My Baby Cards Story
HOW BABYCARDS NOW WAS BORN!
My name is Jane O'Neill and I founded Baby Cards Now after the birth of my first child, Molly. Baby Gifts started arriving as soon as we announced our happy news to family and friends and seemed to go on for weeks. As a first time Mum I was overwhelmed by the number of gifts received for my new baby girl. I was astounded by the generosity of people. Gifts were received from immediate family and friends and also from people I barely knew!
My husband and I felt we needed to make an extra special effort to thank everyone for their kind wishes and support. At the time my husband owned a digital print company so we set about designing and creating our own personalised cards.
We propped Molly up amoungst her teddies at 5 weeks of age and managed to take the perfect picture for our cards. The number of positive comments received from friends and family about the cards got me thinking. Although my hands were already full with a new baby in between sleeps, feeds and nappy changes I set about doing some research. To my surprise I found very little on offer (this was in 2004). The websites I did find allowed cards to be personalised with a name only. There were very few websites at the time allowing customers to create photo cards online.
After a couple of months surfing the internet my research concluded there was a market for personalised baby cards. A new business idea was conceived and I set to work on creating the website and enlisted the help of another mum who ran her own graphic design business to help design the cards. The website was launched 6 months later and I was delighted.
We've come a long way since 2004 and the website (just like my daughter) has evolved and grown. We've added more product categories, more designs of differing sizes and styles and also branched out overseas into new geographical locations. We continue to keep up to date with the fast moving world of online technology and have invested in the latest interactive web technology which allows customers to view an instant online proof of their card. We recognise the ordering process needs to be easy, quick and convenient. Windows of opportunity are scarce with a little one around so with our easy step by step ordering process customers can jump online and create their cards in just a few clicks.
BUSINESS AND MOTHERHOOD
Starting a website business has been a fantastic and totally unexpected experience for me. When I gave birth to Molly I was entering the world of motherhood. However, because of the inspiration derived from my daughter I have been able to enter the world of online business too! Setting up a business takes a tremendous amount of time and hard work and with a new baby in toe the workload seems to be ever greater.
However, I am grateful I put in the effort as now my children are older I am fortunate enough to be able to combine both motherhood and work. I love being able to provide a service which allows other Mums and Dads to be able to easily order beautiful cards online. Hopefully through our service we help simplify the process of ordering cards and provide customers with a good online experience.
