With items starting around .79 cents, it wasn't hard for mom to fill our stockings on a budget.
Barbie has been a long time advertiser on Mommy Perks...gosh, for as long as I can recall! From Pampered Chef to 
What 
Today I am reviewing one of my favorite clients: 
Mommy Perks is proud to feature 
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How did your company start and WHY?
The why is simple - when I had first begun the business, I was a single mom and I wanted hours that are more flexible so I could be home when I needed or wanted to. I actually started working in this industry when I became pregnant. I worked from my house conducting interviews. After my daughter was born, I continued working at home conducting research. As my daughter grew older, it became more difficult to work from home so I started working part time for a research company located in an area mall. After my separation and divorce, I went to work full time. Each day I loved the industry more and more. The only issue I had was that working full time gave me no flexibility with the things I wanted to do at home and with my daughter. Being a single mom I also needed more job security than I was given.
I was lucky enough to have someone come through my office and see my talents , and, having worked with me, also become willing to invest in me. I also wanted to prove to myself that I could do this. It was very important to my self-esteem and important to show my children that with hard work and a little luck, you can accomplish big things.
What words of advice can you offer to other moms in business?
Having loving children helps a great deal. You should also have a strong support system. In my case, it was my husband who I married just 10 months after I started my business. He took care of most of the home chores so that I could concentrate on running and expanding my business.
Are you giving anything away today? If so, what is it?
Yes! We are providing one lucky winner with a goody bag of promotional items – including a gym-style bag, a reusable shopping bag, a key chain, two bendable Frisbees, and several hyper-color pens!
Your contact info:
Barbara Bridge or Michelle Finzel
President
Maryland Marketing Source, Inc.
9936 Liberty Road
Randallstown, MD 21133
410-922-6600
What have I bought from my Gift Guide folks so far?
Okay – so rather than tweet all day long about what I am buying from the Entrepreneur’s Gift Guide, I decided to post it here.
In case you care 
Some of you have asked me about the people listed there, their products, what I like best, etc. I made a commitment this year to buy from the people listed in my Guide, to show and demonstrate my support of their efforts. Putting my $$ where my mouth is, if you will. Many of us say we support small business – it’s another thing to actually DO IT.
Here is what I have purchased thus far:
- Fudge – 2 batches so we’ll have enough while my parents are here visiting. The fudge runs $5 per batch plus shipping. If you email MariLee she will knock 20% off if you mention Mommy Perks. Can I make my own fudge? Yes. So why buy from MariLee? Well, it will free up my time to bake something else and I can just imagine how excited my kids will be when we get FUDGE in the MAIL!! LOL. Food – whoo hoo!
AVON (Independent Rep – Lisa N.):
- I ordered 13 items from her page for stocking stuffers: chap-sticks, lotions, bath paints, etc. The total came to just over $18, FREE SHIPPING (using code FSWER). This will cover numerous stocking items for our 3 kids. They LOVE the bath paints; I’ve bought them in the past. I also plan to buy boots from Lisa for our sitter. She loves boots and the ones she wears here every day are falling apart (good ol’ Walmart $6 boots. Sorry – my bad).
- She is giving away a Poinsettia Apron on our 25 giveaways page. I WANTED that apron. I had to HAVE that apron. So – I BOUGHT that apron. I bake all the time so the apron will be well used. I am counting this as one of my Christmas gifts (that’s how I justified buying something for myself before Christmas Day). I entered code hol15 to save 15% (which basically gave me free shipping).
- Leah’s items are stunning. I bought this set of 4 Bubble Mugs last year from Leah, to show my support of her, as a new client of mine. My parents came to visit and LOVED the mugs. “Where did you get those???” they wanted to know. My folks love to travel and have been all over the world. They like to admire unique, hand-painted items. So of course they loved these mugs – they’d never seen anything else like them before; perfect for entertaining friends for coffee! My mom kept saying: “Boy, I’d love to have mugs like yours…” My mom rarely buys herself ANYTHING so guess what I just bought them for Christmas? Yep – their own awesome set of 4 Bubble Mugs. Don’t tell (they don’t read my blog so I’m not worried that they’ll see it here). I entered code HG25 for a whopping 25% off.
- Barbie recently ran a giveaway with Mommy Perks. 78 people entered for her prize!! Not 78 comments…78 PEOPLE. I ordered a Personalized Santa Letter Package from her myself. I got the $10 package because really – it’s a smoke’n deal. The ten bucks includes shipping and you get a letter, 2 crafts (3 if you mention Mommy Perks to her!), reindeer food, a good list award, stickers, a coloring book and crayons. TOTALLY worth ten bucks and our family doesn’t even do the “santa” thing! My daughter loves to get mail, though, and she will enjoy everything in this package, no doubt.
I plan to order from everyone else, too, if possible. I’m trying to pace myself and spread my spending out…I figure I can do this if I put my mind to it! Some orders will be larger than others but all in all – how many other Guide owners are buying from their listed partners? None that I know of…
Maybe my public commitment to my hard working small business peeps will rub off on other site owners, eh? 
I can only hope…
I have found that when we are a blessing to others, we are blessed in return. That is certainly happening to me right now – I can’t give all the details but it’s happening. Let’s just leave it at that
MORE TO COME…
FYI, Avon shoes are WONDERFUL! I splurged and bought some wedges right before I quite being a rep and adore them. You have a lucky sitter!!!
And LOL about you buying yourself the apron, I love it!