For many entrepreneurs and small businesses, social media can be an absolute game-changer! All it takes is one viral post and a business can suddenly take off.
At Like A Voss Social Media, we’re highlighting local businesses and entrepreneurs who are killing the online game. This week’s spotlight is on Elaine Tan Comeau, Founder & CEO of Easy Daysies!
Easy Daysies, founded by a mom & former teacher, are the award-winning Magnetic Daily Schedules that help kids become more co-operative, confident, and independent by showing the “shape of the day”. Fought over by all five investors on the CBC TV show Dragons’ Den! Ideal for Classrooms, Preschools, Homeschooling, Daycare, Adults with Special Needs, Independent Living Seniors, and Homes! Winner of thirteen awards and recommended by name by child psychologists, occupational therapists, and speech and language pathologists. Our goal is to help families, kids, and adults have easier days, and that is how it got its name… Easy Daysies!
Our CEO Mandi interviewed Elaine about her secret to success in business and in life. We also got some awesome insights into what they think makes social media such an effective tool in business.
A Little Bit About Being a Female Entrepreneur
1: How long have you been in business?
I literally launched my first product off our kitchen table two days after my third baby was born. Then, we incorporated Easy Daysies in October 2011.
2: What made you decide to start Easy Daysies?
When I was a classroom teacher, I had so many parents ask me to create a daily visual schedule to help their children at home become more independent and cooperative and get out the door faster in the morning. Of course I did! I fell in love with my class every year and would do anything to help them. So, I drew every illustration simple enough for even non-readers to understand the tasks or steps of their day. Studies show that children as young as preschool age benefit from visual schedules because they become more cooperative and independent, all because they can see and predict their day. I then realized that there must be a market for these since I had been making these visual schedules by parent demand for years and for free. I did the research and discovered there was not a product out there like it and saved up that first $1400 I needed to manufacture my first batch of product. I saved up by tutoring and selling crafts at fairs and launched our first product two days after our third baby was born. It then became the #1 Back to School Must Have in Parents Magazine and then incited a bidding war on Dragons’ Den. From off our kitchen table, Easy Daysies was sold in over 1500 stores across North America and won thirteen awards.
3: What do you love most about being a female entrepreneur?
This is an interesting question. Kevin O’Leary once said on my podcast, “If you want something done, give it to a busy mom!” How true is that! We will get it done. I think as a female we need to embrace that we are nurturers by heart and want to take care of everyone and everything. know that it is okay to say no to things that are not in line with our core values. But we do not. If we have children, know that it is okay to put them first. You will be grateful for the clients and customers who choose to work with you because of your values. That is who you actually want to work with!
4: What is the hardest thing you have had to overcome as a female entrepreneur? Something you did not foresee when you decided to start Easy Daysies?
I learned quickly that the manufacturing and distribution world was very male-dominated. I will always remember a phone call I had where the gentleman on the other end asked me if he could speak to a man. For real! I remember telling him, after a pause of disbelief, “Okay, It will be my husband, who will be asking me for the decision, so you might as well talk to me.”
5: What is one thing about working in your industry that people would be surprised to learn?
And Now Onto The Social Media Questions!
6: Do you have a favorite social media platform? Why?
I love Instagram. I love it because it is visual and a quick way to connect with others.
7: What made you decide to start using social media as a way to promote your company?
I believe that social media is a wonderful and often free platform to connect with your audience. They can see you transparently and it is a two way communication.
8: How has social media impacted your business?
Same answer as above.
9: What advice would you give to other businesses and entrepreneurs who want to use social media as a way to connect with customers?
Be real. Share value. Know your audience so that you can give them value.
A Little More About Elaine
Elaine Tan Comeau knows the ups and downs of being a mom entrepreneur. She is a speaker, author, podcast host, and CEO. She launched her product line and company from off her kitchen table two days after her third baby was born. She went from being a school teacher to accidentally inventing a children’s product, to CEO and Founder of one of Dragons’ Den favorite pitches, Easy Daysies, which incited a bidding war among all five Dragons. Also winner of Kevin Harrington’s Pitch Tank. She has been featured in Forbes, Macleans, CBC, FOX, CTV, Canadian Business Magazine, and the Financial Post, to name a few. Elaine was awarded the 2014 Canadian Mompreneur of the Year, Four-time nominee for the RBC Women of Influence Award, Chamber of Commerce Award for Excellence in Business, and just published her third article in a University Textbook, “Educational Psychology”. Her company Easy Daysies has won 13 awards and was announced as one of the 2018 Top Ten Most Innovative Companies by Small Business BC.
Elaine loves supporting women in business through speaking on stages, through her podcast “Elaine’s Kitchen Table… the Business of Real Life”, and through her Best Seller book, “Sell Your Passion”! Elaine is honored to have opportunities to give back and is a member of the Marketing Advisory Council for Douglas College, and a Patron for the ANCA Naturally Autistic World Festival.
Connect with Elaine
Company Instagram
Personal Instagram
Facebook
LinkedIn
Website
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Do you know a female entrepreneur who loves social media as much as we do? Contact us today – we’d love to tell her story!
