What does someone working in the insurance business in Southern Ohio have in common with someone fresh out of the music business and living in the San Francisco Bay Area? At first glance, you might think nothing. But in reality? Everything.

Despite their physical distance and disparate career paths, the two 20-something women mentioned shared three important traits. First, both were self-starters with a goal of working from home. Second, they were each mothers of two young daughters. And finally, the women were both very active on the still-nascent Internet.

Given such means, motive and opportunity, west-coaster Nancy Price and Midwesterner Betsy Bailey embarked on what truly became the adventure of a lifetime: They started their own company… despite never having met in person.

Among the sky-highs and rocky lows, the first decade of their business saw the addition of three more kids to the collective brood, four national news segments, more than a dozen major media mentions, and two print magazines. After the addition of three more business partners, there were two new offices, tens of employees, three more newsstand magazine titles, one investor, four out-of-state moves, three divorces, a remarriage… and one new baby.

When you add it all up, you’ll see that 10 years in, Nancy and Betsy’s “little company that could” that started with zero dollars and zero visitors had grown into a multi-million dollar business that receives more than 7,000,000 unique visitors each month across its family of websites.

Of course, the day-to-day reality of any entrepreneurial venture can’t really be so neatly tied up with a bow.

How it began
Although the Internet was still young, Nancy Price and Betsy Bailey had very similar goals: to be able to make a living working from home, to share their passions and interests with a wide audience, and to create something truly special. They decided to leverage their writing, editing and research skills by creating a content-based website.

But more important was the plan for what to build was how to build it. The long-distance partners decided there was no reason their site couldn’t be every bit as good those built by the well-paid development teams at one of the many booming dot-com businesses… despite the fact that there were only two of them, and that they only had a couple hundred dollars to spend.

Calling their newborn company Myria Media, Nancy and Betsy launched the original Myria.com website — as an online magazine for moms — in October 1998. Their goal with this first site was to reach women who were mothers, but who still had their own lives and interests and goals in addition to raising children. Myria was the first web destination created specifically for this “more than a mom” audience.

Within that first year, mainstream media mentions started rolling in. Since Nancy was pregnant at the time, and Betsy was trying to conceive, a pregnancy web site seemed a logical extension of their brand. Soon the Myria site was joined by ePregnancy, and later, ChefMom and Interactive Parent (the latter ultimately became GeoParent.com).

The two founders well remember putting in 70-plus hour workweeks for years, juggling the needs of their family and their business by working nights, weekends and holidays. Via their long-distance virtual partnership, Nancy and Betsy managed everything: from content creation and graphic design (which they loved), to web development and management (which was okay), to advertising sales and accounting (which they avoided as much as possible).

“Are you serious?!”
Despite an ever growing stream of site visitors and assorted accolades, the scope of their business collaboration still took many people by surprise. “When we told friends and family we started a website together but hadn’t actually met in person, people thought that was odd,” says Betsy. “In our view, though, working virtually had all kind of benefits, especially in terms of flexibility and cost.”

The pair soon found that others not only found their business arrangement unconventional, they also had very low expectations of the company. “Almost everyone figured that when we said, ‘We started a website’ that we had set up the Internet equivalent of a little at-home craft boutique.” Nancy laughs, “In reality, we were aiming to be more like Target.”

Looking back, the two acknowledge that they were a little naïve, but their goals were ultimately (and poetically) on target.

Although they wouldn’t be on equal footing with the major players — multi-million dollar companies with large staffs — for many years, what kept the duo going was the firm belief that their little company could compete with the big guys… at least in quality, if not scale.

Whenever possible, they wanted to not just compete, but lead the way… by staying closely attuned to the needs of their readership, intuiting and innovating from there. Nancy says, “Even if we didn’t have the same reach as the well-funded Internet ventures, we still wanted to look the part.”

But they went beyond simply looking the part. One thing that differentiated their web properties from many of their bigger-budget counterparts was that the “Myria moms” didn’t hire market research firms or use focus groups to figure out what sort of content to offer.

They didn’t need to. Instead, their involvement in Internet-based parenting groups was key to helping dial in to their audience’s interests… and it didn’t hurt that the two were that same audience. In fact, Nancy and Betsy first got to know each other in 1996 while participating on an email discussion list for moms expecting a baby in March of that year. (Was it a coincidence that their daughters were born on the very same day?)

A Master’s degree does not always equal success
Despite having no official background in journalism, marketing or web development, the women’s contributions to the Internet were on par with some of the pros. Among Nancy and Betsy’s innovations: the first comprehensive day-by-day pregnancy calendar, the first interactive birth planner, as well as the popular PointsAndPrizes.com reader rewards program. Through SheKnows LLC, the duo have also licensed content and other interactive tools they developed to several companies in the top half of the Fortune 500.

They also created and trademarked a number of highly-regarded brand names, including ChefMom.com, Myria, PregnancyAndBaby.com, ePregnancy, GeoParent, Points & Prizes, and, of course, SheKnows. But shrewd business sense wasn’t the reason they created this intellectual property. Instead, chalk it up to intuition. For example: “We bought the domain name SheKnows.com without any specific plans for a site. I just liked the name, and the domain was available,” Nancy says.

At first, the URL pointed to a simple directory of sites for or by women. In 2003, however, after joining forces with three colleagues from the print media field, the newly-reborn company really realized the name’s potential and decided to capitalize on it. “She Knows… it perfectly suited a content site for women,” says Betsy. “The name was clear, easy to spell, and was distinctly feminine without being cutesy or too girly-girly.”

Another print stint
Together with their new partners, Nancy and Betsy took on some major challenges. They were working to grow SheKnows.com and the other sites while also publishing a few national print magazines in the health and food categories. Three of the titles, Cooking Smart, Low Carb Energy and SheKnows Diet & Fitness, were sold in thousands of stores nationwide, including some outlets considered extremely tough markets to crack.

What She Knows
Since founding their first mom-centric site over 10 years ago, Nancy and Betsy have expanded that concept to all the areas of women’s lives and interests. SheKnows.com and its family of related websites provides stimulating, up-to-the-minute coverage of topics like health and beauty, personal style, food, cooking, parenting, love, relationships, friendships, celebrities and entertainment to millions of readers every month.

As the company’s business plan states, “SheKnows was founded with the simple mission of connecting women to each other, sharing information and ideas that enriches our lives. With a ‘how-to, can-do’ philosophy and a friendly voice, we seek to share info that is always interesting and useful, growing a diverse community that is itself rich in the exchange of resources and support.”

Being virtual made it all possible
Not until six years after Myria’s launch did the business partners finally see each other in person — and when they did, they spent those first two days being followed around by a camera crew from a Paramount/NBC reality TV show, who captured the moment they first met face-to-face and broadcast it nationwide. “It wasn’t like we were really meeting for the first time,” Betsy says. “We already knew each other so well. This was just adding a 3D element to it.”

The two chalk up much of their success to timing and luck. “It was really on a whim that we started Myria together,” Betsy says. “We had no idea how well we would work together — we actually weren’t particularly close friends back then. But it turned out that our temperaments and skill sets just clicked, and I think that has made all the difference in the world.”

“While that’s true, I honestly don’t know if the company would have survived if we had been physically in the same room on a day-to-day basis,” Nancy says. “We’re both introverts, and really express ourselves best in writing.”

Now the two women enjoy a close, comfortable friendship — both online and off. “It’s almost like we’ve grown up together,” Nancy says. “It’s a very easy relationship because we know each other so well, really appreciate the other’s skills and dedication, and trust each other completely.”

So after launching their business while 2000 miles apart, Nancy and Betsy now both live in Arizona — 20 minutes away from each other. Still, the vast majority of their daily communication is still via the web. “Ironic, isn’t it?” Betsy laughs. “But also very fitting, I think.”

10+ years on and still going strong
Nancy and Betsy are still heavily involved in the site’s day-to-day operations and SheKnows’ overall editorial direction. “Oh, we’re definitely still hands-on. Even though our main job is to come up with new features and tools and to figure out how best to implement those concepts, we still write and edit when we can, make some graphics, and do whatever else needs to be done,” Betsy says.

“Betsy’s always been the one cracking the whip, making sure everything gets done. And I’m the one who keeps trying to come up with bigger and better and often somewhat impractical things to do… usually before we’ve finished the other stuff, which drives everyone nuts,” Nancy laughs.

Despite their great success, Nancy insists that being the biggest isn’t her goal — she just wants to be the best. “Every day, that’s our bottom line: What can we do to make the sites better? We are always thinking about what more can we offer our visitors.”

“She’s not kidding,” Betsy says. “I sometimes think we could have a hundred people at her beck and call, and still wouldn’t get everything she wants done.”

“‘Better than we were before. Better, stronger, faster,’” Nancy says, smiling as she quotes the opening lines of the old Six Million Dollar Man TV series. “‘We have the technology.’”

And it’s true: The two finally do.

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