Andrea Iervella didn’t immediately set out to become a mompreneur. Like any parent, she was proud of her three young children’s artistic accomplishments. She loved their creativity and wanted to preserve as many of their projects as possible. So when her eldest child brought home a tree composed entirely of Rice Krispies cereal, Andrea knew she had a challenge on her hands. How could she save such a delicate creation?
And that’s when it hit her — photograph it.
Andrea always had a hard time tossing projects, regardless of their potential to stand the test of the time, so this was the perfect solution. From that point on, she started to photograph all of her children’s art and compiled the pictures into hard-covered books.
It was such a hit with her friends and family that Andrea knew she had a marketable idea on her hands. And so, SchoolWorx was born.
Since starting in 2013, Andrea’s venture has steadily grown and continues to thrive. With professional scanners and photography, she can capture any child’s artwork — even restoring pieces if needed. After her one-of-a-kind keepsakes took off, she was named Canada’s Mompreneur of the Year for 2015 and awarded the Mompreneur Award of Excellence.
Every mompreneur needs her tools
From the start, Andrea’s goal was to establish her business online. With an extensive background in the marketing industry, she knew the best way to grow a small business was to establish a professional-looking online presence.
It is important to be online because it is the easiest and most cost-effective way for me to reach potential customers across Canada.
As a mompreneur, she was familiar with the concept of doing her homework — and she decided her ideal solution involved GoDaddy.
Domain and website
She started by registering her domain name with GoDaddy, as well as purchasing Website Builder to create her site.
I knew this was my answer to an inexpensive and fast way to be online. I chose a template that I was able to make some minor design modifications to.
Andrea found Website Builder to be very intuitive, and she was able to get her website up and running in no time. As SchoolWorx grew, the website evolved along with it. Andrea transitioned from a solely information-based website to one that could provide more robust services. The design of her current WordPress site was based on everything she learned from her original website.
I would say to other Mompreneurs that are just starting out that using the GoDaddy platform is a great place to start and learn about their customers. There is no huge investment upfront to having an online presence and being able to market your products and services online.
Professional email
Andrea uses business-class email from GoDaddy in order to have an address that matches her domain name. This gives her business greater credibility than if she used a generic email account like Gmail.
Search engine optimization
And there’s always SEO.
With her knowledge of the marketing industry, Andrea knew the importance of being found online. So, she took advantage of GoDaddy’s Search Engine Visibility product.
GoDaddy’s SEO has a useful checklist that walks you through different steps, such as optimizing page titles, page descriptions and heading tags. It’s very helpful.
Leveraging SEV has helped drive traffic to SchoolWorx and helps ensure the site appears at, or near, the top of any relevant internet searches by consumers.
Taking her business to new heights
SchoolWorx’s success is directly connected to Andrea’s commitment to her work and customers. She does everything in her power to make her company a one-stop shop — including free art pickup. She’ll gladly ship boxes — complete with a pre-paid return label — to her customers so they can easily send in their children’s artwork.
Once the crafts are restored and/or color optimized for printing, she provides a digital version for the parents to review. Talk about customer service!
And customer service is one thing Andrea knows well.
One feature that all GoDaddy products share is fantastic, 24/7, customer support,” she says. It’s that type of relationship building that promotes success.
Between the publicity of Andrea’s 2015 Mompreneur of the Year award, a GoDaddy radio campaign featuring SchoolWorx and Andrea’s entrepreneurial drive, business has boomed. With a little elbow grease and the right suite of products, SchoolWorx has given her the opportunity to become a mompreneur. She hopes to continue her company’s growth with new products and brand expansions in the future.
