A web directory of mother-owned businesses has launched in Ridgefield with plans of going national.
“Moms already have a full-time job,” said Laura Avery, Consult-a-Mom L.L.C. founder. “This site stands to promote and support Connecticut moms. And whenever you support a small company, you know that the money you spend is going directly to help that family.”
The website, Consultamom.com, is free for the public to use and features mother-owned businesses, located in Fairfield, Litchfield and New Haven counties, as well as Westchester County in New York. Once the site gets off the ground, however, Avery plans to expand the business nationally.
With nearly 10.1 million women-owned businesses in the United States, the potential growth for the directory is strong. In fact, mompreneurs are the fastest growing business segment in an otherwise sluggish economy, according to the Center for Women”™s Business Research.
Avery, a professional model and business owner, got the idea for the site when she realized many other mothers in the area had their own home businesses and wanted to support each other.
With the help of the University of Connecticut School of Business Stamford Learning Accelerator (SLA), the directory is off to a strong start. Earlier this year SLA chose the company as a project to incubate and help grow through the help of students studying marketing, public relations and business.
Since going live five months ago, the site has more than 40 companies listed in categories ranging from fitness and wellness to art and photography. It costs $225 to advertise on the site for a year, which is a relatively low price to aid low-budget mompreneurs. Though women own roughly 30 percent of all businesses, they receive less than 10 percent of venture capital funding, according to various expert sources. They also only contribute to 4 percent of all business revenue, according to a recent American Express study.
Though the primarily goal of the site is to help mothers, anyone can advertise on or use the site. There are often discounts listed for the site users as well.
Melanie McGuire was one of the first mompreneurs to sign up for the site. A mother of three, McGuire has her own infant and pediatric massage business called Full Circle Healing Massage.
Whereas other mompreneurs services can be self serving and take advantage of mothers, McGuire said she could tell Avery”™s site was truly an effort to help out other moms by giving their businesses exposure.
McGuire does most of her work for free to help disadvantaged families, and it”™s the paying families that support her being able to doing that. By advertising on the site, McGuire said she hopes she”™ll find more parents who are able to pay for her lessons. Right now McGuire is fundraising $4,300 for a trip to Vietnam to teach massage therapy lessons in nearly 30 orphanages. She”™s raised $3,000 already.
“Hopefully the website will bring in new business,” McGuire said with a laugh. “Maybe someday I”™ll make some money.”
