Work/Life Balance
Mother cashes in on CD for kidsMompreneur's CDs a hitWhat's in a name? SHARON ASCHAIEK -- Special to the Toronto Sun |
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Tune Inc., a company that sells a personalized children's music compilation that features your child's name in every song. With her husband Eric's help and her daughter Hannah as inspiration, her business has become a certified hit. (Candace Alper is the founder of Name Your)
For entrepreneur Candace Alper, the answer to this classic question is easy: a successful business and a lot of fun.
Alper is the founder of Name Your Tune Inc., a company that sells a personalized children's music compilation that features your child's name in every song.
In our kid-centric culture, where parents strive to make their children feel like stars, Name Your Tune has become a certified hit.
"The momentum has been so exciting," Alper says. "It has been so well received, kids have so much fun with it, as well as parents and grandparents."
Each made-to-order CD features kid faves such as Old MacDonald, The Wheels on the Bus and If You're Happy and You Know It with their names plugged into the lyrics. Kids hear their names more than 80 times throughout the compilation.
It's well known that people's names are music to their ears, and that's especially the case with children. It was during her maternity leave in 2003 that Alper, holder of a bachelor of education degree from OISE/University of Toronto, realized how to translate this truth into a viable business. That's when she and her husband, Eric, received a customized CD with original music as a gift from his parents.
"We've always been big fans of music, and when we got this CD, we loved the idea, but we knew we could build on it with songs that we all know and love," Alper says.
A seasoned Canadian music industry publicist, Alper's husband was key to helping her get Name Your Tune off the ground. They started by soliciting the services of singers in their circle. In the recording studio, they pioneered a technique to record nine songs that could be customized to accommodate 700 different names, without the music sounding choppy.
"Each time, they are singing enough of the portion of the song they need to sing so it doesn't sound like we're just popping a name in there," she says.
Once they completed the technical work, the Alpers set about promoting the business by establishing a website and participating in gift shows and holiday shows. But for the most part, Alper says, the concept was so new and innovative, it sold itself.
"So much of it happened by word of mouth," she says. "Someone bought it for themselves, then bought it for a friend, and so on. It's been very organic that way."
CELEBRITIES
To keep the buzz going, Alper sent personalized CDs to celebrities, including Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Matt Damon, Adam Sandler and Tori Spelling. Since then, stars such as Patrick Dempsey and Debra Messing have placed orders.
Before long, the CD began garnering all sorts of accolades, winning the iParenting Media Award for Outstanding Audio CD, cited as "the most coveted product for children" by People magazine, and earning Alper status as an Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award nominee.
Name Your Tune has also been featured extensively in the press, including Today's Parent, Candian Living, Breakfast Television, Entertainment Tonight Canada and The Today Show.
The current iteration of the CD features 14 songs that can be tailored to accommodate 3,500 different names. Visit www.nameyourtune.com to search the database and make a purchase.
Currently in its fifth year of operation, Name Your Tune is still a rockin' business, and has recently gone green: the company now uses eco-friendly CD packaging and shipping options, and pays a monthly fee to non-profit environmental organization Zerofootprint to offset the carbon emissions caused by shipments.
Running the business has enabled Alper to be a more involved mom to her now five-year-old daughter, Hannah, whom she calls the
biggest inspiration for the venture.
It's also given her the joy and excitement of carving out her career on her own terms.
"It's a constant evolution and I'm learning something every day," she says. "Working for myself is incredibly challenging, but very rewarding."
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