Abbey Fatica always knew she wanted to be a mom. When her first child was born, she searched for a way to stay home, and along the way discovered a passion for helping mom entrepreneurs. With the economy struggling, she wondered how she could help mom entrepreneurs start, run and maintain successful businesses in the midst of it all. She founded Living My MoMent, a site that allows mom entrpreneurs to advertise and promote their businesses for free. In just four short months, Abbey already has over 200 mom-owned businesses advertising on her site and it continues to grow every week. Without further ado, we introduce you to Living My MoMent’s founder, Abbey Fatica.
Hometown: Cincinnati, Ohio
Current Residence (City, State): Columbus, Ohio
Education: I have a M.ED in School Counseling and a M.A in Psychology
Professional Background: I was in school for most of my life before becoming a Mommy and really just had internships and worked in restaurants. It wasn’t till I became a Mom that I started working for myself.
What you wanted to be when you grew up: I wanted to be a School Counselor but most importantly a MoM and once my kids are in school I might go back to working in the schools. We’ll see where life takes me.
What you are: I am a Mom, Wife, owner and creator of Living My MoMent, bartender, mom entrepreneur, and friend
Brief Summary of your Start Up: When I became a mom, I knew that I really wanted to be able to stay home with my kids as long as I could and be able to raise them. So after my daughter was born, I began my search for some way to make money at home and I wasn’t coming up with anything that quite piqued my interest.
I really wanted to start my own company making something but again I was at a loss for what to do. I had a lot of different ideas but nothing that came to fruition. Then in April of 2009, I saw Heather from Dooce.com on Oprah talking about how she makes a living writing a blog and I thought it was a great idea.
Now, I just had to come up with an idea that I was passionate about and knew that I would want to do for a long time. With the economy as bad as it has been, I wondered how small businesses were keeping up with the times. That’s when it occurred to me, Wouldn’t it be great to help other moms out that run small businesses?
Living My MoMent was created for mom-owned businesses. I would allow them to advertising their product or business on my website for FREE! This would help expose them to another potential market and hopefully it would grow their business.
Company Website? http://www.livingmymoment.com
What inspired you? I was inspired by other Moms who were running their businesses and still staying afloat even though the country is going through some rough times. Their passion and love for their product is what keeps me going everyday.
How long have you been in business? April 2009
How did you fund it? There weren’t many start up costs for this website.
Do you have a Fairy Godmother (or Mentor)? I can’t really think of one person, but many of the mom businesses that I have worked with have given me great advice!
Do you belong to any Business Organization or Networking Groups? I belong to social networking groups such as Facebook, Twitter, Work it! Mom, Mom Entrepreneur, Mompreneur Café, Twitter Moms and Mommy Millionaire
Current Business Challenge? My current challenge is figuring out how to build my website and bring in more traffic to website through marketing in different venues. I am still very new at this and am learning something new everyday.
What are you doing about it? Through networking with other moms, I have learned many different sites that I can market at, do interviews through, and improve my SEOs. I love hearing what other people are doing to market their product to others
Favorite motivational quote: I don’t really have a motivational quote, but something that I have been living by throughout this whole process is: if you love what you do the money and financial gain will eventually come. Have a passion for your company and others will want to come and see what you are up to.
Family? My loving and supportive husband, John and I have been together for 10 years and married for 3 of those 10. We have a 18 month old spunky daughter named Luci and are expecting our 2nd in December. We also have a 5 year old neurotic Sheltie named Shelly.
If so, how do you balance family and business? My daughter is a great sleeper and still takes a 2.5-3 hour nap during the day, so 5 days a week I can work while she is napping. Sometimes, if I still have projects that I need to accomplish I can do then when she goes to bed. I make sure that Saturdays and Sundays are family days and resting days. I love what I do and I have learned from past jobs that you can’t focus completely on your business because then you will get burned out. Having a weekend off can refuel me for the upcoming week.
Favorite book? I am huge Harry Potter fan, but right now I’m into reading pregnancy books again!
What do you do to relax? I love watching reality tv, especially shows on the Food Network and HGTV. I also read to relax and play with my daughter.
What do you want to change most about your world?
I’m very happy with what is going on with my world at the moment. I would love to continue to get the word out about Living My MoMent so that it can grow into something big. I want to be able to help as many mom-owned businesses I can and it can all start with me.
What are you most proud of?
I am so proud that I am able to stay at home and be my own boss. I love that I don’t have to deal with the daily grind and can watch my daughter evolve in to such a great little person. Even though, I went to college and got two degrees, I always knew that being a mom and raising my children was my ultimate goal and now I’m able to do it.
What advice would you like to offer other Start Up Princesses?
Remember to figure out a way to balance your life. You don’t want your business or your family to struggle without you. Make sure you save some time for yourself and Love what you do!
Favorite Magic Wand (tool/resource)?
My new favorite resource is actually one of the mom businesses that I advertise for and that is The Work at Home Woman by Holly Hanna. She has given me great advice for starting up my own businesses and actually I would have never thought about doing interviews for sites if it weren’t for her suggestions.
If you could design a tiara, what precious stones would you use? Diamonds are definitely a girls best friend, but I would also use the birth stones of the months of each of my family members.
Would you be interested in being a Fairy Godmother and writing articles or speaking at Startup Princess events? Yes
What business subjects would you feel comfortable mentoring in? Advertising your small business, balancing life and family, and blogging
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Lovely website with information for stay at home mums to start their own business. My wife has always wanted to work from the comfort of our home. This will encourage her and start her creative juices flowing.