We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Susan Bortone a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Susan, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?
My parents. They were both immigrants from Croatia who came here with a few dollars in their pockets in search of possibility and a better life. They understood the hard work and dedication it would take to make it, to build something from nothing.
Growing up my parents always worked their day jobs, but then also built homes, bought and fixed properties, taught classes on the side, so they could save for our education, their retirement and a comfortable life. My father was the first in his family to go to college, so he took continuing ed classes to get his masters and continue to grow and create more opportunities late into his career.
When they were close to retirement, instead of slowing down, they started their own business, based on a gap they saw in the gardening/landscape market and a solution they discovered they could provide.
They taught me to save and never live beyond my means. But most importantly that hard work and dedication pays off and that although the road may not be easy or the path straight, if you believe in yourself and keep moving forward, anything was possible.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I created Snuggy Buddy Sleep Sacks as a new mom who struggled to get my little ones to sleep safely and soundly through the night. They both needed the comfort of a soft plush toy, but it wasn’t safe to leave in the crib. After spending hundreds of dollars for products that didn’t work, I decided to create something on my own. I created the Snuggy Buddy, a sleep sack that unlike others, that focused on the tactile comfort both of my children actually needed to sleep better. The Snuggy Buddy features a safely attached plush lovey for baby to hold, mimicking the comfort of a favorite toy, to help self soothe throughout the night. The first night my daughter used it, she slept 12 hours – and the Snuggy Buddy was born!
I didn’t have a background in product design or as a sleep consultant or in apparel, I was simply a struggling mom who needed to help my babies. When I realized I had created something that could help other struggling sleep deprived new parents, I had to share it with the world.
We have been featured in TinyBeans, Good Housekeeping, The Every Mom, The Daily Mom and more. Last year we launched a toddler walker and have a couple new products in the works at the moment as well!
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Perseverance – I have learned that when you believe in something, you cannot let anything stop you. I think my years in sales have taught me this. Understanding the amount of times you have to reach out and hear no, for just one yes. If you give up just because someone says no or that you can’t, you will never get to the yes. You have to keep moving forward.
Optimism – Every down has it’s up. Just because something wasn’t part of the plan, you can’t let it stop you, you can just learn from it and use it to help shape your future.
Adaptability – Nothing goes as planned, so you have to be able to pivot as needed if you want to keep moving your journey forward. Flexibility is key when it comes to the journey.
Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?
Trying to do it all! Many of us that have a drive to build something also have trouble letting go of the reigns of the day to day and delegating. It’s something even most of us struggle with as moms. At a certain point though to scale, you do have stop being your own bottle neck and let other people in to support. You have to bring on the right team and give them the room to grow and succeed.
In order to grow you can’t do it all and you can’t be great at it all. It’s important to identify the needs, your skills and time and your passions and hire around that. If you aren’t great at social media or don’t love it, that is ok, but don’t let it hold you back. Instead find someone who is great at it and passionate about it and give them the support and the space to run it and move you forward.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://snuggybuddy.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/snuggybuddybaby/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suenorelle/
