Rash to Riches: How I Grew BabyLegs from a Home Business to a Global Brand!

By Nicole A. Donnelly and Jennie Sykes

Nicole A. Donnelly has curated stories that entertain and inspire while sharing how she started and grew BabyLegs from the dining table to a global brand. In each chapter she has outlined how you can do each of the heart centered exercises to apply to your life and your business.

BabyLegs' mission to "Make parents' lives better," is what made this brand such a success.

You will learn how to:
-Discover your personal Values
-Discover your business Values
-Define your Mission
-Communicate you Vision
-Connect with your Community

Donnelly writes in a way that is so simple to understand and so inspiring that you will see and believe that you can do it too!

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Feb 26, 2015
• ISBN: 9781483551449

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INTRODUCTION

I was born to shiver in the draft from an open mind.

– Phyllis McGinley

Selling cookies for profit as a little girl was the first in a long line of successful entrepreneurial ventures for me. Whether I was riding off a big jump at the X Games as a world-class professional snowboarder or launching, growing, and ultimately selling BabyLegs® LLC, a multi-million dollar international business, to a major hosiery manufacturer for a price that exceeded even my own high expectations, performing at the top of my game has always been priority one. Today, I am fiercely committed to sharing the powerful lessons learned along my journey to empower aspiring entrepreneurs to travel their own remarkable, memorable, and profitable paths to success. What I know for sure is that there is marketplace magic in finding extraordinary solutions to common problems. It’s just a matter of making the right steps, taking the right risks, and being prepared to pick yourself up and keep going when things don’t go your way.

I’ve been described as fearless. I’ve been told I live without barriers. Sometimes it’s easier to recognize bravery in others than in ourselves, so it is with great ease that the girl flying through the air on a snowboard is the one we often identify as having a torrent of courage. It isn’t that I live a life without fear—it’s that I choose to live with my fears until they subside; I walk alongside them, embrace them and then harness them into a means of preparation and selfnavigation. In snowboarding, I chose to ride with the greats and learn from them in motion instead of hanging out and watching from the sidelines. It’s this method of not allowing my life to be ruled by the question of What if? and choosing instead to get out there and feel the world around me that has consistently brought me pain as well as every next great chapter of my life.

When my snowboarding career ended and motherhood began, I grew a homespun solution into an international business. From my humble beginnings in our tiny apartment to where I am today, there have been many times when I didn’t have a clue about what I was doing or what my next move would be…in those moments, with fear having returned to my side, I again chose movement over paralysis, and with great persistence, I found the answers that led me to success. My purpose is to share those answers with you so you can achieve your own success.

Several years ago, when I was still working from home with my tiny staff, I learned that a potential Japanese distributor would visit us. I was at once both terrified and excited; I needed a plan. I knew that in Japan, status mattered significantly, so my modest little home office would not be the optimal place to present my business or myself. I chose instead to first reserve a box at the Mariner’s baseball game, then a conference room at the stadium for the initial meeting before the game, and to schedule a jumbotron message to flash a Welcome to our guests. During batting practice, I took my Japanese guests on a tour of the stadium, and by luck, their favorite player was up to bat when we went down to the field. Then, almost unbelievably, a charming stadium attendant chose to give all of my party’s members bobble heads of their favorite Japanese player. From the American brewpub dinner beforehand, to the smiling bobble head in their hands…they loved it all. I not only got the contract, these specific clients ended up being my company’s largest distributor. Granted, I had no control over the surprise gift of bobble heads, what I did have was the resourcefulness to investigate Japanese culture and make use of the things I already had around me. It was easily the best return of any investment I’ve ever made.

As an athlete, I had a lifetime of gymnastics training under my belt before I competed in my first snowboarding competition, and I still had to find the courage to bring myself to the mountain. I had virtually no sense of what it meant to make it in the business world when I launched my first company, through diligence, perseverance, and the willingness to take risks, I found the success some people only dream about. I wouldn’t say I’m fearless…when I’m scared, I take educated risks anyway. I focus on what the bestcase scenario can be for any situation, and then make that scenario into as much of a reality as I can.

So what if you don’t know the difference between UX and SEO? You can look it up and learn what you need to. Any answer you’re searching for is right in front of you and this book is one of them. What this book contains are the best tools I have found, borrowed, and modified to help me turn my dreams and goals into reality. In these pages, you’ll find stories about how you can apply this information to your everyday life and business. You’ll find stories about a challenge, the tool you’ll need to get through it, the resolution, and the results of getting over the hurdle. I offer an honest approach to attaining success because the stories and tools presented here come from real-life success stories.

Chances are, you’ve already had your own share of new or frightening experiences and with them came the knowledge that you dealt effecti ely with those fears or obstacles whatever they were. What this now tells you is that you’ve acquired the ability to deal with new fears and create solutions. Your entire life is spent acquiring the diffe ent tools you’ll need to survive and thrive. This book will give you the practical tools you’ll need to advance through your chosen new adventure.

Several years ago, I was working my first season at Stevens Pass Ski Area in Washington State. I worked in the rental shop, lived in employee housing, and spent every other living moment riding my board. The night before opening day, a fellow employee in the rental shop named Dylan, told me about these incredible natural hot springs that were within hiking distance and asked whether I was interested in finding them with him. I was absolutely up for the adventure.

We embarked into the mountains at ten o’clock at night; there was no visible trail, no path or clear course to follow. We were knee deep in snow, breaking trail, moving forward into a snowy prominence where nothing looked familiar. It was silent as we trudged on, save for the protest of snapping branches in our way.

A buzzing of power lines overhead grew as we progressed. I started to hear other noises, not made by us. I started to think about the other things that might be there with us, just behind one of the trees, or above us on a branch. Cougars are hungry in winter and found readily in the mountains of Washington State. To calm my fears, I started to think about penguins sliding around having fun. Because who doesn’t like penguins—those soft, social little creatures hanging out in Antarctica and curiously waddling around with their friends? The ’re friendly little survivors, knee-deep in snow and having their own wee adventures. Penguins, penguins, penguins, I told myself over and over again. Penguins, penguins, penguins.

Every strange new noise coming from the surrounding forest was just another penguin in my mind. Every sudden jab of sound was merely a penguin poking its head out of the snow, muddling about and looking for its egg. And then we were there. The hot springs were everything and more that my friend had told me. Someone, at some time, had envisioned building simple wooden decking around it, thereby creating this truly awesome and accessible mountain oasis. As we slipped into the tubs, the hike up the mountain left my muscles and mind completely. The blissful calm of a natural hot tub on the side of a mountain was worth every step of our adventure. Of course, there was still the trek back down. And once again, Penguins, penguins, penguins…

I have fear. I am human. And even though I might be afraid to do something, odds are, I’m going to do it anyway. Without succumbing to the mental paralysis of always wondering about what could go wrong, you can slip and slide around, over bumps and off jumps, having fun all along the way, riding like a penguin, and thinking about what could go right. What could go inexplicably, blissfully, satisfyingly right? Everything. Everything could go just as you plan for it, hope for it, and want it to happen. It might be wolves in the woods, and it could also be penguins. You don’t want to miss the view from the top because you were too afraid to break new trail. Especially when you’ve got all the tools you need right here.

This is a book of recipes not rules. Try them out and get creative. Share it with your friends.

Chapter 1

TIMELESS VALUES

Pursue experiences because no one wants to hear stories about all the money you made.

– Simon Sinek

The value you provide most to others is the same value you appreciate most from others.

– Simon Sinek

Values: a collection of guiding, usually positive principles; what one deems to be correct and desirable in life, especially regarding personal conduct.

What you want is to be treated fairly. You want to be treated fairly in your home, among friends and in the workplace. Ideally, you want to work for a company whose core mission and vision reflects the same set of values by which you’ve navigated your own life. With an emphasis on the working instruments of a successful business, such as product and profits, you often lose sight of the merit of values. And there is truly great merit to be found in assessing your values and applying them to the rules and regulations of your businesses. In discovering your core values, you prepare yourself for the first step in your journey toward success. The key here is to be aware of what it is you believe in, what matters most and what you want to be at the unshakable core of your business.

Walt Disney once famously said, Once your values are clear, decisions are easy. Had I taken the opportunity to assess thoughtfully my own values and those of my company in the early days of BabyLegs®, I would have made many decisions diffe ently and perhaps for the better. BabyLegs® was my first real business with employees and an office not just a stand selling something on the weekends.

In my youth, every job that I quit in the span of several years was over a values conflict. One instance was when I worked behind the deli counter of a grocery store, making sandwiches. On that day, all of the lettuce intended for