Bootstrapped: Meet Kristi G

Business, Money

By Kristi Gorinas

For our new series “Bootstrapped: Small business chronicles,” Avvo will be partnering with a number of small business owners as they blog about their experiences starting and running a small business. The series will cover a variety of topics: challenges and successes, tips and advice, trends and insights, and more, as these small business owners share their journeys.

Our first featured writer is Kristi Gorinas, founder and CEO of the Kristi G Company. We met Kristi during an entrepreneurial segment on The Meredith Vieira Show. This is her story.

Meet Kristi Gorinas

My name is Kristi Gorinas. I’m a wife, mother to five girls and a “mompreneur” from Lawrenceville, Georgia. I’m a typical type-A person and, among other things, that means when I set my mind to something, I get it done.

My drive can be an asset, but some might call it a liability. Work-life balance … is that a thing? I am super busy trying get my business off the ground and when I’m not doing that, I’m trying to keep up with my husband’s and kids’ social calendars, as well as doctor, dentist, orthodontist – you name it – appointments. I’m typically either focused on business or focused on family, not quite balancing both at the same time. I think, like everyone, I’m still trying to figure it out.

As an entrepreneur and small business owner, I am most proud of turning an idea into a real product, then trying to turn it into a real business. But staying sane and strong can be difficult along the way. There are so many lows – very low lows – that I’ve been tempted to give up dozens of times. Luckily, a good night’s rest and the support of a loving husband helped me get through it.

My work ethic role model is my father. He’s hard working, mentally tough, but not afraid to ask for help. He taught me to be the best I could be, whatever I was doing – even if that was scooping poop. He would say, “be the best pooper-scooper ever.”

My goal is, first and foremost, to use my ideas to make my small business a success. Then, find an investor to help me build the necessary infrastructure for much bigger sales. Eventually, I would love to collaborate with my other mompreneur friends by bringing their products under my company umbrella.

The idea

Before I ever thought about starting my own business, I spent 15 years working in human resources in a variety of industries. Experience with different types of businesses and with hiring hundreds of professionals taught me valuable lessons about finding and working with good people, which was key to starting my business.

So where did I begin? Although there’s nothing I love more than being a mom to my girls, I was bored and kind of depressed when I was home changing diapers and cleaning all day. I looked like crap because I never had to go anywhere besides the grocery store, and I didn’t really feel good about myself. During those stay-at-home years, I was always talking about starting my own business or franchising – maybe an “executive-like” cleaning service with chocolates on the pillows. Basically, I was searching for something other than spending 100 percent of my time at home raising babies.

I didn’t watch much daytime TV, but because my friend was so tired of me talking about all of my ideas, she insisted I watch this Oprah segment, “Moms Who Made Millions.” I taped it and finally watched it a few weeks later in February 2007. The show featured a woman who was having craft day with her three little girls when she came up with an idea to decorate their Crocs. She ended up selling the company to Crocs for $20 million … yeah, $20 million. I turned off the TV and actually said to myself, “I have FOUR girls and lots of ideas. I know one of them could be a hit.”

So that very day I sat at my desk and thought about what I needed to help me simplify life with four girls. I always looked a bit out of control with a baby and three other little ones running around, plus my kids never liked sitting in a stroller. I needed something like an outdoor baby jumper that would keep the youngest secure and comfortable – something for her to stretch her legs and maybe even stand in. That’s when the Go With Me Chair was conceived.

The business

Next, I needed to figure out how to design and develop the product. I got on the Internet, did some research and found a graphic artist who was able to sketch out my ideas. Originally, I just wanted to sell the idea itself and I actually found a company that wanted to buy it. I thought for sure I was going to get a licensing deal, but after four months of back-and-forth, the deal fell apart.

So with little money and no experience, I set out to make my idea a reality on my own. Luckily, I had connected with another entrepreneur who had extensive experience in the baby product industry. I showed her my designs and she instantly wanted to partner with me to bring the chair to market. She had connections in China, and after two long years of development, the chair was ready to go.

Going into this, I didn’t know anything about trademarks, patents, public relations and marketing, e-commerce, accounting, sales, purchasing, safety requirements or importing. All things, it turns out, you need experts for. I was also trying to deal with a factory in China where the language barrier often cost me time and money. I tried to manage it all on my own to save money – unsurprisingly, it was a lot to deal with.

I put everything on the line because I really believed in the product. I used our family’s savings, our 401K, our credit cards and even took out a second mortgage on our home. After a few months of selling the chair on my own, I couldn’t keep up with the demand or the cash flow that I needed to fund the inventory.

I was able to set up a meeting with a large retail chain, but when they asked how I would produce enough chairs for 4,000 stores, I had no clue what to do next. Then a baby website sold 320 chairs in just eight minutes, and I completely ran out of inventory. It was then that I decided to revisit the idea of a licensing deal in order to keep up with demand, remove some stress from my end, and, hopefully, take the business to the next level.

Unfortunately – or fortunately, depending on how you look at it – that licensing deal did not turn out as I had hoped, as the company didn’t fulfill their agreement. But luckily I had a good business lawyer and a good contract, so I was able to terminate the contract and get my rights, patents and trademarks back.

So here I am, basically starting all over from scratch. I’m going to re-launch the chair as my own, and do it right this time!

What’s next

Never underestimate the Internet and the power of social media. Someone shared a Facebook post with me: The Meredith Vieira Show was asking for mompreneur applicants. I figured, what the heck? So I submitted my information on a Tuesday, they called on Thursday and the next thing you know, I was on the show and being introduced to Meredith Vieira, Kevin O’Leary from “Shark Tank” and to Avvo.

I’ll have lots of legal needs as I begin to reboot my small business, so Avvo will be a great resource and the perfect platform for me to chronicle my new adventure. I plan to share insights on my challenges, successes, tips and everything else along the way. Hopefully it will help other small business owners as they venture down the entrepreneur path.

In the next edition of this series, I’ll be talking about the legal issues that business owners should think about from the start, but rarely do (guilty!). Things like intellectual property, e-commerce and safety requirements, to name a few.

Thanks for reading my story – I look forward to sharing more soon.

Photo courtesy of Kristi Gorinas