Name: Louisa Gehring
Business: Semper Finest Care Packages LLC
About your Semper Finest Care Packages LLC
Semper Finest Care Packages LLC was formed in December 2010, and our online store launched in April 2011. Since then, we have expanded from being a company devoted to selling care packages for Marines to serving all branches of the military, as well as all military academies. We have also grown to support “donated” care packages, so that customers who want to support a service member but don’t know of anyone specifically deployed can still send a package. We also sell packages to the “home front warriors” – those women and men who hold down the fort while their child, spouse, or significant other is away.
What inspired you to open your business?
I am the wife of an active duty Marine, and found myself not only sending dozens of care packages while he and his friends were deployed, but also loving the challenge of how to keep the packages creative, fun, and useful. While my husband was deployed in Afghanistan, many family members and friends contacted me saying they wanted to send him a care package, but didn’t know what to put in it. Additionally, at the end of the day, many also couldn’t find the time to go to the Post Office during its limited hours and ship a package. I soon realized that if there was a way these loved ones could support their deployed service member without the hassle of figuring out customs’ forms, what one can and can’t send, and obtaining the correct shipping supplies, many more care packages would probably be sent. Thus, I had the idea of providing a service that would take care of the hassle, while providing both unique and custom care packages for service members.
What has been your biggest unexpected challenge?
My biggest unexpected challenge has been figuring out how to best reach my target audience. A large chunk of my audience isn’t the spouses or significant others of deployed service members; for the most part, they prefer to send their own care packages. The people who are most likely to use our service are the friends, aunts, uncles, godparents, cousins, and those who care about the service member and want to show support, but who aren’t the next-of-kin. Being more than one degree removed from the service member, these people often don’t have “I know a deployed service member, and want to send them a care package!” stamped on their forehead in the same way immediate members of a military family do. Just because being connected to the military isn’t a part of their immediate identity, it doesn’t mean they don’t care as much; however, they are harder to target as a demographic.
How do you balance family/business?
While I wish I could say I was that super mom who can play stimulating, educational games while promoting my business and fulfilling orders, I’m not. My work time is my work time, and my family time is my family time. To help create this divide, I found a wonderful daycare where my 2.5 year old daughter goes three days a week, so I can have heads-down work time. On the days she is home with me, I get up early in the morning and work for 2 hours before she is up, and work again during her 2-3 hour afternoon nap. Once she is up and my husband is home, that is strictly family time. The hardest part about this set up is ensuring that I am productive during the days she is at daycare, so that I can be completed with my work by the end of the day. Since moms have a never-ending list of things that could be done if they only had a couple of hours of free time, it’s hard not to spend my “childfree” days running errands and crossing things off that to-do list!
When you are really stressed, you are most likely to ______________
Get a pedicure and/or a massage. When not super pregnant, I also go for a nice, long run.
A piece of advice for other Moms interested in opening a business:
Be organized, and flexible! I started planning my business when my daughter was six months old, and it was fairly easy to work, even if she was awake, because she wasn’t completely mobile yet and still slept a lot. Now that she’s a full-fledged, chatty, and energetic toddler, I’ve had to restructure my work time to fit her needs. Now that I’ve got this down pat, I’m due with baby #2 in a few weeks, and know that I’ll soon have to regroup again. Just like your business, it’s important to anticipate and react to constant change in a positive way!
Fun fact about you:
I gave birth to my daughter two weeks after my husband deployed to Afghanistan. He wouldn’t meet her for another 6.5 months. A few months before he returned, my daughter and I bumped into Mick Jagger in an airport. So for the rest of her life she can say that she saw Mick Jagger before she saw her daddy!
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