Single mom entrepreneur makes millions with lunchbox idea: The Saturday Weekend Review #86

BACK TO SCHOOL IDEAS

 

I’ve always believed that an entrepreneur has to believe in their product more than anyone else to get it off the ground.

How many times do you have an idea in your head and think if only I could make a proto-type and sell it to make millions?

I’m the worst for not caring about turning my ideas into something more even though I hear my wife once in a while say, “That’s a brilliant idea”.

Who knows maybe I am flushing money down the toilet but it takes a special person to want to run with their ideas.

I bet there have been many occasions something has popped into your head although it doesn’t necessarily mean it will be a hit, but what if it was?

 

Entrepreneurial ideas

 

Becoming and entrepreneur is not an easy task and even young entrepreneurs must have the same devotion to their ideas as an adult.

Coming up with good entrepreneur ideas are the end all be all for some people who hang out in social entrepreneurial groups where they might chat about their ideas and help each other bring their dreams to life.

Owning a small business or simply opening one with the best entrepreneur idea in your area might end up setting you up for life if you have what no one else has. I was reading an article on Yahoo where a single mom who was broke came up with a brilliant idea for a lunchbox after her kids were complaining about their lunch getting too warm.

I know we all have these troubles if we don’t have an insulated lunchbox which I do have. Nothing is worse than soggy, hot food in your lunch, especially fruit. If you want your kids to come home with an empty lunchbox then parents have to make sure they pack the lunchbox so the food stays as fresh as it was when it went in.

How do you do that though? Well, Melissa Keiling scored big time when she designed a lunchbox with gel packs and opened her small business in 2008 called “PackIt” which is slated to bring in $16 million dollars in 2014. She’s taken an idea and turned it into a big business.

It’s not easy to come up with the cash every year to pay for all the bells and whistles your child needs to return for a new school year. Stay at home mom Melissa was left broke after her divorce and with three kids knows all too well what living without the means to make ends meet is like.

Sometimes it pays to listen to a child. One thing she did right from the start was listen to her kids needs and went above and beyond to make sure their lunch experience was better than what they were getting at the time.

What is PackIt (no affiliate) Lunchboxes? I went to the official website to read more about this popular back to school must have for all parents and kids.

• An insulated lunch box that out-chills other lunch coolers- That’s important for sure
• Easy to store, fold up in your freezer- Another plus
• Made with non-toxic food safe materials
• Saves money in your budget by packing a lunch– I love this one.
• Pack healthier lunches
• Multi-use- not just for sending a lunch to school in. I like this!

Not only does she have the lunch bag she has the wine cooler, freezable grocery bag, freezable picnic bag, freezable snack bag and many more.

In the summer we are always complaining about ice-cream melting before we get home or our dairy going off so I love the idea of the freezable grocery bag which costs $24.99 where the lunch bag costs $19.99 which is reasonable especially if you can conquer potential food waste.

 

Entrepreneur financial support

 

She got to work putting her lunchbox idea with a shower curtain, ice packs and safety pins then asked a local shop to sew her proto-type together for her with a gel idea she had.

Of course you need money to bring your product to the masses so with the support of her family and her determination she did just that with over $200,000 in financial backing which later turned into millions with private investors. You know you’ve hit it when you the rich people want to invest in your product.

 

Successful entrepreneur

 

Obviously the lunchbox was a huge hit and is still going strong today with the many other products available. What intrigued me about the article besides reading about successful women entrepreneurs was the characteristics needed to be successful in a tough market.

It’s true you can’t just come up with an idea for a product and hope that it just explodes and you pocket cash. Successful entrepreneurs know that if they are to succeed they must think ahead of people and figure out a need that is not in the market.

What really struck me as important for any entrepreneur to understand is what Inc. Magazine editor-in-chief Eric Schurenberg said in the article.

If you have an idea, the determination, the creativity and the focus, you can actually succeed.

So if you think you have an idea that the world needs to toss it in the trash investigate it further if you are determined to succeed and have that focus that will take that idea to the top.

What entrepreneur type ideas have you come up with that you wanted to make a proto-type for but didn’t bother?

 

CBB at home and the blog

 

Home…

 

Besides waiting for our baby to make his/her entrance into this world to meet us we’ve kept busy motoring through all the things parents do before baby arrives.

At home this past week it’s been a mad rush to get this bathroom completed. I’ve made a few runs back and forth to the hardware store to pick up my shower kit because someone managed to get the custom order but forget about it. It wasn’t until my pregnant wife came in with me and let them have it.

I did ask about it but my wife was right especially when it comes to renovating and you have to place orders for materials you must follow-up with the business even if it’s daily. There are people out there that forget or don’t move as fast as they could to get an order filled, like in this case.

We have our shower kit now and I’ve put the water-proofing kit in and I’m full force into tiling. We had to make a run back for more decorative glass tiles and had a wander around looking for a new mirror. We are still missing some bits like the mirror, lights, counter-top, glass shower door and jacuzzi taps which I will order this coming week.

I’m not too worried about tiling from floor to ceiling or putting in the heated floors because it won’t be too much noise especially if baby is here. I’m trying to get all the noisy stuff out-of-the-way. Next time I’m starting a project WELL in advance so I can get it done. If you think you can pull something off on your own like on HGTV don’t fool yourself.

Renovations done right take time and I’m of the type who measures over and over and makes sure everything is perfect. I don’t want to have issues down the road. So, that’s where we are at and in between it all I’ve managed to mow the grass and take care of the property but that’s about it.

During downtime we are in the kitchen drumming up new recipes, mostly muffins for some reason. We made some milk chocolate chunk muffins yesterday which turned out pretty darn good. Recipe will on the blog soon. Stay tuned!!

Blog…

The blog has been quiet in terms of spam which is nice because it was just getting out of control. I hardly get any spam so three cheers for Grayson for sorting that out for me.

Other than that the blog has been very busy which I’m thrilled about. It’s nice to see the increase of traffic even on the days that I don’t blog because I was worried about that. With the baby on the way I don’t know how often I can blog but I will do my best to stick to the schedule I have set out.

 

Guest posts wanted

 

If you are a Personal Finance Blogger I’m looking to book High Quality Guest Posts for the months of September and October to help me out. It’s a great way to share your thoughts and the way you write with the thousands of fans who visit each week.

If you are interested please contact me today as spots are filling up.

~MR.CBB

 

Weekly CBB posts

 

If you missed any CBB posts from the week here is the list of posts you can catch up on reading! You will notice that I’m only posting 5 days a week now on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. If you would like to guest post please contact me with your blog post ideas.

• Step-brothers advice about selling a vehicle turns sour quickly
• Tryvertising a new way to test out new products for free
• Couple’s happy retirement on hold until son moves out
• Creamy beet crunch
• Part-time work while attending University kept me debt free

 

Fan deals and inspirations

 

Submit your Brag or Inspiration If you have a brag that you want me to share email me at canadianbudgetbinder (@) [yahoo] [.ca] or fill out my contact form by Friday each week to have your brag considered for the Saturday post.

This week Jen shares a great deal she picked up on granola bars while grocery shopping and if you are an Air Miles collector you might want to watch out for deals like this one~

Metro has a deal on granola bars now 5/$10 and earn 20 bonus air miles. I went in to buy some granola bars and noticed there was also a buy 4 get 1 free coupon valid on Quaker. I got 5 boxes for the price of 4 (worked out to $1.60 a box) and 20 bonus air miles!)

• Total with tax was $9.30.  Coupon value was $2.00.

 

Making a difference

 

If you know a personal finance blogger that is making a difference and want to nominate them please send me an email canadianbudgetbinder (@) yahoo.ca so I can reach out to them for a feature story.

Note: If you are a blogger who gives back and would like to be featured get in touch with me as I am booking spots for the rest of 2014 and they are going quickly.

Today my mate Chris who runs the blog Wallet Impact is here to share his blog with us and don’t forget to check out the lovely message he left for all of you at his blog by clicking his link below. Thanks Chris for dropping by! -Mr.CBB

Wallet Impact

I want to thank Mr. CBB for allowing me to contribute to Making a Difference, I am truly humbled by it. My name is Chris Holdheide and I run a site called Wallet Impact. This is a site dedicated to helping people escape the paycheck to paycheck trap, stop getting by, and start living.

I started this site primarily because this is personally a big issue that I am going through and I felt as I learn more about how to escape this problem I can share this great info with others to help them as well.

To help people I am sharing strategies to save and earn extra money. On top of that I do a monthly interview sharing unique and interesting ways others are going about saving and earning extra money.

I feel people want to learn more about these things but they just don’t have the necessary tools or advice on how to get started and that is the real problem that this site solves.

In fact when people come to Wallet Impact the first thing I offer them is a free guide to show them how to start saving money by giving them a simple plan with clear cut advice on how to get started.

One of the most fulfilling things for me has been helping people understand that you don’t have to live life in a rut, because there is so much more to it than being in debt and having all your money tied up in things that do nothing more than drain your true potential.

To wrap up, if you could free up even just $500 of your monthly cash flow what would that do for you? I’m willing to bet it could change your entire financial situation and more. I know it has for me.

So if you want to you want to escape the paycheck to paycheck trap you can check out this special page I created just for Canadian Budget Binder readers and get my 3 Step Plan To Save A $1000 In The Next 30 Days.

 

Top recipe

 

If you don’t already know I have a second Facebook page called The Free Recipe Depot where I share recipes from other Foodie Bloggers from around the world.

Once a week I pick one recipe that has been submitted as my Top Recipe of the week. Trust me when I say this is no easy task as some of these foodies can cook up a storm.

This week I fell in love with a recipe that uses peaches only because I love peaches and they are in season which makes this a frugal recipe for anyone to take on and make for the family. This recipe is for Peach Dumplings with a lovely sauce and top it off with Vanilla Bean Ice-cream and it’s a match made in heaven. Enjoy this recipe compliments of Seduction In the Kitchen.

 

Editor’s Pick

 

Every week I will pick a blog post of the week from around the web that I found interesting and want to share with you and an Editor’s top blog post pick.

Editor’s blog post pick of the week

This week I read a post at My Road to Wealth and Freedom titled “Retirement Income” which was written after reading Mark from My Own Advisor’s post titled “Retirement Numbers and Rules“.

This post reminded me that I really need to think about future funds and what my wife and I expect from our retirement fund streams. How are you saving for your retirement?

I thought it was interesting when Mark says that OAS and CPP is just “Icing on the Cake” in his comment to this post which means he has a clear idea of where his retirement streams are taking him.

 

Weekly Features around the web

 

If you featured CBB and I missed you it’s because I haven’t been made aware but thank-you kindly for thinking of CBB.

We were fortunate this week to have CBB writer Katrina interviewed and featured on Yahoo Canada Finance in a blog post for those wanting to host a baby shower on a budget. I hope you enjoy the read and are as thrilled as Katrina and I both are to have Yahoo consider us.

• The Heavy Purse
• Our Big Fat Wallet
• Mo Money Mo Houses (If you live in the Toronto Area and want to meet up with Jessica from Mo Money Mo Houses and Cait from Blonde on a Budget they have 32 seats left and the event is FREE. This is your chance to meet to wonderful personal finance bloggers in Canada in person with your questions on Wed, Sept 3,2014 from 6pm-8pm. Details at the link above.

Canadian Budget Binder was also named one of the Ten Best Canadian Personal Finance Blogs from Badcredit.org so a huge thank-you goes out to them.

 

Google search terms

 

Every week I get thousands of people visit Canadian Budget Binder because they did a search online and found my blog. Keep in mind any spelling errors below are because I share with you the exact way they typed their search engine query to land on my blog.

• Living on a welfare diet– Is there such a thing? Food is food.
• My common-law can’t control his spending- Sometimes people have to hit rock bottom before they “get it” financially.
• How much are groceries?- Take yourself to the grocery store and find out.
• Spent 2 hours at a grocery shop– Wow, either you are a thorough shopper or you just love the grocery store

Thanks for joining me for this edition of The Saturday Weekend Review #86. Join me here again for more crazy stories from around the web and at home!

 

 

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• If you like FREE then click this link for my FREE Excel Budget Spreadsheet and all my Free Money Saving Lists!

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• The Saturday Weekend Review #81: Leaving children alone when you can’t afford a babysitter
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• The Saturday Weekend Review #84: Lying on your resume can get you fired
• The Saturday Weekend Review #85: Part-Time work while attending University kept me debt free

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