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American Politics  » What I Learned From Barbie's Mom

What I Learned From Barbie's Mom

When my daughter received a gift certificate at KB Toys for

her birthday this month, she announced her intention to

spend it all on Barbie.

Never mind the fact that she already owns a Veterinarian

Barbie, Lifesaver Barbie, Prom Queen Barbie, two Barbie

Ballerinas and a Prince Ken... She's got Barbie's Beach

House, a Barbie Steering Wheel, two Barbie autos that each

seat four, a Barbie tape player, Barbie Hair and Makeup

Model, Barbie Nail Designer Software, and a big box full of

clothes. But Megan wants to have a *collection*, a

peculiarly human urge understood well by the Mattel Toy

Company, which comes up with all this stuff.

It's too bad they don't make a Work at Home Mom Barbie. If

they did, they could draw on the life of Ruth Handler for

inspiration. Handler, who passed away last week, is best

known as the inventor of the Barbie doll. She was also one

of the most successful female entrepreneurs of all time,

beginning in an era when women were expected to stay in the

kitchen and out of the boardroom.

Like many of us, Ruth's career as an entrepreneur began by

accident. Money was tight when she married her husband,

Elliot. She was working as a secretary and he was studying

industrial design. He decided to use his skills to make some

housewares for their apartment. *She* decided that there was

a market for them. They operated their first business out of

their garage. Ruth handled the sales, which reached

$2 million within the first few years... and that was in

1945 dollars. Today that amount would equal ten times as

much!

Ruth and Elliot joined with another designer, Harold "Matt"

Mattson, to form the Mattel Company (named for Matt and

Elliot). They manufactured picture frames. Elliot

realized that he could take the wood scraps from the frames

and turn them into doll furniture. This side business proved

to be so successful that the company changed its focus to

toys.

The folks at Mattel credit Ruth with playing an integral

role in their success. Her natural talent as a marketer

helped the company turn a profit its very first year as a

toymaker. But her biggest was her ability to identify a

market void and fill it ("niche marketing," which is what

the experts all tell us we should be doing.)

It was just such an instinct that led to the Barbie's birth.

The 1950's were an era when little girls played with baby

dolls -- in fact, those were just about the only kind you

could buy. But Ruth noticed that her daughter, Barbara, was

fascinated with paper dolls representing adult and teenage

women. She would change their dresses and imagine how life

would be all grown up.

The male ad executives at the company were not impressed

with Ruth's doll. Neither were the mostly male buyers who

saw her debut at the American Toy Show in 1959. But as Ruth

had guessed, little girls loved her - and 350,000 Barbies

were sold that very first year, which was a record. Mattel

introduced more dolls to the Barbie line over the next

several years, some of which were named after other Handler

family members, such as Ken -- Ruth's son -- and Stacie,

Todd and Cheryl, who were named after the Handlers'

grandchildren.

All was going well until 1970, Ruth was diagnosed with

breast cancer. It was a difficult time, bad decisions were

made and the Handlers' eventually left the successful

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company they had founded. But Ruth not only survived her

bout with cancer; her experience inspired her next business

venture.

Ruth told the Los Angeles Times about her fruitless search

for natural-looking prosthetic breast. What was available at

the time was less than adequate. "I looked at the shapeless

glob that lay in the bottom of my brassiere and thought, 'My

god, the people in this business are men who don't have to

wear these,' " she told the Times. Once again, Ruth

discovered a niche to fill.

Ruth found a designer who created a new prosthetic to her

specifications. Made of liquid silicone and polyurethane, it

looked and felt natural. Her stroke of genius was her

realization that like shoes, it needed to be made up in

"lefts" and "rights." Then Ruth assembled a sales team made

up of other breast cancer survivors, who demonstrated

her new product to department store buyers and helped train

their sales staffs on how to fit their customers. In 1991,

Ruth sold her company to a division of Kimberly-Clark and

retired.

"Women--and men too--can do almost anything they set their

mind to," said Ruth. "You have to believe in what you want

to do and have the courage of your convictions."

Good advice for us all. Rest in peace, Ruth.

About the Author

Donna Schwartz Mills writes about the specific needs of work

at home parents at her website, The ParentPreneur Club,

"For Parents Who Want Choices, Not Office Politics."

http://www.parentpreneurclub.com Tools, tips and advice

you need to help grow your home based business while raising

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