleading! However, our first product was
a complicated one and had a difficult time selling quickly. And when it didn't
sell through, we had many customers who didn't want to pay us for it. When we
did create our first great-selling product, our own factory knocked us off and
showed up at the largest toy trade show with virtually the same item! So we
fired our factory and then had no one to make the product. There were many
periods when we clearly should have thrown in the towel. But our partnership
and commitment to making our business succeed has prevailed. We are involved in
completely different areas of the business and neither one of us could ever do
the other's job.
5) What are some of the biggest challenges
your company faces today?
Our biggest challenge is technology and its impact on increasingly
younger children. We are a classic toy company on a mission to keep early
childhood a magical, simple time based on discovery and exploration. Our toys
stimulate the imagination and curiosity. But these days, kids as young as 3 are
playing on IPods, IPads, and computers—and the implications of technology on
children this young are dire. A whole generation of children are reactive
rather than proactive, unable to create something out of nothing, turning to
electronics to fill voids in their lives. The whole idea of entrepreneurship is
creating something from nothing. We want
to spur on a generation of children whose minds are fertile, and help parents
who want their children to engage in the type of play that builds their muscles
and gross motor skills as well as their minds and imaginations for a lifetime
of benefits!
6) In this economy, what practical advice
would you give a woman who dreams of starting her own business or building a
brand? Would you advise an aspiring female entrepreneur any differently than
you'd advise an aspiring male entrepreneur?
I believe the challenges for female entrepreneurs and career
women are much greater than for male entrepreneurs. Sadly, many women grapple
with the cliché of “trying to have it all,” and the idea of balancing work,
marriage, and family—long before they even have a family! Find your voice,
passion, and something you feel compelled to do with every ounce of your
being. Also, make sure that what you
decide on is filling a need that exists in the marketplace—that will ensure the
greatest chance of achieving both business and emotional success. If you are
not happy emotionally, you will be torn and confused about whether you really
want to work or not, and then feel guilty and have everyone around you
questioning why you are working when you don't really seem to be enjoying it. Once
you've found your passion, let everyone around you clearly understand how much
you love working, what it means to
you, and what it means to those you are impacting through your work. Also, as a
working mother certain things will have to give—I cannot be PTA president, make
everything my family eats from scratch, and construct my kids’ Halloween
costumes on my personal sewing machine. I can only be involved in those
areas/activities that directly impact my kids’ emotional development. Additionally, at some point you will need a
very strong and competent support network in the home to help manage your
family when you’re giving 100% to work.
And finally, you cannot be too hard on yourself. Women tend to beat themselves up much more
than men do!
No comments:
Post a Comment
We want to hear your thoughts and suggestions about topics of interest!