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Home › Dad of the Month

Mike Biggers

By Kelly Burgess

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.

Mike Biggers of Calabasas, Calif., is just an ordinary dad who had a great idea. The difference between Biggers and the rest of us is that he actually took his idea, made it into a product and hopes that, eventually, the financial freedom it gives him will allow him to spend even more time with his family.

The product he and his wife invented is called Portable Playtime. It's a backpack that converts into a play mat designed to fit airplane tray tables. The kids can carry it through the airport themselves, and it holds more than 20 toys, snacks and games.

The Big Idea

Biggers and his wife, Alison, were on a long flight with their two kids, Matthew, now 6, and Jordan, now 2, and it wasn't going well. Matthew had packed his own toys – but he had packed them into three different carry-on bags. Each time he decided to play with a different toy, Biggers had to either dig around in the bags under the seat or stand up and pull the bags out of the overhead compartment. Matthew's toys also kept slipping off the tray table and rolling under the seat. At the same time, little sister Jordan was having her snack on a tray table that was so dirty Alison had covered it with a piece of plastic, but the plastic kept tearing. After he'd been up and down a few too many times, Biggers looked at his wife and said, "There has to be a better way."

That, says Biggers, was their "A-ha!" moment. As Oprah Winfrey has often pointed out, many people have these moments, but for most people they're fleeting. In Bigger's case, he decided to do something about it.

"I think the reason I didn't just let the idea die was because I'm already an entrepreneur so I have that background of working hard to accomplish something," Biggers says. "We thought this idea really had merit and so we did our due diligence, educated ourselves about what the manufacturing process would entail and made it happen."

The whole family got involved from the very beginning. Alison, who has a background in marketing and works in that field, was involved in the entire process and now does a lot of the more visible promotion. The kids were product testers, Matthew in particular giving a lot of input on fabrics for the backpack by pointing out those that were too "babyish." Matthew is also featured in the promotional shots for the product, and Biggers says he was recently thrilled to see a picture of himself on CNBC when the product was profiled.

Family First

The reason Biggers became an entrepreneur in the first place was to be able to have more flexibility as a father. He attended college at UCLA, where he met his wife, and graduated with a degree in economics. He didn't really know what he wanted to do, so he went into marketing, eventually moving into a side of the business involving television. Not long after, he and a partner opened their own media agency, which allowed him a greater degree of flexibility in managing work and family.

"I used to have a 45-minute commute and it took up a lot of time," Biggers says. "Having my own business allowed me to move my office so it's five minutes away from my house. I also moved Jordan to a preschool that's closer to my office, so now I can drive her to school in the morning and take Matthew to baseball in the evenings."

This balance is important to Biggers, as is having a parenting philosophy. In his case, it's one very similar to what he grew up with. "I was taught self-discipline from an early age," Biggers says. "We were also expected to be independent and to work hard. I had tremendous parents, but they made sure we knew right from wrong and had the skills to succeed as adults. They thought it was important that we have a sense of priorities, and we always knew that first you get your chores done or deal with whatever obligations you have, and then you can go play."

He's trying to pass along that same sense of responsibility to his own kids, and thinks that leading by example is the best way to do so. "I want my children to be as happy as they can and enjoy life, while imparting a sense of personal discipline," Biggers says. "I want them to take pride in their responsibilities, not avoid them."

Even though he juggles career and family, Biggers has set his goal for his new company very high. He says he wants to expand the product line and has some great ideas for down the road once Portable Playtime is well established. He sees it not as work, but as a shared project for his family – one that brings them together in work and in play.

Learn more about the iParenting Media Award-winning Portable Playtime at www.portableplaytime.com.



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