432: Melissa Kieling, Co-Founder & CEO of PackIt

Today's guest is a single mom of three children who – soon after a divorce, losing her house and losing her car – managed to focus on a brilliant idea that led to her becoming one of the country’s leading female business owners. Melissa Kieling is the inventor of Packit, the first foldable, freezable bag that chills food and drinks for up to 10 hours without an ice pack needed. Since 2009, Melissa has grown PackIt from a $150,000 company to a multi-million dollar business. In 2014, the company was named number 28 on the Inc. 500 as well as the number 1 fastest growing woman-led business on the list. In this episode we discuss how did Melissa make ends meet when she was launching this company? Also, how did she react to the skepticism surrounding her when launching this business? Today PackIt is in more 40 countries worldwide and at major US retailers including Whole Foods, Target, Bed Bath & Beyond among many others. As a budding entrepreneur how do you get your product in these major retailers? For more information visit www.somoneypodcast.com.