Amy Bergin (pictured with her
husband Michael)
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Amy Bergin who lives outside
of Atlanta, Georgia, invented a product -- a coupon organizing system
for busy moms who want to save money and keep track of all those coupons
they clip out when they just KNOW that
they’ll save a bunch of money if they use a coupon. Although
she started with a good idea, it’s the partnership with her husband
that really gave this business it’s solid footing, and also, its wings:
“My husband is CFO of our company and we work hard to remember we are
on the same team! We are first there for each other and then we
are parents of 3 wonderful blessings from God, age 6, 3, and 21 months,
and then the business stuff gets the rest of our attention, not the
other way around!!
“My story is that after becoming a stay at home Mom, I found myself
with little skill at managing the household finances. I thought I knew
how to spend money – however when a zillion motivations to spend hit
after having a baby and quitting my job, I realized I needed to work
on my spending skills since I was managing 80% of all the spending for
the household. So, I created my own system for keeping up with
coupons and tracking my spending, saving and it naturally evolved into
a useful tool for anyone with the same struggle. I launched it
into the marketplace in 2002 and the rest is history. We have won 2
national awards for product excellence, my product is now endorsed by
a large non-profit financial ministry and newspapers from across the
country are writing about it.
“Before having children, my career was in corporate training with The
Coca-Cola Company. Once I became pregnant with our first child,
my husband and I decided that quitting my full time job to stay home
with her was the best choice for our family. I purchased a coupon organizer
at the grocery store and used it for 2 months before it fell apart. Frustrated
that I could not find a suitable replacement, I designed for myself
an organizer out of a plastic photo book by converting the photo pockets
into coupon pockets with my own categories. This worked well and
my friends at playgroup noticed my coupon organizer that I had made
and since I had custom designed it, I was really saving money. Then
a friend who had a marketing background saw it and encouraged me to
take it to market.
“Over the last few years, we’ve gone from testing and prototype, to
successfully selling out at home shows and the traffic on our website
has picked up immensely. Although we’ve been through our share of “hair-raising�
moments, (like the time my oldest daughter was 2 and she took my coupon-cutting
scissors and decided to give herself a haircut!), through all the postpartum
crying, and hiccups along the way, my partnership with my husband has
thrived. We both seem to be able to let the other do what each of us
is best at, and together, we are so much better than either of us could
be on our own.
“What has been much more difficult is managing the needs of my family,
the household, and a start-up business. I try to daily remind myself
of my priorities - putting relationships first, then the business. At
the end of the day, the business cannot give to me what my faith and
family can which is love, laughter, comfort and a sense of belonging.�
Excerpted from an article by Azriela Jaffe. |
