“Cocoa Babies” Founder Empowers Children Through Design and Apparel

“[Working at a university] taught me how to multitask different things,” she said. “One thing I did at the university was contracts. When I’m entering into contracts with vendors and printers, I know what to look for and how to negotiate the best price. And a lot of things we did involved thinking outside the box and figuring out how to get buy-in from people for new events.”

Despite her initial missteps, she had grown her business enough to be able to leave her full-time job. It happened sooner than she’d hoped, but after having to relocate for her husband’s career and not being able to find work in a similar career, the time seemed ripe to dedicate her energies completely to growing the business.

“It wasn’t when I planned, but having to move and not being able to find work in the new area allowed me to follow my dream,” she said. “It’s so important in this economy that small business owners have a good foundation. You never know when you’ll lose the job or be forced to run your side business full time.”

Tillett-McAdoo knew she needed a place to go to work in order to truly focus on growing Cocoa Babies, so she started renting an office space in July right outside Durham, N.C. Outsourcing her printing and graphic design has allowed her to cultivate a healthy marketing campaign through virtual networks, mainly Facebook and Twitter. She involves her customers in developing new T-shirt and onesie designs with contests and coupons. She also markets the company through many of the popular “mommy blogs” on the Web.

Babies are virtually recession-proof, Tillet-McAdoo said, since everyone seems to know someone having a baby, and Cocoa Babies’ financials prove it. Sales have climbed steadily to over $27,000 since the business started in 2005. She had over 400 internet orders this year, which nearly doubled when she began working on Cocoa Babies full time.

“I have a lot of people who purchase for baby showers, but when I’m at [trade] shows I get more parents,” she said.

Most of her customers are based in Atlanta, but her active Web shop has allowed her to reach customers across the country. It helps that the models for her site are adorable babies. Tillett-McAdoo did an open model search in Charlotte, N.C., expecting maybe 10 auditions, but she ended up with 42. The turnout not only gave her a large pool from which to choose models, but additional word-of-mouth marketing for the business. The company is launching its next open audition in Atlanta.

Tillett-McAdoo makes listening to her customers a habit. After receiving requests from California customers to translate some of the T-shirts into Spanish, she is currently testing a Hispanic product line for CoocaBabies. She is also looking at creating a wholesale catalog in 2011 and expanding her customer base to include baby boutiques. Home parties and a consultant program are also on the horizon.

“I have all of these new ideas and I have the time to think about them and how to grow Cocoa Babies,” she said. “I thought I’d go into work for a bit, three days a week, and then come home, but there are days where my husband calls and asks if I’m even coming home. I would not have been able to do this if I didn’t go full-time.”