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60 SECONDS: Sarah Foreman Rivera
Sarah Rivera chokes up a little as she reads the last lines of “The First Adventures of Incredible You.” She’s living her own adventure as the new children’s book, which she co-wrote with friend Sarah Riley Headrick, is released this week. The book already has garnered some attention. It has been named an outstanding product of 2007 in the gift category by iParenting, and some national magazines are interested in including it in their holiday gift guides. “We’re just thrilled,” Rivera, of Hinsdale, said. “We really wanted to create something that was a very meaningful product that would bring joy to someone and would become a keepsake.” Rivera and Headrick, who met when their oldest children were in playgroup together, had talked for a while about starting a business. Then last August they decided to write a story that could be personalized to include the names of people and places important to a child. “We wrote the book together in a about a month to six weeks. Everything happened so quickly in terms of getting the words written. We found an illustrator we loved right away.” Rivera said. “And then the more difficult things came into play, like what printer do we use and how are we going to bind this thing and all the technicalities. We also heard ‘No’ a lot.” But the two kept at it, even after one printer said it would cost $100 to print a book on order. Their perseverance paid off, and they found a way to make the book and sell it for $32.95. They saw the first evidence of their effort in April. “Just seeing the pages of the book was so exciting,” she said. But working on the book is only part of what the two have done as co-founders of Custom Made For Kids. “We’ve become experts in PR and accounting,” Rivera said. “I used my legal background to draft our LLC papers. You kind of have to become experts in a lot of different things.” She and Headrick plan to write a second book for older children, although they’re not sure yet what it will be about. In the meantime, Rivera is enjoying juggling work and family. “My kids have actually adjusted very well,” she said. “They love the book. I think they probably don’t get as much game time and attention from Mom, but I think I do a good job of balancing the two,” she said. “They see that I’m enjoying it, too.” And when the schedule seems too full, Rivera simply recalls the five years she spent practicing law. “When I do feel a little stressed out by it, I just think back to those days and think ‘I can handle this,’” she said.
