Dog Food

Where did we get the idea for Montessori By Mom? Dog food. Yep, you read correctly; it was dog food.

Teresa’s sister had tried to do Montessori at home with her son–and it had not been easy. Teresa and her sister would often talk about how to combine the best of homeschool with Montessori. There are many DIY resources online, but they took so much time to research and plan. 

One night, I was surfing the net and saw an article about a monthly box of dog food delivered to your door. “Huh,” I thought, “you could do anything as a subscription.” I looked over at Teresa and the idea hit me: this was the solution! A Toolbox a month could save parents time and money.

It All Seemed So Easy…

A monthly Toolbox of Montessori materials each month seemed like a simple idea when we started. Originally we planned to provide some basic materials for DIY activities: a little string, some beads, and instructions. As we did more research (and talked to Teresa’s sister) we thought that parents would prefer to get more value: actual Montessori materials and other high quality items. Once we decided on the monthly model and a price, we began to look at what it would really take to make it happen. Things began to get a little complicated. 

The Road Up Hill

The whole process has been a lot of fun and very exciting. At the same time, there are new problems each week and it often reminds me of whack-a-mole.

In no particular order: website design, difficulties with high shipping costs, trouble locating suppliers, shopping cart software problems, receiving poor quality goods, legal\safety requirement, marketing, dealing with suppliers in other countries, SEO, items not arriving on time, managing mailing lists, and the list goes on.

There have been soooo many other things that go into starting a small business than I imagined. All the support and encouragement we received has helped a lot, but in the end what we want the most is for kids to get a great education from the people who love them the most. If we can help make that happen, I’ll be happy.

– Nathan Hadsall

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