featured mom-preneur: Lisa Zuraw of Sweetbeets

Self-taught illustrator, designer and mom to two sons, Lisa journeyed from the medical research field to the local letterpress printers shop! Her choice to stay at home with her eldest son led her to realize her creative cravings needed satisfying. Although the desire seems simple and the road less straightforward, she’s managed the daily demands of running a successful business and juggling everything in between.

The magic of childhood and life’s simple pleasures is what her company, Sweetbeets, is all about. Read on to learn more about how Lisa created Sweetbeets and be sure to ENTER TO WIN a scrumptous Sweetbeets pack filled with 4 everyday notecards and a set of 12 gift tags.

We hope you find Lisa as creatively cool as we do!

1. Tell us a little about yourself, your family, and/or your business.
I live near Toronto with my very supportive husband and my two sons who are 6 and 3 years old. Before the birth of our first child, I worked in the field of medical research. Once our eldest son was born, I decided that I wanted to stay home to take care of him, but I also realized that I really craved an outlet for my creative energies and that is what led me to Sweetbeets.

2. If you had to describe your business in less than 15 words, how would you do it?
Sweetbeets offers eco-friendly letterpress printed cards that celebrate the everyday magical moments of childhood.

3. What is your inspiration for your business? Your products?
My children are a huge inspiration, especially their unbridled enthusiasm and wonderment in such things as blowing the seeds on a dandelion or splashing in a puddle. Many of the ideas for my Sweetbeets illustrations come from watching how they play!

4. What is the most rewarding thing about being a mom? A mom-preneur?
The most rewarding thing about being a mom is my children’s unconditional love. It is amazing, especially if it’s been a bad day and they say “I still love you Mommy”! One of the things I find very rewarding about being a mompreneur is being able to share my business with my children and seeing how it sometimes comes out in their pretend play. For example, once in a while my oldest son tells me that he’s “working on his website”. Another time I needed to bring my sons along while my letterpress printer finished printing a custom baby announcement I had created. He very kindly showed my boys how the letterpress works and they were completely enthralled. For a couple of weeks later, their favourite activity was making a “letterpress” out of the couch cushions!

5. What advice would you give to someone considering becoming a mom-preneur?
I believe you need to truly love what you do. Running a business is demanding work, as is raising a family. Together, those roles add up to a lot of hours and stress in your life. If you love the work you do in your business, as I do, it will provide you with those crucial extra bursts of energy that you will need for those times when it’s particularly challenging to juggle everything!

6. What keeps you motivated?
My business is fun for me. I love expressing my creativity through my cards, and that is motivation enough to keep me going even when the going gets tough.

7. What is your next big goal?
My next big goal is to finally finish the overhaul of my main website, Sweetbeets.com, where I’ll add an online shop. I plan to offer custom letterpress stationery such as baby announcements and calling cards, as well as a very curated selection of handmade gifts for baby that are created by other mompreneurs and independent artists and designers.

8. What is your guilty pleasure?
My guilty pleasure is chocolate!

9. Name a product that you can’t live without, for you or your baby?
I think a sling is a definite must-have product for babies and the one baby item I probably used the most. It took me a few months to figure out how to use it with my first son, but I started carrying my youngest son in my sling when he was just a few days old!

10. What is the most valuable lesson you have learned as a mom {so far}?
The most valuable lesson I have learned so far as a mom is to choose my “battles” wisely with my boys, and not to continually engage them in a battle of wills on every contentious issue.