Mom-daughter bond creates strong business partnerships

Truer words have not been spoken to Karen and Sofia, who have been in business together since Sofia, 10, was 4 years old.

It all started when Karen was playing music on her guitar and Sofia came up with words to go with it. Karen shared the song at a songwriting convention and was told she should build a business around it.

“As a stay-at-home mom, I wanted to work, but didn’t want to sacrifice my time with Sofia,” Karen said. “So I thought I’d build a business with Sofia. My background is in art, so I thought, ‘let’s turn this song into a book’. She loved drawing and I loved children’s artwork. So we collaborated and started drawing together.”

From there, Karen thought they should apply for a trademark. Together, they came up with PinkPowerful, LLC, with the goal of creating positive e-books, shirts and apps for girls.

The mother-daughter duo was able to set up their business for about $525. Getting the trademark registered accounted for $325 of that. Overhead costs were low since they work from their home and already had art supplies and computers on hand.

Business workshop coming up for moms, daughters

Karen Melnychuck will draw from her experiences to teach a two-part workshop about the powerful partnerships between mother and daughter entrepreneurs, hosted by the Pima County Public Library, next month.

The program, facilitated by the Melnychucks’ business, Creativity A to Z, will teach moms and their 6- to 12-year-old daughters about business and communication skills they can use throughout their lives. Participants can use real or pretend business ideas for the workshop.

“It can be fun and make believe. They can sell rocket tickets to the moon. It doesn’t have to be serious, but it can lead to something real,” Karen said. “Or they can start with something real as well. They can use the local farmer’s markets and small venues to start, or go more serious.”

Having these kinds of workshops at the library brings kids, teens and adults together to explore what it takes to start a business. “We have lots of workshops, books and online resources about entrepreneurship, and it’s all free,” said Kenya Johnson, spokeswoman for Pima County Public Library.

Johnson has a 9-year-old daughter with an entrepreneurial spirit herself. “At one point she wanted to have a coffee shop; now she wants to design tattoos,” Johnson said. “Workshops like this send a very cool message: It’s never too early and it’s never too late.”

Meeting the challenges together

It wasn’t always easy for the Melnychucks. In fact, at times, it was downright challenging. Especially when they were forced to take on a large corporation that tried to tell them they couldn’t use the name PinkPowerful.

“This giant company said we couldn’t use our name,” Karen said. “They took us to court. I said, ‘do I quit or do I show my daughter how to stand up for herself?’ So, we started learning about the law. Sofia helped me read books, make scans and copies. We fought this legal battle by ourselves, and we won. This little girl learned lessons that were huger than so many people have learned about.”

The Melnychucks represented themselves, which meant no legal fees. “It did cost us about $50 in law library copier fees,” Karen said. “And 18 solid months of our lives. The reason we won was that we were able to afford to stick it out because we did not have huge legal fees adding up.”

The two stood up for themselves together. And they leaned on each other when the going got tough. “The power, strength and self-confidence after doing that is just amazing,” Karen said. “She was 6. I would feel like quitting and she would say ‘mom, the word for today is perseverance.’ It was inspiring to work with my daughter.”

They got to keep the name, and have since attained a second LLC — Creativity A to Z, which develops educational materials for teaching and workshops based on creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship for kids — and have published four e-books and three iPhone apps, which are all available in the iTunes store.

The businesses haven’t brought in a ton of money, but the family has learned to celebrate all of their accomplishments, not just the monetary gain.

“I had to let the expectation of huge profits go for now and realize that we have gained much more than money,” Karen said. “My dad keeps encouraging me, saying ‘the money will come.’”

Karen’s son and husband are also in on the family business, handling the programming of the apps and production of videos. “At 14 my son, Alex, taught himself how to program and is a programmer as a result of our company,” Karen said.

Creating balance when working with kids is important, Karen says, and she plans to relay this to moms at the workshop. “When it does get real, I have to pull back and make sure my kids are being kids and I’m being a mom,” she said. “Sometimes it means ... just letting your kids play. The kids come first and being a mom has to happen.”

What they’ve learned

That balance makes working together fun for Sofia.

“My favorite part of working with my mom is we don’t have a plan we have to follow,” Sofia said. “We can skew off the plan and be a little more creative than if I was working for somebody that wasn’t family. She’s always there for me and creative and fun. We like to make what we do in a fun way and we have a positive energy.”

Being in business with her mother has taught Sofia lessons she can use throughout her life. “Sometimes deadlines are hard, they put pressure on you,” Sofia said. “But pressure teaches you responsibility and that’s actually good because you use that in life.”

These are the skills Karen hopes to instill in other moms and daughters at the June workshop.

“I want moms, especially in this class, to understand we really are role models for our kids,” Karen said. “And it’s really fun and can be the most rewarding experience to learn together.”