Amazing Mom Inventors
Each of these enterprising mothers saw a need and created a product to fill it, using their own lives as inspiration. Plus, check out the greatest inventions for parents of all time!
The Diaper Guru
mom:
Marlene Dunwoody, Macon, GA
kids:
Aron, 2, and expecting another at press time
enterprise:
BabyNaturale.com, an online diapering resource that specializes in cloth diapers and other natural products and clothes
How it began: Soon after Aron was born, Dunwoody began to research some facts about diapers. Calculating that the average baby goes through 7,500 changes in two and a half years, she became sold on the benefits -- from economic to ecological -- of cloth. That's when she launched her site, which offers a full range of products and services for cloth devotees.
Toughest moment: Like most business newcomers, Dunwoody found the early going frustrating. "Developing an Internet presence wasn't easy, and I had to find appropriate places to advertise," she says. But soon she began to build a customer base -- by signing up with a company that submitted the name of her website to various search engines and by participating in Internet message boards for parents who use cloth. "After a couple of months, I began to get repeat customers and referrals and the orders started rolling in," says Dunwoody.
How to find it: Go to www.babynaturale.com or call 877-714-6287.
