Latest News:
Guardian Sleeper® Wins Reno Gazette-Journal Entrepreneur of the Year Award
Newspaper Article: Plight of Young Moms Spurred Pair into Action, by Bill O'Driscoll, March 9, 2008, Reno-Gazette Journal.
The nomination letter that won the award for Guardian Sleeper:
Nomination of Guardian Sleeper® for the Entrepreneur Award
Submitted by Jack VanDien,
SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives) 
Carol and Nicola have demonstrated a passion to help other moms from the very beginning of Mommy’s Little Helpers. As two women who struggled for years to become parents and then found safe sleep for their infants to be a constant challenge and source of distress for them and their babies, each was determined to find a solution to safe, comfortable sleep for babies and peace of mind for their parents. They put their ideas together in early 2003 and the ideas blossomed into the Guardian Sleeper® … a one-piece cover and positioner that ‘snuggles’ a baby while maintaining them in the safest position to reduce the risk of SIDS and the discomfort of reflux.
For these two women, failure has never been an option. They have been bombarded with challenges from initial manufacturing disappointments and a string of obstacles that would have stopped most people in their tracks, but their resolve has never weakened as they feel that this product is too important to quit on. The thanks and wonderful feedback from moms and medical professionals alike continue to fuel them on their mission to help moms and babies worldwide.
It would have been so much easier for these moms to sell something cute or fun. Getting acceptance for a new safety product is a much longer and harder road, but as I have heard them say many times… “Even though we will probably never know, if we could help spare the life of one baby from SIDS this will all be worthwhile.” Nicola and Carol have both funded this venture personally by taking out lines of credit on their homes… That’s what I call commitment.
They have worked extensively with their business plan projections, developing relatively complex cost details and revising the plan as sales potential and cost and expense data changed to evaluate cash flow from potential markets as they evolved. They made numerous successful efforts to lower product and logistics costs so they could maintain prices as low as possible to reach the broadest market possible. As volume grows, cost savings can be expected to continue to limit prices and open markets still further. The owners’ primary objective from the outset was reducing the risk of SIDS, with profitability and positive cash flows essential but only secondary factors. As a volunteer counselor with SCORE, working with these dedicated clients to launch their first joint business venture has been a satisfying experience because the motivation, industriousness, energy, and innovation they display are the prime ingredients for a successful business, making them a model small business startup. And they do it all while raising families themselves.
