Maia and Allan Haag know a lot about togetherness. As the married couple behind I See Me!—a line of personalized children's books and gifts—they've successfully blended their professional and personal lives into a venture that has helped Maia achieve her lifetime career goal. "I wanted to start a career that had something to do with children," Maia says.
Previously, she and Allan were working for the same corporate giant—she was in marketing and he was in graphic design. And then their first child arrived.
"In the summer of 1998, we received a personalized book as a gift for our baby," Maia says. "I looked at it and thought, 'I can write a better personalized book,' and Allan said, 'I know I can make it look better.' That was the moment we realized a book was common ground to leverage both our skills."
So, between naps and diaper changes and stroller walks, Maia spent her maternity leave thinking of book ideas and investigating the personalized book business. Allan says, "We started brainstorming about what this book might be, came up with a concept and then started ordering every personalized children's book we could find to see if anyone was doing anything similar to what we wanted to do."
Baby Steps
The Haags believed in their concept enough that they decided Maia shouldn't return to her corporate job after maternity leave. Instead, she began writing their first book, My Very Own Name, a personalized story incorporating appropriately alphabetized animals as each letter of a child's name. From there, she worked on a business plan and the logistics of getting the book from concept to market, and she relied on her husband to bring his expertise to their project.
"Allan already had connections with printers and illustrators, so he brought those connections naturally. My background fit for writing the business plan and working out the operations," Maia says. "We had a comfort level working together because at our other job, they had us working together on the same brand."
Although things were moving along, progress was slower than they'd hoped—it took a year and a half for an illustrator to bring to life the animals required to personalize each letter. Because of the delay, Maia went back to work for two different Internet startups, both of which went under. But by the time the second venture fell apart, I See Me! had gained enough traction that Maia could concentrate on it full time, with Allan joining full time after.
Growing Up
Since 2001, the line has expanded to include more book titles and personalized gifts, including lunch boxes, placemats and T-shirts. The offerings have even gained the attention of celebrities, including Courteney Cox and Jennie Garth.
Along the way, the couple's business has benefited from the skills and talents they each bring to the company. "Allan and I have different skill sets," Maia says. "Allan is extremely versatile and is very good at managing and providing direction for the illustrators as well as being the brand for the business. I could never be as creative as Allan, but I like to write, and I bring the financial and operational and marketing skills to the business."
And this duo intends to keep working side by side. "Our mission is to build self-esteem in children and to celebrate the uniqueness of each child and as the book line is developed, there are more titles we want to bring to market," Maia says.
But they won't build the business by sacrificing their relationship or their family, which now includes three children.
"Like any full-time venture, it's all-consuming during the day, but I've always been strict about drawing a line," Allan says. "When 5 o'clock comes along, we turn our attention to our family and we're strict about that."
Maia cautions that working with your spouse isn't perfect 100 percent of the time, but it can be most of the time.
"For a couple looking to work together, the biggest advice I would give is to clearly define your roles and responsibilities and make sure that each individual is clear on what they mean."
Carla Turchetti is a veteran print and broadcast journalist with a passion for money matters and the stories behind the world of small business and personal finance.
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