Melissa and Doug – Forging Ahead Into the Unknown
When Melissa and Doug started their business 20 years ago, they forged ahead hoping the business would make enough to keep their heads above the water. Little did they know that a couple of decades later, their success story will inspire a lot of people thinking to be entrepreneurs.
Doug knew Melissa is the girl he would want to marry. Like most men proposing marriage, Doug was too nervous to ask Melissa to marry him. He was such a nervous wreck that in place of a marriage proposal, he asked Melissa to start a business with him instead. In October 1988, 2 months after his business proposal, Melissa and Doug started their small backyard-business. Actually, it was not started in the backyard but in the garage of Doug’s parent’s house where Doug grew up. No start-up is easy, especially when Doug’s parents were still living there! Since they are into manufacturing, they had to be careful not to cause too much disturbance for Doug’s folks.
In 1991, Melissa and Doug introduced their first wooden toy, the Fuzzy Farm Puzzle. These got kids across the nation utterly curious and were saying they never knew that pigs were fuzzy. 2002 saw Melissa and Doug staff expand but to keep costs low, they all had to share one desk. This did not stop them, though, from producing one of the best quality toys available in the market.
Far from the garage where it all started, the company now has been able to move into a real office down the road that actually has separate ladies’ and men’s bathrooms. After 20 years, Melissa and Doug continues to uphold their philosophy to make each and every customer happy while offering products with remarkable value, quality, and design.
Tags: marriage proposal, nervous wreck