Cyndi Prince’s first steps toward a growing entrepreneurial business began with an experiment in her Camden laundry room. She’d just started her family and wanted to use the safest products – starting with the wash.
Prince turned to wool dryer balls as an alternative to dryer sheets but found they didn’t last long. Her big idea: to produce an all-natural, more durable version that saves energy by hastening the drying process. Today her LooHoo Wool Dryer Balls are sold across the country in more than 200 stores.
The family’s house on Grove Street in Camden is now LooHoo central. She produces the balls in the basement and packages them in an upstairs studio. Her husband, Scott Stoughton, drives for UPS and sometimes finds himself picking up orders at his own address.
Prince had no business experience when she launched LooHoo, but quickly learned where to turn for advice. She credits several programs for helping her find her feet, including Augusta-based New Ventures Maine, which offers classes and coaching for small businesses. In addition to teaching her the nuts and bolts of managing a startup, the organization helped her recognize what she values personally. LooHoo’s mission is written on a white board in her office: “to improve the health and wellness of families.”
Over the years Prince has “knocked on every door” when it comes to seeking guidance, from the Maine Center for Entrepreneurs’ Top Gun program and a Maine Technology Institute seed grant, to FocusME, a series of peer groups for female entrepreneurs organized by CEI’s Women’s Business Center and the Portland SCORE Chapter.
Other entrepreneurs have also offered their expertise. When Prince didn’t know where to buy a bar code or needed someone to ship pallets, she called friends who shared their knowledge. She purchases her wool from Bartlett Yarns, a woolen mill in Harmony, Maine – “a wonderful relationship,” she says.
Prince was born in North Buxton, a community in southwestern Ontario founded in 1849 by and for African-American slaves who escaped to Canada to gain freedom. She was raised on an 800-acre farm. Much of her family still lives there.
During and after college Prince took every opportunity to travel. She worked in gold and diamond exploration camps in the Canadian tundra, taught English in the Marshall Islands, and roamed international waters on a scientific research vessel. She loved the landscapes and people she encountered and began to record her experiences in photography and writing.
In the early 2000s Prince attended the Maine Photographic Workshops (now Maine Media Workshops + College) in Rockport. One summer she took a one-week workshop; the next, a seven-week program; and then, in 2004, she came for a year and stayed. After graduating, she worked for Caldbeck Gallery in Rockland.
As LooHoo approaches the ten-year mark Prince is weighing her options: She likes the small size of the business, but also welcomes expansion. The dryer balls are now sold in a majority of Whole Foods stores in the company’s North Atlantic region as well as L.L. Bean’s Home Store.
The holiday season will find Prince at craft shows every weekend through December with her son Graham, now old enough at 10 to join her at some of them. She feels good about the balance of business, community, and family. And Graham loves it, she adds with a smile.
Cyndi Prince interacts with a customer at this year’s Common Ground Fair in Unity, Maine. “It’s definitely our crowd,” she says. “They know to conserve energy and to get rid of harmful chemicals.” Photo Ashley L. Conti
