On this episode we have Meghan Foster. Meghan is the founder and CEO of T is for Tot, a brand that supports children's academic growth through fun, play-based activities! We talk about how T is for Tot marries both of her degrees, Instagram boosts actually helping her to grow, why you should consider starting small and slow, and so much more!
T is for Tot was founded by Meghan, a passionate kindergarten teacher, with the goal of making learning enjoyable for children ages 3-6.
T is for Tot’s carefully crafted subscription kits provide parents with a stress-free way to support their child's academic growth through fun, play-based activities.
Each T is for Tot Kit is designed to nurture a love for learning and ensure that your child is not only prepared for kindergarten but also set up for a lifetime of learning success.
Meghan Foster is a mom of 2 boys, taught kindergarten for close to a decade before starting T is for Tot, I have my master's degree in elementary education as well as a business degree.
T is for Tot kits are all-encompassing and delivered each month with everything included for play-based learning fun.
The goal of T is for Tot l is to make it easy for parents to give their child Pinterest-like activities, while teaching them in a developmentally appropriate way at the same time.
T is for Tot includes essential fundamentals in every kit, taught in a way that is fun and developmentally appropriate.
There's ample early childhood research that states the importance of starting learning early, and it needs to be a play-based approach that engages the child and leads the child to eventually be motivated in his/her own learning.
In This Conversation We Discuss:
Resources:
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Meghan Foster
The best strategy is growing slow and hiring people when you need to
Chase Clymer
Welcome to Honest Ecommerce, a podcast dedicated to cutting through the BS and finding actionable advice for online store owners. I'm your host, Chase Clymer. And I believe running a direct-to-consumer brand does not have to be complicated or a guessing game.
On this podcast, we interview founders and experts who are putting in the work and creating real results.
I also share my own insights from running our top Shopify consultancy, Electric Eye. We cut the fluff in favor of facts to help you grow your Ecommerce business.
Let's get on with the show.
Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of Honest Ecommerce. I'm your host, Chase Clymer. And today I’m welcoming to the show, Meghan Foster.
Meghan is the founder and CEO of T is for Tot. They create Learn and Play Kits for kids.
Welcome to the show, Megan.
Meghan Foster
Hey, thanks for having me.
Chase Clymer
Awesome. Thanks for being here. Alright. So what is a Learn and Play Kit for kids?
Meghan Foster
Yeah. So we create Learn and Play kits. Basically it's learning and playing at the same time.
And it's a kit that's delivered straight to your doorstep every single month with a new theme. Everything is ready to go. You don't have to think about it. It's just...
[You] simply open it up and get started. It's for ages 3 to 6. So it's the kit that you need or you'd want to have before you start kindergarten or even have for the whole year of kindergarten.
So it gets kids excited about learning. And yeah, it's a fun thing.
Chase Clymer
Awesome. So where did the idea for this business come from? What was going on?
Meghan Foster
Yeah, so prior to T is for Tot, I graduated in '08 with a business degree. And I just held for 2 years. I didn't have the passion for it.
So I went back to school, I got my master's in elementary education, I taught kindergarten and 2nd grade for close to a decade. I loved it.
I loved being with the kids, I love creating lesson plans, and just working with them. And then 2020, I had my second son and I just knew it was time to stay home with them.
That was my goal all along was to have little babies at home. So I have my 2 sons and still need a creative outlet.
So I started T is for Tot to be mostly digital, where parents would just simply print it, and then laminate it, do whatever they needed to do. But parents are busy.
So I quickly learned that I need to make it tangible for parents. That way, every single month, it's just... It's ready to go and you don't have to think about it. It's a lot.
If you don't have a teaching degree, you don't really know exactly where to go with it.
So yeah, I just tried to make it as easy as possible for parents.
Chase Clymer
Awesome. So what would a typical kit consist of if you could answer that?
Meghan Foster
Yeah, so every month is a new theme. But in every single month, you will find homemade non-toxic playdough.
It also comes with a 3D printed playdough cutter that matches the theme. It comes with a children's book, lots of arts, crafts, activities, STEM experiments.
I tried to load as much load in there so parents feel the value, but also they have a lot of activities to do with the children. So it's not just like a one activity kit.
It's like you have a lot to do with it. And then it's also not only play-based, but it's research-based. And it's giving all the things that you need for your child to be successful.
And every single kid has a different activity and a different target that we're trying to target with our learning.
Chase Clymer
Awesome.
So you have this background in teaching, you've got these boys at home that you're trying to make these activities for, when did it evolve into, "I'm going to start selling these things, too."
Meghan Foster
So it was from the get go. I have a business degree and also have a teaching degree. So I was like, "How do I marry these two together?" So I wanted to have something where I want it to be very present with my boys.
But I also want it to transition by the time both kids are in school, that it's a business. So that's how I went from A to B.
I wanted to give the parents value but also have something to do once they boys are in school.
Chase Clymer
Okay, so you've got the idea for the product. You got the...
It's now evolved more into a business? How did you...
What were the next steps there and how did you end up in the subscription model?
Meghan Foster
Yeah, that's a great question. Honestly for a while, I just wanted to do everything digitally. It's so much easier. You don't have the inventory. It's just like, parents just get it and they print it.
But like I said, it's just hard for parents. I wanted to make it easy for parents. And if they're having it printed and laminated and all these instructions, teachers know to do that kind of stuff. That's what teachers do.
We get on Teachers Pay Teachers, we buy stuff, we print it, but it's a hard process just to...
They have to go buy all the ingredients. It's a lot. So once...
It was back in 2021 at the very end of 2020 when I started listening to some podcasts. And it was a different subscription podcast.
And I was like, "Oh, this is the way to do it. Have it every month. Parents don't have to think about it.
It's easy for me with inventory because I know how many I need to purchase. So, yeah, that's how it all started.
But my goal was not to be like "Here's something parents have to do. They'll have done it for a year, [I'll earn] this much a month. So if they want to, like, you know, cancel or pause or whatever, it's easy. So, yeah.
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Chase Clymer
So you have the product you've evolved into this business model. How do you get the product in front of your potential customers, which I'm assuming are parents?
Meghan Foster
Yeah, especially parents.
The biggest thing I've done is this social media that we're trying to expand into different things.
So I'm looking into Facebook ads a little bit more. And I know that's a winning strategy. It's just getting that to work for me. I don't really...
I have some different people we're working with now. And then growing your email list. It's like all the things just from running a business.
But the biggest thing that's been helpful for us is just having social media people and also word of mouth. Of course, word of mouth has been huge.
Chase Clymer
Awesome.
Do you know what it was about your social media when you first got started where it started to transition from people you knew supporting the business to strangers on the internet, buying things from you?
Meghan Foster
Oh, my gosh, yeah. You gotta love your first few customers because those are mostly just your friends and family. They just want to support you. Yeah, I guess it was probably...
It was pretty soon after. It was early 2022. It just started to take off. It started to multiply in numbers. And it went from 70 to 70. So I think it was word of mouth. And I think...
This is so random to say this, but it was Instagram boosts too. That kind of helped, which I know hasn't been...
It's not a proven strategy. But it works for a little bit there. Yeah.
Chase Clymer
Awesome. Well, with the business growing so rapidly, did you run into any growing pains?
Meghan Foster
We try to grow not too fast. I don't want to have... The reason why I haven't doubled down on Instagram ads or mean on Facebook ads or Meta ads is because I'm trying to get it to a certain point without it being so overwhelming.
It's basically a business on the margins. So not particularly growing pains.
One thing that we had outsourced was my playdough cutters. Right now upstairs, I have 5 3D printers. I was creating all of the playdough cutters. And that's...
It's a lot. So it was like me going upstairs every hour and changing it out or every 2 hours.
So now I have someone in Pennsylvania and he does all of our cutters for us, which is so nice. And then I have another person who does all the cutting for us.
And then of course a lot of family help.
Chase Clymer
Awesome.
Meghan Foster
But that's been the best strategy is growing slow, and then hire people when you need to.
Chase Clymer
Now are you guys using the fulfillment house to help with the pick and pack of these products? Are you guys doing that all by yourself still?
Meghan Foster
It's still ourselves. We have a warehouse, which is our garage.
Chase Clymer
That's amazing. That's amazing.
Now, there's a lot of entrepreneurs out there that have awesome ideas and they're looking to take that leap and dive in and invest themselves.
Do you have any advice for them?
Meghan Foster
Yeah, I think starting slow and starting small. You listen to some other people and they talk about growing really large and doubling down.
I just think you have to prove the strategy first. You have to make sure that people want your product. So it's good to know when to invest more money.
But yeah, I took all the proceeds or the money I made from digital kits. And then I started buying inventory for the physical.
So that's how I did it. Because when you do digital, it's just money. You don't have to buy anything. It's just money, just your time.
So I was able to take all that money and put it towards this business.
Chase Clymer
So if I'm a parent out there, and I'm listening to this podcast, and I am curious to check out the product and maybe subscribe. Where should I go?
Meghan Foster
Yeah, so you can go to tisfortot.com. It's T-I-S-F-O-R-T-O-T. And there it has everything.
It has the one-off kits and then we also have the subscription, where they're delivered every month.
Chase Clymer
Awesome. Meghan, thank you so much for coming on the show today.
Meghan Foster
Thank you. Thanks for having me.
Chase Clymer
We can't thank our guests enough for coming on the show and sharing their knowledge and journey with us. We've got a lot to think about and potentially add into our own business. You can find all the links in the show notes.
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Until next time!