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

18-Year Old Kid Makes Sell Bean Bags Worth $30 Million Each Year

www.lovesac.com



At age 18, Shawn Nelson was watching TV on the couch when he decided "a huge beanbag thing" might be more comfortable. He bought 14 yards of vinyl, cut it into a baseball shape, and spent three weeks filling it with anything soft he could find. The finished LoveSac was 7 feet wide, and everyone who saw it tried it out—and loved it.



When neighbors started placing orders, Nelson decided to start his company almost as a joke. With free help from his friends, he made the LoveSacs in his parents' basement and sold them at trade shows, events and even the drive-in.

Business was moderate at best, until he got a call on his cell phone that changed his life: a quarter-million-dollar order from Too Inc., which was looking for a back-to-school offering for its Limited Too stores. "I answered the phone and said, 'Twelve thousand LoveSacs? Sure, no problem. That's what we do; we're the best in the world at it,'" remembers Nelson.



Undaunted, Nelson amassed $50,000 in credit card debt building a factory. He worked 19-hour days and slept at the factory. "It nearly broke me emotionally, physically, mentally," Nelson says. "My hands were cracked and bleeding. We finished the order [for Too Inc.] but ate up all our profits." Just when things seemed darkest, a deceptively simple idea presented itself: Open a mall store. Not just any store, but one designed from the beginning to look like an upscale chain—even before it was a chain. It paid off: With some 55 stores, about half of them franchised, LoveSac is looking at sales topping $30 million this year.



"We're headed toward owning [the market for] oversized living," says Nelson, who dispenses with all modesty where his business is concerned. "We're going to have a catalog that'll be three inches thick, selling everything that's over-the-top, bling-bling, LoveSac-get-out-of-our-freaking-way."



No one fully expected LoveSac's success — not even Nelson himself. He says being committed to solving any problem is vital to his—and any entrepreneur's—success. "Decide that there is always a way," he says, "and you'll find that there is.”



Sigmund Freud Helped A Man Sell Couches Worth Thousands Of Dollars



Tequila Empire - $60 million in revenue



eDimensional Story - from $500 to $5000000

How A Man Makes Over 2 Million Dollars A Year... Chasing The Geese Away

David Marcks Story

www.geesepoliceinc.com



David Marcks discovered a lucrative business opportunity when he used his dog to solve a problem that he constantly faced working at a golf course - the proliferation of geese. Geese love to inhabit open spaces that provide them with water and plenty of food (such as short, tender grasses). While adding a "natural look" to golf courses, no one would want to play in a golf course where the grass couldn't be seen under the cover of goose droppings. Imagine wading in the middle of goose droppings to hit a golf ball. Yikes!



David and other fellow golf superintendents tried several approaches. According to David, "We tried everything - sprays, pyrotechnics, flags, fences. Everything worked for a little bit and then it would stop working." Until he discovered that his dog, a Border Collie, was a natural in driving geese away. As he recalls, "It was so successful that I never looked back and we've been doing it ever since."



David started Geese Police in 1986, as the solution to driving away unwanted geese from town parks, corporate properties, golf courses, or even front lawns. Using trained border collies, they drive away the geese without harming them. Today, Geese Police has considerably grown and expanded, earning just under $2 million in 2000. David has also begun to franchise his business to a highly selected group of individuals.



About fourteen years ago, David Marcks never thought that chasing geese as a way to keep his hyperactive dog busy could become a lucrative business.



David, then 23 years old, was working as a golf course superintendent in Greenwich, Connecticut. As he recalls, "I had a problem with 600 geese residing on the golf course." They tried several options: goose-repellent chemicals that don't always work, to streamers or other "goose-frightening" props that altered the appearance of the golf course. Killing or injuring the birds was out of the question.



At the same time, he got his first Border collie. After trying various approaches unsuccessfully, he stumbled on the idea that he could perhaps train his dog to drive off the geese. "I contacted the American Border Collie Association, told them about what I want to train the dog to do and they thought I was a lunatic."



It worked! As David proudly recalls, "Once I had my dog for 6-8 weeks, I didn't have any geese on my golf course. Of course my neighboring golf courses suffered greatly because all the geese went someplace else."



With the geese gone, however, a new problem popped up. David had a new problem: what will he do with the dog?



"What nobody told me when I got my dog was that border collies make lousy pets. Now we had this highly intelligent working breed dog with nothing to do. She was driving me crazy. She was chasing squirrels, rabbits, golf balls, etc. Once I had a little irrigation break on a green, and she was being difficult, more so that particular day, so I put her in my office. I left for 20 minutes, and went down to the golf course and checked on the problem. When I came back, she ate my office - I mean literally -- my desk, the chair, the garbage can, and three sets of computer cables."

While some may have gotten rid of the dog, David thought otherwise. "I know she was a great dog; but she just needed to be kept busy."



What David did next laid the ground for Geese Police. He offered the services of his dog to herd away the geese in neighboring golf courses, with no charge for the service. After all, it was simply a way to keep his dog busy.



"I asked the neighboring golf course if they had any problems with geese. So I brought my dog and introduced her, and asked if I could possibly stop by every morning before work, during lunch and after work to herd the geese off the golf course. They agreed. So that's what I did. Everyday, I dropped by before going to work, then came back during lunch break and after work and herd the geese off another golf course."



Four to six weeks later, the neighboring golf course didn't have any geese on their property. So David was back to square one. His dog had again nothing to do. "She was being a menace and I have to look around for something for her to do."



Word about David and his dog started to spread among golf course operators in Connecticut. Another superintendent was playing in the neighboring golf course that David and his dog serviced. With the noticeable absence of geese, he asked the superintendent whatever happened to the geese. The superintendent replied, as David recalls, "Oh you've got to see it. This kid comes down and he has this dog. They come down here and drive away the geese."



The guy called up David and said, "I'd pay you to chase the geese off my golf course." That started Geese Police.



While Geese Police started in the golf course sector, David says that, "Golf courses are now just about 5% of my business. The majority of my business now, about 90%, are corporate parks and playgrounds - corporate and township properties."



David continued working as a golf course superintendent, while squeezing in his business on the side. Word soon spread about his services, "Next thing you know, word got out; I never advertised." He was soon doing 3 or 4 golf courses. However, he was faced with the difficulty in balancing his work with the responsibility to his customers.



"What was happening was that I couldn't get to all of them during my lunch break. Sometimes in the morning, it was taking me too long to get through them and I didn't want to be late for my job. So what I started to do was I hired a retired old guy who used to come in the middle of the day and come take my dog for my jobs - going before work and after work."



Dave then moved down to New Jersey, working in the county park system for the next three years while doing Geese Police on the side. He then had three employees. During this time, the business has been operating without a formal legal structure.

Until someone asked him for insurance.



"I was doing a job at that time for Bell Telephones and someone asked me for an insurance certificate. I said, "Why do I need insurance? I've got a dog; I run around your yard."



David realized that he needed to establish the legal entity of his business and all the attendant requirements including insurance, if he wants to continue tapping big companies as his clientele.



"That's when it all became a little bit more serious and it became The Geese Police, the company. After several years, I just went from Geese Police the company to Geese Police Incorporated on the advice of lawyers and accountants. Things started picking up, and they advised me that I should really incorporate. So it changed into a corporation."



Fourteen years after, Geese Police has remained at the forefront of the industry that it pioneered. David proudly announces, "Right now, we have 27 trucks on the road. We own 32 dogs. We service throughout the state of New Jersey and parts of New York -- and that's just for my main office here. We also have franchise offices now in Chicago, Virginia and Maryland, and an affiliated office in Seattle, Washington."



Tequila Empire - $60 million in revenue



eDimensional Story - from $500 to $5000000



Blog That Makes $1000 A Day

Single Mom From Pennsylvania Makes A Living Selling Bookmarks Online

Diane Waltman story



www.creativebookmarks.com



My business is designing and laminating bookmarks for wedding favors, business promotions, nonprofit organizations, holidays and other special occasions or projects. I design them on my computer, depending on what the customer wants. Then I print and laminate them.



I came up with the idea of a bookmark business because it was a fun way to express my creativity and would require a low investment. Extensive foot surgery forced me to quit my office job a few years ago, and my doctors told me I would be out of work for more than three years. I knew I had to do something while recuperating, so I decided to look into an online business. I researched my competition and found only one Website selling handmade bookmarks.



Within a week, in March 1999, I had started a business. After I researched my idea on the Web, I went to a local business supply company and bought most of my supplies -- a laminating machine, sheets of laminate and paper, ink and special software. Then I got going on my Website. I also checked my state regulations to see what forms I needed to file to make my business legal.



I researched Web design and learned how to build my own site, found a Web host and lined up a merchant account so I could accept credit cards. Then I was ready to market my online business -- probably the most important step.



I began by targeting some likely markets. I knew that my bookmarks would make great wedding favors, so I contacted bridal Websites and had a few list my business in exchange for a free ad in my weekly newsletter or a free link on my Website. I also advertised online in the classifieds and in newsletters from other sites and registered with the search engines. Search engine placement is very important. Offline, I designed fliers to post in local bridal shops. Most of my marketing efforts were free.



Blog That Makes $1000 A Day



Tequila Empire - $60 million in revenue

Sigmund Freud Helped A Man Sell Couches Worth Thousands Of Dollars

Psychoanalysis, the treatment originated by Sigmund Freud more than a century ago that requires patients to lie on a couch and say whatever comes to mind, has been battered in recent years by everything from antidepressants to skepticism to managed care that doesn't pay for such long-term therapy.



So who in his right mind would want to launch a company that makes psychoanalytic couches?



It takes an entrepreneur who believes that businesses considered antiquated are underserved niches with perhaps more staying power than trendier enterprises. Randall Scott Thomas, a Seattle furniture maker, knows psychoanalysts are a minority among mental health counselors these days. But thousands are either in training or in practice, and many have trouble finding the appropriate couch.



Mr. Thomas, who makes contemporary home and office furniture, has never undergone analysis himself and didn't know what a classic analytic couch looked like until a few years ago. He was approached by Doene Rising, a Seattle analyst who was starting a private practice and couldn't find a couch to her liking at any furniture store. She was familiar with his work and showed him a picture of one that she had found in a magazine -- an armless, backless, chaise-like bench, with a built-in headrest, designed for reclining, not sitting. She told him she wanted something similar. Instead of traditional leather, she wanted cloth upholstery, and chose a deep blue fabric.



"Leather can be cold, and I wanted something inviting, but something classic that said to my patients, 'This isn't for sleeping on, it's for reflecting on,' " Dr. Rising says. She and other analysts believe that when their patients recline and the therapist is sitting out of sight behind them, patients feel freer to explore their fantasies and talk about their deepest, darkest desires and fears. (The technique, of course, has sparked numerous cartoons of analysts asleep in their chairs, while their patients drone on.)



For the 47-year-old Mr. Thomas, the biggest design challenge was refining the angle of the headrest. "You don't need lumbar support when you're lying down, but you do need your shoulders and head supported well," he says. "And you need to be propped up enough that you don't fall asleep or roll over -- or sink into a too-soft cushion."



The completed couch was a hit with Dr. Rising as well as several of her analyst colleagues, who placed orders with Mr. Thomas. Since then, he has designed five styles, ranging in price from $1,550 to $3,080. Most have the same measurement (29 inches wide by 80 inches long) but different upholstery and leg styles.



The recent launch of his Analytic Couch Co. coincides with the biannual meeting of the American Psychoanalytic Association, which starts tomorrow in Seattle. Recognizing a sales and marketing opportunity, Mr. Thomas persuaded the association, which expects about one-third of its 3,300 members to attend, to allow him to exhibit his couches. Until now the association has limited displays at its meetings to books for purchase, "but I thought we should tell our members about more products and services they need, so it seemed like a good idea," says Dean Stein, the group's new executive director.



Mr. Thomas faces some competition. Prestige Furniture Design Group in New York City's Queens borough, for one, has been making analytic couches for more than 50 years. During the heyday of psychoanalysis in the 1960s and 1970s, when most residents in psychiatry received some analytic training, Prestige sold thousands of couches to medical-supply companies, which in turn sold them to hospitals and psychiatrists. "We had a factory devoted just to this," says 75-year-old Fred Brafman, one of the company's founders.



Prestige still makes six analytic couch models, some of which have been used as props in theater productions and movies. They range in price from $900 to about $6,000, and must be custom ordered. "The demand isn't what it used to be," Mr. Brafman says.



He also has a list of what design features to avoid. Loud or busily designed upholstery, he notes, can distract patients. "One analyst returned a couch once because a patient was seeing faces of animals in the upholstery," Mr. Brafman says. Prestige also no longer makes couches with buttons, "because anxious patients rip them out," he says, or an adjustable headrest model, because the up-and-down lever mechanism broke frequently.



Unlike Analytic Couch, whose designs are more contemporary, Prestige doesn't have a Web site for online orders and it doesn't advertise much. Many analysts say they haven't known where to shop for a couch when furnishing their offices. "We can help analysts find office space and even patients, but it's hard to know where to send them for a couch -- and we get inquiries about this all the time," says Matthew von Umwerth, the librarian at the New York Psychoanalytic Institute who is in training to become an analyst.



Sigmund Freud's famous leather couch, which he draped in colorful Persian carpets, remains the standard bearer -- and it is on display at the Freud Museum in London. He didn't have to shop for it, however, since it was a gift from a patient. His use of it stemmed from his early method of hypnotizing patients. While he thought patients who reclined on a couch would more readily confront their repressed anxieties, he admitted he had a "personal motive....I cannot put up with being stared at by other people for eight hours a day (or more)," he wrote. "Since while I am listening to the patient, I, too, give myself over to...unconscious thoughts, I do not wish my expressions...to influence what the patient tells me."



A couch is just a couch for some analysts, who say they would rather use an ordinary living-room model. When Prudy Gourguechon, a Northfield, Ill., analyst, purchased a custom-designed analytic couch a few years ago, "my patients wouldn't go near it," she says. "It was way too formal, and they missed my ratty old sofa that had a back and made them feel enclosed." She ultimately gave away the classic couch and purchased a standard living-room leather sofa at a department store.



However much they mull what couch to purchase, a bigger decision involves the chair analysts themselves sit in. Anticipating this need, Mr. Thomas has designed a leather armchair that retails for $1,899 and offers, he says, solid back and neck support. "You're sitting all day long, so you better find something very comfortable," says Leon Hoffman, a New York analyst.

Tequila Empire - $60 million in revenue

www.cabowabo.com

Sammy Hagar, former lead singer for the mega-band Van Halen, is renowned for his soaring vocals and stadium showmanship. However, for the past 15 years, Hagar has earned another reputation: entrepreneur. As the founder and front man of the 200-employee, Novato (Calif.)-based Cabo Wabo Enterprises, with about $60 million in revenue, Hagar is behind a top-selling line of premium tequilas, as well as a growing chain of tequila bars, aptly named the Cabo Wabo Cantina.

"Like many people, my first introduction to tequila was probably around the toilet," jokes Hagar, who at 59 still has the youthful exuberance of an arena rocker. "Still, I dug the salt and lime. It was a fun drink."

But in 1982 he sampled the good stuff—premium blanco tequila—during a visit to Cabo San Lucas, a small Mexican fishing village on the tip of Baja California. "It changed my life. I had the true taste of tequila, and I became a blanco freak," says Hagar. Thus a businessman was born.

Ten years later, Hagar opened his first Cabo Wabo Cantina in that same speck of a town, envisioning a place where he could drink tequila and play music when he was bored. "It was just an ego trip," he says. "The town wasn't even big enough to accommodate the idea."

In fact, his business manager quit over the project. "She thought it was the stupidest idea," he recalls. "She said I'd spend a half a million dollars, we'd get sued, and it would be a money pit."
Famous Friends

Although Van Halen and the band's manager also thought it was a lousy idea, Hagar got members of the band to come in as partners. Together, he says, they invested a total of about $400,000. The Cantina kicked off with an MTV party, forwhich the music network flew in 300 fans. But Hagar says that following the launch, business slowed to a trickle, and the village, little more than a ghost town at the time, couldn't support it.

"The guys in Van Halen got sick of it," he says. "We lost money for five years—about $40,000 a year—[but] that's pocket change to those guys.… They said the place was too hot, there were no telephones, and no TV. But that's what I loved about Cabo." So Hagar took sole ownership of the Cantina.

Then things turned around. Hagar brought in a new manager to run the bar. At the same time, Cabo San Lucas started to earn a reputation as a tourist destination. The surge brought new infrastructure, paved roads, and new hotels. And people began flocking to Hagar's cantina.

Before long, Cabo Wabo was out of debt and turning a profit. "We first made about $30,000 to $40,000 a year, and then we started making a lot of money," says Hagar. "I didn't give a crap about profits. I thought if this place could just break even it would be a great place to play." Soon, rockers like Iggy Pop, U2, and Guns 'N Roses began flying down to play at the little cantina.
Packed House

By 1996, Hagar decided he wanted to produce a premium tequila to sell at the bar. He partnered with the Rivera family that had owned and operated a distillery in Jalisco since 1937.

It was a tiny operation. At first they sent Hagar their handmade tequila in jugs, vats, and five-gallon gas cans. Hagar stored it at the bar in a little barrel and served it in porcelain bottles with cork stoppers.

"Every step of the way, this was organic," explains Hagar. "I had no intention of starting a tequila business. I just wanted this to be the best tequila in the world and sell it in the bar. Period."

However, Hagar's business continued to grow as Cabo San Lucas developed. In 1998 the town became part of the cruise-ship circuit. "[The cantina] was packed all the time whether I was playing there or not," says Hagar. And more and more people discovered his Cabo Wabo tequila. "It was way beyond my hopes and dreams. It just exploded, and I knew this could be a real business."

In 1999, Wilson Daniels, a top wine importer based in St. Helena, Calif., launched a spirits division and contacted Hagar about distributing Cabo Wabo in the U.S. According to Hagar, the company signed an order to purchase 6,000 cases of his tequila, which retails for about $50 a bottle. That first year they ended up selling 37,000 cases. Last year, Cabo Wabo sold 140,000.
Rising Spirit

What began as a hobby is now a serious business. According to Stephen Kauffman, Cabo Wabo's president and an industry veteran, for the past several years the company has seen sales growth of 25% annually. And he says Cabo Wabo is tied for the No. 2 superpremium tequila spot with Don Julio, behind Patrón in the U.S.

The brand is also sold in Canada, Australia, and Mexico, and there are plans for a larger global market push. This month, following his induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Hagar introduced Cabo Uno, a $250 limited-edition reserve.

Kauffman says the company is also considering other brand extensions, such as a beer label. It already sells T-shirts and other accessories bearing the Cabo logo. And in 2004, Hagar opened his second Cabo Wabo Cantina at the Harrah's casino in Lake Tahoe. A third in Las Vegas is scheduled for 2008.

Cabo Wabo has followed the upswing in the fast-growing U.S. tequila market. Made from the spiky-leafed agave plant found in central Mexico, the distilled spirit, once considered a low-end party drink, has seen a renaissance due to an increase in demand for high-end tequilas.

According to Nielsen Scantrack and LiquorTrack, sales of tequila rose 12.5% in 2006, grabbing a 6% share of the total $58 billion U.S. spirits market—nearly triple the pace of overall spirits, which grew 4.5%.
The Worm Turns

A number of factors including the continued popularity of margaritas are behind the surge in demand. For one, an agave shortage in 2000 spiked prices, narrowing the gap between the cheaper and more luxe offerings. And many of the largest liquor conglomerates such as Diageo, Seagram, and Allied Domecq, as well as smaller boutique labels, have all recently jumped into the premium tequila business.

Eric Schmidt, manager of information services at Adams Beverage Group, an alcoholic beverage research outfit based in Norwalk, Conn, says that in the past few years many new brands have entered the market. According to his tracking, in 2004 there were 13 new entrants, in 2005 that number rose to 19, and in 2006, 40 new labels joined the party. To understand just how far tequila has come from the $7-worm-in-the-bottle iteration, Patrón recently introduced a limited-edition Gran Patrón Bordeos priced at $400 a bottle.

As for Cabo Wabo, Schmidt says: "Hagar has created a great niche. As far as the affiliation with Hagar and the party atmosphere, they've done very well. But on a volume basis, it's relatively small."

Being a huge corporate brand was never in Hagar's plan. Refusing to deploy a team of marketers, he relied on his grassroots rocker platform to spread the word. In 1999 he wrote the party anthem Más Tequila, and he says he always mentioned the brand in interviews.
Just Like Martha

Moreover, on tour with his solo band the Waboritos (he stopped formally fronting Van Halen in 1996), he created mini versions of his bars on stage featuring bikini-clad waitresses serving tequila. His annual October birthday parties held at the Cantina in Cabo San Lucas attract thousands of fans who party with Hagar free of charge.

This past March he hosted a week-long Cabo Wabo cruise from Los Angeles to Cabo San Lucas. Although tickets cost between $1,249 and $4,619, it was sold out.

Hagar says the secret to his success is that he maintained authenticity by turning his lifestyle into a business—kind of like Martha Stewart for the hard-core partying set. "I didn't want layers of people telling me what to do," he says. "I didn't want a CEO and a chairman, and a president and vice-president and head of marketing."

Instead, Hagar says he has a small group of people who work for him. "Before I made it as a rocker, I had a lot of executives tell me what to do to make it, and I never listened to them," he says. "They'd tell me to write a song like this or I'd never make it. But I did it my way. And the same thing here, many businesspeople were trying to convince me that to make this a great thing, I had to have a corporate structure and involve people who knew what they were doing. I don't believe that. I didn't want to make it like that."
Creative Decisions

Indeed, while Hagar says he could have rolled out 80 Cabo Wabo Cantinas by now, he remains cautious about diluting the unique brand experience he has created. He's thinking about launching cantinas in Orlando, Atlantic City, and Fresno, Calif., but he fears turning the lucrative tequila bars, which account for about 25% of his business, into a cookie-cutter chain. "I'm fighting with myself on this one," he says.

Right now, Hagar is content to both play the party and host the bar. "I like owning and operating a business," he says. "It's as creative as stepping on stage or making a record."

Of course, this is one businessman with a buzz.