With an antique secretary, a dining table with Windsor chairs and a hay feeder turned blanket chest from her parent’s to sell, Heather Stramondinoli wasn’t finding success with some of the online marketplaces. She learned from a family member that she could set up a Facebook page for tag sale items including the pieces of furniture she wanted to sell. “I needed someone local to buy them because they were so difficult to move and I didn’t want to share the proceeds with a consignment shop.”
Heather set up a Facebook group and gave it a name, Darien Area Mom’s Tag Sale Group, and then invited her friends to join. Local moms loved the idea and her group grew. It took a while but she sold the antiques from her family over the course of nine months.
Heather is an elementary school teacher and the Facebook group gave her something else she hadn’t planned for in addition to a venue for selling furniture, “As a working mom I can’t always go to the coffees or join the groups of women running charity functions. My Facebook group helped me stay connected and I felt I was giving something back to the community.”
It was that connectedness that led Heather’s group to morph into a place where the local moms in the group could give back as well. Heather reached out to her group to have them donate new backpacks filled with school supplies to a local charity. Another need was shared with her group when she learned about twin boys who were ill, “The family has been faced with the challenge of overwhelming medical expenses and needed funds to help pay for a service dog for one of the boys.” So what started as a tag sale group turned into much more. “There are many families who face a struggle far beyond what I could ever imagine.”
The whole Facebook group process was a learning experience and Heather figured things out as she went along. When she thought she might want to change the name of her group, she found out that, “Once you have over 200 members in a Facebook group you can’t change the name. And I decided to charge a yearly fee to make sure my members were committed to my group.”
Heather has always had a venture on the side; ribbon belts and painted Dr. Scholl’s sandals, were two of her favorite businesses. You’d think this VentureMom is a tag sale fanatic, “Not really, I don’t especially like tag sales but an online group works for me. I love sharing an item my family no longer needs and at the same time being able to give back when I can.”
VentureMom Tip
You may not know where your venture will take you, but get on for the ride and find out.
