Tag Archives: influential moms
Mom Blogger Experts… How I Connected with Social Media Influential Moms and Created A Circle of Support
First things first, “Yes, I do sleep.” Why does everyone ask me that? I am a content creating machine. Although, at one time, all I wanted to be was a baby-making machine. I want to thank my two boys for being so scrumptious and my hubby for supporting me and believing in my Go-To Mom Platform from the very onset. I would not be the confident Go-To Mom that I am today if it wasn’t for my sister for her insistence that ‘everyone needs me.’ As my kids grew older and I became more involved in launching my online business, I realized that I owe so much gratitude to the ‘circle of women’ I met online and have grown attached to. I started my Internet endeavor completely alone. However, I continue to produce and flourish within a group of brilliant and fascinating women who all work and play online. I even wrote a book about it, see video above, It’s called The Internet Mommy. I am in awe of how the Internet can change lives and truly touch the human soul.
I am a woman, a daughter, a wife and a mommy. I am a former preschool teacher gone shrink. I have two young children and middle-aged (Hot Texan) husband. I am simply obsessed with cats, but only have two. Before I go to bed at night I always wash my feet. I am a good friend to about six women. I am great acquaintance to many.
I love video production and see life through a camera lens. If I wasn’t a shrink I would of loved to have been a country singer. I have a bad singing voice but children really like to listen.
I have been working with infants, toddlers, preschoolers and families since I was 18 years old – I have done nothing but that. I am a mom vlogger, an online mommy personality, author and licensed child and family therapist. Before I officially went ‘online’ as the Go-To Mom, I was a therapist with a specialty in working with victims of abuse and an employee for local and national government grantees.
I fell into the blogosphere three months after my second child was born in December 2006. And here is my story….
There are roughly over 400 million web surfing moms and I am one. I know why I am online – it’s my business. The Go-To Mom.TV is an effective venue to carry out my positive parenting campaign. I am now a small corporation in 2012. However in 2006 I didn’t spend a drop of money on advertising. I created the Go-To Mom campaign to help American parents become more confidence about the way they raise their children. However, I did find a way to generate revenue online. After a year of trial and error and signing some really crazy contracts, I learned that as an expert video content provider, I rightfully deserve compensation. I just needed to figure out the best model.
My goal was to engage parents, magazines and web publishers to let them know that I was on the virtual map. They must of have thought, who is this chick in her kitchen making playdoh on video? Back in 2006, there were only a small handful other grassroots mommy shows when I launched. Now there are tons and if you count ‘vlogging’ (blogging on camera) then the numbers are endless.
The Go-To Mom.TV site generates revenue through video sponsorship, licensing and distribution. I license particular shows out to web publishers for a set amount of time. I generally do not conduct product reviews unless it is an item that I truly love and use in my home on a regular basis. A lot of this work has opened the ‘spokesperson’ door for me as well! Back in 2007 I wrote and shot and edited the shows. Today I have a few cameramen/crews and editors. My shows are syndicated on over thirty parenting/family websites for optimal exposure. If you combine the visitor statistics of all the twenty sites it roughly comes out to over 2 million. My site URL gets roughly 100,000 page views and 35,000 unique visitors per month. I’m the very first Google + family community partner and have over 105,000 followers.
The moms I met online over the last few years have changed my life. Some are now very close friends, which I refer to as the ‘circle of moms’ - I have bumped into them on Twitter, Facebook, from Google Alerts, by being a fan of their blogs, or by directly contacting them for potential projects. No hard work goes unseen. As a producer of women and family online content, I regularly make a habit of watching how moms conduct their lives online.
There are many amazing moms doing impressive things online – so much that I must admit, at times I find myself green with envy. Instead of stalking these fabulous women or secretly reading their blogs, I send them a direct email complimenting their business. Many of the women in in this circle have visitor statistics of well over 500,000 per month, make good money, have high caliber advertisers, large publisher book deals or are highly regarded for their advocacy efforts around motherhood. All the more reason to bring them into the ‘circle of moms.’ It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that in order to run successful business or social marketing campaign, it is a good idea to surround yourself with brighter, smarter, and more successful people. Plus, moms rock!
What is ‘circle of moms’ you are asking? They are the women who have a successful online web presence. There are few moms I collaborate with who don’t generate big revenue from their online endeavor (yet!), but who clearly impact many families with what they offer. Each mom I’ve met online has freely and wholeheartedly shared information with me to help jump start and scale my platform. A few of the moms who have leaned over the cliff to give me a hand up and who still offer unconditional support are:
Michelle Lamar – www.MichelleLamar.com
Beth Blecherman – www.Techmamas.com
Jennifer James – www.MomBloggersClub.com
Sheila Dowd – www.CleverGirlsCollective.com
Megan Calhoun – www.SocialMoms.com
Sarah Auerswald – www.MomsLa.com
Leah Segedie – www.Mamavation.com
Erica Diamond – www.WomenOnTheFence.com
Audrey McClelland – www.Momgenerations.com
Tania Reuben – www.PurenNaturalDiva.com
Janice Croze – www.5minutesformom.com
Elisa All – www.30secondmom.com
Jyl Pattee – www.MomitForward.com
Colleen Padilla – www.ClassyMommy.com
Katie Dillon – www.LaJollaMom.com
There are so many other social media moms that should be mentioned in this post, but being brain-dead from my travels, I can’t list them all! If you are one of those moms who should have been mentioned, please feel free to email a video or a raging text at how incompetent I am! I plan on producing video segments and online shows about moms who work and play online for the rest of my life. Feel free to tweet me @TheGoToMom. I would love to hear from you.
Kimberley Clayton Blaine, MA, MFT — -The Go-Tom
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Influential Social Media Mom Bloggers : Mommy Power Unleashed!
Guest Blogger: Amy Kovarick
One of the things I love about Kimberley Blaine, aka The Go-To Mom, is that she brings kick-ass mommy power to the world of business. She has that roll up your sleeves/get it done/quadruple-tasking energy that most mothers have (have to have!) along with a friendly, generous, open spirit.
I met Kimberley online when she emailed me with compliments on my book and radio show and an invitation to exchange radio interviews. Her approach was so casual and straightforward – kind of like a mom on the playground striking up a conversation. So different than a more formal corporate inquiry. It was a mutual admiration moment – just two women interested in each other’s business and open to finding how we might best support and benefit from each other. Business – mommy style.
Women are amazing, savvy, creative business people. The problem is once you become a mom the game changes. There is a different set of parameters. The ambition is still there, the drive is still there, but it’s tempered, it’s molded now to a larger purpose. It’s not just you or you and your husband/partner anymore. It’s US now. It’s a family. There is more to serve.
So, what’s a mother to do? Some still thrive in the traditional business world, holding their own and juggling like mad. Other women are happy to hold their mommy role full time and leave the outside work world behind. And then there are the growing ranks of mompreneurs – the new wave of trailblazers creating mommy centric businesses from home.
This is mommy power unleashed! The Internet has created a giant playground for moms to create a staggering array of businesses. A great many are products and services driven by real mom needs and desires. From hotmomsclub.com (a different twist on social networking) to Boogie Wipes (‘snot your average wipe’) to The Sneaky Chef (how to get your kids to eat healthy) to Petunia Pickle Bottom (gorgeous diaper bags and more). There is a long list of truly clever ideas from truly clever women.
But what is really cool, is that it’s not only the products or services that are innovative; moms are also creating a new way of doing business. Women are not just thinking out of the box, we are creating our own box. Businesses fueled by mommy power often have a distinct character – creative, collaborative, flexible and focused.
As mothers, women are used to juggling, solving problems on the go and generally making things work. We are bringing the same everyday creativity we bring to motherhood to our own businesses. Can’t find a supplier for a product? Moms keep looking or persuade someone to modify their manufacturing. Need to find a way to market effectively on a shoestring? We invent our own grassroots network. Mommy power tends to cut through problems one way or another.
A collaborative mentality is also a hallmark of mommy power in business. Most mothers are collaborative by nature – we learned that we can’t do it alone. From playgroups to school committees to online mommy chat groups – mothers are adept at joining forces. Not surprisingly, it is common to see a partnership or a team of women heading up a mommy driven company as well as a network of mommy fans fueling its growth. Building through community comes naturally!
Mommy business power is definitely flexible power. As mothers, we are used to constant change – handling ever shifting needs and schedules is a given. This ability to flex is built in with mommy owned businesses. Planning can take place on a park bench, at Starbucks or in the shower. Conference calls are scheduled around naptime or school pick up. The business works WITH kids, not against them. Flexibility extends beyond logistics into the capacity to experiment with strategy and adjust to changing markets and demands.
Focus is another common mompreneur characteristic. Moms are used to endless task lists. We know that we can’t do it all and have learned to prioritize on the must haves. Mommy driven businesses tend to be lean organizations focused on doing what counts. Any other approach quickly becomes unsustainable. Mommy power brings a certain ruthless edge to business – a mother’s time is too precious to waste!
To some extent, I might be idealizing mommy driven businesses. Certainly there are mommy-owned organizations that are unfocused, inflexible, non collaborative and decidedly not creative. However, I believe that most mompreneurs are defining a new path to business success that honors the very values and talents inherent in motherhood. We are proving daily that mothers have an extra set of skills, honed by motherhood, that are invaluable in business.
Every woman who generates success with mommy business power makes it possible for more women to follow. As we blend ambition and achievement with compassion and generosity, drive and intensity with flexibility and cooperation – we create endless possibilities for our families and our future.
Amy Kovarick is an executive and leadership coach as well as author of Babyon Board, Becoming A Mother Without Losing Yourself. She has helped hundredsof individuals reach their full potential across the US and Canada. She can be found at www.empoweredmotherhood.com
*header photo is the lovely Laura Mayes, co-founder of Mom 2.0 Summit
