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Tampa mom’s business sense helps kids sleep snug as a bug

Posted Dec 8, 2009 by Beth Gaddis

Updated Dec 10, 2009 at 10:06 AM

It all started while sitting around a coffee table and reading the newspaper in her Davis Islands home more than a decade ago.  Amy Phillips’ husband made an off-hand comment, “If you could just create the next paper clip, we’d be all set.”  That set the wheels in motion for this mother of two to take action and turn an idea she had been mulling around in her head into a business plan.

Years earlier, Phillips had gone to pick up her daughter Leah at day care and saw her sound asleep at naptime, her arms and legs sprawled over the mat, sticking to the plastic where she had kicked off the blanket.  Thinking that might not be the most hygienic thing in the entire world, Phillips had used her imagination honed by years as a creative director at an advertising agency and her skills as a seamstress to sew a lightweight blanket/pillow/mat combination that could be rolled up into its own carrying case.

“I designed a few prototypes over a two-year period, then I started selling samples of prototypes and thinking about how can this be mass-produced,” Phillips said. The concept for the SnuggleBug NapSac was born. She found a company here in Tampa that gave her some good advice on pricing and introduced her to a company that could handle the production.

Then she had a big decision to make.  Would she give up her full-time career as an advertising executive to become a full-time entrepreneur?

She decided to keep her advertising job. “I chose that because it was more dependable and stable and it had insurance and benefits.” There was an emotional benefit as well. “I thought, ‘I’m going to see this as a hobby and not worry about making a lot of money,’ and it became a lot more fun seeing it that way.  It took a lot of pressure off to not worry about making a certain number of sales.”

Phillips didn’t give up on her invention, though.  She started selling the SnuggleBug NapSac in RightStart and Hammacher Schlemmer stores in 2001, then branched out to sell it online through eBags as well.  Four months ago, she launched her own Web site, SnugBugNap.com, which offers direct sales.  Just a few weeks ago, Staples approached her about selling the NapSacs via their stores and Web site.  It retails for $39.95 and testimonials on her Web site tout its durability and usefulness at day cares and sleepovers.

She’s also embraced social media, working with mommy bloggers, Twitter and Facebook to create contests and give-aways and spark sales and interest in her product.  She also uses Google AdWords and search engine optimization to get the word out. (Follow on Twitter and Facebook)

“It’s about branding, and that comes back home with my full-time job.  I have created and invented a brand, and I look at everything from the logo to the signature I use on my e-mails to the quality of the visuals and everything on the Web site,” she said.

It’s also about perseverance.  If there’s one piece of advice she has for other entrepreneurs, it’s this, “Before making any financial commitment, or even spending too much time, research, research, research.”

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