Our ideas come from a solution-oriented thought process. We would like our actions, products, and ideas to be a solution to a problem or lack of information.
Hindi Zeidman is an Infant Mental Health & Parenting Expert and the creator of Ollie Swaddle, the sleep solution for restless and agitated babies. She invented the life-changing Ollie Swaddle for Oliver, her foster baby that wasn’t thriving. Oliver was an innocent and disconnected child who was underweight and on the verge of being labeled a “failure to thrive.” Zeidman’s experience with infant mental health had acquainted her with the ancient practice of swaddling, which is considered to be a therapeutic method of wrapping an infant to assist with the transition from the womb.
Where did the idea for the Ollie Swaddle come from?
I was a single foster parent for Oliver, an infant on the verge of being labeled ‘failure-to-thrive’ because he was struggling to eat and sleep. His previous foster parents struggled to keep him because he was so difficult to soothe. I knew the importance of swaddling, so I purchased every swaddle available, but none were able to fully contain or meet Oliver’s needs. So, I set out to make a swaddle that could truly help Oliver and created the Ollie Swaddle. I designed it to help decrease my little one’s fussiness, assist in self-calming, and also help improve the quality and duration of an infant’s sleep. Now, Oliver is doing better than ever and Ollie Swaddle is praised by both parents and doctors alike for its positive impact on an infant’s neurodevelopment and sleep improvement!
What does your typical day look like?
Most days are pretty uniform– I work from home and most interaction, meetings, and general work take place from the house. Every day we go through the basics of customer service, social media, research and development, and financials.
How do you bring ideas to life?
Our ideas come from a solution-oriented thought process. We would like our actions, products, and ideas to be a solution to a problem or lack of information.
What’s one trend that really excites you?
The world is getting such a stronger grasp of the importance and criticalness of the first three years of a child’s life. This means more people will be on board to help create a strong foundation for every child to have the opportunity to flourish and thrive.
What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?
It is amazingly beneficial to be able to work from my phone. It allows me to be able to work at anytime from any place. That being said, it can also be a bit of a detriment to have the opportunity to work every second of every day.
What was the worst job you ever had and what did you learn from it?
One of the best learning experiences was working as a waitress. I was paid a couple of dollars as an hourly base pay and the rest of the money was dependent on me and my service skills with customers. It was a tremendous lesson in dealing with a variety of customers with a variety of moods, attitudes, and expectations.
If you were to start again, what would you do differently?
That is quite a difficult question because there have been so many tremendous lessons I have learned over the past couple of years. It is easy to look back now and wish I had taken more time to explore options, but the truth is, I learned such valuable lessons from these decisions and choices.
As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?
The life of an entrepreneur consists of constant ebbs and flows. Everything from work hours to finances fluctuates on a consistent basis. The one thing I constantly remind myself is ‘the why’. So, I think about and review why I started my business, my vision, and my goals every single day.
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business? Please explain how.
We strive for ‘customer wow’ in everything we do and every interaction we have. We want our customers to walk away from every experience with us feeling validated, supported, and cared about. This brings forth a sense of loyalty and family environment from our customers and, as a result, creates positive testimonials, recommendations, and repeat customers.
What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?
When I first started my business, I had product but no idea whatsoever what to do next. I started doing cold calls to boutiques within driving distance. I received several “no’s” on a daily basis for months. It was disheartening and soul crushing. At at the same time, I knew I had a great product; I just needed an avenue to reach people. So, I started utilizing social media to interact directly with people and create customers. This started the ball rolling and within 2 years, we have over 70k followers just on Instagram alone.
What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?
I do not have a specific idea, but an area of interest, which is pets. That was one of the specific areas which was not affected during the time the market was experiencing extreme difficulties. I think this would be a tremendous area to explore.
Tell us something about you that very few people know?
I have a tremendous passion when it comes to football, specifically the Pittsburgh Steelers. I am a die-hard, terrible towel-carrying fan.
What software and web services do you use? What do you love about them?
We just transferred our website over to Shopify, from WordPress. It has been a fantastic transition, as Shopify provides a wonderful platform for selling products. The biggest benefit is that they offer 24/7 customer service access, which is something we were not able to receive from our last platform.
What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?
My mentor had me read ‘Mastering the Rockefeller Habits‘ by Verne Harnish prior to us officially establishing our mentor/mentee relationship. This book provides a wonderful detailed description of the fundamentals of a business and the habits every successful business should operate from.
What people have influenced your thinking and might be of interest to others?
The biggest influence of my life has been and always will be my dad. He took a business from struggling to flourishing, while inspiring and motivating those he encountered and worked with along the way.
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Mario Schulzke is the Founder of ideamensch, which he started a decade ago to learn from entrepreneurs and give them a platform for their ideas.