Kim DeYoung of Orange didn’t launch her company in 2000 with the goal of being a resource to other women entrepreneurs. It just happened that way for the mother of three, serial entrepreneur, business coach, and founder of MetroMom.com.
What started as a line of hip maternity clothing has slowly morphed into what DeYoung dubs the “Get It Done Resource” for motivated mom entrepreneurs.
After she stopped production of the maternity clothing, DeYoung rebranded MetroMom.com into a resource for women in sales.
“It started as a community in which I was looking initially to bring together women in direct sales with the thought that they all had the same goal,” DeYoung said, of women who sold products such as Mary Kay cosmetics. “I thought, there’s a lot more you can support each with than not.”
While DeYoung had created a niche market for herself, other women professionals sought out her help.
“There were women not in direct sales who approached me and said, ‘We need community and your learning’ so I really expanded it to serve the entrepreneurial mom and women in general.”
Today, MetroMom.com, operated by DeYoung with volunteer support from other professionals, provides a wide variety of informational products, programs, classes and self-study programs.
“The women who come to my site have lots of ideas but may be stuck because they don’t know what to do with their ideas and they don’t feel good – they aren’t making the difference that they want,” DeYoung said. “They come to me and I provide them with various programs and classes to help them achieve their goals.”
DeYoung’s Get it Done Coaching Programs include a self-study class on using a blog to build an effective internet presence, a live class that teaches how to create an info-product in three easy steps, and an interactive group program called the Get it Done Challenge, which teaches DeYoung’s five steps for getting things done.
Evana Maggiore is president of Fashion Feng Shui International of Woburn, Mass., a company that teaches people how to make authentic and empowering wardrobe choices. Maggiore has used DeYoung’s private consulting services and participated in her Get it Done program.
Maggiore said DeYoung helped her complete a video project that she had begun a year earlier and had become stuck on. “She had me envision the person to whom I wished to share this information, and then she devised a very clear to-do list that pulled all the separate pieces together so it made sense for me,” Maggiore recalled. “I value Kim’s ability to see the root of a problem and admire her talent for being able to get anything done — fast. She has an amazing ‘eye’ and mind.”
DeYoung said her business has been successful because of the increased need for her services. Whether forced out of the corporate world because of job loss or because they simply don’t want to be part of the corporate world any longer, more and more moms are searching for financial success through unique work situations.
As a mother of three, DeYoung said she can relate to the other mothers who want to do it all – spend time with their kids and work from home. But, she said many women have to learn how to manage it.
“Women often think because they’re busy, they’re productive,” she said. “It’s realizing if your business is not where you want it to be, you have to look in the mirror – am I clear about my path, do I have a course of action for the day of the things I want to get done?”
DeYoung said Metromom.com has thrived because she has stayed focused on her target market, paid attention to what they needed and made adjustments accordingly.
“If the people you serve don’t care about what you’re giving them, you don’t really have a business,” she said.
The Women in Business Champion of the Year award is given to business owners who show efforts to increase business and financial opportunities for women, advocate for the women-owned business community as a whole and demonstrate effectiveness in improving the environment for the creation and expansion of businesses owned and operated by women.
“What she does is help others achieve their own dream, especially women looking to come back into the workforce,” said Julio Casiano of the SBA’s Connecticut office. “To see this in our community is fantastic.”