Hey mom, how's the bottom line?

Hey mom, how's the bottom line?


Janet Lyon and her mom and business partner, Susan Casiden

Mothers and daughters and business ... a pairing that's proven to produce success!

By Debbie Gardner
PRIME Editor

Mom. When you're a little girl, she's your first teacher and sometimes, your first best friend.

When you're a teenager, she may be your first enemy .. or the person you agree with the least (and fight with the most!).

But all that seems to change over time, as daughters start to make their way in the world.

A way that, sometimes, leads entrepreneurial-spirited women right back home to mom . as a business partner.
It's not a new business model. Mothers and daughters have worked together in various types of crafts and shops for generations.

But in our increasingly entrepreneurial-driven economy, it's a business model that's attracting more and more attention.

It's becoming a woman's world

According to the most recent statistics released by the Center for Women's Business Research (www.nfwbo.org) more than 50 percent of U. S. businesses nearly 10.4 million are now owned by women. And women-owned businesses are also the area with the biggest increase since the late 1980s, recording twice the growth (42 percent) of all firms ( 24 percent).

And these women-owned firms generated an impressive $1.9 trillion in sales in 2007.

How does this trend translate to businesses in western Massachusetts?

Well, according to statistics again provided by the Center for Women's Business Research, Massachusetts ranks 14th in the nation for women-owned businesses, and from 1997 to 2006, recorded a 22.3 percent growth in this category of commerce.

Women-owned businesses, and mother-daughter partnerships in particular, have become such a success story that the Internet Web site dedicated to all things start-up and self-employed www.entrepreneur.com recently featured eight mother-daughter business pairs in a special slide show that highlighted each pair's company and take on their working relationships. (Type "Mom as Business Partner" in the site's search engine to bring up the story).

Obviously, there's something to this financial-success based on family ties phenomenon.

Interest piqued, PRIME decided to find out how some successful mother-daughter partners are making it here in the Valley.

Shared passion produces profits

A mutual love of sewing, a mom's contacts and a daughter's innate flair crafted a pattern for success

Business: Janet Lyon Interiors

Mother: Susan Casden
Daughter: Janet Lyon

Ages when launched business:
Lyon: 28; Casden:48

Year business founded: 1991 as a workroom for other interior designers; 1993 as their own full interior design house.
Interruption in business for myriad health issues in 2006. Business reopened in 2008 with Casden now taking a less active role role.

Lyon on how the business concept developed: "We started from a hobby . we were selling table runners and pillows and small quilts [at craft fairs]. We were good with colors and sewing and those two things are interior design."

Casden on their very first client: "I was a dental hygienist and one of my patients [an interior designer] asked me to make some curtains for her and I did such a good job she asked me to make some draperies . I asked Janet if she wanted to do [ the curtainmaking] with me, and she said yes."

Lyon on growth of business: "I went back to school in 1993 to get formal interior design training and from there instead of being a workroom for other designers we opened our own shop."

Casden on how the partnership worked: "I did more of the office work and [Janet] did the sewing and design . she sees things and has the fashion sense .It just worked out that we both had things we could do and that's how we [divided the business]."

Lyon on advantages of working with her Mom: "We know each other's styles and strengths and weaknesses [and] you have to know your partner's strengths and weaknesses.

"She can't do what I do, and I certainly couldn't do what she does."

Casden on disadvantages of working with your daughter: "You're close and you work together every day . but most of the time we were in sync.

"We did have some loud disagreements, but because she was my daughter, when we disagreed we could see each other's side . we could step back and look at it and understand the other side and work it out."

Janet Lyon continued to teach the popular interior design course at Springfield Technical Community College during the interruption in her interior design business. She is now accepting new clients. Her mother is involved in the marketing of her business re-launch.
She can be reached at:413-439-0595 or via email at jluoninyrtiotd@aol.com

Stringing up success


Emily Rose Pawlowicz and her mom and businesse partner, Pat

A young girl's passion, a mother's support, create a pattern for success

Business: Colorful Creations Bead Company

Mother: Pat Pawlowicz
Daughter: Emily Rose Pawlowicz

Ages when launched business:
Emily Rose: 14; Pat: 48

Year business founded: 2005

Pat on the birth of the business concept: "It was Emily Rose's idea . she's had a very successful jewelry business since she was 12. I was behind her 100 percent [in this project]. She was very serious and did a lot of research herself.'

She's been on the ground floor . working with bankers, real estate agents and choosing the location. She chooses the inventory, keeps things re-stocked and also works as an instructor."

"I owned 'How Sweet It Is Bakery' [ in Hampden] and closed that business to open this shop."

Emily Rose on how she became interested in jewelrymaking: "My godmother, Sandy Merrill, teaches beading classes at senior centers and [my mom and I] had done a few beading classes together.

"When I was very little I used to go to craft fairs and sell key chains with beading on them. When I was 12 we [made and] sold a small stone pendant on a black silk chord which included a small card that gave the healing properties of the stone. It was very successful."

Pat on how the business got its name: "When Emily Rose was six she came up with the name 'Colorful Creations' so [the shop] had to be Colorful Creations."

Emily Rose on working with her Mom: "The easiest thing [about working with my mom] is that she's always behind me because she's my mom and she supports me. If I have a question, it's easier to ask her."

"The hardest thing is that if we disagree .we have to go home together."

Pat on working with her daughter: "Emily and I are very close . and she's very passionate about work. The hardest thing is, because of her age, remembering that she's still a kid and needs balance in her life. She needs time for a social life, family activities and alone time . all the things a well-balanced 16-year-old should have."

Colorful Creations Bead Company, specializing in beading supplies, classes and in-store birthday parties and events, is locates at 37 Harkness Avenue in East Longmeadow. Hours are: Tues. - Sat. 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Wed. 10 a.m.- 9 p.m., Sun. noon- 5 p.m. Tel.525-2229 www.colorfulcreationsbeadcompany.com

A natural succession


Herbarium owner Kathleen Duffy (center) and her daughter and business partner, Andrea Carrier

When a mother needed help, a daughter steps in and keeps the business true to its original ideals

Business: The Herbarium

Mother: Kathleen Duffy
Daughter: Andrea Carrier

Ages when began working together:
Kathy: 45; Andrea: 20

Year business founded: 1978

When Andrea came into the business: "Eighteen years ago or so I came in to work the store. My mom was doing consultations and couldn't handle the store any longer. I got to come in and have free reign."

How the two worked together in the business: "Again, about 18 years ago we started teaching classes together, and that [continued] for about 10 years.

"It worked well because she was the teacher and I like being behind the scenes and taking care of everything. It was a way for us to spend time together."

How Andrea handled the business: "I came in and completely took over. What was nice is that she trusted me. What was mom's vision, that's what I tried to bring to The Herbarium."

How she's handled her siblings in relation to her Mom's business: "I have an older brother and a younger sister. My younger sister worked with me for awhile, but it just wasn't her passion.

"We have different personalities; I like to run the business and take care of everything, but also be in the background and let the employees run the store."

How she handled her mother becoming an absentee owner: "Mom left her consultations 10 years ago. It was hard when she wasn't here any more.

"But her passion was to bring aromatherapy into the hospital. She's come full circle from being a nurse to becoming an herbalist to going back into the hospital and bringing her oils and herbs with her and doing what she loves working with with the nurses and the patients."

The hardest thing about taking over her mother's business: "Now I would like to have a relationship with my mother that is just my mother, without the stress of the business."

Andrea's own passion: "I have my own business a retail store in my mother's old classroom. It's a primitive gift shop. I make organic soaps and salves and incorporate them, with antiques and gifts for the home. I run both businesses like a crazy person."

The Herbarium is located at 264 Exchange Street in Chicopee.
Hours: Mon.- Fri. 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m.; thurs. 9:30 a.m.- 6 p.m.;, Sat. 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m.
Tel: 598-8119 www.theherbarium.com