Welcome to our newest feature on Regarding Nannies. Nannypreneurs will focus on nannies who have a product or service that they created or make available to the nanny industry and public. First up is Stephanie Felzenberg of Be the Best Nanny Newsletter.
• How long have you been a nanny, or how long were you a nanny?
I started working as a nanny in February 1993 so I have been working as a nanny for 19-years. I started publishing “Be the Best Nanny Newsletter” in 2001.
• What is a highlight of your nanny career?
I have so many highlights it’s hard to just pinpoint one. I definitely remember flying to my first International Nanny Association Conference and being thrilled to meet nannies as passionate about the nanny industry as myself and taking informative workshops for nannies, not just parents. Certainly on any day when a child learns and is happy due to my influence I am thrilled. But, I also loved when a child wrote a school paper naming me as his hero and loved it when a boy at my first nanny job said he wanted to grow up to be a nanny just like me and now another boy I care for currently said the same thing to me! That just reinforces why I love working as a nanny. I think I enjoy working with kids even more now than I did early in my nanny career. I can honestly say I am still reaching new highlights in my career. Each child changes the job and my perception of the job each and every day.
• How did you come up with the idea for your product/ service?
Mothers and nannies suggested I start a newsletter for nannies, since all we could find were publications for parents at the time. I agreed that it would be easier to distribute great ideas about how to help to raise kids in their homes in the form of a newsletter. Plus, I was yearbook editor in college and loved desktop publishing, graphic art, and layout and design which lends itself to creating a newsletter.
• What is your level of monetary investment and have you seen a profit?
I took a business course, then the printer and paper were my biggest costs at first. Printing and collating a 16-page newsletter was very expensive and time consuming. The newsletter sustains itself but I still prefer making my living working as a nanny.
• What is the purpose of your product/service?
The purpose of the newsletter is in the title, to educate in-home childcare providers based on the best proven practices to help them be the best nanny they can be. I hope the publication helps educate the parents that hire nannies as well.
• How has the nanny industry received your product/service – i.e. what has been the feedback you’ve received?
I get the most positive feedback from nannies themselves from all over the world. I appreciate feedback from nanny agencies and agency owners like Judi Merlin of A Friend of the Family Home Services, Inc. who purchase a subscription for each of their nanny candidates. Judi Merlin now requests all her nannies get 12-hours of certification in childcare in 2012 and reading “Be the Best Nanny Newsletter” will count as educational credit for each newsletter. That’s the biggest compliment I can receive. I love the discussions and response on the newsletter Facebook page as well.
• What words of wisdom do you have for others, who may have a product/service and wish to expand its market?
Before starting any business at least take a local business course at a community college to create a business plan. Those who wish to expand their market should utilize social media, including Facebook and Twitter. I think a publisher must be alert to the feedback of their readers. Also publishing newsletters on paper using printers is becoming obsolete. It’s much easier and cost effective to publish email or online publications than printed publications these days.
• What do you wish you had known early on, that you’ve learned going through this process?
Based on changes over the years, I think I have learned to be concise and to focus on the specific concerns of the reader, no matter how small those matters may seem.
