This Mom-Entrepreneur Duo Will Inspire You to Find a Problem & Build a Business
Last year, my students worked with Jen Auerbach and Adriel Danae on a marketing project for a class I teach at Vanderbilt University. These ladies (pictured above) are the founders of the Clary Collection. As two new mothers, Clary Collection’s co-founders were struggling to find the best way to care for their children and themselves.
Here’s how they explain the challenge and their willingness to close the gap, “Our transition into motherhood sparked many changes in us, one of which was a tuning in to our bodies as they started to function as givers of life and home to our children. This brought new awareness to our need for clean food, products and environments…Recognizing that the skin is the body’s largest organ and that it absorbs a great deal of environmental toxins, we sought out truly clean moisturizers and balms, as they were the most essential items in our skincare routines. However, we continually came up short….With curiosity and determination, we began to seek alternatives that brought us back to a time when our ancestors carried practical knowledge and crafted useful connections between what they cultivated and gathered from the earth and how they healed. We read books and began to ask questions and share ideas with friends, neighbors, midwives, grandmothers and teachers. And we started experimenting.”
Their efforts to find a problem that they could uniquely solve led to the creation of the Clary Collection. They’ve been featured in Vanity Fair, Vogue, InStyle, and numerous other publications throughout the year and their collection offers a balm, bath-and-body oil, and a nipple balm. These items, made for moms – by moms, are beautiful packaged in 1930s style containers.
In recent months they have expanded their offerings to include totes and t-shirts. Featuring the phrase “Naturally Empowering Women.” A portion of profits from the sale of each tote is donated to Safe Haven Family Shelter in Nashville, TN. This shelter’s mission aligns with Clary’s efforts to empower families.
Clary’s founders were uniquely positioned to solve the ailments of new mothers, because they were dealing with the challenges themselves and were passionate about making a difference.
This is the story of many successful entrepreneurs. They are able to see a problem, determine how they are uniquely positioned to solve it, create a product or service to address the issue, and create a business model to support the mission that aligns with their values.
Questions for you to consider:
- What problems are you uniquely positioned to solve?
- What are you willing to devote yourself to?
- What are you passionate about?
- If you could spend the next 10 years fixing an issue, what would it be?
- What is your conscious telling you?
A Video to Get You Thinking
If you aren’t sure whether or not you are on track with finding your purpose, take a look at this video. In it, I pose a few questions to get you thinking.
I wish you all the best as you work to clarify and accomplish your purpose.
Patrick Leddin, PhD is a speaker, global leadership consultant, and The Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Five-Week Leadership Challenge. Patrick is an Associate Professor at Vanderbilt University with a thriving leadership blog and podcast, and 25-years of leadership experience. He offers an unparalleled mix of academic rigor and real-world experience.