Your Name: Angela Cody-Rouget
Business Name: Major Mom, a service to organize your home or office
Type of Business: Home & Housewares
Business Location: Greenwood Village, Colorado, United States
Website www.MajorMom.biz
Twitter @TheMajorMom
Facebook www.Facebook.com/TheMajorMom
Pinterest www.Pinterest.com/MajorMom
Reason for starting
I attained the rank of Major in the USAF and my husband, Frederic, nicknamed me Major Mom after our first child was born. I would return from a long weekend of reserve duty and Frederic would hand me baby Lily and say, “Yeah, Major Mom is home!” I have been called Major Mom since December 2003. After my second child was born, it became more difficult and sad to leave my babies for long weekends and two weeks a year. It was also very inconvenient to pump breast milk and try to keep it cold until I got home. Most of the other soldiers didn’t mind if I had to leave a meeting or quickly pump, but it started to bother me that I was torn between two loves: my new family and my long-standing military family. After much consideration and thought, I resigned my commission and received an honorable discharge. I have never regretted leaving the military to be a full-time mom and one thing that I definitely learned was how hard it was to maintain an orderly home with a baby and a toddler. As I joined mommy groups and play groups I witnessed how hectic a stay-at-home mom’s life is and how isolated one can feel. I started to grow a big place in my heart for moms and their busy families. That was the inspiration for my idea to start an organizing company that helped busy families. God knows most moms and dads need help on the home front! Many of us no longer live next to Grandma and Grandpa or aunts and uncles. Many of us are all alone and not sure who to call for help. I want to make sure that everyone that lives in clutter and chaos knows who to call for help—MAJOR MOM. We are on a mission to restore order to the world, one household at a time.
How do you define success?
My husband and I pray for the same things each and every night with our children: salvation, purity, health, wealth, joy, peace and wisdom. To experience these seven concepts is success. The constant need to be in control and the incessant belief that your skills, experience and knowledge are all it takes is incorrect. Those needs may lead you to wealth, but you will not experience joy, peace and health. Many people spend their health on building their wealth and then spend their wealth preserving their health. My life is successful if I can build a multi-million dollar business all while being the mom and wife I was meant to be. I feel successful when there is harmony between my business and my life. Notice I did not say balance, as I do not believe the 50/50 concept works for an entrepreneur. I feel successful when I am being loving to my clients, employees, husband and children. Love makes the world go around, not money.
Biggest Success
My biggest professional success is that I have managed to take a company of one–me–and grow it to a company that has many employees and operates in several states. Since I was an employee my entire life, and have no entrepreneurs in my family, this was an act of pure determination that arose out of necessity to support my family. My biggest personal success is that I am the mom I always wanted to be. I do the morning routines with my children and take them to school. I also get to pick them up and do the afternoon/evening routines with them. Yes, sometimes I have conference calls or meetings in the evening, but they are few and far between now since my priority shifted to my kids. By the grace of God, my husband and I have kept them both in private school during all phases of the business startup. It was nothing short of a miracle.
What is your top challenge and how have you addressed it?
My top challenge is leading and inspiring my employees to market and advertise the business so we can grow more quickly and easily. We do not have a huge marketing and advertising budget so we rely on our teammates to spread the word. We finally implemented monthly and quarterly sales and marketing incentives for not only their activity each month, but also their results. This has led us to a record sales month and we now just keep growing. The more we encourage and recognize our team, the better our sales seem to grow.
Who is your most important role model?
Jesus is my most important role model. I will spend my life striving to be like him–loving, courageous, confident and 100% in tune with his destiny and purpose.