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Yahoo! Featured Small Business - March - Dec. 2001
Yahoo! Featured Small Business March - Dec. 2001
GeniusBabies.com - SMART MONEY
Ask three-year-old Trisha Arpas what her mom's company does and the original genius baby summarizes the business plan remarkably well, "They send goody baskets to genius babies." With that simple concept and the help of Yahoo! Store, Michelle Donahue-Arpas has gone from social work supervisor to stay-at home "mompreneur." Her business is now doing over 1,000 orders a month and she's just hired another full time employee - her husband George.
Michelle's nine years of work experience with emotionally disturbed children inspired her idea of selling toys that stimulate mental development in babies and young children. Her initial venture into e-commerce, however, didn't work out so brilliantly. She spent nine months relying on a web developer to build and maintain her site before she learned of Yahoo! Store through an e-biz women's group she attended. "Many of my fellow small business owners raved about their Yahoo! Store successes, so I decided it was worth a look. Yahoo! Store had all the tools I needed to operate my business like a major merchant, and I was able to understand and apply these tools during my very first visit. When I realized I could actually do it all myself it gave me complete freedom. I was no longer beholden to someone else's schedule or fees to get things done."
Shortly after that first visit Michelle had her Yahoo! Store up and running, and immediately felt the impact of built-in traffic from the Yahoo! network. "Being in front of such a huge audience and utilizing the vast affiliate system has generated more business than any expensive marketing campaign ever could. Our business has already exceeded our wildest dreams and we're really just getting started."
