We were lucky to catch up with Mary Wiegand recently and have shared our conversation below.
Mary, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
Finding my purpose, at least this current sense of purpose I have with Boon, began in 2007. That year I started my first career job after college as a Business Analyst for Target Corporation. There, and at similarly large retailers afterward, I had the opportunity to learn skills, thought processes and strategies as they pertain to merchandise planning on a large scale. It laid an excellent foundation for my retail industry career which progressed through other, larger retailers and into the start-up world by 2014. This smaller retailer was just beginning their foray into the retail world and gave me a taste of how small retailers utilize some of the same strategy as large retailers but adapt their processes to fit their scale.
This year held another new experience – motherhood. My first son was born and when it was time to transition back into work after maternity leave I found myself feeling torn. Part of me was very fulfilled by being a mom and wanted to devote endless time to my boy, but I also wanted to maintain a sense of myself outside of being a parent. The demand of being at work full-time and the more than full-time job responsibility of being a mother was completely overwhelming. I would hear colleagues talk about ‘work/life balance’ and feel completely discouraged that I couldn’t create that balance for myself. Finally, after having my daughter and becoming a mom for the second time, I came to the realization that, for me at least, there was no such thing as work/life balance. I needed to establish work/life coexistence and it needed to look a lot different than I would ever be able to negotiate in the retail world at the time.
That was the spark. So many business models function in a way that makes sense for the business, but not necessarily sense for the workforce supporting them. Rather than swim upstream at an existing business so that I could find my perfect work/life formula, I turned my own direction and in 2017, I founded Boon LLC.
Boon LLC began with me, 2 clients, and many late night or early morning hours while my kids were sleeping. For me, it made sense. With my breadth of industry experience and knowledge I could support clients who didn’t quite have the financial bandwidth to hire a full-time person to do their merchandise planning, and I could do it on a schedule that worked for me. I’d created the work/life coexistence that I wanted – at least for a while. The clients I was serving loved the results and support and shared with their industry connections. Soon I had too many clients and requests for special projects to be able to manage on my own. I reached out to my former industry colleagues and contracted them for what I thought would be part-time support until I could manage things on my own again. I soon had 4 children instead of 2, and more client interest than ever before. I quickly realized that all of us were essentially in the same boat – wanting to be able to do it all, in the manner that served us best. Our clients wanted support with specific projects, or for a certain time period, but would operate best without hiring permanent headcount. Similarly my work colleagues wanted what I wanted – the ability to find professional fulfillment and nurture their families. This is where I discovered my sense of purpose. Through Boon LLC, I could create the solution for all of us.
Boon LLC has grown since its humble beginnings in 2017 to now include an active portfolio of 22 retail industry clients that range from beauty, to apparel to furniture. They sell direct to customer and also via wholesale relationships with large retailers. We’ve got even more client alumni who recommend us to their industry contacts too! Our talented team has also expanded to include 14 seasoned industry professionals who deliver excellent results to our clients while also finding fulfillment in other arenas of their lives.
Boon will also continue to grow! Serving our clients and empowering our team brings me a sense of purpose that only inspires me to expand. I’m aiming to double the business in the coming years so that multi-passionate individuals and businesses alike can flourish and create their specific work/life coexistence!
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
As the CEO & Founder of Boon LLC we are dedicated to providing any product based business access to flexible demand & inventory planning expertise. Through our work we support founders who are bringing amazing products to the marketplace. Our work helps guide them in placing the right inventory orders at the right time to best avoid the dreaded issues of out of stocks or overstocks. And to even better support this mission we recently launched a Sales + Inventory Planning Toolkit. This is a digital download that brands can purchase and download four amazing tools created by Boon team members to help them in the very early stages of building their brand!
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?
One of the most impactful qualities that has impacted my journey is my determination. Even from a very young age, once I put my mind to something, I was beyond determined to make it happen. This manifests itself in a variety of ways in variety of situations but recently I have had to use that quality (along with resilience) to stay focused on the goal and work each day, each hour, to put one foot in front of the other and keep going. Life isn’t easy and it takes lots of twists and turns but I am grateful for my determinization to allow me to keep moving along my journey.
Additionally a critical skill in my journey has been ability to connect with people. In business networking is key and I focus a lot of my calendar time each week to meet with people. This is not with the intention that all of these connections will become paying clients, I am not always trying to sell but truly trying to connect. As humans we want to feel connected to the world around us and regardless of business or personal I have found that human touch to be crucial to my business and my personal life.
Finally, my ability to plan has helped me make it all happen. I am a planner by trade and in life and I rely on this skill to keep me focused, prioritized and to avoid as much of the chaos as possible. We each have our own methods but doing whatever works for you in order to feel in control of your day and your week is a huge benefit to allowing me to then use each hour to focus on what is in front of me. The amount of calendars, spreadsheets, post-it notes that plan my daily life allow my brain to release all that information and avoid being mentally tangled in every detail at all times.
And for anyone early on in their journey, my only advice would be to be true to yourself. We all have unique skills and we will be best by being our best selves, not by being someone else. Lean into your qualities and skills and soak up as much knowledge as you can each day!
Who is your ideal client or what sort of characteristics would make someone an ideal client for you?
At Boon our ideal client is a product based business that is ready to use data to make better business decisions on their inventory purchases. The product can be anything across categories; from swimsuits to home décor to pickles, we can help! We love working with women-founded brands as well as mission based brands but the ideal client has a enthusiasm for their brand and customers and is open and willing to collaborate with experts. Regardless of the annual revenue or size of your assortment, we love working with passionate teams!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://boonllc.net/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/boon_llc/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BoonLLC
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/boon-llc/
- Other: Get our new Toolkit here: https://boonllc.net/toolkit
Image Credits
Images by both: Rachel Jacobus Photography Light & Lenses Photography
