Monica Eleazar and Denise Gonzales, who consider themselves as "soul sisters", chose motherhood after a life of ambivalence. Realizing that they wouldn't dare leave their babies for work, both decided to be SAHM (stay-at-home-moms) and eventually, WAHM (work-at-home-moms). Indigo is their brainchild, a collaboration of products to enrich you and your baby's life.

 

According to Monica and Denise, they started Indigo Baby because they wanted a creative output of their ideas and make a living from it without having to leave their respective sons behind for work. Monica decided to tender her resignation during her last months of pregnancy, while Denise still works for her employer but with a work-from-home agreement. Monica's son, Santiago Andres, is 5 months old, while Denise's son, Benicio Lorenzo, is six months old. Indigo is their other baby. The brand will be launched via press and photo releases in top broadsheets and publications, and their products will be launched in November 2007 in various bazaars in the metro. Lucky for us to have this discussion (first of two parts) with the soul sisters before the launch.

In making your decision to leave work and work at home, what were the reasons against it?

Denise: Money of course. It meant the option of not having the same salary/benefits. But the trade-off was being with our babies 24/7, which I would never trade for the world. It also meant being more structured in terms of schedule and time, because no one was going to suffer from my slacking off except me. I am blessed that my company has allowed to give me work that I can take home and do from the house (the joys of internet!!). This gives me a regular salary, time with Benny my love, and focus for Indigo. As a single mum, I had to find a way to be self sufficient while caring for my son.

Monica:  The risk of having lower income (for now since we are just starting), and losing a social life (with friends and colleagues). But I just knew in my heart that I could not dare leave my baby every day for work. To me, no money is worth trading his precious moments for. This just felt like the right thing to do.

Is capital one of the issues you considered? How much capital did you start with?

Denise: Yes. Unlike Monica, I did not have much savings to use as capital. In this regard, I loaned from a family member who was eager to be of assistance. We both invested one hundred thousand pesos each as capital to get the business started.

What are the reasons that made you decide to push through, despite the negative reasons discussed above?

Denise: For the love of the child!!!

Monica: There were more reasons for me to leave work and stay at home with my baby than vice versa.

Are you happy with your decision to push through? Or are there regrets?

Denise: No regrets! We just started and are impressed with how good the response already is. People love nice things and when marketed well, to the right customer, everybody is happy.

Monica: Of course I am happy with my decision. All day everyday I am with the love of my life. I get to witness all his ‘firsts’, these moments I treasure the most. Like I always tell other people, our children are only kids once. Cherish them now. When we die, we won’t wish for a better salary, we would probably wish for more time with our loved ones.

Are there business opportunities, like multi-level marketing or direct selling agents, that you could offer to other moms?

Well, since we just started, we haven’t made arrangements like this yet. But as it grows, having mums as direct agents would be great because at least we can help and network with other mums like us, who cannot bear to leave their kids at home. It’s sad that the corporate system only gives mothers a 2-month maternity leave, and fathers 1 week. We hear in other countries there exists 1 year maternity leave! That would be ideal. A working culture that is family-centered.

How long have you been into this business? How's business so far?

We just started, launched our multiply site (http://indigomanila.multiply.com) this week. The idea has been brewing though since our babies were born. Business is good, the response on multiply is quite overwhelming and flattering to know that we are in the right direction.  

 

(Part 2 of this discussion, which includes tips for SAHMs and WAHMs, as well as Pinoy Entrepreneurs in general, is here. The Discussion series is about our discussions with Pinoy Entrepreneurs, whether established or just starting out. If you have anything you want to discuss, please let us know.)