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The iParenting Media Awards program helps parents find the best products for their families.
Jim Glime
Each month, iParenting.com spotlights a father who inspires and moves us, who embodies the qualities that we all admire in a person, a man and a father. Above all, the Dad of the Month is dedicated to his children. Rich or poor, famous or not, he shines as an example of what fathering is all about.
Imagine having a dad who offered you a job with his successful business, or a grandfather who makes plush stuffed toys for a living. That's exactly what Jim Glime's family members can say about him. Glime and his three sons all live within three miles of each other in Michigan and see each other at the office each morning at the Jaag headquarters in Madison Heights.
Looking back on it, Glime always pictured himself a successful business owner but never imagined it would be within the world of stuffed animals. In 1996, after a 29-year career as a vendor consultant with K-Mart, Glime started looking for his own business to operate. He wanted to do something different from mass retail, and he decided to visit with local gift shop owners in the Detroit area to see what their needs were. At that time his sons were grown and beginning to embark on their own careers.
When he looked at the stuffed toy selections in these shops, all he found were teddy bears and unrealistic looking whimsical, plush items. He thought that maybe there could be a market for life-like plush animals, and took his inspiration from the emphasis on nature and the environment that was beginning to be on top of consumers' minds.
"The thing I didn't want to do was offer store owners the same or similar products that they were already selling," Glime says. "It wouldn't have been fair to ask them to switch to mine." So instead, he focused on developing a new and unique product.
Working from the basement of his home, Glime set out to bring his vision to life. The result was a series of plush toys that depicted North American wildlife, and his company, Jaag, was born. Today, Jaag features more than 200 products, ranging from 3D pillows to baby products to Time's Up/Time Out, which received a 2007 iParenting Media Award in the educational category. The products are distributed in stores, gift shops and resorts across the United States.
Glime's sons became involved with the business gradually and over time. His middle son, Andy, was working for the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Management Training Program in Southern California when he worked out a deal with his father to distribute Jaag products on the side.
"I gave him a territory out there and samples of the product," Glime says. "I told him he was a commissioned salesperson. It worked." At the time, Andy was a recent college graduate with no prior sales experience. Today, he works alongside his father as Vice President of Sales.
"His brothers wanted to know what it was like working for Dad," Glime says. Eventually, Andy's brothers, Jason and Ben, began to learn more about the business and found their own niches within the company. Jason is now Vice President of Business Development and Ben is Vice President of Operations. Glime cites their enthusiasm and creativity in the company as a major factor in its growth.
As president of the company, Glime takes a hands-off approach with his sons' work schedules. "I do not monitor when they go to work, or how often they work," Glime says. "That's fundamentally how our family gets along."
Ann Glime, Jim's wife of 38 years, is not directly involved with Jaag, but Glime jokes that she has a very vested interest in the company because of her sons' involvement.
Glime doesn't have to look far to find a focus group. A longtime Michigan resident, he has lots of friends and family nearby to give feedback on products. The idea for Time's Up/Time Out came when he saw his daughters-in-law using a kitchen timer for time out purposes and to signal the end of activities for his three grandsons.
Together, the group came up with the idea of putting a timer in a plush animal to appeal to children more. After tinkering with the prototype, Glime came up with a version he was satisfied with and the product is now offered in four different designs and is a U.S. patent-registered product.
Parents can use the timer to teach children time management and responsibility or help them calm down and cool off after a frustrating situation. The timer can be set for anywhere between one and 60 minutes.
Glime has a few words of advice for those wishing to start up their own business. "Starting a business requires a personal investment," he says. "You must thoroughly analyze the financial commitment and the time it's going to take. You have to give the business a fair test. I learned very early on, relying on a third party to do the research is a strategy for failure. Anybody you hire will not have the passion or vision that the business owner has to make the product be successful."
And finally, Glime says the single most important requirement for entrepreneurs is patience. "During my learning curve the first three years, this business took more time and more money than I originally planned," he says. "You can very easily get bogged down and discouraged by all the barriers that pop up every week."
