The Zen Of Pregnancy
Rick London
I just launched a maternity and infant wear business with funny clothes as I am also a cartoonist. The manufacturer puts the cartoon images on the clothes. I've loved all the learning. It is one of my many "niche web sites". I enjoy launching them and see which products people like the most. Maternity is definitely in as are matching gifts and kids tees and hoodies. Though I sell more volume in my big non-niche stores, per visitor, the small stores like MirthGirthBirth fare much better. And they are much more fun.
Of course anyone can open a maternity shop, put cartoons on the fabric and call it niche. If it were just that, I wouldn't bother to even call it a "speciality store". I take it even a step further, one that has yet to be done. And it works and people really seem to enjoy it.
Whenever there is a new baby coming, or has arrived, there is another item in the house that is always there. A camera full of film, as well there should be. There are a lot of wonderful photographic memories that can be experienced from the gestation period all the way through childhood. Often times more siblings came ahead of the one being born (hence the kids matching clothes, and they want to be a part of the photographic memories as well). A traditional living room scene is baby in crib and parent or parents drinking coffee, chatting and being shutterbugs....hence the matching coffee mugs and teddy bears. Getting the "zen of it all"? Also, with all wearing "matching funny outfits", we automatically create good cheer, hence reducing chances of sibling rivalry right off the bat. It becomes a team effort. Same game suits. Same team.
And if its a matching set of twins, you double the action, using a matching set of zens. Just twice as many babysuits, and twice as much film. Isn't zen niche shopping wondeful?
And if all this is not enough, rather than just putting any cartoons on the clothing and gifts, I added cartoons that are in professional-themed categories, such as "future scientist", "future doctor", "future lawyer", future plumber", "future pro sports player", etc. Now we have not just another "Kodak Moment", we have what could be a prediction of the future of this new bundle of joy. What is so "zen" about this? A lot when you think about it Let's say mom or dad or both are dentists, and they'd love it if their child grew up to be a dentist and take over the practice. A great deal of energy happens in happy moments caught in photography. And when it is done in good cheer, the first words or thoughts, say, "of dentistry", according to many scholars, "stick in the mind of the child in a positive manner". Starting to see yet more zen at work?
Can I prove this? Heavens no. But it's hard to disprove it, and a lot of it is common sense. Our early childhood has a great impact on us for the rest of our days, it is said. If that is true, why not use the yin and yang of zen to help create, or at leaste start, a healthy path? I am not saying dressing everyone up in matching dentistry cartoons, taking a pic, and showing it often in the family album will create a future dentist. I have no proof of that, but I'm not saying it is not either. And even if it doesn't do that, it creates memories that will last a lifetime, in fact many lifetimes. So MirthGirthBirth was born. Part of my Zen Of Niche Part Two. It is beginning to get a good deal of media and Internet blogging attention. I am proud of it. I love the items that we sell and moms and moms-to-be seem to appreciate that there truly is a niche shop in the maternity and infant arena that is based on humor.
The birth of a baby is a time for joy, laughter and celebration. A niche store such as this reflects that and captures it in a way that no other store can. That is what makes it so zen and so niche. It's all in the energy....if you know what I mean. But zen again, maybe not.
Cartoonist Rick London is the owner and founder of MirthBirthGirth funky maternity and infant wear http://www.mirthgirthbirth.com/ The Zen Of Maternity
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