Cal's Blankets - The Backstory

When we started MorrisonRowe I was very much focused on figuring out how to build a business which I had never done before AND in an industry I knew nothing about. I was also busy with two young kids, and growing a third. Not to mention working a day job. I was stretched to say the least but I was also very much energized by what Cara and I were working very hard to create. 

I had a lot of feelings about the time I spent away from my young kids and baby to work on MorrisonRowe. Building and running a small, made in Canada business is tough work. And there have been many times I have questioned “is it all really worth it?”. 

I have come to learn that it depends on how you measure that worth. If we are talking profit, then definitely not. Or at least not yet. If we are talking lessons learned, likely. But if we are talking the positive impact it has had on my kids’ entrepreneurial spirit then yes, a resounding yes!! 

The impact on my eldest, who is now 8, was most evident earlier on. I remember pulling her out of preschool so she could come watch out very first photoshoot. Then she became a very willing model. She also stated creating her own clothing designs and sewing her own creations from our scrap fabric. Not to mention all the front lawn lemonade stands. Boy oh boy!

But it doesn’t end there. My middle, who is now 6, just went through his own “building a business” experience. My son, Cal, attends a school that requires every single student to come up with a business idea and participate in a business fair. Even the silly Grade one boys. 

Leading up to the fair I was worried about what kind of idea we were going to have to pull off. But then one day, Cal said to me “you know mom, your company should make sun protective blankets”. And BAM! Cal had a business concept. 

It wasn’t easy to pull off and again profits are not exactly the point of the exercise, or at least they weren’t in our case. But I was able to walk my son through all the steps to create a (very) small sun protective blanket business. 

He did pretty well at the business fair, and likely would have done better if his table wasn’t hidden among a sea of Pokémon cards and 3D printed items. But he was happy and that was what mattered. 

Because the blankets meet all the requirements for sun protection clothing regulations we decided to list the remaining here on our website.  We are calling them “Cal’s Blankets” because they are the results of my entrepreneurial six year old son Cal’s vision. 

Tegan