Momcafe

Tara McCool – Television Host

• Received Fashion Merchandise degree from New York.
• In 1987 applied to A-Channel to be the entertainment reporter. They wanted her to be the 5:00 anchor.
• Never asked herself “can I do this?” Has found this approach works for her.
• Believe in yourself and where you are going.
• Having children changed things. While on maternity leave asked herself, “who am I now?’ Got lost between whether to stay home or go back to work.
• Had to ask, “what makes you whole?’
• With the support of her husband she has been able to do what she does. While working at Global TV, she was up at 2:45 am and needed her husband on side as she couldn’t do this alone. Husband understands they are a team.
• Is balance possible? Something always suffers. Strive for perfect balance for that day.
• “Life Balance is an insidious myth. Picasso, Oprah, and Einstein – they weren’t aiming for balance, they were aiming to rock their genius, and they’ve all had periods of burn out.”
• Give yourself credit for everything you do – embrace your reality.
• Need moments at home, but not every night. Need to get out and meet others as this also keeps you whole.
• Keep “like minded” friends you can rely on and trust.
• Lucky people see their opportunities while unlucky people don’t see the opportunities and are not open to them.
• Don’t think about it….act upon it!
• Be a whole person as a working mom. Rely on close friends, fellow entrepreneurs and your husband.
• You have to ask for what you want, if you are valuable and value what you want.

Ellen Percival, Publisher Calgary’s Child Magazine

• Statistic from 16 years ago: 50% of home based businesses fail.
• Didn’t care about the statistic and this was their advantage.
• Started 16 years ago looking to provide a magazine for parents looking for support services, classes, etc. and for businesses looking to reach out to parents.
• Ellen’s background is dental. For first 3 years put all the money back into the business and therefore continued to work part time in the dental field.
  Structured meetings around her kid’s schedules and locations.
• Relies on conference calling. Uses technology to link their 6 home offices.
  Started with 10,000 copies and has grown to 60,000. Also digital, website, facebook and twitter.
• Stop trying to find balance years ago….now strives for harmony. Some days the focus is on business and sometimes it is on family.
• Made mistakes along the way. She and her partner showed up at the printers to pick up their first 10,000 copies of the magazine in their own cars and thought they could distribute themselves!
• Important to give back. For example, mentoring calls to fellow entrepreneurs. This will come back to you as one day you might need them too.
• Strategic alliances – lots of media as well as other companies. Regular Global TV and Calgary Herald pieces.
• A good partner is golden. She and partner Sherry were very different. Both brought different skill sets to the business. Sherry had a journalist background and Ellen’s background was marketing and business management. It is good to have a partner to lean on. Sherry died 4 years ago, it was a difficult time, full of uncertainty but Ellen was inspired by Sherry’s mantra of “you can do it, you can do anything”. Make your own rules…..you can do it!

Question and Answer Period

1) Tips on getting into the Media

• You have to make things easy – write the press release and send it to the right person. Call and get the spelling of name and their position title. Get the producer of the show and any other producers or writers. Send to anyone you can, but be sure to key in on specific people.
• Lay it out for them explaining exactly what you will do – “I will make it a dynamic, visual segment”.
• Send product to radio personalities – they will likely talk about it on the air.
• Remember these shows are on everyday and are constantly looking for material.
  If you’re selling a service – state how it will help their readers/viewers.
  Drop off your product specifically to someone and then follow up – not just the hosts, need to pitch to the producers and writers.
• Volunteer Calgary puts together a list of all media and contact names. Costs about $35.
• Once you prove yourself, they will continue to use you.
• Also need to have family or friends who are willing to speak publically about your product or service.

2) How do I make my advertisement stand out?

• Give tips – make it advertorial. 3 key messages –What you do, how you do it and what it will do for you.
• Add some colour.
• Might need to look at different delivery channels if you have a lot to get across.

3) If you work with one media can I approach another without offending the first?

• If you are their expert, you might not want to go to other media as the media likes to have their own experts.
• Recommend putting in at least one year before expanding, but do it carefully.
  Be honest and up front with both parties and try to differentiate and do something completely different with the other media.

Click here to see video clip, thanks to Shawna Toth, Small Wonder:Cherished Moments on Video.