I have come to know many mom-based, mom-owned companies through out the years and they each have their own stories on how their businesses came to be. Periodically you will get to see a glimpse into their lives and how their businesses were created. Starting a business can be a scary thing, in any economy and it isn’t all glitz and glam, it is a lot of hard work, blood, sweat and yes, even tears. The one thing that remains constant is their will, persistence and the belief that their dreams can come true. The following story is the story of how one business came to be as told by Heather, owner and founder of Chickadee Prints.

BS: How did Chickadee Prints come to be?
CP: In 2006, I had the idea to start a custom stationery shoppe called Rainy Day Memories. Everything would be custom…each order treated individually, no two designs alike. It was just me, sitting at my home computer, working lots of hours, for basically no profit. But, I enjoyed what I was doing…I liked creating art. I continued at this part-time pace until 2009, when I realized that I wanted something more. I wanted to take myself more out of the picture so that I could serve many more clients and provide many more designs.

So in June of 2009, I set out to rename my company to Chickadee Prints. My vision was for customers to be able to fully edit their text and upload their photos to the card design of their choice. My website would have cards for almost everything…baby announcements to moving announcements, and Christmas cards to theme party cards. Oh, and I also wanted my cards to be printed on recycled cardstock and my packaging to be recyclable, if not made from recycled materials. That wasn’t too much to ask, was it? Apparently, it was. Starting your own business and starting on a grander scale is a much bigger deal than just me.

I hired a website design company who could do what I was looking for, but there were so many obstacles with even that. They were a relatively new company, featuring a new concept. So, there were ideas that still needed to be completed, which meant that my target for opening in August 2009, was pushed back to September 2009. Tears flowed regularly as I felt I wasn’t in control of my vision and my dream…my timeline was affected by someone else…another part of a larger business. We did, though, find a wonderful printing company who could handle my tall order of using recycled paper and recyclable packaging materials, so that was a shining moment for me. I felt good that Chickadee Prints would do what we could to help the earth…being that we are a stationery company using paper…I couldn’t let us be completely unaware of our impact. I chose a printing company who uses FSC Certified paper which means that for all the trees affected by becoming paper, more trees are immediately planted in their place. As I waited for the website to work out all the kinks, I hired more people to work with me on my design team. We are now a team of four, designing all styles to fit different tastes.

September passed, and still no site. More tears, more empty promises, and more frustration. All of my time was getting sucked into making this dream become a reality. I was constantly on the computer, fighting with the website company, emailing back and forth with my designers, uploading products into the cart…just working all hours to get everything in place for when we could finally launch. My family suffered. My husband said my computer was more important than the family. My kids didn’t understand how I could be home and not playing with them. Balancing working at home and a family is not easy by any means. I feel guilty when I’m working because I’m not playing with them, and I feel guilty playing with them when I should be working. I knew though, that one day, all of my hours and effort would pay off, and I would soon have more freed up time, once all my chicks were in a row.

Finally, on October 19th, I was told that we are essentially ready for launch! The website company needed a 2 day notice to launch, so I said let’s do it! I am happy to announce that Chickadee Prints will be open for business on October 22nd, 2009. While I am excited beyond belief that this is really happening, I am, at the same time, completely scared at starting something so big…a real company. I am thankful though, that I had support all along the way, because without it, I don’t think I would have continued on after all the setbacks along the way. Support is key. Now that I’ve made it through the first step of setting up the business, I am excited about the next step…running it!

BS: Thank you Heather for your inspirational story that goes to show that no matter what obstacles are thrown your way, we all have the power to keep moving forward towards our goals and dreams.