Spotlight on *Morgan*
Deals Among Moms
So I know many of you have must have been wondering who the heck is behind the madness at Deals Among Moms and what's their story!?!? So here you go...a little about me and the goals of Deals Among Moms!
First off, I'm a mom. I've got 3 beautiful children, 2 boys (3&6) and a newborn baby girl! I've also got a wonderful, handsome husband and we've been married for almost 8 years. I studied advertising and marketing in college and received my Bachelor's in Advertising from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2002. I started my career in the multifamily industry, where I held many positions from marketing to sales to management. In 2007, I found out I was pregnant with my second son and just knew I had to find a way to stay at home with my kids. It killed me that I was already missing out on so much with my first son in daycare all day and the thought of missing out on two lives was unbearable. So I racked my brain and did tons of research day and night for months during my pregnancy trying to find a way to earn a living from home. Then one day it just hit me-I needed to start an apartment locator service in my area. At that point, there weren't any, and the need was definitely there.
I started my business with literally nothing. I got a 30 day free trial from a website company to start a site. I pieced it together myself using my graphic design background. I started a Facebook page, Twitter account and a blog. I listed my business on every free listing service on the net I could find. Before I knew it, I actually was getting business. It totally amazed me that my little old idea was actually working and I was actually getting paid! Every time I received a check in the mail, it was the most exhilarating feeling!
To gain more business and to establish a presence in my industry, I started writing blog posts on industry websites. I began getting requests for marketing help from apartment communities across the country and immediately I could see that there was yet another niche that I could get into, so I shifted my focus to marketing and resident retention. That's where I've been the last three years, helping apartment communities promote themselves across the web, and promoting myself at the same time!
During the time I was getting my business off the ground, I became a huge deal seeker! Finances were tight when I stopped working and we needed to cut every corner we could. I scoured the web for deals, started clipping coupons, and it quickly became a hobby, maybe even a passion! I LOVED scoring a great deal, I wanted to shout out from the rooftops every time I got something free or cheap! Then last year, the daily deal sites, like Groupon and Living Social, came out and I was hooked! I got so many great deals from those sites, it was unreal! I became intrigued with how they operated and started researching them. What I found was that there was a huge, untapped market for daily deals, particularly in niche markets. Hmmm.....
Over the course of a few months, the wheels started turning and I thought of ideas on how I could get in on the daily deal action. I put all of my ideas together and Deals Among Moms was born. I've always wanted to find a way to help mom-run businesses find success like I did. So I thought this was the perfect opportunity to help them out. I've talked to many moms who wanted to take part in a daily deal on one site or another, but they didn't qualify because they were too small. So the concept of Deals Among Moms became clear....to help every mom-run business succeed...large or small! And in the process, we'd be helping all of the other moms out there score a great deal!
While we were in the development stages of the website, I started our marketing efforts, which included social media. I've been absolutely blown away by the number of talented moms I've been connecting with! There are some amazing businesses and I've been so drawn to helping them succeed. So, in addition to offering the daily deal site, I decided to offer resources for mom-run businesses to connect with customers inexpensively. That's how Deals Among Moms' advertising opportunities came to be. The response has been amazing and it warms my heart to know I had a small role in helping these other moms in their journey to make a living on their terms!
So here we are! Every day, I work on the development of the site, marketing and social networking and I help other moms with their advertising. In the next 2 weeks, I expect to launch the site & start accepting retailers. I hope to have the deals start rolling out by the end of May! I'll continue to help other moms run their businesses by offering social networking support & advertising opportunities. And get this-I'm also writing a guide for moms on how to start, market and manage their businesses! Keep an eye out for that!
I'm always available to talk to other moms about their businesses, so if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at morgan@dealsamongmoms.com.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it! :)
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