ERICA EHM Q&AWITH - The MOMpreneur

Success Is So Yummy
Being Erica Ehm – the first female VJ of MuchMusic and one of the most
recognizable Canadian television personalities of the ʼ80s,
an award-winning songwriter, playwright and an event host and
motivational speaker – seems like a business unto itself.
We sat down with her to find out the story of her success with her online business.
Since launching the Yummy Mummy Club, what
benefits and challenges have there been for you as
a celebrity business owner?
My biggest challenge as a mompreneur is time. Since
having kids it’s like I’ve entered a time-sucking vortex. As
an entrepreneur, I see opportunities presenting themselves
everywhere, and I’m driven to turn these opportunities
into realities. This demands time, which I don’t always feel
I have!
I do have amazing focus, so when I’m “celebrity Erica,”
I do my job in an appropriate manner: I dress the part, I
look glossy and I turn my public persona on. But there’s
another side to me, which is the small business owner side:
wearing comfy clothes working in my home office all day
without coming up for air. This is where I am most of the
time – creating something out of nothing.
Without a doubt, the celebrity side of my life is very
helpful. People take my call when I cold-call them (which I
find myself doing constantly), and companies are interested
in co-branding with me because I bring my own “personal”
brand of yumminess to the Yummy Mummy Club. All the
years I’ve spent in the public eye working hard to stay true
to my personal values are definitely paying off. But,
celebrity or not, in the end, if my product doesn’t deliver,
I’m out of luck. So far, I’m managing to exceed most
expectations.
What traits or life lessons from being a mother have
contributed to your success as an entrepreneur?
I think it’s the other way around. Being an
entrepreneur makes me a good mother. I’m not hyperfocused
on my kids, because I have a life outside of them.
I’m stimulated, so I’m happier. I’m a role model for them,
constantly reinforcing the importance of hard work and
loving what you do for a living by example. I am proof that
making your dreams come true is possible and I remind
them that their futures are in their hands. The only
thing that being a mom has taught me about being an
entrepreneur is that it is possible to survive (barely) on
next-to-no sleep when necessary.
Have you experienced challenges unique to running
an online business?
My challenge is learning the technology involved in an
online business, which is changing at hyper-speed. When
you don’t understand the technology, you become prisoner to
those around you who do. Luckily, I started working with
www.yourwebdepartment.com, and the company set me
up with a fantastic, user-friendly, content-managed website.
My learning curve went through the roof. I went from
websites not even being on my radar, to single-handedly
building one of the hottest mom sites in North America. I
am very proud of this! By the way, I’ve since partnered with
Your Web Department to create an online web solution for
mompreneurs.
What are your key messages when marketing the site,
and how did you develop them?
The Yummy Mummy Club is an online destination for
modern moms who are looking for some adult stimulation.
We speak to the woman in every mom.
The inspiration for the website was my own experience
of feeling brain-dead and incredibly un-yummy after having
my son. First, I found moving at the speed of a baby or
toddler was mind-numbing. I was desperate for some adult
stimulation, but I found that most of the publications
available all spoke to me like the only thing I had in my
life was my kids: how to cook for your kids, how to encourage
your kids to sleep, what to read to your kids, how to develop
your kid’s learning skills. What about me? Why does society
ignore the needs of the mother? Why had I become so
invisible after having kids?
I started the Yummy Mummy Club as an online
community for women to celebrate and commiserate about
our new reality of being someone’s mother, and to dish about
how to keep all the other parts of ourselves alive – the sexy
mama, the smart thinker, the professional, the girlfriend,
the athlete, the adventurer. We need all these pieces to
make up an accurate picture of today’s yummy mummies.
In a recent National Post article, you were
disarmingly open and unapologetic about the
advertising and Yummy Shops! section of the site.
How have your club members reacted to the more
commercial aspects of the community?
We all like to shop. My take is to find cool companies
that want to speak to sexy modern moms, rather than
talking to us like we’re just somebody’s mother. I believe
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The Mompreneur • September 2007
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