Her Business Was Thriving. Then Came the Tariffs.
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Who is Beth Benike and what is Busy Baby?
We're going to get to why this has been such a trying moment for you because of the terrorists. I want to start by having you tell us the story of your company. And just to begin, tell us the name of the company and then tell us the story of how you went about creating this company.
So my name is Beth Beneke and I am the CEO and founder of Busy Baby. I grew up in Southern Minnesota, the daughter of an entrepreneur. My dad has a small business. He's a welder. So I grew up in his business and I grew up wanting to have my own business as well.
Why? What was it about watching your dad have a business that made you want to...
It was the freedom. It was the being able to leave work and come to my softball games and choose the work he wants to do and turn away the work he doesn't want to do. Being in control of your own destiny. But what he always told me is, you know, you really got to be passionate about what you're doing because when hard times hit, and they absolutely will, if you're not passionate about what you're doing, you're not going to make it. So when I finished, graduated high school, I wasn't passionate about anything other than not going to college. I tried it and wasn't a big fan. And a recruiter called me out of the blue and I ended up joining the military. So I joined the army. I convinced my brother to join the military. So we served together in Europe. We deployed to the war in Iraq and we started in Kuwait before the war started.
and so like to bring that around now now my brother runs busy baby with me oh wow um and we always joke about 20 what's it been like almost 22 23 years ago when we were sitting in the desert you know throwing little rocks at a bigger rock waiting for something to happen um did we ever imagine we'd be schlepping baby products out the back of our cars at the state fair like just if you would have told us that in iraq we would have just laughed
Well, how did you end up getting from there to Busy Baby? What's the story of how you go from Army to entrepreneur?
Yeah, so after the Army, it took me a few years to readjust to civilian life. So I settled back in in Minnesota. I found a great corporate job, and I met my now husband, and we started a family. So I had taken the full three months of maternity leave that my company offered and went back to work. And when I went back to work, two of my stay-at-home mom friends took me out for lunch. Their girls were adorable, but a complete distraction the entire meal. Just doing what babies do. You know, they reach for everything on the table. They drop things on the ground. We couldn't finish a conversation, you know?
I have two toddlers. I know exactly what you're referring to.
Exactly. So I just went online. What am I going to buy on Amazon that's going to make it so my kid's not this distraction when he's old enough to join us at the table? So I did the search on Amazon. My friend said, you know, you really need to make sure you have a clean surface to put baby's food on because you never know what they're wiping these tables down with. If you put the stuff on the plate, the plates get thrown on the ground. I said, well, okay, cool. Yes, we need that. But I also want to attach their toys so that they can't throw them on the ground.
And nothing like that quite existed?
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Who is Beth Benike and what is Busy Baby?
1:21–5:37
2
How did Beth develop her baby placemat product?
5:37–8:30
3
Why did Beth choose to manufacture in China instead of the U.S.?
8:30–9:58
4
What was Beth's experience appearing on Shark Tank?
9:58–12:55
5
How has Busy Baby grown before the tariffs?
12:55–14:43
6
How does Beth finance her growing business and retail contracts?
14:43–15:35
7
What impact did the 145% tariffs have on Busy Baby?
15:35–18:28
8
What are the immediate logistical challenges after tariffs were imposed?
18:28–33:09