Customer Reviews

Mommy Millionaire: How I Turned My Kitchen Table Idea into a Million Dollars and How You Can, Too!

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I always thought the idea of owning a business would be great. I've dabbled on Ebay, with the whole intent being to stay at home and raise my kids while making money on the side. When I saw the title of this book it inspired me....maybe if I read it I could find some inspiration to start a business myself?
While the book itself is a good read (I didn't want to put it down!) I found the author's tenacity a bit scary. The product itself has limited potential....like a previous poster said, it's a fad product. Once everyone owns one, your income potential has pretty much dried up. The author fought really hard to make her business succeed by begging and borrowing, often at great personal risk. She often sacrificed time spent with family in her quest to make her business succeed. This to me represents the biggest conflict in her quest....the title "Mommy Millionaires" implies that this is something a Mommy can do "in her spare time" or when she isn't caring for her children. When in fact after reading this book I am more apt to believe the author traded in her time with her children FOR the business.....she even speaks about missing her children's birthday parties because she was too busy trying to promote her business.
I give this book 2 stars because it is a good read....but it misses its mark as an inspiration for other "mompreneurs". There are plenty of families out there who can successfully manage family and business. Moms shouldn't have to choose!

As a female small business owner, I was excited to find this book. Not long into the book, my excitement was gone but I finished it anyway. Lavine calls herself a business woman, but she recounts on more than one occasion how she used her cleavage and the practice of unbuttoning an extra button on her blouse to her advantage when dealing with men -- to get financing, etc. I certainly don't consider that very businesslike! Also, she claims to be going through all this nonsense -- most of which is a result of her own lack of business sense, yet she is giving advice!? -- for her two sons. Yet she is rarely with them, and when she is she (by her own account) parks them in front of the television with a video game, despite the fact that one son may have a form of autism, which is only worsened by playing video games. Lavine repeatedly praises herself -- using words like "great" -- and she seems to think she knows more than anyone else. Yet she really makes so many mistakes that it's hard to understand how anyone could ever want to emulate her. By the way, I did my own search on her product and some of her claims, and many cannot be substantiated. She's big on claims and short on any proof or documentation. I would not recommend this book; she does not share anything I hadn't read elsewhere in much better organized books.

This book was just OK. That's a 3-star on Amazon's scale. When I read a book that I plan to write a book review on I generally look at it as a teacher would when grading a paper. I consider the content of the book. I consider whether title informs me of what the book is going to be about. I ask if the material is presented in an orderly manner so the content can be easily digested. And I ask myself if the book was special in some way.

In my humble opinion this book had lots of content. That content arguably makes it a business book. However, the title of the book did not inform me of what the book was about. And I did not find the material to be presented in an orderly manner. And I did not find the book to be special in some way. Maybe if the author had made me feel for her I might have had a different opinion. But I didn't like her after reading this book. I had no warm and fuzzy feeling for her.

This book is a story about Kim Lavine who not too long ago was a housewife with two young sons and a husband who was recently unemployed. She had developed a "heating pad" product that she had been giving away as gifts prior to her husband losing his job. In order to generate income for the family she decided to go into business selling her "heating pad" product. In this book she explains her journey of making money by selling it. She had ups and she had downs. And it was an interesting story. But if I wanted to read a story, then I would have pulled a novel from my library's shelf. This book did not read like a business book; it read like a novel. And I was exhausted by the time I got to the end because I kept looking for the business book in it and never found it. Probably the fact that I was exhausted when I finished the book is a big reason this book only gets 3 stars from me. This book was not special in some way. It was a drain.

The cover of this book includes the following line: "The ultimate step-by-step guide to building a business while keeping your family your number 1 job." I assume the author did keep her family as her number 1 job. So I won't question that clause in the statement. However, the story in this book is not a step-by-step guide. It is merely a chronology of events that took place as the author built her business. She did it the wrong way. And ways that are wrong should generally not be used as guides. Part of the reason I was so tired when I finished this book is because I knew she was doing things all wrong. And some of her advice is really out in left field. Business plans are not easy to put together. And they are not as simple as just answering a series of questions. And businesses should not be thrown together under pressure and then reorganized later (if they can be). And you should not milk people for valuable information and then go do it yourself for free. You can get some free info this way, but ultimately you will get burned by scam artists the way the author did.

The cover of this book includes the following line: "How I turned my kitchen table idea into a million dollars and how you can, too?" Although the author's invention or product was made using corn, I wouldn't exactly call it a kitchen table idea. And the author's way of building her business was so convoluted that I hope nobody tries to build a business in a similar way after reading this book. If you want some books that will help you achieve what the author did, then I recommend you consider reading Invent Yourself Rich (ISBN: 1594160503) and Brownie Points (ISBN: 1932841261). I've read them both and have written book reviews for them on Amazon. 3 stars!

After skimming and skipping through the first few chapters, I happened upon the story of how she left her two year old toddler in a car to go to a meeting with a lawyer. My stomach just turned. I could read no further, even if there was more great advice. I don't want advice from a woman who sacrificed not only her two year olds' safety for her own goal, but also sacrificed so much family time for it as well. Should other mothers really be taking advice from a woman like this??? I only gave it 2 stars because she does include very good business advice, but I would have rather given it -5 for the "motherlyness" of it!

The steps and experiences outlined by Lavine provide a worthwhile guide for anyone about to launch a home-based retail venture. She takes problems and turns them into valuable lessons. She obviously accomplished a great deal and achieved success. A note of caution, however. Although Lavine recounts her own missteps in balancing her "mommy" and "entrepreneur" roles - not everyone can pull it off. I am reminded of the words of a past-president of the Chicago chapter of NAWBO: Women can have it all, but not always at the same time. I think this is a more honest assessment. That said, Lavine is to be congratulated on her success. One thing for sure - she's done a terrific job of promoting herself and her product. Her experiences on her way to success are worth reading. (Marion Gold is author of two books: "Personal Publicity Planner: A Guide to Marketing YOU" and "Top Cops: Profiles of Women in Command.")

I had high hopes in the beginning of this book, but this woman's story became quite ridiculous as it went on. She was NOT a mommy millionaire at all. She was a workaholic with a very average product who was willing to put in eighty hours a week promoting and marketing while her laid off husband took over the role of being mommy. By the end of the story her efforts were quite unbelievable really far fetched. I would think this book would make anyone think twice about going into business for them self. If it weren't for her husband being laid off, her family would have been destroyed. Very misleading. One of the worst stories I've ever read.

Lavine is an inspiration to all entrepreneurs--not just females. In this book she reveals how she developed an innovative pillow, founded the Green Daisy company, and sold her product on the QVC network. Lavine provides a wealth of information about business startups, and specifically focuses on how to create a cashflow analysis which becomes the cornerstone for all financial and business decisions. As in Mike Kiyosaki's Rich Dad series, Ms. Lavine emphasizes the importance of creating positive cashflow as the foundation of any profitable venture. This book reflects information the author learned from her successful experience as an entrepreneur, and is well worth reading.

For more info on achieving personal success and wealth, you may want to check out "The 17 Principles of Creating Wealth," by Phillip Collinsworth.

some luck, a reason, hard work, good salesmanship, great energy, a sense of adventure=a successful product. good adventure story of mommy entrepreneur.

I remember 2 Minutes After I bought this book I regretted it, who would spend $24 on a book, about a mompreneur. Afterall I've read many like it and found them all to be elementary. Not this book, I will use this book like my entreprenuer Bible. She discusses so many things that many don't know about. I've bought Entrepreneur's Guide to Starting Your Own Business and I found myself dragging through it, because it was so dull but informative. This woman excites me on my journey, she gives me a flashlight so I can see the many obstacles facing any female entrepreneur. She helps women see that there are people who are out there ready to take advantage of a womans naiveness. Some of the information is basic like the patenting stuff, which I know a great deal about, but much of it is very interesting because she's actually gone through it and can tell you what she was faced with at each level of her business development. It is an inspirational story and a how-to guide wrapped in pink. If she can take an idea like wuvit to the next level and make a million dollars off of something as seeminlgy simple as popcorn wrapped in cotton, then surely I can do the same or better. Don't You Think!!!

I'm a stay at home mom starting my own business of children's furniture and reading Kim Lavine's book gave me so much insight. The thing I love most about her book is that it's not so much a how-to book, but more of a journal of her own experiences. There's plenty of good "how to start your own business" books, but this one really captures the essence of how much sweat, tears and plain hard work are involved with building up a successful business.

I bought this book because it I'm also a mom, but it really gives a lot of insight to any entrepreneur (trade shows, retailing products, finding funding, etc). I would highly recommend it to those that aren't even moms because reading about her journey is not only encouraging, but gives you the full pictures (all the ups and downs) of building a successful business.