Features Column

Some busy moms just get busier

Life with children

By joseph gallivan

The Portland Tribune, Feb 12, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009

<< Prev. Page 1 | 2

Despite these oddities, her goal is a common one for a restaurant.

“The focus is on pleasing the customer,” she says.

Products inspire new venture

Paula DeVore runs Babyworks (www.babyworks.com), which sells earth-friendly baby products: cloth diapers, baby lotions, wooden toys, organic cotton clothes … all the stuff that has been taking market share from the disposable, synthetic lifestyle in the past decade and has almost reached critical mass.

When she had her first child, Kristin, in 1981, conservationist DeVore tried to go with cloth diapers but gave up after a day because she couldn’t make them work. Turns out the diaper service had sent her toddler-size diapers for her 7-pounder, which is like wrapping a Barbie in a bathmat.

There was no support network back then. Once the problem was corrected she was a dutiful cloth user, with pins and plastic pants. When she had her second child, Emily, in 1988, she discovered the easy-to-use Nikky diaper covers from Japan.

“A light bulb went on,” she says. “I wondered if I could promote this cool product as a business and help people at the same time.’ ”

So with $500 of inventory, she started a mail order business in her home in Washington County. After two years she added the Diaper Duck: plastic tongs for dunking clumpy cloth diapers in the toilet.

Now there are hundreds of products. The inventory is driven by what customers are asking for, and they are now all across the U.S. Orders are filled from 2537A N.W. Upshur St., which is open for retail three days a week.

DeVore likes her customers, contrasting them with “the people you sometimes see at the mall at 10 o’clock at night who set poor examples of parenting.”

Her three kids now range from 17 to 27, but she’s still around a flow of infants. It’s market research and a perk at the same time.

“I see well-loved babies all day – it’s a high for me. The customer base is a very functional group of people.”

And, she adds, “They’re also virtually fraud-free. I’ve only had two bad checks in 20 years.”

Maybe America’s mothers can teach America’s CEOs something? Treat customers like kids. Nice kids.

josephgallivan@portlandtribune.com

<< Prev. Page 1 | 2

Facebook	Digg	Del.icio.us
Newsvine	Stumbleupon	Reddit