The face behind K&A

I could tell you all this amazing stuff, how wonderful life is, how great it is to own a company, how glorious to be a Mom and wife. But seriously. Let's get real. Life is like a Pinterest fail meme. You plan it out, you think it's going to be amazing, no flaws, everything will be perfect. Yeah, there's literally no such thing. 

I started K&A as a cloth diaper co op nearly 4 years ago. I started out with the intention of running one order to get cloth diapers at a cheap price since we already had five kids and one more on the way. Budget. We needed to budget. That was my goal. We were a one income family, I was suffering from severe post partum depression. Had no friends local to me. It had been years since I had cloth diapered so I literally had NO clue what I was doing. 

A lady I had met at a Mom "party" was also pregnant and we spoke about cloth diapers, I told her I was using cloth with my baby and I really needed to save to buy cloth for the baby I was pregnant with. She suggested creating a co op. Uhh what the hell is a co op? Isn't that a farmer thing? So what she suggested to me I thought cool let's go with it. With the order we were doing, so was the one handling the money for the order, she wanted everything "secret" including the group. Uhh well I know what you're thinking, scammy as hell right? Well she paid for the order, all was good, but who took care of the order? Me. It was a HOT mess. Luckily it was all local people, so there was nothing really horrible about it, but it was seriously a hot mess. Missing diapers, mistakes on orders, I had NO clue what I was doing. But weird enough, people were asking when we would do another order. Here I had all these cute cloth diapers and of course was excited for more, so I said sure, why not. Well she was not interested and bailed. Here I had just made a new friend and she bailed. PPD was still horrible, I was pregnant, and felt alone. So alone.

I continued to run as a co op, made a new friend and she came along and helped out. The company I was working with asked me if I wanted to help with diaper prints. SURE! Sounded fun. But guess what, I had not a damn clue what I was doing! Another company had seen my prints, loved them and wanted me to work with her. Wow, felt great! But all the while I was dying inside. Why? Because PPD. I had never dealt with PPD before, I was in such a horrible place. I hid in my room all day. Cried day and night. 

So you're sitting here thinking, Kristin is always smiling, is she not what she claims to be? Want to know why I smile so much? Working with customers, helping them through PPD is what gets me through each day. No, I'm not a therapist or a doctor. But I have struggled through it. I know how alone you can feel even when you have friends and family rooting for you. I've been there. It's a struggle. 

Fast forward to almost four years later, I have worked my ass off (ohh I said ass), I have struggled, dealt with "mean girls", dealt with my crazy ass children, and all the while built a company I love. I get to work with other WAHMs, help them build their business. I get to be there for other Moms who are going through the same struggles I have faced. 

Many days I don't have it together. Many days I just want to call it quits and be done. I still cry, I still sit there and wonder what the hell was I thinking when I decided to start a company. Then I look at my children who drive me nuts on a daily basis. I realize, my parents gave me an amazing life, I want to give my kids the life I had. I want to be the best I can be for my kids, even if tears are shed along the way.