Small Business Saturday Spotlight- 123 Then Me!

This is the last page of our custom ebook. To see the entire book then click on this picture or you can scroll below and see an image gallery of the book. 

I have met really amazing women since starting my blog, overwhelmed, and making my Instagram profile public. I have also been able to reconnect with moms I knew when I was younger and in college. I am a true believer that certain people are introduced or reintroduced in our lives at exactly the right time and I definitely feel this way about Alexis Gorgon, Founder of 123 Then Me. Alexis contacted me back in April after she discovered my blog and really liked my post about our favorite kid-friendly  YouTube channel, Mooseclumps. Alexis and I went to college together and I was excited for her to introduce me to her new business 123 Then Me by explaining the goal of her product is to help kids make sense of life events through custom illustrated stories. Alexis asked if she could make emmy and elle a custom ebook so I can share it with my readers and spread the word about her new business. What Alexis did not know is earlier in April we decided we would be separating emmy and elle next year in different preschool classes. This decision did not come lightly and I will be explaining further in a future blog post but I felt a custom ebook tailored to emmy and elle about the start of school in different classrooms was the perfect plot for their own story. 

The process to create the ebook was fun and easy! Alexis asked me a few questions about emmy and elle, their school, and their favorite activities. She then asked for a few pictures of our family so she could use the images to create the digital art illustrations for the story. The anticipation was killing me to see how the ebook would turn out and when she emailed me the final copy I was beyond thrilled and honestly cried happy tears. The ebook is so sweet and the digital illustrations she created really do resemble our family. An added bonus was Alexis was extremely kind with giving me the most beautiful hair so thanks girl! :) 

We will be reading this book to emmy and elle all summer long to help them understand they will be starting school in September and they will have different teachers and classrooms. The story is a keepsake I will treasure and one I know my girls will love to look at on our iPads. I know I will be ordering more custom ebooks in the future and I highly encourage you to check out her website and contact Alexis to create a custom story for your child too! Thanks Alexis for the beautiful story and thank you for letting me feature you for this weeks Small Business Saturday Spotlight! 

Below you can check out the book Alexis created for us or you can click on the first image above to view the PDF version of the book. Make sure to check out Alexis' five fast facts and more information about her business! 

Alexis was kind enough to provide extra details about her company and she wrote Five Fast Facts about herself so you can learn more about Alexis and her sweet family. 

123 Then Me focuses on helping children understand life events through custom illustrated stories. Children experience many events that can be confusing, cause anxiety, or even acting out. This can be anything from going to the doctor to getting a new sibling. 123 Then Me helps children navigate these events by using an illustrative and narrative technique. This technique helps make sense of an experience and organize the memories/feelings into a more manageable psychological package. 123 Then Me is here to help if you want to prepare your child for an upcoming event or change, help them deal with something that already happen, or help them overcome something. Your family and child star in each custom story that will keep your child engaged!

1) I am a mechanical engineer: I worked in the engineering field with a global corporation after university until my first daughter was born. During my maternity leave, I realized that there is no better time then now to start my own business as this was something I always wanted to do. But the idea for 123 Then Me didn't come until later when we experienced a traumatic hospital visit and it started to impact my daughter's daily life. This was the start of creating custom illustrated stories to explain life events to kids.

2) I have lived in 5 different countries:  USA, Germany, Japan, Malaysia, and Thailand. It has been interesting to live and work in so many countries but my favorite outside the USA is Japan due to the culture, food, and efficiency of the country. 

3) I speak German: When I moved to Germany I did not know any German and the city I was living in didn't have many English speaking people. In order to make daily life easier, I started to learn the language but it eventually became useful for work also.

4) I love to bake: I love trying new recipes and entertaining friends with the treats. My favorite things to make are pie and cookies so Thanksgiving and Christmas have become major baking holidays for my family. 

5) I have two daughters: I just joined the two under two club a few weeks ago and we are finding our way together. Being abroad while having kids is quite challenging on many levels but being away from close family and friends is the hardest part. Regular FaceTime calls are a must and help us keep in touch with everyone back home.