The Mogul Mom Features…Stephanie Lindquist of Flourish Enrichment

What is your name & how many children do you have?

Stephanie Lindquist, I have 2 kids. A four year old girl named Marin and a seven month old son named Holden.

What’s the name of your company and the inspiration behind it?

My company, Flourish Enrichment, is dedicated to providing the highest quality Interdisciplinary Art Curriculum to kids of all ages. In a society in which investment in art education is being cut or drastically reduced in most schools, my inspiration is to continue children’s exposure to high quality art education. Flourish Enrichment’s curriculum is available on our website, FlourishEnrichment.com, and is very affordable, again, with the idea that I want to make it available to as many children as possible.

What was your start-up cost (rough estimate) and when did your company become profitable? Our start up cost was initially about $50k, but that was because we originally were teaching afterschool art classes and did that for the past 4 years. Recently, we re-launched the business and are now selling online art projects and have no payroll, supply costs or liability insurance so we were able to do this launch for much less. Overall it will cost around $3-5k for this newer business.

What is your current business struggle?

Flourish Enrichment is the natural evolution of a business that I started three and a half years ago, Flourish Community Art School. The Art School business provided after school art classes to children in the Metro Denver area, again with an interdisciplinary approach and a focus on providing the highest quality art education. While the business was successful on a local level, I was not able to scale the business to reach more children on a national basis. The overhead of running the business was simply too high to allow me to graduate to a model in which I could support the regional management that would have been necessary for the business to thrive on a national stage.

After my husband, Robb, was laid off from his comfortable but unsatisfying corporate job in December of last year, he and I spent quite a bit of time evaluating our priorities and options for the business as well as his employment. We both feel very passionately about making high quality art education available to all children, and with that in mind we decided to team up and take the business in the new direction, selling the Flourish art curriculum online and keeping it very affordable in order to make it available to children from all backgrounds. Our biggest challenge right now is raising awareness of our art curriculum and generating a higher volume of traffic on our website. Using social media to build our media list, blogging to get our message out there, utilizing unique strategies like those found in 50 SEO secrets for mom entrepreneurs and strategically marketing our product/website is a huge focus right now.

What is your current business goal?

We have some pretty steep financial projections that we hope to meet with the “new” business, but if you look at the number of children out there and evaluate the level of interest among most parents, the demand is there; we just need to get our name out there. This summer we will continue writing and releasing new curriculum. Our goal is to have over 40 projects available on our website by the end of the summer. The projects will be for Pre-K – 8th Grade students.

What one quality do you think is a “must-have” for a mom entrepreneur?

Commitment. That’s a bit of a catch all, I suppose, because behind that commitment you have to have a vision – know what you want to accomplish and that you will accomplish it. I should also mention that this commitment needs to be shared by your spouse or partner, because starting a business is tough – it takes time, investment, patience, and commitment.When we were at the crossroads and trying to decide what to do with our business at the end of last year, I read the book “The Dip” by Seth Godin and it really reenergized and refocused me. I am so thankful that I stay commited to the business and hopefully we can get through the dip.

What 1 thing or person has been very instrumental in your success?

My husband, Robb! He has supported me both emotionally and financially over the past four years and is now running the business with me. Without him I would not be where I am today. I love my job – I get to paint and draw and create for a living, and it’s all thanks to him!

What is your favorite business book or website? Why?

I just opened my Google reader and I am very discriminate about what I add because I do not have a lot of time…here goes:

1) The Mogul Mom. No kidding, I will literally stop what I am doing to read what Heather sends out. It always seems apropos to what I am working on, and her tips have been invaluable. Heather always writes informative blog posts that aren’t too long, it’s great! (<—-Thanks, Stephanie! I try!)

2) AONC (The Art of Non-Conformity). Chris Guillebeau has written 2 amazing manifesto’s about creating work you love while doing it your way. I love his posts and find him to be very inspirational. He outlines his ideas in his blog, and they are words to live by.

His core philosophy is:

You don’t have to live your life the way other people expect you to.

If you don’t decide for yourself what you want to get out of life, someone else will probably end up deciding for you.

There is usually more than one way to accomplish something.

You can do good things for yourself and help other people at the same time.

3) Seth Godin. I know, I know..everyone reads him! But, he is amazing and to the point. I find him to be witty, insightful and funny.

My favorite business book(s) would have to be:  1)  The Dip by Seth Godin        2) Martha’s Rules by Martha Stewart and 3)  Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris

What is your favorite quote?

My favorite quote is from Daniel Pink, author of “A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future.”

A few years ago, I heard Daniel Pink speak in NYC and he said something along the lines of “There a so many accountants, lawyers, doctors that go home and paint, do pottery, play a musical instrument or play in a band on the weekends, how many Artists go home and do accounting, file a legal brief or attend a lecture on open heart surgery”? The point of his saying this is that opening up the right brain in adults opens a world of possibilities, and training young people THROUGH the arts, gives them an ocean of creative problem solving skills.

Flourish Enrichment is really dedicated to offering art curriculum for kids, but also inspiring adults. Most of my ideas come from adult art projects or exhibits in museums, and I feel that adults should have more creative outlets in their lives. If we can reach people with art when they are kids, they will have more opportunities to grow up and still have art in their lives.

What advice would you give to a new mom entrepreneur?

Be passionate about your business! Be clear about what you want to accomplish, and have a well thought-out plan to get there. Make sure you have the support of your spouse or partner, and be certain that she/he understands that building a successful business will take time. Set goals and track milestones for your business. This will help you stay on track and keep you motivated when things aren’t going as well as you’d like. Be okay with change – you will likely make course corrections as you go, but make sure that each change is well calculated and made very deliberately with a close eye on what you want to achieve with your business. Keep a close eye on your spending. Most of all, above all else, HAVE FUN!!

How can we connect with you? (Email, Twitter, Facebook, The H.O.D., website, etc.)

Website: FlourishEnrichment.com

Email: Stephanie@flourishenrichment.com

Twitter: Art_School

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