Subscribe to Mamalode Magazine here
But enough about me, tell me about your diapers
My name is Julie and I’m non-traditional, pretty much in every way. First marriage at 35, first child at 36 and opened a storefront selling cloth diapers shortly thereafter. Even in Missoula, people thought it was a strange idea. I’m dedicated to making the earth a healthy place for generations of kids so if that means discussing at length why cloth diapers are an environmentally sound choice, you’ll hear me having that conversation anytime, anywhere.
I wanted to start a business to serve as attachment parenting bedrock, advocating natural ways to nurture and keep babies close; I love talking with people about the joy and challenge of doing just that. In addition to running Nature Boy, we own the local diaper service and I work 30 hours/week in the Environmental Studies program at UM. I couldn’t do any of it without the support of my family, my friends and my community.
The homebirth of Nature Boy
My son Mani was almost two years old when I saw the ‘for rent’ sign in a secondhand clothing shop on the then not-so-Hip Strip. I had been a Mother of Eden (maker of Fuzzi Bunz diapers) consultant for a few months and had held a Cloth Diapering 101 class at the public library. Response was light but enthusiastic, so I attended a small business workshop at Montana Community Development Corporation to learn more. Because we rented our home, we had no collateral to borrow against to start the store. With a loan from my brother plus a decent amount of credit, we jumped into the fire. We bought our paint from Home Resource, our fixtures from yard sales – an old ironing board was the first counter – and arranged our small inventory in the front room, using the area in back for gatherings that needed a home. When our friend Erika told us she had an idea for a natural toy store that needed a home, we thought it was a perfect compliment to our vision. Walking Stick Toys opened in our shared space in November of 2005. As the saying goes, it’s a marriage made in heaven.
Nature Boy circa now
In our fifth year of business, I feel very fortunate to be here and be known as a resource for families. We’ve empathized with sleep-deprived new parents and watched them become confident in themselves, diapering their second child in the same diapers they bought for their first. Mamas stop in frequently just to talk, nurse and let their kids play. This September, we took another leap and bought the diaper service. We provide cloth diapers to over 30 families throughout Missoula, so we now convince folks on two fronts that they can be busy and retain their commitment to the reduce/reuse/recycle ideal. Nature Boy has added numerous product lines since 2005 (several of them Montana-made), sponsored and presented at family friendly events, and provided support to birthing, breastfeeding and community advocates. We love what we do.
Mission: Vision
Our mission is to keep on keepin’ on, while the world moves toward enlightenment in their manner of consumption. We don’t need a larger space or more advertising to succeed at this – we’d really just like to learn how to better manage what we have. Our immediate goals are:
1) Revise the sizing for the diaper service and purchase a dedicated delivery vehicle; 2) Make sure our inventory encompasses the best new products and obtain a point-of-sale system for tracking it; and 3) Work with MCDC to obtain a small business loan to achieve #’s1 and 2. I’m idealistic but also pragmatic in that I’ve never imagined my business acumen allowing me money to burn, so I’ve chosen to provide a product and service behind which I can put my whole heart while moving toward self-sufficiency. It’s bound to happen.
