Stacey Kannenberg is a serial entrepreneur. She is an author, publisher, motivator, consultant, spokesperson, successful blogger and most importantly...a MOM. In 2004, she established Cedar Valley Publishing, 2006 Stacey Kannenberg Unlimited, 2007 Mom Central Consulting and in 2008, Mother Talk.As the "Get Ready to Learn Mom", Stacey is a nationally renowned education expert and award winning author with an expertise in children’s education, and “Mom-entrepreneurship”. When Stacey is not busy running her two publishing companies or consulting, she is spending every possible free moment with her two adorable girls. Here is her story...
How has this economy affected you, your business and your family?
My husband and I are both entrepreneurs – he runs his family tool and die company, which started seeing a shift in contracts moving overseas in the 90’s. I have learned from watching him.
He noticed the trend and started to diversify his customer base to include clients from all industries, looking for specific niche markets that would be a good fit for his company. So when I started my publishing companies, my marketing plan was diversified to cover many niches so that if one industry failed I would have other avenues to pursue, such as grandparents, parenting groups, bookstores, schools, preschools, libraries, etc. Looking back, that has been the key to my success.
How are you making lemonade from lemons?
I continue to look at obstacles as opportunities. I have seen the results of what hard work can bring within four years and I am looking forward to see how I will continue to evolve in the future.
books or that you don’t have to speak or write the language to release a Spanish book. To quote my seven year-old daughter Megan, “Just hire a translator, duh, anyone can do anything as long as they put their mind to it.”Education is a recession proof industry so it helps that I sell books geared for ages 2-6 involving the Kindergarten and First Grade curriculum. I also have my consulting work that allows me to work with brands, authors and other mom entrepreneurs as a way to keep myself diversified.
Any encouraging words you would like to offer mom entrepreneurs?
My husband gave me a crystal clock in 2004 to celebrate Christmas. It had Cedar Valley Publishing’s logo engraved in white on it with the following phrase that he coined:
The Dream is Clear
To Believe is the Reward
To all the mom entrepreneurs: congratulations, you already have your dream started, keep believing and continue to surround yourself with a network of people who believe in you and your dream. It’s not going to be easy, so keep jumping those obstacles and may you get to a point where everything isn’t a struggle and it seems as if good things magically appear from nowhere. That for me is the reward!
For more information, visit cedarvalleypublishing.com, cedarvalleypublishing.com/blog, momcentralconsulting.com, mothertalk.com or staceykannenberg.com. You can also reach Stacey directly by calling 920-994-9906 or emailing Stacey@cedarvalleypublishing.com.
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