Cistercian Monks' Jesus Ink Business

Father Bernard McCoy Story


http://lasermonks.com/


Like many entrepreneurs, Father Bernard McCoy loves to talk about his industry. But as a Cistercian monk, he has a time frame longer than most.


"Nine hundred years ago my brothers were making ink, making their own paper, and copying manuscripts," says McCoy. "We were the original social entrepreneurs. We were the first multinationals."


McCoy is CEO of LaserMonks.com, an Internet retailer that sells discounted printer cartridges and other office supplies. Customers include individuals and churches, along with giants such as Morgan Stanley (Research) and the U.S. Forest Service. It's a lucrative business. Sales have risen from $2,000 in 2002, the company's first full year of operation, to around $2.5 million in 2005.


LaserMonks.com is a for-profit subsidiary of the Cistercian Abbey of Our Lady of Spring Bank, an eight-monk monastery in the hills of Monroe County, 90 miles northwest of Madison. The Spring Bank brethren wear robes, sing Gregorian chants, and eat their meals in silence.


"We're monks," McCoy says cheerfully. "We do monk things."


Like all Roman Catholic monasteries, the abbey is responsible for its own upkeep, receiving no financial support from the Vatican. Hence LaserMonks.com. Father McCoy estimates that it costs around $150,000 to maintain the abbey and its 500 acres of grounds. The rest of the company's profits help support charities that range from a camp for kids with HIV to a Buddhist orphanage in Tibet.


The idea for LaserMonks.com came to Father McCoy one day when his printer ran out of ink. He shopped around for a new ink cartridge but couldn't find one that was reasonably priced. That's because printer manufacturers make most of their money by imposing stratospheric markups on printing supplies. As a result thousands of small companies were cropping up all over the Internet, selling reconditioned ink and toner cartridges. Despite legal challenges from the established printer manufacturers, the industry is now firmly established.


In the beginning LaserMonks.com consisted of a few monks sitting around with black powder and empty plastic cartridges, filling a few orders a day. Today the monks say they have served more than 50,000 customers, and process 200 to 300 daily orders for a broad range of school and office supplies.


The website also accepts online prayer requests.


And in a fiercely competitive commodity industry, McCoy and his brethren have thrived on the sheer novelty of their story. The company spends relatively little money on advertising, benefiting instead from media coverage and McCoy's frequent speaking engagements around the country.


Father McCoy recently started selling printers, cables, and surge protectors, and plans to offer a full line of office electronics later this year. He expects LaserMonks.com's 2006 sales to exceed $5 million.

Bad Fishing Trip Makes a Florida Man Rich

George Goodwin Story

http://www.heartpine.com

Great business ideas often come from strange places, but no one expects to find one at the bottom of a river. Yet that's what happened to George Goodwin. When he went fishing in shallow Florida riverbeds during the early 1970s, Goodwin often caught more logs than bass. "I used to snag my lures on them," he remembers. Most fishermen would have cursed their luck; Goodwin, now 59, reeled in a multi-million-dollar business instead.

What Goodwin found are known as deadhead logs. In the 1800s loggers felled centuries-old cypress and pine throughout the South for use in construction. They would float the logs downstream to the nearest mill, but often the heaviest logs--those filled with the most resin--sank to the muddy riverbed. At a time when the South was blanketed by tens of millions of acres of untouched forest, it wasn't much of a loss. But today overharvesting has reduced that old-growth forest to just 5,000 to 10,000 acres, most of it protected, and the logs once lost to the rivers have newfound value.

As Goodwin got interested in logs, he discovered that, although the outside decomposes after being underwater for nearly a century, resin keeps the inside perfectly preserved. Prized for flooring and paneling, this interior wood is known as "heart pine" and "heart cypress."

Goodwin spent $105,500--his entire savings--to purchase 20 acres of land in Micanopy, Fla., ten miles south of Gainesville, and move an old sawmill to the property, where he and his wife, Carol, the company's 59-year-old vice president, live and work. They pay divers $2 to $3 per board foot of wood in the logs recovered from Florida riverbeds. Then they clean up the logs and mill them into flooring that sells for $5 to $20 a foot. Carol estimates that the demand for antique wood has risen tenfold in the past decade, thanks to the housing boom and changing tastes. That has sent the company's annual revenue on a steady climb, from $5,000 in 1977 to $3 million in 2004.

By last year their company had 25 employees and enough cash flow to take out a $140,000 loan to build a 15,000-square-foot warehouse for the nearly two million board feet of wood it has in inventory. That saved a lot of aggravation when several hurricanes tore through the area just months after the building had been completed. (The Goodwins were unaffected by Katrina and Wilma.) Had the logs been soaked, the company would have had to spend months drying them out.

Goodwin Heart Pine has supplied flooring for the homes of celebrities such as Paul McCartney, Morgan Freeman, and Ted Turner. The wood is also popular for historical sites, including the Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum in Key West, Fla. Six years ago the termite-infested flooring in the 150-year-old structure needed replacing. "Goodwin flooring was the closest to what Hemingway had originally," says Hemingway Home event director Linda Mendez.

The growing popularity of antique wood, however, has more would-be entrepreneurs flocking to the business, not all with the best intentions. "There's a joke in the South that anyone with a pickup sells a little bit of heart pine," says Carol Goodwin. "But you never know what you're getting." Because there are no up-to-date guidelines on what constitutes heart pine--the most recent standards were published in 1924--unwitting customers may purchase heart pine from younger trees, which is not nearly as dense and durable as what the Goodwins sell.

When a hurricane knocks down any of the remaining old-growth forest--as happened last year--the Goodwins often buy that wood. They also buy and resell antique heart pine salvaged from old barns and buildings. Branching out from flooring, George and a local cabinet-maker have teamed up to craft and sell a line of wood furniture. In July the Goodwins opened a showroom in Palm Coast, Fla., for both their furniture and flooring.

While George Goodwin jokes that "cashing the checks" is one of his favorite parts of the business, he loves the other parts more than he lets on. "If George had $1 million in the bank, he'd just go and buy more wood," says Carol, laughing.

Surfing Industry Faces Technological Dilemma

Randy French Story

http://www.surftech.com/

In a recent issue of Transworld Surf, a trade magazine, Randy French was listed as the third-most-powerful person in the $4.5 billion industry. But if there were a list of the most controversial players in the field, French would probably come in No. 1.

Through his Santa Cruz, Calif., company, Surftech, French is dragging surfboard manufacturing into the age of mass customization. For decades boards have been built by hand, shaped by craftsmen who cut and sanded blocks of polyurethane foam into the desired forms (longer for more stability, shorter for more maneuverability), then coated them with fiberglass and resin. Unfortunately, even the best shapers often couldn't predict how their boards would perform in the water. French, 53, who shaped boards in this way for nearly 35 years, had a rule: "I always got to ride the board first," he says. "One time I rode a board that I liked so much, I gave the friend who'd ordered it his money back. I think he's still mad at me."

French kept the board because he knew how hard it would be to replicate what he had done: create what surfers call a "magic" board. But in surfing, as in so much else, technology is changing everything. Last year French's company produced 50,000 "magic" boards. By using computer-aided-design programs, injection-molded technology, and a factory in Thailand, Surftech takes proven boards from the best shapers in the world and mass-produces them in a stronger, lighter material. Some 47 legendary shapers now sell their best designs through Surftech in exchange for licensing fees of about $35 to $50 for each board. With sales of more than $17 million in 2004, Surftech ranks as the largest manufacturer of surfboards in the world.

The company's modern approach has put it in the cross hairs of opponents. Critics say that by designing a board on a computer and producing it from plastic in an overseas factory, Surftech is destroying the soul of the sport. Purists also say that in the water, Surftech products lack the feel of traditional polyurethane boards; the new ones are stiffer and more buoyant (though they also don't break as often).

Two recent developments should help Surftech's image. Earlier this year six-time world champion Kelly Slater lent his name to a series of Surftech boards. Slater, one of the most famous surfers in the world, has publicly expressed frustration with the fragility of polyurethane boards (he once broke three in a session in Indonesia), though he still rides them in contests. Perhaps more important, a top professional surfer recently used a Surftech board in competition. At the 2004 Quiksilver Pro contest in Australia, former world champion Sunny Garcia became the first pro to win a heat on a Surftech. He didn't win the event, but the surf press and online chat groups took note of his equipment.

French got the idea of mass-producing surfboards in 1985, when he crafted a sailboard for a top-ranked windsurfer. Applying his knowledge of surfboard design, French built a smaller, lighter sailboard. The model performed well on the World Cup Tour and brought French an avalanche of orders. He knew he couldn't fulfill them if he had to produce the boards by hand. Another local business, Santa Cruz Yachts, was using composite plastics to mass-produce fast, ultralight boats (one of which set the speed record for sailing between Los Angeles and Honolulu). French realized he could employ a similar process for sailboards. Within a few years, he had two factories operating at full capacity to produce his sailboard designs. (Windsurfers, less tradition-bound than surfers, didn't gripe about mass-produced boards.)

Despite that success, French yearned to return to making surfboards. He also believed that the technology he had pioneered with sailboards could cross over to surfboard manufacturing. In 1989 he approached Cobra International, a manufacturer of plastic products in Thailand. In 1990, Surftech's first year in business, the company manufactured just 50 surfboards. For 2005 it is on track to make 75,000.

Surftech works with independent shapers, each of whom provides a master board--usually based on a popular existing model. (For more on how the manufacturing process works, see the box above.) The Surftech versions are called Tuflite--the brand name of the plastic from which they're made--but are sold under the name of the designer on whose model they are based. They cost substantially more--a six-foot Town & Country Tuflite model will cost about $600, compared with $500 for the foam version. But surfers are willing to pay a premium for what many consider a more consistent and durable product.

Not everyone agrees. "Board manufacturing has always been a hand-shaped industry," says Matt Biolas, head of surfboard manufacturer Lost and one of French's most vocal critics. "Surftech just softens the aura of what we have as a surfing culture, a sport based on individualism." Another critic is Gordon "Grubby" Clark, owner of Clark Foam, which makes the polyurethane blanks used by most U.S. surfboard shapers. Clark has written about the damage that mass-production can have on domestic surfboard sales, but he declined to comment for this article.

Criticism of Surftech's Thailand factory and allegations in the surfing community that the company was using sweatshop labor reached a peak in 2003. "The surfboard business is like junior high," says French in his Santa Cruz office, where an artist's model is posed behind his desk, making an "up yours" gesture familiar to Italians. "A lot of people don't function using sophisticated, refined business tactics. It's more like 'If you try to get in our business, we're going to kick your ass.'"

In response, French invited surf writers to visit the Cobra facility in Chonburi province, Thailand. A reporter from Surfing magazine wrote that he found a modern factory in an immaculate industrial complex located near companies such as Mitsubishi, Sony, and Toyota. In addition, French boasted that Cobra employees are unionized, earn above-average wages for the region, and receive health care, transportation, and subsidized meals.

At the outset, the shapers working with Surftech--almost all sole proprietors or small businesses--were concerned that their Tuflite models might cannibalize their higher-margin custom business. Their experience has been just the opposite, says Channel Islands Surfboards founder Al Merrick. "I think it has markedly helped sales in our core product," he says. "Tuflite is just 5% of sales, but it puts more product in the water, and more people see the logo. You get a customer that tries the Tuflite, and it's restricted in size by molds, so they may want to move to a custom board."

Another gripe is the difference in feel between the two types of boards. Yet, says French, "naysayers in the 1960s said the same thing when boards changed from balsa to foam." He points to sports such as auto racing and tennis, both of which saw enhanced performance after adopting composite materials.

At a recent trade show in San Diego, the Surftech booth was a hive of activity. The company introduced four new Kelly Slater signature models (different sizes for taller or shorter surfers, and for varying wave conditions) based on masters produced by Al Merrick, Surfing magazine's shaper of the year. There was also Robert August, star of the 1960s movie Endless Summer, who has models in the Surftech line. In the middle of it all, French moved easily among the celebrities of the surf world and the potential customers who asked him about the boards.

When asked what he's proudest of, French doesn't hesitate. "Last year we paid out a million dollars in royalties," he says. "Before Surftech, the pioneers of surfboard shaping had to be chained to their sheds to make any money. And shaping boards is hard work. Now these guys have something of a golden parachute, and surfers get to enjoy the legacy of their perfected shapes." If that makes French the most controversial person in the sport, he can deal with it.

Veterinarian Makes $3 Million a Year With a Crazy Pet Fountain Idea

Mary Burns Story

http://www.petfountain.com/

Dr. Mary Burns, 49, is a former veterinarian and the founder of Veterinary Ventures Inc. based in Union, Kentucky.

The Drinkwell is a pet fountain with free-falling water, a one-gallon-plus water reservoir, a pump and a charcoal filter for removing bad tastes and odors. Burns initially got the idea because her cat, Buckwheat, would only drink running water from a faucet. Tired of getting up during the night to give Buckwheat a drink, Burns created the Drinkwell after observing a decorative desktop water fountain that seemed to offer a solution for faucet-drinking cats.

The initial investment was less than $3,000 for a vacuum-formed mold, some initial inventory and an ad in Cat Fancy magazine

The sales really took off, with just over $3 million a year. Most sales are made through pet superstores such as Petco and Petsmart, and through independent pet stores, as well as specialty and pet catalogs nationwide

Pets can be an important part of people's lives, so it's not surprising that every year, individual inventors come up with dozens of new pet inventions. But the days of the independent pet store are over--and nearly all small shops have been replaced by category-dominating stores like Petco and Petsmart. Inventors can enjoy big-time success once they learn how to penetrate the big pet-store chains.

"I knew the key feature on the Drinkwell was the free-flowing water," says Burns. "I started by reading the book Patent It Yourself by David Pressman. I wrote up much of the patent description myself, but I had an attorney write up the actual claim to be sure I had strong protection." Burns' protection paid off--she sold the product without competition from 1995 to 2001 and, even after a competing fountain was introduced by a major pet-products company, the Drinkwell held its sales level because she had the market's only free-flowing water fountain.

Burns explains her sales success: "I started out in December 1995, selling directly to consumers through small ads in Cat Fancy, Cats and I Love Cats magazines. Then, in 1996, Hammacher Schlemmer called and wanted to carry the product, and Alsto's Handy Helper catalog picked the product up at the end of 1997. In 2000, I started to promote the product in trade magazines like Pet Age and started to pick up independent pet stores." Burns didn't just have some initial success; she had $2.2 million in 2002 sales, which also included Petco sales of her product.

Burns started with a functional product that was not stylish. "My initial vacuum-formed tool was very cheap (less than $1,500), but the product didn't have aesthetic appeal," she says. "In 1999, before approaching pet retailers, I decided to convert to an injection-molded product, which had a six-figure tooling cost, but which also provided a professional-looking product. That look was essential to Petco and Petsmart."

Burns' growing business was starting to overwhelm her in 2000. "My investment counselor suggested I contact Howard Consulting [a business management consulting firm in Reno, Nevada, now called Meridian Business Advisers], who initially provided help with my financial books," she says. "But they came to my rescue when dealing with Petco and Petsmart. I didn't know how to fill out vendor qualification forms, deal with allowances and discounts, or negotiate final agreements."

Howard Consulting helped Burns get the initial orders, and Burns went one step further in 2002. "I ended up selling the company to [Meridian's parent company] for an upfront fee and ongoing royalties. I felt that I was out of my league negotiating with the big retailers, and was also overwhelmed by the concepts of producing the product overseas and dealing with a major pet-company competitor," Burns says. "I felt turning the company over to experienced businesspeople was my best choice."

Big retailers will want at least a 50 percent discount from the suggested retail price, and they will also want allowances, which are a percentage of their purchases--typically 2 to 6 percent--to cover the costs of damaged products and advertising. You won't make any money if your manufacturing costs are greater than 30 percent of the suggested retail price.

Seven Million Dollar “Boring Business” Secret

A. J. Wasserstein Story

http://www.archivesmanagement.com/

While attending business school in New York, A. J. Wasserstein looked at various business opportunities to start his entrepreneurial venture. After graduating from the Stern School of Business at New York University in 1991, A. J. Wasserstein, then 24, returned home in Southbury, Connecticut to raise money and start Archives Management, his newly hatched file-storage company. He was attracted in the records storage business in large part because it is a steady business. "The model is, once you get a customer, you have a customer for life. It's a long-term decision for our clients. We'd like to think we have them forever - if we live up to their expectations."

OK, so keeping files for customers is not glamorous. It does not even sound sexy. But as company president, Wasserstein probably finds nothing dull about earning $7.0 million in annual sales. As he himself admits, “Yes! It is a boring business. We’re a boring simple business that makes a lot of money, which is fine!”

Every business has its own economic characteristics, and his research showed that records management is a solid business model. Consider these: recurring cash flow; long term contracts; high capital barriers to entry so there are few competitors; and high switching costs for customers if they want to move to another company. As Wasserstein contends, “When I wake up on January 1st, I know what my revenues will be for the next 12 months.” While capitalization costs may be high, there is also a built-in growth rate, allowing the company to grow internally at about eight percent a year even without making incremental sales. Boring as the task of keeping other people’s files maybe, you can understand what made Wasserstein fall in love with this industry.

To turn this “boring” business into something exciting, Wasserstein and his management takes a creative approach to customer and employee relations, and makes it fun. According to him, “We have wonderful people programs in place. I think we are cutting-edge technology.”

So why is Archives Management successful?

“I think we’re good sales people. We are successful because of our creative sales people,” he is quick to point out. While other companies cite their advanced technologies and innovative products, Wasserstein credits their ability to differentiate themselves by bringing creativity, energy and ingenuity into the sales process as the main reason for their success.

Another strength of Archives Management is the efficiency in the way it handles and delivers the files and paperwork they store for their clients. The speedy and accurate retrieval of stored records is made possible by the company’s use of cutting-edge technology.

“We’re in a situation where technology and customer service coincide,” he said. “We are great users of technology. We are extremely, extremely computerized.”

Archives Management has made significant investments in the past four years on new technology to improve the business. Employees use sophisticated hand-held scanners, costing about $2,000 each, to keep track of orders on the delivery run. They also have printers costing $1,000 each that can print receipts with activity records for each document, so they know exactly where the paperwork has been.

So what is the secret of his personal success? “None! There is no secret,” Wasserstein chuckles.

To be good in business, however, his first advice is to always start out with a good business. As his own experience shows, a good business is one that has good economic characteristics and fundamentals, and covers a lot of business sense.

Second, an entrepreneur must be energetic, optimistic and full of passion about his or her own business. “Your business will not succeed on 20 or 40 hours a week. It’s got to be your number one priority probably for at least the first 3-5 years. Then maybe after 5 years, it is a real business and will have some energy and progress on its own. But initially you are the driving force behind your business.”

An entrepreneur also needs to be success and development-oriented, possessing sheer energy and persistence to just keep going. Sometimes, business owners need to call a customer 20 to 50 times just to follow-up, and this requires persistence. “I think some people fail to recognize that the persistence factor is what really drives a lot of people to success in all walks of life,” says Wasserstein. Persistence, creativity, ingenuity, coupled with a thick skin to handle all the rejections -- these are the tools of entrepreneurial success.

Santa Pretender Makes $1 Million A Year

Byron Reese Story

http://www.santamail.org

Byron Reese Started his company, SantaMail.org, which sells fully personalized letters from Santa Claus all across North America (they're even postmarked from North Pole, Alaska, to give them an authentic feeling). Reese sold 10,000 letters in 2001, his first year in business. Though holiday sales have increased every subsequent year, he still looked for ways to expand his offering. Now, parents can order birthday cards for their children from Santa as well. The strategy pushed 2005 sales to $1 million.

Still, the key to Reese's success is organization. After realizing he and his staff didn't want to pull the marathon 36-hour shifts they did the first year, he looked to outside vendors to help with the yearly rush. He also deals with any problems as soon as the rush is over, and then starts planning for the next year. By February, he's up and running. "The temptation is to not start working until you get close to that season, and we've made that mistake in the past," says Reese, 37. "Things always take a lot longer than you think they're going to take. We find it much better to work steadily."

"When I was a child, my parents would give us letters from Santa. My mom died three and a half years ago, and I wanted to do this to honor her," says Byron. "I entered it with low expectations, but we sold 10,000 the first year." The magic of Christmas is a serious trust to Byron, so he implemented a rigorous quality-control program that has multiple people (his elves) checking each letter, ensuring complete accuracy on each one, as well as on a birthday card from Santa and the post-Christmas 'Greetings from Hawaii' postcard from a tanned, beach-bound Santa.

Byron's childhood Christmas memories include installing 200 strings of Christmas lights and decorating dozens of Christmas cookies each year. He loves the look on the postman's face when he goes to buy 40,000 Santa stamps at the post office each Christmas. What's next on this Christmas devotee's agenda?

"Someday I hope to deliver coolers of snow to people in hot climates."

Mailroom Clerk Becomes Clinton's Favorite Christmas Decorator

Christopher Radko Story

http://www.christopherradko.com/


Janet Adams is giddy with excitement. She had trekked all the way from New Hope, Ala., to Bloomingdale's flagship store in Manhattan and made sure she was the first in line to have her newest silver-sleigh ornament signed by its designer, Christopher Radko. "I just can't wait to meet him," Adams says, clutching her shiny bauble -- tag on and still in the box.

She has been collecting the coveted hand-painted glass baubles for more than a decade and this season decided to set up a separate 12-foot Christmas tree just for "my Radkos." And she's far from alone. In his 20 years as an ornament maker, Radko has inspired a loyal following for whom December is the time to showcase.

Radko, 44, has fans around the world, including Oprah Winfrey and Robert DeNiro. Former President Bill Clinton even had him decorate the mantle at the White House. By the late 1990s, the popularity surrounding Radko's ornament empire was so huge that he seemed poised for potential burnout. His delicate glass ornaments and their famous glitter detailing, which send some shoppers into a frenzy, could have easily gone the way of Tickle Me Elmo and other "must-haves" of past seasons.

But it's his knack for personalizing the Radko brand -- with signings and public appearances, high-quality workmanship, and a focus on what he calls the "emotional side" to collecting his creations -- that has allowed this self-made ornament king to turn a holiday trend into a beloved tradition that has lasted nearly 20 years.

He got the idea for his business back in 1984, when he insisted on replacing his family's old rusty Christmas tree stand with a newer aluminum one. The stand gave way, the tree fell over a week before Christmas, and Radko was left with the task of restoring the collection of antique, European glass-blown ornaments. He sketched the shattered ornaments as best he could from memory and ultimately traveled back to Europe to scout for ornament makers who could recreate them. It didn't take long for Radko, then a mailroom clerk, to realize there might be a business idea there, too.

Nineteen years and 10,000 designs later, he's in the midst of a cross-country tour, visiting more than 50 locations across the country, including various Macy's, Bloomingdale's, and Saks Fifth Avenue stores before Christmas, to sign ornaments and meet his legions of fans.

At Bloomingdale's in New York, the soft-spoken holiday guru, clad in a pumpkin-hued sweater and corduroy blazer, was greeted with applause from dozens of people in line and even a plate of cookies from one fan. The collectors, it seems, enjoy the man as much as his ornaments.

Though many devotees have collections numbering in the hundreds, the ornaments aren't cheap -- around $50 for a medium-sized piece. Long Beach (Calif.)-based retail expert Bob Phibbs says specialty markets thrive on the more expensive items. Resisting the urge to discount, even after almost two decades in business, signals to the customer that they're getting "something unique and of good quality," says Phibbs, author of You Can Compete: Double Sales Without Discounting.

Listen to the designer's fans, and and you'll hear the "emotional side" that Radko speaks of. One woman in line at Bloomingdale's found a portly red ornament of a chef in a pearl-white apron for her restaurant-owner son in Portland, Ore., while a New York woman picked out two small snowmen to add to the collection she started for her young twins when they were born.

"Her tree will be like a family diary now," says Radko, who enjoys "recreating [Christmas] in a sparkly way." He currently commissions 3,000 workers in cottage workshops in Poland, Germany, Italy, and the Czech Republic to make the ornaments, along with 108 corporate employees.

"The collectors...they go crazy for this stuff every year," said Chris Wang, a sales associate at Macy's in San Francisco, one of over 2,500 Radko retailers across the globe.

The author of three holiday decorating books, Radko added dozens of new ornaments in this season's collection and rolled out a line of dinnerware and chocolates as well. Revenues reportedly have exceeded the seven-figure mark, a vast improvement from the $75,000 he made back in 1986, with just 65 ornament designs. Demand for earlier models continues to rise year after year. His 1993 "Partridge in a Pear Tree" ornament, originally priced at $38, has sold on the secondary market for as much as $1,000.

Next up, he plans to further address the male market by adding more retailers like Brooks Brothers. But for the most part, Radko will keep with the same formula that has worked for the past 20 Christmases "because tradition is what I depend on." For Radko and his fans, it really is the most wonderful time of the year.

From Trailer With No Running Water to Her Own Business

Wendy Newmeyer Story

http://mainebalsam.com/


Wendy and her husband Jack moved from East Brunswick, New Jersey to Maine in 1979 with a dream of building their own home and have a simple, natural life. Wendy, then 24, even went back to college to study the newest methods of farming in anticipation of their new life because “that's what we thought we would do when we came up here.” Their hope was simply to lead a self-sufficient life. As she puts it, “we didn't want to become big farmers.” The reality, however, was not easy.


They first ventured into several businesses - from selling Christmas trees, to breeding German shepherds, to growing vegetables and herbs - all with limited success. To save money, they lived in “very primitive conditions” in a run-down old trailer without electricity, telephone or running water. The Newmeyers took showers at a local health club and sometimes took a plunge into Moose Pond Brook, which runs through their land, with a bar of soap.


Out of necessity, Jack began harvesting and selling lumber from their 111 acres of land. Jack bought a used bulldozer and cut spruce and fir for pulp. Wendy, seeing all the waste that was made in the wood-harvesting process, soon realized that she could make use of her expert seamstress skills and extensive education in drying herbs and flowers to produce a second moneymaking item. Their savings, however, were almost depleted that even the $700 needed to buy the shredder (the heart of the operation) was a sacrifice. A $10,000 inheritance from her grandfather who passed away helped the family tide the difficult times.


Wendy started her foray into the balsam business by selling the cut branches of the balsam fir trees for a local incense factory. Quite coincidentally, she had read in a book that Native Americans used balsam trees as herb for many different home remedies. With her long-standing interests in herbs “that got me excited into thinking about it [balsams] in a different way,” said Wendy. She became a supplier to the incense factory, which used her balsam fir boughs to stuff souvenir pillows.


She found other clients who wanted her balsam to make products such as decorative pillows, potpourri and other by-products. One client, a publisher of Herb Quarterly that Wendy subscribes to, was so happy to have found Wendy. This client was buying pillows from the incense factory that Wendy supplies and takes the pillows apart to get the balsam. The publisher, who needed balsam to make pillows, paid Wendy $1.75 a pound, compared to the $0.07 a pound paid by the incense factory.


Wendy then launched into a mailing campaign, sending 300 targeted mails to herb businesses nationwide, asking them to buy balsam from her. The response was impressive: 125 placed orders. For about six months, the balsam fir boughs were her only products.


However, Wendy realized that filling orders for raw balsam wouldn't keep her busy year-round. She then saw the potential of balsam pillows, and began to wonder why no one was making nicer pillows, as the stores that she supplied balsam with only produced plain pillows. She figured that the tourism industry of Maine, with about 10 million visitors annually, could be a big market for souvenir products representative of the state such as balsam pillows. “I just want a tiny piece of that pie,” she said.


“One morning, I woke up with a 'BFO' (blinding flash of the obvious), that it was up to me to make those 'nicer' pillows! Using skills and interests I had developed which until then seemed to have no correlation to each other, I began my company!” She opened Maine Balsam Fir Products in 1983, producing a line of balsam fir pillows with scenes of Maine embroidered on them.


Success for Wendy did not come easily. Nonetheless, she willingly embraced the difficulties and challenges faced of an unknown start-up with hardly any marketing capital. As she looks back, she says, “I was at a place where I can say that I had nothing to lose. I was living very poorly, and my husband was having some problems so he wasn't able to support me.”


She started stitching together on her home sewing machine silk-screened fabric pillows that a graphic artist designed for her. She then filled them with her own fragrant dried balsam.


To sell her balsam, she traveled across the state a couple of days a week with a trunk load of pillows that smelled like Christmas. She took a door-to-door approach, traveling throughout the state asking stores if they were willing to carry her product. According to Wendy, “The early customers did NOT beat a path to my door … I had to go out and find them.” Personally cold-calling the “best” stores in each town, she would show them her pillows, not wanting to give anyone a chance to say no before they could see what she was offering.


It was exhausting work. Nonetheless, the long hours and difficult start did not deter Wendy's spirit. “I wasn't just working eight hours a day: I was working for 18 hours, or even 20 hours a day. I remember in my first year when I was waking up at 4 o'clock in the morning and working until midnight taking breaks only to eat. I was working almost every waking hour in such a variety of tasks.”


After only two months, she knew that she made the right business decision. While her product line is very limited, “I was already supporting my family and was able to keep the business moving forward as well.” Shop owners, who had seen her products in other shops, started calling her to supply them as well. By the third month, Wendy hired her first employees to help her fill the orders. She enlarged her product line, introducing more designs for her stuffed pillows, and started looking for customers outside of Maine. She sold to 169
stores that year.”


Through the years Wendy has experimented with trade shows, catalogue sales, the QVC home shopping network, and many other avenues to showcase her products. She recently set-up a web site, to widen her market reach and take a dip on Internet retailing. Her worldwide outlets now exceed 4,400 stores and her employees have increased to 12. Sales of Maine Balsam Fir Products have reached well over $500,000 per year.


The first years in Maine were very difficult. The isolation of living in a rural area, loneliness and poverty proved to be the biggest hurdles in her life. “But my parents gave me a very good self-image and confidence. And so once I got into this direction, there was no turning back.” She credits her qualities of being a woman as a significant reason for her success. “Women, first of all, are very tireless workers. We're very frugal by nature, and not complaining. “Almost all her early contacts were women, who proved very supportive to her. “It was a good thing, because the male encouragement was lacking. ”Her own husband was critical of her for a long time, expecting her to fail. Instead of wallowing in disappointment from her husband's lack of support, “I became much more determined to succeed.” Today, her husband Jack had built her a huge barn serving as the company's headquarters and acts as her Raw Product Manager.


Her greatest joy from being an entrepreneur, however, comes from being able to help her community. “I feel very good about the support I could give into my community. “She relates the story of one of the ladies who work for her, Denise. Since Wendy also employs Denise's mother, the girl, who was then eight years old, complained that her mother didn't have much time to play with them since the mother worked for Wendy. “I was feeling sorry about it,” said Wendy, until the little girl said, 'But she just bought me new shoes!” The company has since won numerous awards and recognition for their economic impact on the community.


Today, she volunteers to talk in classes for other new small business owners, sharing her experiences and acquired wisdom. “People say I am very inspiring, because I am an experiential type of teacher and has tackled all sorts of problems.” Her main advice to entrepreneurs? “Never give up. Be determined. When a door shuts in your face, look for an open window.' She likewise stresses the need to be flexible: “People who are fixed mentally set themselves up to fail. You have to be flexible. You have to have at least three plans - Plan A, then if something happens, you have Plan B and C.”


Wendy still has a long way to go. She is planning to build a new facility to allow her to increase production. But her goal now is to have more balance between her life and her business. “For a while, I was working too hard and not taking time to smell the roses - or the balsam!”

Two Scopists Find A Way To Turn Court Records To Gold

Judy Rakocinski and Cathy Vickio Story

http://www.bestscopingtechniques.com/


In 1994, Judy Rakocinski was looking into a home based career as a scopist, a person who edits legal transcripts from home for court reporters. That's how she found Cathy Vickio and contacted her about getting started. They have only met in person once since Judy lives in Florida and Cathy lives in Texas. Regardless, a friendship immediately bloomed and has grown since. Cathy helped Judy start her successful career and they continued to be friends.


After several years, the pair realized that the ratio of scopists to court reporters was about 1,000 to 60,000. It was clear that the need for professionally trained scopists was great and Judy and Cathy decided to develop a training program for that specific purpose. Thus, they began to develop their online business at BeSTScopingTechniques.com where they offer an online, self-paced course designed to teach people to become professional scopists. They just celebrated their three-year anniversary in business together in March 2006.


The two credit their home based business success to offering legitimate services at fair, competitive prices that still allows them to make a living. Before embarking on their new venture, they ensured that there would be a large enough potential client pool to make this a viable business. These ladies did their homework before starting, as anyone starting a business should.


Working in a partnership has been very rewarding for the two. "Cathy and I talk all day long using email, instant messaging and the telephone," says Judy.


"Judy and I love to brainstorm together," states Cathy, "Sometimes one idea generates ten more...Also, we value each other's opinions, so we don't get our feelings hurt when one spots something the other doesn't care for."


Both say the only drawback is that they are so far away from each other. They have become great friends and feel very close to one another, but both wish they could truly get to know one another in person.Judy Rakocinski and Cathy Vickio Story

http://www.bestscopingtechniques.com/


In 1994, Judy Rakocinski was looking into a home based career as a scopist, a person who edits legal transcripts from home for court reporters. That's how she found Cathy Vickio and contacted her about getting started. They have only met in person once since Judy lives in Florida and Cathy lives in Texas. Regardless, a friendship immediately bloomed and has grown since. Cathy helped Judy start her successful career and they continued to be friends.


After several years, the pair realized that the ratio of scopists to court reporters was about 1,000 to 60,000. It was clear that the need for professionally trained scopists was great and Judy and Cathy decided to develop a training program for that specific purpose. Thus, they began to develop their online business at BeSTScopingTechniques.com where they offer an online, self-paced course designed to teach people to become professional scopists. They just celebrated their three-year anniversary in business together in March 2006.


The two credit their home based business success to offering legitimate services at fair, competitive prices that still allows them to make a living. Before embarking on their new venture, they ensured that there would be a large enough potential client pool to make this a viable business. These ladies did their homework before starting, as anyone starting a business should.


Working in a partnership has been very rewarding for the two. "Cathy and I talk all day long using email, instant messaging and the telephone," says Judy.


"Judy and I love to brainstorm together," states Cathy, "Sometimes one idea generates ten more...Also, we value each other's opinions, so we don't get our feelings hurt when one spots something the other doesn't care for."


Both say the only drawback is that they are so far away from each other. They have become great friends and feel very close to one another, but both wish they could truly get to know one another in person.

Million Dollar HomeBusiness

Tamara Carlisle left her successful career as an independent film and commercial producer to distribute videos for kids. She has found a niche distributing her own videos as well as those of other independent producers all over the United States. Success, however, did not come easy. Customers were slow to discover her wonderful videos. There even came a point that she had to call herself just to hear the phone ring.


Now, she ships a 44-page catalog featuring over 250 videos, software and audio products to a growing number of customers around the world. To complement her print catalog, she opened a web site in 1996. However, it was a dud. She did not know how to tap the Web for her business. Relaunching her site three years later, BigKidsVideo.com has become an important source of educational and fun videos for parents, libraries and schools.


Tamara Carlisle Story


http://www.bigkidsvideo.com


I was in the film business as a film producer for 10 years. I produced high-end commercials. I was completing a two-month shoot, which was very tough. At that point, there was a surge of independent live action production being done for children's videos. My father, who has a construction company in Cincinnati, said, “You need to make a children's video about
construction.” And I thought, “Oh my gosh. Here I was working with 400 extras on the set and a 50-man crew. A children's video was totally different from where I'd been for many, many years.”


But I did do it. I produced a children's video called “What Do You Want to be When You Grow Up”; and it was called “Heavy Equipment Operator.” It was a very big success. It was written up in all the papers around the country, and it was in schools and libraries, and a lot of retail
stores.


So I followed up with other 30-minute videos called “Railroaders” and “Zoo Crew.” Basically the videos are a behind the scenes show.


Upon completion of “Heavy Equipment Operator” we quickly discovered how difficult it was to distribute a children's video in a market dominated by multi-million dollar corporations. We also realized that there were many fabulous children's videos out there but their producers, many of them working mothers, were not able to find adequate distribution.


So we decided to start our own distribution company through Big Kids Productions, Inc. Big Kids Productions, Inc. and BigKidsVideo.com have become important parts of the children’s entertainment industry. We search out the very best live-action, independently produced video and audio products for our catalog, web site and other distribution efforts.


It was just a tough situation in 1994 and 1995. I was getting out into the distribution world, which I had never been in, and I found out that it was very hard to distribute against powerhouses like Nickelodeon and Time Warner.


So I started with a small brochure of about 9 videos and did the direct mailing. I started to make my way through the maze of distribution in the country, both retail and other wholesale distribution companies.


After many months of making calls and waiting for the phone to ring, we gradually developed strong relationships with our wholesale outlets and expanded our retail customer mailing list. We have since grown into a company with a few hundred audio, video and software titles, and we pride ourselves on customer service and quick, accurate order filling.


BigKids started distributing in late 1995. Since then, our sales were approximately $45,000 that first year and we'll probably do a million in sales this year. We have worked very hard.


But, here is what people might me surprised to find out – it’s still a home business. One of the biggest advantages to having a home-based business is that I am able to spend a lot of time with my two children. When we started, I was working out of a rented space. When we really had to dive into this, and I was also pregnant, we decided to build a separate building outside of the house. So it has worked out real nice because I'm a mother of two. I know that I am so lucky because I am just 30 walking steps from wrapping my arms around my babies.

Hidden Link Between US Comedian Chris Rock and Iran Exposed

Jamie Masada Story


http://www.laughfactory.com/


In 1977, at just 14 years old, Jamie Masada found himself alone in Hollywood. A native of Iran, he didn't know anybody and spoke only Farsi. The American producer who had promised to look after him and give him a shot at success had abandoned him. With the $850 his parents had given him long gone, Masada was taken in by a compassionate apartment manager who let him sleep on a couch.


And so began Masada's journey to becoming one of America's top comedy impresarios. Supporting himself through a series of odd jobs at comedy shops on the Sunset Strip, Masada was befriended by a group of local comics. It was here that he learned the rhythm of a good joke and honed his instincts for spotting talent.


Though he enjoyed comedy once he found it, making it a career path was all but accidental. "If I'd have become a dishwasher then," he says, "I would have gone on to be the best dishwasher."


Today, Masada's flagship Laugh Factory on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood is not only successful -- with packed houses for the past 25 years -- but also one of the most influential proving grounds for comedic talent in the nation. Jamie Masada's Laugh Factory changed the industry and gave rise to the likes of Chris Rock.


In building his kingdom of comedy, Masada has groomed and showcased some of the biggest names in the industry. In the process, he has helped change the economics of the business by paying all comics for their work, helping to promote diversity within their ranks, and finding new revenue channels through crossover promotion.


"Jamie has really grown his club in a really hard business," says comedian Bob Saget, former star of the sitcom Full House, who has known Masada for 25 years. "Not only does he have a good gauge for talent, but he's a guy who's always helping people." Saget says the fact that even the biggest-name comics return on their own -- Chris Rock performed just a few days after hosting the Oscars -- is a testament to the club's proprietor.


"When I perform at the Laugh Factory, it feels like a home for me," he adds. "He always treats me really well, and it is one of the best spaces for doing stand-up. It's like a tiny music hall."


With that success has come inevitable expansion. Just last year, Masada opened his newest venue, a $4.5 million multilevel complex in New York's Times Square, and a third club, in Long Beach, Calif., is on its way in June. Like many successful entrepreneurs who have become industry standard-bearers, he faces a challenge: building upon his self-made reputation without diluting a brand that is now considered among the best.


In 1979, when he was barely 20, Masada used a $10,000 loan from a producer friend to open his now-flagship club. Almost from the start, Masada distinguished himself on a number of fronts. For one, there was the pay. At the time, most up-and-coming performers worked simply for the exposure. But Masada always split the door receipts, even when there wasn't much to split.


Following his opening night, Masada says he gave headliner Richard Pryor his cut: $2.50. "He then pulled out a $100 bill from his pocket and gave it to me," Masada recalls. "He said, 'Your heart is bigger than your wallet.'"


Masada also opened his stage to overlooked voices. During the early 1980s, the dominant clubs in Los Angeles were the Comedy Store and the Improv. And most of the marquee names were white males. Masada nurtured talent among African-American ("We had a Black Pack," he says), Latino, and female comics, as a way to differentiate his club from the other venues as well as to expand both the talent pool and audience.


From day one, his business philosophy remained simple. "I wanted to make people laugh," he says. "I believe if you enjoy what you're doing, the money will follow."


Masada does little advertising, instead relying on word-of-mouth and a spectrum of crossover partnerships, including the Laugh Factory Minute, a daily radio spot that airs routines from the club's shows to 240 markets and 19 million people through Premier Radio Networks. And recently he joined with Nick at Night, using his New York club as backdrop for the network's Funniest Mom Contest.


While Masada says his West Coast club has been profitable for years, with the new Times Square venue, he has had to raise awareness for an audience not nearly as familiar with the Laugh Factory name. Masada's foray into the Big Apple came in large part as a result of an invitation from former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who was encouraging new businesses in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. "I thought, 'Yes, New York needs some laughs,'" Masada says.


Despite the recent expansion, Masada isn't interested in a rapid rollout of Laugh Factories, which he believes could weaken his brand. "I get so many offers," he says. "Jamie Foxx and Chris Tucker have asked me to partner. But I am very particular. I want to make sure to go to places where I will be successful. I don't want franchises like McDonald's."


In addition to operating his clubs, Masada manages a roster of comics. Past clients have included Rodney Dangerfield and the Wayans brothers. He also serves as a TV consultant and has produced comedy specials like Fox's Comic Strip Live. These moves help create a pipeline between comics and opportunities, and further enhance the Laugh Factory's standing as a talent hothouse.


A business based on laughs means you have to keep them coming. Although a number of big names spent their fledgling years on his stages, Masada continues to nurture newcomers. Every Tuesday he holds an open-mike night, drawing comic hopefuls from around the world. And afterward, Masada offers individual feedback and advice.


In the business for nearly 30 years, Masada has developed an instinctual grasp of what is funny -- and, more important, what the audience will find funny. If a routine is smart and makes him laugh, he's willing to take a chance. "Sometimes you're going to lose," he says. "It's the audience who decides if they're stars. I give them a spot. I can't take credit for their talent."


After his own hardscrabble start, Masada maintains a soft spot for those in need -- and uses comedy to help. Every year, he provides Thanksgiving and holiday dinners for struggling actors and comics. And since 1984, he has run the Laugh Factory Comedy Camp, giving disadvantaged children in Los Angeles the opportunity to spend 16 Saturdays working on their own routines with mentors like Ellen DeGeneres. This summer, he'll launch the camp in New York.


Masada has watched the industry evolve over the years, but perhaps the biggest change has been his what his club's audience expects. "When I started, they would come for the big name on stage," he says. "Now it doesn't matter. They come because they know they're going to see a good show."

How Knitted Thongs Helped a Couple to Launch Fashion Business

Vicky Prazdnik and Lori Mozzone Story


http://www.curliegirl.com


With so much competition nowadays, a small business needs to create buzz and excitement to survive. That’s exactly what Vicky Prazdnik and Lori Mozzone did in their startup fashion business Curliegirl


The duo designs and creates crocheted and knitted hats, bags and scarves, but it was their sexy crocheted cotton thong underwear products that got them lots of attention at the start! As Mozzone says, “The thong has gotten us a lot of attention in the past. In fact, we tried removing them from our website a few times to make room for new items, and without fail someone emails us asking, "what happened to them?" This has earned them a permanent spot on the site!”


Prazdnik and Mozzone, avid knitting and crocheting hobbyists, knew that they needed to create something beyond the standard fare of knitted hats and scarves for them to succeed as a fashion company. They stumbled on the idea of dainty crocheted thong underwear, and went on to create the design and develop the right prototype. Once convinced that they have the right design, they tested the market’s reaction by showing the crocheted thongs in a Valentine’s theme party in New York. Their product got a wild response!


Prazdnik and Mozzone work together in a New York company as web designers, and became fast friends. Mozzone took up knitting as a hobby and shared her newfound interest with Prazdnik, who in turned shared her skill in crocheting. As Mozzone describes their start, “Both Vicky and I are very creative people who went to art school. When you are an artistic person by nature, you need an outlet for it... So, Curliegirl was born out of a hobby of knitting and crocheting.”


They became passionate with their hobby that they soon started an informal group of women who enjoyed knitting and crocheting as well. The two then created the usual knitted and crochet products – hats and scarves – that got complements from their colleagues and immediate circle. “We used to do an informal knit/crochet group with our friends, but got bored with what we were making,” says Mozzone. “That is when Vicky started experimenting with making the cotton lingerie, which eventually turned out to be our signature product!”


The duo formally launched their company Curliegirl in 2003. Mozzone explains the name, “Curliegirl was a personal URL of mine (for my curly hair), and we started using it as a temporary website. People thought it was cute, and so it stuck.”


Slow but sure, Curliegirl has attracted a growing clientele. They have also expanded their product lines - offering hats, scarves, handbags and other small accessories in addition to the thongs. They also have some salespeople who help distribute their products to other areas of the country. Right now Curliegirl is sold in boutiques around the USA.


“Our fashion philosophy,” according to Mozzone, “is we make what we could see ourselves wearing. We also like our products to be practical and cute. We want our creations to be different and to make the woman who wears them feel good.”


At the start, Curliegirl was a two-women show, and Mozzone and Prazdnik used to do everything themselves -- from crocheting every single product to shipping the orders. Now that the business has started to gain momentum, things have improved somewhat to allow them to focus on other important aspects of the business.


Mozzone explains, “When the business first began we were a one-stop shop with us doing it all, and in some ways we still are. We started outsourcing to get our items made which has freed us up to do more marketing, sales, and everything else to make the business work. Finding a manufacturer was very difficult for many reasons – quality control concerns, distance, cost and minimums. We wanted to find someone who communicated well, had a fair price, and a reasonable minimum.”


Even with limited manpower, these two business savvy women have an arsenal up their sleeve: they understand the power of media in influencing the fashion business. In fact, Curliegirl has received a fair amount of media exposure and mentions, including interviews in publications such as Redbook Magazine, and product inclusion in fashion spreads of YM and Jane magazines.


As Mozzone says of their strategy, “In fashion, getting endorsed by the media is very important. For a small company like us, paid advertising doesn't do much.. But when a magazine editor chooses your item to feature in a photospread, or wants an interview to tell the Curliegirl story, that is far more meaningful to consumers and they react really well to it, both in feedback and in sales.”


While Curliegirl continues to make inroads in the fashion business, the two women are still taking their entrepreneurial journey slow. In fact, they are only doing the business on a part-time basis, with the two continuing to work full-time on their day jobs!


According to Mozzone, “It is extremely difficult at times to balance a day job, Curliegirl and our personal lives. Forget about "free time!" There's a lot going on right now for both of us, so we just do the best we can. We are lucky to have a wonderful, supportive husband and boyfriend who help us out whenever they can. If Curliegirl were to one day become financially lucrative enough we would consider quitting our jobs. But as I said we take it one day at a time. It doesn't seem necessary to put that kind of pressure on ourselves at this point.”


Two years into the business, however, their partnership remains strong. Mozzone says, “We both handle the majority of things, but balance each other out in areas where one of us is stronger, the other is weaker, and vice versa. We easily pick up where the other left off.”


Nonetheless, Prazdnik and Mozzone have lots of plans for Curliegirl. “We are considering expanding our consumer base and experimenting with baby wear, but that is something for the future. We'll see what happens, we take it one day at a time,” says Mozzone.


Their advice to aspiring fashion designers and entrepreneurs: Be persistent, and don't wait for opportunities to come and find you... YOU have to go and find THEM!”

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An Employee Fires His Employer, Starts a Forty Million Dollar Business

Patrick Martucci Story

http://www.unitedasset.com/

In 1980, Patrick Martucci, just out of high school, left his hometown of Cleveland with $300, pointing his Trans Am toward Dallas. He landed a $6-an-hour job at a company that was launching an odd, new product at the time -- "voice forward mail."

When he tried to explain voice mail to his grandmother, she thought he was a postal worker. Others, however, caught on. He was soon in the sales department, where he was a natural. "I had the opportunity to watch a product go out the door and gain world-wide acceptance," he says.

He leapfrogged to increasingly challenging jobs across the telecom industry, setting up distribution channels, running sales departments. A stark opportunity stared him in the face when he worked at a company that provided maintenance on Rolm phone equipment. Mr. Martucci was thrilled to pitch a sale to J.C. Penney, which, after a trial, offered him the maintenance contract for the entire retail chain's phone service. But his company could handle only Rolm equipment in specific geographic areas, not the full sprawl of a retailer with a mishmash of phone systems. Mr. Martucci says he saw what could have been "a $10 million contract go to $1.5 million, and that bugged me from that day forward."

From Chicago, he launched United Asset Coverage, which could have struck that deal. It would informally stitch together a network to fix anyone's office equipment -- no matter the brand, and no matter the place, a sort of managed-care approach to the frustrating world of office-machine maintenance.

Mr. Martucci unveiled the concept to a small venture fund, where he worked at the time. "It's a $36 billion marketplace, and I'm familiar with it," he told his partners. They jumped in, investing a total of "a couple million" dollars, he says.

He called the best salespeople he knew from previous jobs and hired 17. They told potential customers that UAC would handle all the maintenance chores for less if they paid upfront. Just like explaining voice mail to grandma, the new business model, part insurance, part repair clearinghouse, wasn't an easy sell. "There is nothing more boring than telephone maintenance," Mr. Martucci admits.

It took six long months in 1997 for the company to secure its first customer: A TGI Friday's in St. Louis signed up for UAC to maintain its lone copier. By 2001, UAC installed a call center in Chicago so that anyone could call and order service. Establishing a network of service providers proved easier. Once they saw that UAC provided steady revenue, acting as a sort of agent for them, many agreed to discounts on their services to be part of the network.

Though new competitors are sprouting up, today UAC is the largest telecom-maintenance company in the world. The closely held firm doesn't disclose revenue, but earnings reached $40 million this year.

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How to Make $4 Million a Year in Sales With an Ugly Website

Joel Boblit Story

http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/

Joel Boblit parlayed nostalgia for his childhood toys into big-time business when he discovered how much Transformers--robot action figures whose popularity has continued since the 1980s--were being sold for online. He launched BigBadToyStore.com in 1999 shortly after graduating college, while he was reliving fond memories of trading his favorite childhood toys--GI Joe, Masters of the Universe and Transformers. The biggest challenge in those early days? Boblit admits: "Being teased by my friends."

While in college, Boblit sold action figures as a hobby for extra money, but when he decided to turn his hobby into a business, his parents supported him on all levels. They went heavily into debt to finance the business, and worked 100-plus-hour weeks alongside him for BigBadToyStore. Housing his inventory at one point, his parents had to create aisles in their home to navigate around the ceiling-high boxes. Says Boblit, "They have been instrumental throughout all this and worked just as hard as I did to keep it all together during the tough early years."

BigBadToyStore caters to specialty toy buyers with vintage favorites like Star Wars figurines and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Boblit also branched out to comic- and movie-related items, earning loyal customers around the world. Serious collectors prize mint-condition toy packaging, so Boblit guarantees his toys by using a grading system to distinguish "standard grade" (mint or near-mint condition) from "substandard grade" packages.

He also offers a premium packing service that ensures an item is in tiptop condition and handled with extra care when it's shipped. Another big draw is the "Pile of Loot" function, which allows customers to stockpile items they've already paid for in a virtual storage bin. Upon the customer's choosing, the company will ship out all the items at once, reducing shipping costs. Future plans include distribution to approved retailers, who can view volume pricing online. Boblit says, "We've got the competitive edge for convenience."

Joel made $4 million dollars in sales in 2005, so the strategy seems to be working.

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How About A Few Million Dollars For Clubbing In New York?

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Andrew Fox Story



www.clubplanet.com



In 1995, this oft-rejected newcomer to New York City's club scene found a way to get past the doorman of every hot club he longed to enter--start a website offering club-goers free club reviews and information. The now-savvy Fox recalls his earlier, awkward days: "I showed up at a club wearing green shorts, and everyone was in black. The bouncer looked at me and said, 'There's no way.'"



Working on the website in his off hours at first, Fox chucked his investment banking job in 1997 to give Clubplanet.com (then ClubNYC.com) his all. Volunteers provided early club reviews, until Fox hired a full-time editorial staff in 1999. Then he came up with a new idea: Start a guest list on his site for access to otherwise hard-to-get-into clubs. By offering a discounted cover charge to those who both signed up on the site and arrived at the club before midnight, Fox helped enhance the exclusivity of the clubs as well as increase revenue. Club owners were dubious about Fox's concept at first, but when hundreds of club-goers who signed up showed up at their doors, the owners gladly forged relationships with the innovator and paid him a "bounty" for every head he brought in.



Fox installed a management team for Clubplanet.com so he could focus on two other businesses he was involved in, but he admits giving up control was a mistake. Upon learning of Clubplanet.com's mismanagement and financial woes, Fox engaged in a bitter struggle to regain control. He ultimately won, but the battle took its toll on the company. He was forced to lay off employees he had never met. With only two employees, Fox started back at square one, selling his other companies to refocus on his "baby."



Clubplanet.com has grown to include thousands of club listings around the United States and the United Kingdom, and now syndicates its content to Citysearch, newspapers, Yahoo! and other third-party clients. Fox also recently launched NocheLatino.com, an upscale, urban Latino version of Clubplanet.com, and is working on a version for the gay community. He's since expanded his empire to include a New Year's Eve event ticketing site, NewYears.com; an exclusive club access site, CoolJunkie.com; a ticketing company, WantTickets.com; and an offline event and marketing company, Track Entertainment.



How much money do these sites generate for Andrew Fox? Last year it was a cool 22 million US Dollars.

How To Turn $5000 To $25 Million In 5 Years Selling To … Babies

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Julie Aigner-Clark Story



www.babyeinstein.com



Most great ideas are born from a need. The Baby Einstein Company LLC based in Littleton, Colorado, came from Julie Aigner-Clark’s need for a learning tool for her infant daughter. In 1995, this former teacher and new mom read the latest research regarding babies’ capacity to learn. Finding nothing in stores that used the research and that was developmentally appropriate, educational and fun, Aigner-Clark (pictured with daughters Sierra, 3, and Aspen, 6) decided to create something herself. Her first video, Baby Einstein, featured intriguing pictures and mothers speaking different languages.



Says Aigner-Clark, “I wanted something that was not only entertaining but stimulating and engaging that would give [my daughter] exposure to things that were lovely.”



As a mom, she knew her product was good, but “nobody was returning my calls,” she says. “I knew if I could get it into the hands of a mom or an executive who had a baby, [that] would sell it.”



Two years later, with no responses to her many queries, Aigner-Clark finally hit pay dirt: She went to the American International Toy Fair in New York City determined to get her product into the hands of a buyer from The Right Start, a high-end baby retailer. She searched the huge show for two days without luck. When she finally found the buyers, she says, “I ran up to them [and said,] ‘You’re going to love this video! You have to watch it! It’s perfect for your store!’ ” Aigner-Clark’s instincts were right on: Baby Einstein soon became the store’s fastest-moving product. Here initial investment - $5000



She’s followed up with more books and videos—Baby Bach, Baby Mozart, Baby Shakespeare and Baby Van Gogh. She’s also developed Baby Santa’s Music Box.



Still, even with 1999 sales of more than $4 million, $10 million in 2000 and $25 million in 2001, Aigner-Clark’s best rewards are being able to organize her schedule around her daughters and reading the stirring letters she gets from Baby Einstein viewers. How does she define success? “That I’ve made these kids—who are so special—happy . . . that I’ve made them smile.”



Using the philosophy that the infant brain thrives in a child who is positively stimulated emotionally, physically and intellectually, Aigner-Clark incorporated puppetry with sounds, foreign languages, poetry and classical music. Baby Einstein's productions emphasize "real-world" images over computer graphics or animation to more accurately reflect the world that babies see.



Despite Baby Einstein's phenomenal reception, the company has never employed more than seven people. Clark (Julie’s husband) also notes Baby Einstein never took out a loan or equity capital. In fact, Baby Einstein operated from Aigner-Clark's home until 2001.



The secret to Baby Einstein's success, Clark said, has been "a good concept and a brilliant branding strategy."



"[Julie] did a marvelous job of catching a trend and building it," Clark said.

That’s when the business got Disney’s attention. In 2002 the couple sold the company for an estimated $25 million dollars.



With Disney, the characters that Aigner-Clark created would not only get a wider audience, but better production values.



As for Julie Aigner-Clark, she’s looking for another big idea.

How A Guy Became A Millionaire Selling Antenna Balls

Jason Wall Story



antennaballs.com



As Jason Wall sees it, success is all about having a ball. Since 1998, Wall has been topping car antennas with happy faces, 8-balls and even cowgirls—complete with braids and hats. Wall is president and CEO of In-Concept Inc., the company behind Antennaballs.com, which manufactures more than 500,000 custom antenna balls per month.



Based in Glendale, California, Antennaballs.com owes its success to one “man”: Jack. It all started when Wall saw a Jack In The Box fast-food commercial in mid-1997 that said the company had sold more than 3 million antenna balls. Sensing opportunity, Wall came up with a few designs he thought would penetrate the auto accessory and novelty industries. The designs stuck.



After selling four million balls through local gas stations and convenience stores, Wall recently landed some major national accounts, including AutoZone, Circle K and Wal-Mart, and he’s negotiating licensing deals with Universal Studios. With sales of $1.15 million for 1999 (one year after he started his business), Wall attributes timeliness to his overnight success. Six years later, Jason Wall is a multimillionaire.



But it wasn’t all easy. First, in 1999 Coolballs.com-DDS, Co., a division of Self Reliant Systems, Inc. has filed a lawsuit against Wally Balls, L.L.C., Jason Wall, and IN-Concept, Inc. The amended complaint alleged copyright infringement, false designation of origin and unfair competition relating to Coolballs'(R) proprietary antenna ball designs.



After the issue was resolved HappyBalls.com, online retailer of antenna ball toppers, and In-Concept, Inc., (www.AntennaBalls.com), developer and distributor of custom antenna toppers, announced an agreement to join forces in January of 2006.



“This alliance is a perfect fit,” says Jeremy Turner, founder and owner of the Florida-based HappyBalls.com. “Our website carries over 500 unique and collectible antenna toppers,” says Turner. “This partnership will create one of the largest antenna ball manufacturing and distribution companies in the United States."



“The next time you are driving down the road, look at people’s antennas,” says Turner, “You will be amazed at how many antenna balls are out there. Companies seeking effective advertising methods should consider the low cost of antenna toppers,” he says. “At its peak, Union 76 sold 4 million antenna toppers each year, and if you saw one of their antenna toppers, their advertising message worked – and it worked well. This is viral marketing at its best,” Turner says. “You can get your message across much more cost effectively with four million antenna balls than just one 30-second television commercial. Your customers and potential customers carry your advertisement with them wherever they go for the entire world to see – a constant reminder of your product or service,” says Turner.



“It’s very easy to think of a good idea,” Jason Wall says. “But I think success really comes down to execution and perseverance.”

Pregnant Woman Finds A Strange Way To Make Money Online

Holly Nill-McKay

www.fetalgreetings.com



When Holly was pregnant a few years back in 1999, she looked for a unique way to tell her friends and family of her pregnancy. Making phone call after phone call to every cousin, aunt and uncle was a daunting task, but she still wanted to share her news with everyone. She hunted through stores and on the Internet and all she could find were birth announcements. Thus, Holly's idea for Fetal Greetings was born. She wanted to create cards where a little embryo baby could make the announcement of the upcoming birth for her.



She began by asking a friend from high school, who had a talent for drawing, to draw some pictures of fetal babies in different settings (i.e. sonogram, mother's belly). She was most pleased with the results and the drawings came out exactly as Holly had wanted. Holly proceeded to create the sayings for all the different cards. In June of 2000, Holly took her business online with www.fetalgreetings.com



Holly's business is run completely online and she takes orders via a secure website or by phone.



Holly designed her own website but worked with a webmaster until recently. She is pleased to now have complete control of her site now and to have the ability to make changes anytime, which she does almost everyday.



Holly attributes her online success to networking, gathering current online business information and analyzing the competition.



"Networking is vital," says Holly. She belongs to several online groups, including MyWoman2Woman and Creative Enterprises. "It's invaluable to interact with others who are in your same boat of running a home-based business," Holly says emphatically, "You learn from each other's mistakes and successes and get to form a real bond with people you otherwise wouldn't have when running a home business by yourself."



Finally, Holly stresses the need to check in to see what your competition is up to. Always know who is ranking higher on the search engines than you and why. Submit to search engines regularly and test out new keywords and phrases.



Running a business from home with two small children at home all day does have it's challenges. Holly mainly works during her children's naps and when they go to bed at night.



Sigmund Freud Helped A Man Sell Couches Worth Thousands Of Dollars



Tequila Empire - $60 million in revenue



eDimensional Story - from $500 to $5000000

How To Turn Tragedy To $10 Million Dollars A Year Business

Abercrombie polos

Abercrombie sweatpants

Abercrombie and Fich

Abercrombie gift card

Abercrombie perfume



Amelia Antonetti Story

www.soapworks.com



Amilya Antonetti struggled to find a cure for her son’s ailments, and found with it a successful business. Amilya had just given birth to her son, David, but her joy quickly turned to horror when the newborn would constantly cry in pain. The baby experienced shortness of breath and skin rashes. Not knowing what ails the baby, she and her husband consulted various specialists and doctors, to no avail. No one could them what is wrong with David or what triggers all the pain.



Her spirit undaunted, she made a careful record of her baby’s life in the hope of finding the triggers to David’s painful reactions. She discovered that David’s pain was worst on Tuesdays, the day she cleans the house.



Careful research led her to finally discover the culprits: chlorine and ammonia from her household cleaning products. The synthetic ingredients in the cleaning products caused David tremendous discomfort and pain. Amilya threw out her cleaning products and David’s crying finally stopped.



She then started her quest of developing cleaning products without synthetic-based ingredients. Using vegetable-based ingredients, she created a line of household cleaning products that are safe to use around David. Before long, word got around of the hypoallergenic cleaning products she developed. Her business, Soapworks, was born. It has now grown into a $10 million business in three years that it has been in business. Amilya’s company now offers a line of cleaning products: Laundry Powder or Liquid Laundry, Automatic Dishwashing Powder, All-Purpose Cleaner, Glass Cleaner, and Spot Cleaner.



This is what Amilya has to say.



I never really decided to start a soap making business and become “Amilya, the soap maker.” I was sharing all the products with friends and family and they kept encouraging me to start a business.



When I ran an ad in a local newspaper “Calling All Moms” and saw how many other mothers were in the same position I was, they also said you need to get this soap out to others. Because of these “mom gatherings” I was hosting with moms testing the products; the business really started without me even realizing it.



I started the business in 1993 making soap in my sink and later in my garage.

This continued into 1994 as I continued my fact-finding research on the hazards of chemicals. In 1995 with all my notes and research in hand, I hired formulator and SOAPWORKS was born.



Initially I gave my product to doctors, took it to PTA meetings and community and civic groups, schools, etc. It was basically word of mouth. The challenge – always cash flow, cash flow and cash flow.



Customers were very warm and receptive but the businesses (supermarkets, chain stores) were not at all receptive. I learned quickly that it is all about business and the money. The buyers wanted to know what they – their store – would get by purchasing the product, i.e. special discounts, coupons for their customers, etc. Store space is a premium and I was competing in an $8 billion industry for that space. No one was going to hold my hand and walk me through what I needed to do just because it was a good idea or a great product. I had entered a dog eat dog business.



We started as a family business but have gone way beyond that now. I balance my life by duplicating myself and building teams for everything. I have a team for David’s needs; for my business; a personal team that keeps me grounded. No one can be the “end-all” and if you think you are . . . well you’re in for a rude awakening. I surround myself with people who can be an extension of me as well as people who bring what I don’t have to the table – in both my business and personal life.



Sigmund Freud Helped A Man Sell Couches Worth Thousands Of Dollars



Tequila Empire - $60 million in revenue



eDimensional Story - from $500 to $5000000

How To Make Millions DESTROYING Hollywood Movie Sets

Myan Spaccarelli Story

www.looneybins.com



Founded in 1986, Looney Bins, Incorporated is an award-winning, progressive, and rapidly growing construction and demolition (C debris waste hauling and recycling company with locations in both the City of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County Recycling Market Development Zones.



Looney Bins found a market niche by contracting with local Hollywood movie studios to deconstruct movie lots containing wood, cardboard, metal, plastic, and other salvageable items; Looney Bins then sells and/or donates the recovered materials. Some of the uses promoted by Looney Bins have included providing wood to a company that makes reconstituted pallets; reusing Warner Bros. Studios' telephone poles for the Special Olympics; shipping reclaimed nails, screws, and other building materials to hospitals overseas; and helping a Southern California nursery reuse wood scrap for planter boxes.



In 1999, the CIWMB Recycling Market Development Zone (RMDZ) program made its first loan to Looney Bins for the purchase of a wood grinder, ancillary equipment, and working capital. This enabled the company to expand into grinding wood and drywall into mulch.



By 2003 the company had grown considerably and it received another RMDZ loan. Its new site, Downtown Diversion, is capable of processing all types of C debris, including asphalt, brick, wood, drywall, cardboard, concrete, carpet, scrap metal, roofing shingles, and other similar materials. Eighty percent of what is brought in will be diverted from landfill disposal. Material diversion is expected to reach 50,000 tons of C annually. With the increase in material intake and processing, the company expects to realize some economies of scale.



Looney Bins is committed to helping municipalities and businesses recycle efficiently and economically. "In part because of the RMDZ program, our landfill diversion rates are in excess of 70 percent and sales are higher than ever," says Myan Spaccarelli, Looney Bins founder.



Its commitment to recycling has earned Looney Bins a number of awards including L.A. County's LACoMAX Exchange Award (2002), CIWMB's CalMAX Match of the Year (1998), CIWMB’s WRAP Award (1999–2005), and the City of Los Angeles' Good Earthkeeping Award (2000).



Sigmund Freud Helped A Man Sell Couches Worth Thousands Of Dollars



Tequila Empire - $60 million in revenue



eDimensional Story - from $500 to $5000000

How To Turn Tragedy To $10 Million Dollars A Year Business

Abercrombie polos

Abercrombie sweatpants

Abercrombie and Fich

Abercrombie gift card

Abercrombie perfume



Amelia Antonetti Story

www.soapworks.com



Amilya Antonetti struggled to find a cure for her son’s ailments, and found with it a successful business. Amilya had just given birth to her son, David, but her joy quickly turned to horror when the newborn would constantly cry in pain. The baby experienced shortness of breath and skin rashes. Not knowing what ails the baby, she and her husband consulted various specialists and doctors, to no avail. No one could them what is wrong with David or what triggers all the pain.



Her spirit undaunted, she made a careful record of her baby’s life in the hope of finding the triggers to David’s painful reactions. She discovered that David’s pain was worst on Tuesdays, the day she cleans the house.



Careful research led her to finally discover the culprits: chlorine and ammonia from her household cleaning products. The synthetic ingredients in the cleaning products caused David tremendous discomfort and pain. Amilya threw out her cleaning products and David’s crying finally stopped.



She then started her quest of developing cleaning products without synthetic-based ingredients. Using vegetable-based ingredients, she created a line of household cleaning products that are safe to use around David. Before long, word got around of the hypoallergenic cleaning products she developed. Her business, Soapworks, was born. It has now grown into a $10 million business in three years that it has been in business. Amilya’s company now offers a line of cleaning products: Laundry Powder or Liquid Laundry, Automatic Dishwashing Powder, All-Purpose Cleaner, Glass Cleaner, and Spot Cleaner.



This is what Amilya has to say.



I never really decided to start a soap making business and become “Amilya, the soap maker.” I was sharing all the products with friends and family and they kept encouraging me to start a business.



When I ran an ad in a local newspaper “Calling All Moms” and saw how many other mothers were in the same position I was, they also said you need to get this soap out to others. Because of these “mom gatherings” I was hosting with moms testing the products; the business really started without me even realizing it.



I started the business in 1993 making soap in my sink and later in my garage.

This continued into 1994 as I continued my fact-finding research on the hazards of chemicals. In 1995 with all my notes and research in hand, I hired formulator and SOAPWORKS was born.



Initially I gave my product to doctors, took it to PTA meetings and community and civic groups, schools, etc. It was basically word of mouth. The challenge – always cash flow, cash flow and cash flow.



Customers were very warm and receptive but the businesses (supermarkets, chain stores) were not at all receptive. I learned quickly that it is all about business and the money. The buyers wanted to know what they – their store – would get by purchasing the product, i.e. special discounts, coupons for their customers, etc. Store space is a premium and I was competing in an $8 billion industry for that space. No one was going to hold my hand and walk me through what I needed to do just because it was a good idea or a great product. I had entered a dog eat dog business.



We started as a family business but have gone way beyond that now. I balance my life by duplicating myself and building teams for everything. I have a team for David’s needs; for my business; a personal team that keeps me grounded. No one can be the “end-all” and if you think you are . . . well you’re in for a rude awakening. I surround myself with people who can be an extension of me as well as people who bring what I don’t have to the table – in both my business and personal life.



Tequila Empire - $60 million in revenue



eDimensional Story - from $500 to $5000000



Blog That Makes $1000 A Day

A Tech-Head Becomes Nostalgic, Earns Millions At It

Target promo code

Target store hours

Target gift card

Target promotional code

Target Store Coupon



Mike Becker Story

www.funko.com



Working in Washington's high-tech hub in 1998, all Mike Becker heard about was high-tech this and future that. So Becker took a look at what his fellow Redmonites were doing--and did exactly the opposite. Inspired by an article in Entrepreneur magazine and having long collected nostalgia-based toys and items from his childhood, Becker surmised "There's got to be people like me out there [who love nostalgia], where I could have a cool little business based on that love." Choosing to resurrect the bobblehead, Becker pulled out his life savings of $35,000 and took a business trip down memory lane.



Becker makes his "Wacky Wobblers" out of plastic. Focusing on characters and personalities he enjoyed from the past, Becker chose Bob's Big Boy as his first licensing conquest. He convinced the distributor who sold to the gift shops in Bob's Big Boy restaurants it would be a hit, and after a couple thousand sold, he landed a big order for 13,000. Becker then applied his profits toward new licenses, characters and molds.



Becker's second licensing deal came with the help of a business acquaintance who is the licensing director at New Line Cinema. His break took advantage of the afterglow following the first Austin Powers movie, which resulted in shagadelic sales of 80,000 bobbleheads.



Becker's growing line of Wacky Wobblers (recent additions include Bozo the Clown, Lucky Charms and Pink Panther) helped Snohomish, Washington-based Funko Inc. reach $2 million last year without selling to large discount merchants. Opting instead for the small, cool, independent gift and specialty shops, Becker is content with Funko's volume, but has plans to diversify with other products, keeping with the nostalgic vibe he's created.



And although he's now the one being approached by companies for licensing about half the time, the self-titled "chairman of fun" hasn't swayed on lucrative deals that didn't fit with his ideology, such as the promotional sports figures his competitors have jumped on. He continues to be the sole decision-maker judging which characters are Funko-worthy and vows to keep his small, eight-employee family-and-friend operation anti-corporate. "My dog's here every day, and we wear shorts and play video games like we wanted to in the beginning," Becker shares. "As long as I'm doing what I want to do and we're making a profit, I can't imagine anything better."



Sigmund Freud Helped A Man Sell Couches Worth Thousands Of Dollars





Tequila Empire - $60 million in revenue





eDimensional Story - from $500 to $5000000