Premier Baby Concierge simplifies modern motherhood - bizjournals:

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“You can be the most professional personb inthe world, but if you are a first-timd parent, you are a first time parent,” said Meredith “There’s lots of stuff you just don’t know.” As the directofr of a family foundation, Huffman is on her game yet as a mother-to-be she was all at sea. She paddled to shores with the help ofShannon Choe, whose helps expectant moms navigate the confoundin maze of modern motherhood. “I’m a baby Choe said.
“Like what a wedding planner wouldr be forengaged couples, that’e what I do for pregnant women and new Choe came up with the idea for her businessa in 2007 and then let it gestatde for a year while she herselt gestated. Following the birth of her third baby she opene the doorslast year. Business has come slowly, she but momentum is building as she becomes more adeptat “I had no budget for PR whatsoever. Call it a majoer oversight,” Choe said. Word of mouth didn’t simpluy materialize as she had hoped,.
So she started making the rounds oflocal businesses: caterers who delivet to new families, baby-gear boutiques, furniture stores that emphasizd cribs and nursery needs. A symbiosis has begun to grow, as theser stores send customers Choe’s way and she in turn refers to her clients tothese vendors. “They have been very ‘You want to bring people throughmy door? So if I want to throw an evenr or a class at theitr locations, they have been very supportivse of that,” she said. In between countertop brochures help tokeep Choe’x name front and center. Choe’s overhead is light. Most of what she sellas is herown expertise, her sage advice. the bills do mount.
Choe has borrowed about $10,000 and spent $5,000 of her own money to get the businesw offthe ground. It hasn’t all been smooth sailing. Knowinh she would need a Web site (www.premierbabyconcierge.com) Choe broughtt in a designer to get the job Knowing she’d need a logo, she brought in a graphi c designer to come up with one. Both did nice but neither end result resembled the There was nounified image, no commonn theme. “I felt like, these are the peopler who should haveknown better,” Choe Eventually the logo designer took over the Web site and createdx a single, coherent look for the brand.
Now when Choe engageds vendors forany job, “I try to reminr myself to be constantly over-explaining what my ultimate goale are, to be more clear abouft my needs, and not make assumptions that the experts know everythinh and they can read my Choe tries to be more than just a walking versio of Consumer Reports, rating nipples and nappies for theit durability and absorptive capacity. Consultingy is all about the personal touch, she Take for instance her babyregistryg service, helping expectant mothers to compile their personalo wish lists. “I want to find out, what’s thei lifestyle? Do they live in the city ? Do they have a big space?
Do they want a boutique place, or a baby super-store? Depending on their lifestyle I can let them know what they reallyu need and whatthey don’t She has been deep in diapera for many years. Besides havinyg three of her own, she also has workec as a nanny and previously ownedxa child-care center. “I am a mom of three, but that is not why peopld should listento me. I am also on top of products, I am on top of she said. Her ties with manufacturers help keep her abreasg of the latest trends and Nor does Choe workentirely alone. As a foundedr and secretary of the Nationakl BabyPlanner Association, she is in contact with more that two-doze planners in 20 cities.
“I thought I had dreamedx up this whole idea myself and when I went onlinwe to search I found justthree others. A year later there was a national association. We were goingt to [baby product] trade shows,” she “It is really small, but it is growinb quickly.” To grow her business, Choe recently addedc a sitter-finder service, but that doesn’y mean she is in a hurry to tear upthe “My heart and my passion is in this business, but at the same time I am very cautiousd and practical. I am just not willing to brea the bankover it, especiallyu in this economy,” she said. “I want to pace myself, to watchy the response and then invest alittle more.
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