Ron Popeil Story
http://www.ronco.com
Seven years ago, entrepreneur Ron Popeil, the silver-tongued inventor of such iconic products as the Pocket Fisherman and the Food Dehydrator, introduced the Showtime Rotisserie BBQ.
Marketed in the seductive TV infomercial format he pioneered, Popeil demonstrated the durability, versatility, and appeal of the oven -- a contraption equally adept at producing a "scrumptious, flavorful rib roast" as it was a "mouthwatering pork-loin roast" -- before a rapt studio audience (and at-home insomniacs).
After prepping a chicken and placing it in the oven, Popeil delivered his next legendary tagline. Like most of his pitches, it blended pithy salesmanship and utter simplicity. And almost immediately, the catchphrase -- "Just set it and forget it" -- entered the pop-culture vernacular.
Indeed, the compact countertop oven (purchased for four easy payments of $39.95, plus tax and shipping) turned into the biggest hit in Popeil's hugely successful home-gadget empire. Since the launch, Popeil says he's sold about 7 million Showtime ovens, generating nearly $1 billion in revenue. "People just love it to such a degree that strangers walk up to me and tell me, 'I love my rotisserie,'" he says.
If ever there were an entrepreneur who defined unbridled passion, Popeil is it. Fueled by a salesman's gift of gab and the innate ability to create broadly appealing products that reinvent or improve upon household products, Popeil has transformed his raw zeal for inventing into one of the most successful entrepreneurial ventures in recent memory.
For more than 40 years, Popeil has sliced, diced, and sold a collection of quirky, unforgettable items (among them, the Buttoneer, Smokeless Ashtray, Mr. Microphone, and the Ronco compilation albums such as Disco Daze and Disco Nites), all of which he estimates has pushed his net worth to "more than $100 million."
In August, the 70-year-old Popeil announced that he had sold Ronco, the Chatworth (Calif.) company that made him a household name, to Fi-Tek VII, a Denver-based holding company, for $55 million. As a result of the acquisition, Ronco became a publicly traded company listed on Nasdaq Over-the-Counter (OTC) Bulletin Board. The newly formulated Ronco retains first right of refusal over any new Popeil inventions.
"We liked the strength of the brand that Ron had built in 40-plus years," says Emerson Martin, managing director at Sanders Morris Harris, the Houston financial services holding company that brokered the deal. It has a grand old name, but one that is not fully exploited in the retail market place." Martin, who also sits on Ronco's new board of directors, says that one of the new management team's main goals is to increase its retail sales.
According to Popeil, the deal frees him up to spend more time with his two youngest daughters (ages 4 and 6) and, he says, "It allows me to work on what I really enjoy, the inventing of new consumer products."
He is already at work on what he expects will be his next blockbuster -- a turkey fryer that he plans to launch early next year. Ever the salesman, he explains: "Nobody has created a fryer that is safe to use. I'm in the process of exhaustive testing. We're talking a turkey fryer that can be used for chicken and fish, and it fries up tempura. It will compete with anything that fries food in the marketplace."
"Ron is one of a kind," says Len Green, CEO of the Green Group, and a professor of entrepreneurship at Babson College in Wellesley, Mass. "He is different from the rest because he not only invents, but he sells. Most entrepreneurs come up with a concept and then give it to others to manufacture or sell. He's his own best salesman."
Born to a family of inventor-marketers, Popeil had a hardscrabble childhood. For a time, he and his brother were alone when his parents divorced. At 3 years old, he lived in a New York foster home before his grandparents brought him to live with them in Florida. At 16, he went to work for his father, selling his products at Woolworth's and on the Chicago fair circuit in the 1950s.
Popeil learned the art of the sale during this period. His time with consumers helped him understand what products would click, what features worked, and which ones didn't. He did so well, he says, that his weekly take from his percentage of sales at Woolworth's eventually eclipsed the store managers' monthly salary. So he decided to go out on his own.
Popeil made himself into the entrepreneur for the dawning Media Age. In the 1950s, he began advertising on TV, a move that decades later would later help him usher in the era of the infomercial. One of his first stand-alone commercials was for his Ronco Spray Gun, a gun-shaped garden-hose nozzle with a chamber in the handle for tablets of soap, wax, weed killer, fertilizer, and insecticide. The 60-second spot on a Tampa TV station cost him $550.
"Going on TV allowed me to reach tens of millions of people, and I could make more money then standing for 8 to 12 hours at Woolworth's," he says.
While many entrepreneurs have come up with a best seller, few have created a whole business around that item, let alone come up with more than one success. Popeil has done both -- many times over. "I have an innate talent," he says. "I used to think it was luck, but after one success after another, I realized that I know what is needed in the marketplace. Most people don't understand the market. Most people have no clue. All they know is 'I got an idea, and I need a patent.'"
For example, Popeil came up with Showtime after noticing the popularity of store-bought rotisserie chicken. Years earlier, he created GLH (Good Looking Hair) -- aerosol spray-on "hair" -- after he noticed a thin patch on his own head.
A hands-on micromanager, Popeil begins his day with a 6:30 a.m. workout, then tinkers in what he calls his testing facility: his Beverly Hills kitchen and garage. He shops at discount warehouse Costco for most of his supplies. He's never hired a marketing team, and says he puts his touch on everything from the packaging to the infomercial sets.
Popeil's uncanny products are matched perhaps only by his exuberant pitches. For instance, that of the Inside-the-Shell Electric Egg Scrambler: "Gets rid of those slimy egg whites in your scrambled eggs." The GLH infomercial -- "Nine different colors...I use it all the time" -- made Entertainment Weekly's list of TV's 100 best moments.
His TV statements -- "But wait, there's more," "Price so low," and "Operators are standing by" -- have made Popeil and his products synonymous with TV marketing. Popeil insists his catchphrases are unscripted, but says he recognizes when he's uttered a zinger. Then he puts the phrase into heavy rotation.
Over the years, however, a few bumps in the road have cropped up. Popeil has had some notable misses, such as a home glass-froster and a compact trash-can that converted into a stool. In 1987, Ronco went bankrupt after it couldn't cover a bank loan. About two years later, Popeil bought his company back and made his big return to TV, re-introducing the hot-selling Food Dehydrator in 1990. His one regret: not inventing Velcro.
Popeil says his recipe for success is simple and extends to entrepreneurs of all kinds. "If you have that passion, it is conveyed through marketing," he says. "People see it. I get up before them and show them something new and wonderful."
But, he, adds: "I don't know if I could sell insurance. It's something that I didn't create. When I create something, I believe in it, and I am very passionate about it." Operators are standing by.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Friday, February 27, 2009
How To Get $750 For A Five Dollar Item On EBay
Randall Pinson Story
http://www.rocketauctions.com
When Randall Pinson took a full-time job as manager of a cell phone store during college, he expected to earn some extra money for school. He didn't expect to learn how to start an online retail business that would ultimately support him and his family.
Pinson, 29, had only vaguely heard of eBay in the spring of 2000, when his boss asked him to try to sell some phones on the website. So he followed the step-by-step instructions on eBay.com and listed a shipment of phones for sale. Less than an hour later, a woman in New York offered to buy 15 of the phones for $125 each, making Pinson's employer $100 in profit on each phone.
The 400 percent markup the store earned got Pinson's attention. He started selling cell phones and accessories on eBay himself on a part-time basis, and in 2002, he quit his job at the cell phone store and started his own online business using his last paycheck and a $2,000 American Express line of credit. By his college graduation a few months later, he was earning close to $60,000 a year selling on eBay.
Always aiming for a 50 percent markup on his sales, Pinson (eBay User ID: rocket-auctions) occasionally does much better. "My most profitable eBay sale was a piece of telecom equipment I bought for $5 without really knowing what it was. I sold it for $750."
Five years after starting, Pinson says confidently, "Anyone can make a living on eBay." His company, Rocket Auctions, based in Farmington, Utah, generated $400,000 in sales in 2005, with 2006 projections of $500,000.
To bring in that kind of money, Pinson has one full-time employee who handles the day-to-day logistics of inventory management and shipping the 400 or so items that are sold in completed auctions from the company's warehouse each week.
http://www.rocketauctions.com
When Randall Pinson took a full-time job as manager of a cell phone store during college, he expected to earn some extra money for school. He didn't expect to learn how to start an online retail business that would ultimately support him and his family.
Pinson, 29, had only vaguely heard of eBay in the spring of 2000, when his boss asked him to try to sell some phones on the website. So he followed the step-by-step instructions on eBay.com and listed a shipment of phones for sale. Less than an hour later, a woman in New York offered to buy 15 of the phones for $125 each, making Pinson's employer $100 in profit on each phone.
The 400 percent markup the store earned got Pinson's attention. He started selling cell phones and accessories on eBay himself on a part-time basis, and in 2002, he quit his job at the cell phone store and started his own online business using his last paycheck and a $2,000 American Express line of credit. By his college graduation a few months later, he was earning close to $60,000 a year selling on eBay.
Always aiming for a 50 percent markup on his sales, Pinson (eBay User ID: rocket-auctions) occasionally does much better. "My most profitable eBay sale was a piece of telecom equipment I bought for $5 without really knowing what it was. I sold it for $750."
Five years after starting, Pinson says confidently, "Anyone can make a living on eBay." His company, Rocket Auctions, based in Farmington, Utah, generated $400,000 in sales in 2005, with 2006 projections of $500,000.
To bring in that kind of money, Pinson has one full-time employee who handles the day-to-day logistics of inventory management and shipping the 400 or so items that are sold in completed auctions from the company's warehouse each week.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
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.
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.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
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!”
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!”
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
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.
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.
Monday, February 23, 2009
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.
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.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Can Three Students Become Millionaires Teaching SAT?
Avichal Garg, Karan Goel and Joseph Jewell Story
http://www.prepme.com/
Getting into a top college seems tougher than ever these days, and even the best high school students stress out about the SATs. Joseph Jewell, however, approached the test with a different mindset, treating it as a game. "It was fun to try to beat the SATs. I looked at it as a challenge to accumulate as many points as I could," he says. His strategy worked. He scored a perfect 1600, enrolled at the California Institute of Technology in 2001, and that same year co-wrote a book, Up Your Score: The Underground Guide to the SAT.
Confident that other students could profit from his approach, Jewell--who became a 2005 Rhodes Scholar and is now earning a master's degree in engineering and science at Oxford University--launched an online SAT-preparation service in January called PrepMe. He teamed up with partners Avichal Garg, who recently graduated from Stanford with a BS in computer science, and Karan Goel, an MBA student at the University of Chicago, both of whom he met on the Princeton Review message board.
Unlike Kaplan and the Princeton Review, the giant SAT prep companies that teach a single test-taking methodology, PrepMe offers several ways to tackle the questions. First it gives the student a diagnostic exam to identify her weaknesses, and then it uses relevant, repetitive drills to conquer them. To gain an edge over Kaplan and the Princeton Review, PrepMe provides 20 to 60 hours more preparation material for about the same price. It also offers live essay coaching via e-mail, instant messaging, and phone. "With the exception of expensive private tutors, what's out there has always been a mass-market approach," says Goel, the company's CEO. "We're changing the way test preparation is taught."
Timing seems to favor PrepMe. The number of students taking the SAT has increased by 17% since five years ago, according to the College Board, which administers the exam. Last year students took 1.4 million SAT tests. Another factor: the College Board this year added a new personal essay section to the SAT and included more advanced algebra questions. Many students are frantic to know what they're all about. At the same time, the $6 billion online education market is growing by 25% to 30% annually, and there is room for new players, says Eric Bassett, director of research at Boston-based Eduventures, a research firm. "To establish a small revenue stream in this market is very possible."
PrepMe face tough rivals in the $700 million-plus test-prep market. Kaplan and Princeton Review each control about 25% of the sector. "For a startup to move beyond a few million in annual revenues is going to be quite challenging," says Bassett. And the behemoths in the industry are paying attention to the online market. The Princeton Review recently launched its own handheld gadget, which helps students prepare for the SAT with a 5,000-word vocabulary list.
PrepMe's co-founders say they are confident that both the company's curriculum, based on the test-taking approaches of top scorers, and the use of tutors close in age to their target customers will help them stand out. They spent three years developing their teaching methods, interviewing dozens of recent, high-scoring SAT test takers and having each write two or three practice questions. The firm also plans to compete on price, charging $500 for its course. Rival companies typically charge $1,000 a course, and tutors command fees of $70 an hour and up.
PrepMe's efforts have already begun to pay off. With a 12-person staff, including tutors, the company has so far attracted plenty of clients. In the next few years, PrepMe's founders hope to roll out curricula for additional standardized tests, such as the PSAT. The company is also hard at work on a new technology that will allow its students to prepare for the SAT on the run via cellphones and text messaging.
Co-founder Goel notes that PrepMe's young team has a powerful advantage over its more established competitors: "We don't sleep."
http://www.prepme.com/
Getting into a top college seems tougher than ever these days, and even the best high school students stress out about the SATs. Joseph Jewell, however, approached the test with a different mindset, treating it as a game. "It was fun to try to beat the SATs. I looked at it as a challenge to accumulate as many points as I could," he says. His strategy worked. He scored a perfect 1600, enrolled at the California Institute of Technology in 2001, and that same year co-wrote a book, Up Your Score: The Underground Guide to the SAT.
Confident that other students could profit from his approach, Jewell--who became a 2005 Rhodes Scholar and is now earning a master's degree in engineering and science at Oxford University--launched an online SAT-preparation service in January called PrepMe. He teamed up with partners Avichal Garg, who recently graduated from Stanford with a BS in computer science, and Karan Goel, an MBA student at the University of Chicago, both of whom he met on the Princeton Review message board.
Unlike Kaplan and the Princeton Review, the giant SAT prep companies that teach a single test-taking methodology, PrepMe offers several ways to tackle the questions. First it gives the student a diagnostic exam to identify her weaknesses, and then it uses relevant, repetitive drills to conquer them. To gain an edge over Kaplan and the Princeton Review, PrepMe provides 20 to 60 hours more preparation material for about the same price. It also offers live essay coaching via e-mail, instant messaging, and phone. "With the exception of expensive private tutors, what's out there has always been a mass-market approach," says Goel, the company's CEO. "We're changing the way test preparation is taught."
Timing seems to favor PrepMe. The number of students taking the SAT has increased by 17% since five years ago, according to the College Board, which administers the exam. Last year students took 1.4 million SAT tests. Another factor: the College Board this year added a new personal essay section to the SAT and included more advanced algebra questions. Many students are frantic to know what they're all about. At the same time, the $6 billion online education market is growing by 25% to 30% annually, and there is room for new players, says Eric Bassett, director of research at Boston-based Eduventures, a research firm. "To establish a small revenue stream in this market is very possible."
PrepMe face tough rivals in the $700 million-plus test-prep market. Kaplan and Princeton Review each control about 25% of the sector. "For a startup to move beyond a few million in annual revenues is going to be quite challenging," says Bassett. And the behemoths in the industry are paying attention to the online market. The Princeton Review recently launched its own handheld gadget, which helps students prepare for the SAT with a 5,000-word vocabulary list.
PrepMe's co-founders say they are confident that both the company's curriculum, based on the test-taking approaches of top scorers, and the use of tutors close in age to their target customers will help them stand out. They spent three years developing their teaching methods, interviewing dozens of recent, high-scoring SAT test takers and having each write two or three practice questions. The firm also plans to compete on price, charging $500 for its course. Rival companies typically charge $1,000 a course, and tutors command fees of $70 an hour and up.
PrepMe's efforts have already begun to pay off. With a 12-person staff, including tutors, the company has so far attracted plenty of clients. In the next few years, PrepMe's founders hope to roll out curricula for additional standardized tests, such as the PSAT. The company is also hard at work on a new technology that will allow its students to prepare for the SAT on the run via cellphones and text messaging.
Co-founder Goel notes that PrepMe's young team has a powerful advantage over its more established competitors: "We don't sleep."
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