Richelle Nassos of Cave Creek works with her husband in running me4kidz, a company that sells first-aid kits made specifically for children.
Tell us more about the products you sell and why each is essential.
We base all of our products on our children. The Medibag was our first product. It’s a larger, more comprehensive [first aid kid] for camping and for the car. It’s for kids, but there are things in there for the whole family to use. They can label stuff with their name and it has kid-friendly bandages.
The Medi Buddy was inspired after our second child and is designed more for the mom on the go. It’s very compact because the big one did not fit in our stroller. It still has a little over 40 items included in it.
The Diaper Bag Buddy was inspired after our third child. We wanted to take on a twist that was a little more baby-focused, so we that one has more organic options inside. All three products are latex-free and all the plastic is recycled. We just take all those little angles. From the beginning we were making sure we were offering something a little different and unique.
How else have your kids inspired your business?
My kids come first and foremost. For me it was more about being home and having that quality of life to be with our children; to watch them grow up. It’s much, much harder than I ever imagined, but at the end of the day it’s also much more rewarding. We have three boys: Cody (11), Luke (5) and Joey (16 months). We started with a little desk and the kids running around us in our kitchen and there are still days where I think, “Did I make the right decision?” We work seven days a week. It’s just my husband and me and we do all the outsourcing, bookkeeping, sales and marketing.
Have you found ways to give back to the community through your business?
It’s really twofold because we are contributing to society in two ways. I feel like too many companies are just in it to win it these days and it’s all about money. I feel like our business is very into contributing to society. We actually keep all the jobs here in the U.S. Some products are imported from vendors overseas, but it’s a very small percentage, so we keep people employed here. The second way we give back is by only employing the disabled. Every time someone buys our product, they help those people. Being a strong Christian family, but knowing that not everyone is, we were trying to find a way to give back. That’s why we picked the disabled. We also sent thousands and thousands of our products to a center in Los Angeles that helps sick children and hundreds to a local crisis pregnancy place in town. We can’t always be at those places, but we give as much as we can.
Any new products or ideas on the horizon?
We actually have a new product coming out in December or January. We are just finalizing stuff now.
What’s the most important thing you want people to know about your product?
This journey is so much more to us than about making money. We love to make a difference and set an example for our children about what a great work ethic is. Most husbands and wives would kill each other with the stress we work under, but it’s enhanced our marriage and helped us learn to juggle things. It’s brought us together as a family.
One day we were working in the kitchen. I was having issues with one of the kids wanting me to hold him the whole time because he could see me, so we moved everything into the bedroom, where the kids couldn’t see us. When the boys got home they couldn’t see any of the products and said, “What happened to me4Kids?” They were scared that we had stopped it. They love it and they are proud of it.
It’s also about so much more than just work. The products are unique. We get almost no returns, and I know for a fact it’s because we make a quality product and we make it here. We’ve continued to grow every single year. It may not be at the volume we anticipated when we wrote the business plan, but we don’t lose accounts and we continue to grow and are grateful for that.
Learn more about me4kidz.
