Great entrepreneurial ideas can come at unlikely moments. Take the story of Los Angeles–based Lori Caden (pictured), co-founder of the Belly Bandit. After giving birth to her daughter Charlee in 2005, Lori was out buying cat food when someone mistook her for still being pregnant. “Tears started pouring down my face,” Lori says. “I really had no idea it took around seven months to get back to pre-pregnancy size."

That moment led Lori and her sisters, Kari and Jodi, to research what women in various cultures do to get back their pre-baby body. They discovered belly binding—common in Africa, Thailand and among the ancient Aztecs. This led them to the idea for the Belly Bandit, a wrap that helps new moms shrink their belly, waist and hips, lets them look slimmer in clothing and even minimizes stretch marks.

The three sisters worked together on building a prototype product, testing different fabrics and even tencil strengths. “We were tape measuring women, trying to figure out if this thing worked,” explains Lori. “And I tested it myself when I had my son Chase [in 2007].”

This wasn’t the first time Lori had jumped into business with family. In 1998, Lori and sister Kari started Caden Concepts, which provides promotional items and logo-imprinted merchandise to various companies. They still run the business together.

The Belly Bandit was finally born in 2008. Lori attributes networking and word-of-mouth marketing to getting the product out there. Her personal trainer talked it up with some of his celebrity clients. She visited retailers, asking them to test the product on their shelves. “It really was a snowball effect,” Lori says of the growth of the Belly Bandit and other products that followed, including compression tank tops and lounge pants. They're now sold in more than 800 retail locations in some 70 countries.

The Belly Bandit’s celebrity following has certainly offered a boost. Mom and actress Christina Applegate name-dropped the Belly Bandit Mother Tucker tank top during an appearance on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno last year. Kourtney Kardashian designed a limited edition Belly Bandit in 2010 featuring a faux lace print design after being turned on to the product through friends. “It’s really hard to gauge the impact this has had, but just to get the attention is great,” says Lori.

What with running multiple businesses, Lori is one busy working mom. Her day begins at 6:30 a.m. when she makes her kids lunches and works out, and she’s in the office by 8 a.m. Though Lori makes sure she's home for dinner every night at 6:30 p.m., once the kids are asleep she’s back on the computer and back to work. “It’s been difficult to do it all,” she confesses. “There are a lot of headaches, and a lot of things I can’t control, but that’s okay."