Many a night Rae Lynn Glispin and her husband were woken up by one of their two toddler boys crying having banged into their bedroom wall during their normal active tossing and turning. With the help of her Mom’s 40 year old sewing machine, Glispin created big kid sized bumper-type pads to ease her sons’ pain. No more nighttime bumps or bruises.

Then, early in 2007, Glispin was laid off from a company after eighteen years of service. What a perfect opportunity! She searched the internet to see if she had an original idea with her big kid bumpers. Sure enough, bumpers like these were not available anywhere. After a few phone calls to check on how to obtain a patent, she was referred to the Center for Women & Enterprise in Worcester.

Glispin took every available class and workshop at CWE, beginning with an Information Session and then Steps to Starting a Business. Next came Advertising and Public Relations. She also took advantage of the One-on-One Consults with experts in several areas including choosing a legal entity, patenting her idea and marketing. During a CWE Networking Event, Glispin even met her web designer from YourPageToday.com. Things were almost complete to officially launch her new site.

Glispin still felt somewhat disorganized, not feeling like she had a complete grasp on her business. She read about another great course at CWE called Power Up! Power Up is a comprehensive thirteen-week business planning course geared toward new entrepreneurs to provide them with the resources and education to write a business plan, find access to capital, develop revenue projections, and manage cash flow. During Power Up! Glispin said she heard real-life experiences from other women and began to build professional networks. After graduating she felt more confident and ready to make the necessary changes to make her business a success.

“How eye-opening to see what my expenses truly were and to learn so many new ways to cut costs. The revenue projections and other accouting tools were key. I cannot imagine what would have happened if I hadn’t taken this course. Just documenting my expenses and materials in a more organized way alone made all the difference for my business,” Glispin said.

During the Power Up! course, Glispin met so many wonderful people who were able to open her eyes to other product opportunities and marketing ideas. This led to changing her business name to Kidz Comfort, expanding her product line and improving areas important in e-marketing, such as providing a more customer friendly shopping experience for her site visitors.

Kidz Comfort is now focused on children’s bedtime routines. Her product line includes her signature Bed Bumper for Big Kids and coordinating comforter sets to suit any child. She is dedicated to maintain the manufacturing of her products within the USA. Along with her bedding sets, Glispin offers children’s lullaby CDs, bedtime storybooks and Kidz Heat & Cool Packs.

“After all, what better way to relieve a toddler’s leg cramps during the night than an all-natural cherry pit heat & cool pack. These packs use up my extra fabric and work so well on my own boys.”

Glispin is looking forward to some new workshops being offered at the Center for Women & Enterprise in the fall including a Quickbooks class and a Social Networking class, to improve how she manages her business and increase traffic to her website.

“CWE has made this dream come true. I never thought it would happen, but they’ve been so encouraging, supportive and available. They have walked me through business-ownership step by step and given me the tools to become very successful,” Glispin said. “CWE turned a scary and overwhelming time into something that has been so exciting and enjoyable. I cannot say enough about what they have done for me and my family.”

Now, if you call or email the Center for Women & Enterprise in Worcester, you may just be in touch with her. She is working part time as the Worcester office’s Program Assistant.

You can visit Glispin’s site at www.kidzcomfort.com