Nina Sutton: Being a Mommy Entrepreneur

Sunny Gault: Hi. Welcome to Dog and Pony. I'm Sunny Gault. Life can be expensive and searching for the best bargains could be a tedious process. That's why Nina Sutton created DealsforDivas.com a site that shop who deals on fashion, beauty and lifestyle products bringing them straight to you. Nina, what was your overall goal in starting DealsforDivas.com?

Nina Sutton: Well, what I was trying to look for is something -- an outlet that I could still work and be with my children. So, I was pregnant at the time when I started it and you know I was still working in consulting with other companies as a marketing consultant and then after I had my baby, I realized that I needed my time with my child, and what could I do to, you know ultimately spend time with my child and also still work.

Sunny Gault: So, what were the first steps that you took?

Nina Sutton: Just securing the name and then going through the process of what would the site do and how would I be able to bring these deals to the public. So, there was a lot of research of finding out affiliate management companies, of finding out technology partners. How would it be built and those are a lot of the first logistical steps that I had to take.

Sunny Gault: I go to your site, how do I get these deals?

Nina Sutton: Sure. One of the big things I learned in online marketing was that e-mails were a big deal. And they are big revenues source, that's why a company like Top Button that I consulted for was very successful, it was really pushing out information. So, I moved it to where you have to put your e-mail address in and then on a weekly basis, what I'll do is I will e-mail out the deals and I'll say here is the great ones that I found this week.

Sunny Gault: So, I know this is a home-based business for you...

Nina Sutton: Yeah.

Sunny Gault: What advice do you have for women or even men out there that wanna start a home-based business?

Nina Sutton: A lot of it is do your research and map everything out in advance. I think that it's very important. One thing I think I probably didn't do was map out the technology to the point that I needed to, because otherwise if you don't do that you find yourself going -- wow! I need a new technology and this is a new chunk of money. Two is to really create a dedicated space in your home to work. You know I've got two kids and I've got to be able to get away from them, so that I can concentrate on doing something and also be able to separate being mommy from being, you know the entrepreneur, that's something that's very important.

Sunny Gault: I wanna touch on the fact that you came from a corporate background...

Nina Sutton: Yeah.

Sunny Gault: Making six figures.

Nina Sutton: Yeah.

Sunny Gault: And now you're doing this home-based business, what challenges did you have financially.

Nina Sutton: It's been tough, it's been tough. It's a mental challenge for one thing to go from a large salary to really not. You know it's a small -- I'm making a small salary now and I, you know I'm very open about it, but on the nonetheless it's growing and it's mine and I can create my own hours, so to that there's a lot of value.

Sunny Gault: Exactly how do you make money with that?

Nina Sutton: Sure. There's a couple of ways. The main way is the affiliate programs where they each give me a tracking link that will attract sale and I'll get a commission of -- every sale made from my website or my newsletter. So that's one way that I make and it's -- it's really the Google method as I say. It's a little bit of money from a lot of people. And, the second way is through advertising. So, I'll sell ads on my e-mails and sell dedicated e-mails as well.

Sunny Gault: So Nina, your site has been up for about a year and a half now, tell me a little bit more about the traffic that your site get?

Nina Sutton: Sure. Well, I'm measuring more right now in terms of my e-mail numbers and I have about 5,000 members in my database and 5,000 solid members, I'd like to say because my open rates are great, they're about forty percent, which is very high for industry standards. I know the people who are signing up for my e-mails really want them and respond well to them. And I'm growing at a very nice pace. I would like to grow more, but it's right now I have to manage it, I have to manage my resources as well. Your operational cost gets so high that you're not gonna make money, so and you know and I know right now, I'm just trying to keep it in check, so I can manage everything.

Sunny Gault: I know you're really passionate about fashion, so what's -- what keeps you doing this day after day though?

Nina Sutton: You know, I'll tell you, it's called having two boys, age 2 and 1, you know and this ends up being my outlet as well to feel like my old self again. You know it's so important for women when they, you know have kids and to really still be themselves to some point because it makes you a happy mom. So that's really what drives me. I just -- I love it. I have such a passion for the industry and I don't know what else I would do.

Sunny Gault: Nina Sutton, thank you so much for joining us on the show.

Nina Sutton: Thank you for having me.

Sunny Gault: Absolutely. And as always, if you have questions, comments or ideas for guests, please e-mail us at info@dogandpony.com. I'm Sunny Gault. Thanks for watching.