MOM BIZ SPOTLIGHT: TAMMY GENTRY / PENNY STONES
Posted by Tisha Tolar on June 23, 2009
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Company Description:
CMD Gifts, LLC, makes gifts to enhance communication and strengthen relationships. CMD Gifts’ premier product, Penny Stones, are elegant and fun conversation starters. Available at gift stores nationwide, Penny Stones are manufactured in Cleveland, Ohio by people with disabilities. Tammy Gentry, CEO of CMD Gifts and creator of Penny Stones, is an expert on communication and a dynamic public speaker. For more information about CMD Gifts and Penny Stones, please visit www.pennystones.com.
Tammy Gentry and her family loved playing with conversation stones that were a gift from a friend. She had the idea to create new product. She wanted to see what people’s initial reaction would be, so she created some stones as gifts for friends.
Tammy was a stay-at-home mom when she started Penny Stones but she had a background in sales, advertising, and marketing before she became a mom. She says her family has been very supportive. Tammy has three children, ages 9.8, and 6.Through the success of her business, she even has enabled her husband to work in the accounting side of her business. Her children think it’s great that she has started her own business. The downside for them is Tammy’s traveling to trade shows and meetings.
Like many mom business owners, she has trouble “turning off” when the school day ends. She says “I’ve gotten better, but there’s always something I want to work on and my children have started to resent the computer.” She currently works out of her master bedroom. It used to be her habit to wake up and turn on the computer but she has learned instead to make the kids a priority and only after the bus leaves does she get to work. She starts with a to-do list before heading in to eamil to keep her priorities straight. Otherwise she says “my inbox can inadvertently become my “to do” list and things with a higher priority don’t get done. I make all my appointments between 9 and noon (when my kindergartener gets off the bus; can’t wait for next year!)
Since her business is out of the startup phase, Tammy has been able to shift focus a bit. “Now that the process of starting a business is behind me, I’ve shifted my focus back towards my family. In the beginning, there were so many things I had to do at once, it didn’t seem like I could ever slow down. My family was understanding and supportive but I knew they needed more attention from me. Now that we’ve been in business for almost a year, I’ve been able to settle in to the role of owner/CEO and not put such high expectations on myself.”
Her own struggles of feeling overwhelmed result from having to appear at trade shows. “I feel especially overwhelmed before a tradeshow. In the past, I worked at tradeshows for large companies. I would show up, do my job in the booth, and go home. Now I’m responsible for every aspect of the booth. I try to write every detail down and do as much as I can beforehand. My motto is ‘Do the best you can with what you have.’ I try to remember that and not get too stressed about all the details.”
Tammy feels good about the encouragement she gets from other women. “The most rewarding thing is the reaction I have received from other women when they find out I started my own company. They are so supportive and encouraging. I never thought I would be an inspiration to anyone.” She advises other entrepreneurs looking to market a product, to consider all that is involved. “It’s very expensive to start a company and get a new product known. Estimate how much money you think you’ll need to start your company. Double that amount and you might be close.”
Tammy’s final words of wisdom for the entrepreneur: Do the best you can with what you have. You’ll make it better as you go.
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