How One Mom Is Teaching Her Girls About Being An Entrepreneur

Tammy Vinokur, who has a Business Degree from the Richard Ivey School of Business in London, Ontario, recently co-founded and created her own business called TreatzPlz. What makes this emerging business unique is her co-business owners are her daughters, a ten-year-old girl, Zoey, and her eight-year-old sister Lexi.

TreatzPlz offers an assortment of candy, the freshest candy trays, candy cakes, and loot bags. They also have something called the ‘TikTok Candy Box,’ which includes all the hardest to find treats made famous by TikTok. If you ask Ms. Vinokur, Zoey is the brainchild behind this box. Zoey discovered that most of the sweet treats made famous on TikTok were sold out in regular stores. She decided to take it upon herself to solve this problem. Zoey sourced out different candy suppliers, bought the coveted sweets in bulk, and then packaging them all up into one unique box!

In the process of building this business of delicious treats together, Ms. Vinokur is teaching her daughters about what it means to create a company and be an entrepreneur.

From Marketing to Mom to Mompreneur

Before graduating, Ms. Vinokur worked part-time for the Bank of Montreal in Mutual funds. Once she finished business school, several jobs followed, including working for TELUS working in marketing, a role with Koodo Mobile, the new sister company of TELUS. After ten years in the Telecom world, she decided to leave the corporate world.

“I had a new baby on the way and had always envisioned myself teaching one day,” Ms. Vinokur shared. “When my daughter was only six months old, I took the plunge and decided to go back to school to become a teacher. Based on my past education, experiences, and interest, I decided to be best suited to teach business to High Schoolers. I went on to have a second child one year after landing a full-time teaching job.

Since then, she’s been business to high school students but never imagined that these skills would soon apply at home.

Teaching Her Girls The Business World

TreatzPlz seems to have happened by accident. “It was my niece’s birthday, and my girls decided to make a candy platter for her,” said Vinokur. “We went to the bulk candy stores and bought all the candy, and my girls made a platter. It looked so pretty that I posted it on Facebook. The response I got to the image was overwhelming. People started to ask if my girls could make them a platter.”

Due to the pandemic, they had some extra time on their hands, so they decided to branch out and create a brand name, logo, Instagram page, website, and work on packaging. They officially launched in August 2020.

“My girls have learned so much through the process of owning their own business,” said Vinokur proudly. “They have learned about all the critical functions of running a business, including marketing their product as well as branding, pricing, product variety, promoting and pursuing affiliate marketing relationships. I’ve also taught them about finance and accounting (i.e., creating income statements) and how to use online tools such as Excel and Canva. These are skills that they will carry with them throughout their school years and adulthood.”

Ms. Vinokur has enjoyed teaching the main business functions, including the four P’s of marketing: product, price, place, and promotion). “We also know what each other’s strengths and weaknesses are, so we work together nicely,” she adds. “My daughter Zoey and I both manage our Instagram account and reply to all messages. I’ve impressed upon them the importance of quality customer service. It’s super busy but fun! It has helped to keep us connected during the pandemic.”

That’s not to say building a business with her family hasn’t had occasional bumps in the road. Rather adorably, Ms. Vinokur shared that Zoey fired Lexi from the company at one point for not pulling her weight at one point. Lexi had to re-interview for her position to be allowed to resume her role. However, the family agrees that there are more positives than negatives.

An Experience of a Lifetime

“I truly believe that this experience has taught my kids the foundation of running a small business,” Ms. Vinokur said. “They have pretty much learned the entire grade ten Ontario Business curriculum throughout the last seven months. They also learned that you could take an elementary idea and make money from it as long as there is a need or want for that item. With a bit of perseverance, a business plan, and marketing, your idea can become a reality and take off!”

She shared that as her children grow up, she hopes her girls can look back on this experience positively no matter what happens to the business.

“As a working mother, I have tried to model what hard work entails,” she said. “I want my girls to see that it’s essential to work hard for the things that you want. I hope that one day my girls will look back and see how their mother worked a full-time teaching job while raising young children and then helped them create a little side hustle to give them something to feel proud of.”