A Generation Y Entrepreneur Success Story
Posted on December 18th, 2008
Maisie Knowles, 26, has gained more experience and learned more about the challenges a businesswoman encounters than many female entrepreneurs who are a generation older.
She was in a management position at an advertising agency when many of her peers were still in their first professional job.
She and Luke Knowles, her husband co-founded the FreeShipping.org, a one-stop destination for consumers to find online retailers that offer free shipping deals.
The couples started Kinoli, an interactive design company before launching their site. She left her full-time job to help get the company off the ground and a year after Luke joined Maisie. FreeShipping.org was debuted last December 2007 with, of course, Maisie and Luke as founders.
“My husband, Luke and I rarely saw each other and I felt under appreciated working for someone else, so we were excited to start our own company. It was also an uneasy feeling, we both knew that we had enough work to keep us busy and pay the bills for a couple months, but after that it was uncertain,†said Maisie.
She earned a communication degree from the University of Colorado.
Maisie realize after giving birth to their first child, Isabelle, that working from a home office with her husband proved helpful. “I have a friend who worked up until the day she gave birth. Fortunately, I had much more time to prepare,” Maisie said. “I stopped working for three weeks before Isabelle was due, and I took a 10-week maternity leave and I wouldn’t have had that flexibility if I worked a traditional office job. I was able keep up with e-mails and general administrative tasks, and able to get a rest that I needed to be physically and mentally ready for Isabelle’s birth.”
“Working together from a home office saves time and money since we do not have to commute and the aggravation of being stuck in traffic. We also do not need to pay for child care and have more family time,†she added.
FreeShipping.org is the Internet’s premiere destination for online shoppers to find free shipping deals offered by more than 850 online retailers including Target, Bloomingdale’s, Kohl’s, Sears, Best Buy, Old Navy, Nordstrom and Macy’s.
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