Jules Leaver & Tim Slade Story
http://www.fatface.com/
Founded: 1988
Annual turnover: £25 million
At first glance they are not the most likely people to become successful entrepreneurs, but when two skiers decided to sell T-shirts at a ski resort to finance their lifestyle, they laid the foundations of a very successful clothing empire. That was in 1988. Today, Jules Leaver and Tim Slade have just opened their 50th Fat Face shop, selling outdoor clothes and leisurewear. The company is estimated to turnover in the region of £25 million this year and is recognised as one of the fastest growing companies in Britain in The Sunday Times Fast Track 100.
After completing a business degree at 21, Leaver decided to indulge his love of skiing by becoming a "self-confessed" ski bum in Meribel, France. But rising early to get the best skiing and working late in a bar to earn enough to live on was not a viable lifestyle for a long period of time. Together with fellow bar worker, former policeman and friend, Tim Slade, Leaver decided to exploit the gap in the market for 'been there done that' T-shirts to sell to holidaymakers.
The pair chose to manufacture their own T-shirts to enhance appeal, rather than buying them off the shelf, and found a company in Leicester that did short runs at a reasonable price. The T-shirts were then printed up with the 'Meribel 88' back prints at a company in East London. While Leaver stayed in Meribel to sell the merchandise behind the bar, Slade travelled back and forth transporting the goods.
"We began by getting small batches of 100 or 200 T-shirts printed, based on the minimal capital we had to invest," said Leaver. "They sold well because no-one else was doing anything similar, and we gradually increased the quantity to 400 then 800 and so on." Their bold approach paid off and when they left Meribel to travel the world they continued to sell T-shirts, and later fleeces, at different ports of call.
"It wasn't until we got back to the UK in 1993 that we realised what a good business idea it was," explained Leaver. "So I sold my VW Combi van and Tim cashed in some shares, and with £12k we opened our first shop in Fulham."
Leaver and Slade knew that by appealing predominantly to the skiing and snowboarding market they would only be in business for half of every year - not a viable option. So the pair built on the success of their T-shirts and fleeces by developing a range based on another interest of theirs - sailing and windsurfing. It proved to be a successful formula. "Having a mixture of High Street and activity-based portfolio has worked very well for us, yet it isn't something that would fit most brands," said Leaver.
The nature of its target audience also carried with it inherent benefits. "The average age is early 30's, with an even split between men and women. Because people at this sort of age are often into a profession, coupled with the fact that watersports and snowsports and generally enjoyed by people with more disposable income, it has kept us in good stead. We are reasonably recession-proof because of that. When the cards start to fall it takes a while to get to us."
But while Leaver makes it sound like a fairly seamless rags to riches transition, there have been problems along the way. "It's been a rollercoaster ride and the hardest part is probably the first few years when you don't have any track record. You have ultimate belief in both yourself and the business concept and you know you can make it. But you are the only person on the planet that does.
"Banks want guarantees on your house or your father's house, every supplier believes you won't pay them and every landlord tells you they also want a personal guarantee - there's no way round it. In fact, I still have one that is a hangover from those early days."
The gamble paid off for Leaver and Slade, but how have they managed to sustain the appeal of their brand to a relatively fashion-conscious audience over a decade of change? "By continuing to understand your customer," believes Leaver. "At the beginning you are very close to what you do, but as you grow it is easy to lose touch. We gather feedback from customers by email, panels, face-to-face or whatever and the info comes straight to the design team and myself. We discuss it as soon as it comes in - we don't believe in waiting for monthly meetings - and reflect it in our product. By being disciplined about this we have built up a reputation as an approachable company that listens. Tim and I still take direct calls too - it's amazing what you learn."
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Getting Rich Off A Simple Idea
Ron Lando Story
http://www.clicgoggles.com
Lando's six-year-old, six-person company, with headquarters in Tiburon, Calif., had a breakout year in 2005, generating more than $5 million in U.S. sales and another $2 million overseas. CliC glasses have been spotted recently on CSI, Nip/Tuck, Will & Grace, Freedomland, and the Rolling Stones, who donned CliC reading glasses and sunglasses when last year's tour brought them to San Francisco.
Which means Lando, 52, who looks like Paul McCartney (he plays guitar in a '60s Brit-rock cover band, the Whining Bullies), is living a distinctly American dream: The one where you wake up one morning with an idea so simple, so right-, uh, over-your-nose obvious, you can't believe nobody ever thought of it before. You arm yourself every which way with patents. You take your invention to market. Voila, you're rich.
Of course, a lot can go wrong between ah-hah! and ka-ching!
Someday Lando may go head-to-head with a well-heeled copycat. He has, after all, no secret ingredient. Lando - a 20-year industry veteran who previously worked for his father's eyewear-design company - came up with the idea after just a week of focused fiddling. The only part missing was the fastener. "I was originally thinking about a hook or a snap," he says. He even considered Velcro. Regular magnets wouldn't work because they'd have to be as big as silver dollars. Then someone showed him a powerful neodymium magnet, which had just come on the market, and the whole thing snapped into place.
To protect himself, Lando went to Steve Schneider, director of the Sawyer Center in Santa Rosa, a SBA-sponsored resource center for California inventors. Schneider did a patent search (the coast was clear), introduced Lando to a patent agent and patent lawyers, and showed him how to file for trademark protection, all at no cost. (Ultimately, Lando says, he spent about $250,000 on fees, lawyers, and other startup costs.)
In March 2000, Lando took a suitcase full of prototype goggles to the Ski Industry Association trade show in Las Vegas and came back with a sheaf of orders, including one for $100,000 from a national sporting goods chain. Suddenly Lando was in business, even though he had yet to secure a manufacturer.
"I immediately flew overseas," says Lando, "brought them my prototype, and said, 'Make this for me.' "
Originally Lando focused on ski goggles. Then Harley-Davidson proposed a licensing deal, and he moved into motorcycle goggles. In 2003 Lando had the bright idea of expanding into reading glasses; now they account for two-thirds of his business. The latest: sunglasses - a nearly $2 billion market.
"Everybody tells me that will be bigger than readers," Lando gushes. (He's staying away for now from prescription frames, which he views as a boutique business.)
Whether Lando can hang on long enough to reap the full benefit remains to be seen. What's clear is that he's willing to risk everything to maintain absolute control. Lando manufactures up to 360,000 units a month at a factory in Taiwan and prepacks for quick shipment by the dozen from a warehouse in San Francisco. He's cautious ("Whenever you act quickly, for some reason you make mistakes"), and he's not greedy ("I'm very comfortable right now with my size"). His salespeople are all independent reps he's known for years. He has no PR machine, no marketing staff, and no ad budget in the U.S.
"I've got basically one product," he says. "You want it or you don't. And we're the only people who have the product."
For now, anyway. But despite the risks, Lando doesn't listen to those who encourage him to sell his business before it gets snatched away.
"It's like my own baby," he says. "Nobody tells you how to raise your kid. This is my patent, and I'm going to do what I want to do. Somebody wants to give me 50 million bucks, I'll pull the pin. But I ain't pulling the pin for five million or ten million bucks." Lando fiddles with his glasses. He straightens his shoulders and puffs out his chest. "I'm doing everything right," he says. "Shame on me if I screw this up."
http://www.clicgoggles.com
Lando's six-year-old, six-person company, with headquarters in Tiburon, Calif., had a breakout year in 2005, generating more than $5 million in U.S. sales and another $2 million overseas. CliC glasses have been spotted recently on CSI, Nip/Tuck, Will & Grace, Freedomland, and the Rolling Stones, who donned CliC reading glasses and sunglasses when last year's tour brought them to San Francisco.
Which means Lando, 52, who looks like Paul McCartney (he plays guitar in a '60s Brit-rock cover band, the Whining Bullies), is living a distinctly American dream: The one where you wake up one morning with an idea so simple, so right-, uh, over-your-nose obvious, you can't believe nobody ever thought of it before. You arm yourself every which way with patents. You take your invention to market. Voila, you're rich.
Of course, a lot can go wrong between ah-hah! and ka-ching!
Someday Lando may go head-to-head with a well-heeled copycat. He has, after all, no secret ingredient. Lando - a 20-year industry veteran who previously worked for his father's eyewear-design company - came up with the idea after just a week of focused fiddling. The only part missing was the fastener. "I was originally thinking about a hook or a snap," he says. He even considered Velcro. Regular magnets wouldn't work because they'd have to be as big as silver dollars. Then someone showed him a powerful neodymium magnet, which had just come on the market, and the whole thing snapped into place.
To protect himself, Lando went to Steve Schneider, director of the Sawyer Center in Santa Rosa, a SBA-sponsored resource center for California inventors. Schneider did a patent search (the coast was clear), introduced Lando to a patent agent and patent lawyers, and showed him how to file for trademark protection, all at no cost. (Ultimately, Lando says, he spent about $250,000 on fees, lawyers, and other startup costs.)
In March 2000, Lando took a suitcase full of prototype goggles to the Ski Industry Association trade show in Las Vegas and came back with a sheaf of orders, including one for $100,000 from a national sporting goods chain. Suddenly Lando was in business, even though he had yet to secure a manufacturer.
"I immediately flew overseas," says Lando, "brought them my prototype, and said, 'Make this for me.' "
Originally Lando focused on ski goggles. Then Harley-Davidson proposed a licensing deal, and he moved into motorcycle goggles. In 2003 Lando had the bright idea of expanding into reading glasses; now they account for two-thirds of his business. The latest: sunglasses - a nearly $2 billion market.
"Everybody tells me that will be bigger than readers," Lando gushes. (He's staying away for now from prescription frames, which he views as a boutique business.)
Whether Lando can hang on long enough to reap the full benefit remains to be seen. What's clear is that he's willing to risk everything to maintain absolute control. Lando manufactures up to 360,000 units a month at a factory in Taiwan and prepacks for quick shipment by the dozen from a warehouse in San Francisco. He's cautious ("Whenever you act quickly, for some reason you make mistakes"), and he's not greedy ("I'm very comfortable right now with my size"). His salespeople are all independent reps he's known for years. He has no PR machine, no marketing staff, and no ad budget in the U.S.
"I've got basically one product," he says. "You want it or you don't. And we're the only people who have the product."
For now, anyway. But despite the risks, Lando doesn't listen to those who encourage him to sell his business before it gets snatched away.
"It's like my own baby," he says. "Nobody tells you how to raise your kid. This is my patent, and I'm going to do what I want to do. Somebody wants to give me 50 million bucks, I'll pull the pin. But I ain't pulling the pin for five million or ten million bucks." Lando fiddles with his glasses. He straightens his shoulders and puffs out his chest. "I'm doing everything right," he says. "Shame on me if I screw this up."
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Selling Pickles Online? Actually, It's A Great Business
Rick Field Story
http://rickspicksnyc.com/
On the surface, Rick Field, a Yale graduate and former TV producer for Bill Moyers, would not seem the most likely candidate to become a pickle peddler, much less spearhead a new pickling movement. But he has done just that. The entrepreneur behind Brooklyn (N.Y.)-based Rick's Picks is offering New-World twists on an Old-World condiment, inventing a whole new pickle palate in an industry whose heyday was a century ago -- and creating a market in the process.
It started as a hobby. Field learned the art of pickling when he was growing up in Vermont. About eight years ago, gripped by a sense of nostalgia, he took up pickling again. In his tiny kitchen, Field made family recipes and then quickly began experimenting.
Inspired by the trend in ethnic food fusion, he infused his brine with new flavors and essences such as coconut and dried cherries, dreaming up innovative varieties of pickled cucumbers, cauliflower, and string beans. "In food, people were interested in new flavors and creating new ideas," he says. "I put that into my pickles."
Field gave his offbeat hybrids to friends and family. Their wildly enthusiastic response to his Windy City Wasabeans (soybeans in wasabi brine) and Slices of Life (sliced pickles in aromatic garlic brine) told him he was onto something. So four years ago, Field entered the annual Rosendale International Pickle Festival in upstate New York and won six ribbons, including Best in Show.
After defending his title for two successive years, Field decided to go pro. "It galvanized me to take my hobby more seriously," he says. At the end of 2003 his job with Moyers ended, and Field says he decided "to go for it."
Initially, Field gained a local following selling his wares at the Union Square Green Market in Manhattan and on his Web site. Culinary nods from New York magazine and Food & Wine soon followed, and Field found himself in the brine full-time.
The challenge, he says, came in converting a personal passion into a viable business without losing the artisanal spirit in translation. "It was really an issue of scalability," he says. "From home canning to making 80 cases in multiples of 40 was not straightforward. I made this first massive batch of brine that was incredibly vinegary. I had to throw it out."
That was a relatively inexpensive mistake. Field says he blew $1,000 on labels that were not refrigerator-grade. Furthermore, he chose square jars that he says looked great, but the labeling machine couldn't roll properly. Field ended up hand-rolling 3,000 jars.
In one year, Field says, his sales have increased 200%. He sells 10 different varieties (nine more are in the works) online and in specialty stores in nine states including Whole Foods and Dean & Deluca. Now, he says, "My issues are not of pickling but of taking a small business and nurturing it into an intelligent business."
He's not the only one facing that challenge. Until recently, pickling was a dying art. The number of pickle merchants in New York City, once the cuke capital, had by the late 1990s dwindled to less than a handful. By 2000, only Guss's, established in 1910 on Essex Street, had survived.
Across the country there were a few outfits, such as Minneapolis' fifth-generation family-owned Gedney's, which celebrated its 125th anniversary this summer. But for the most part, the descendant of the Eastern European culinary tradition could be found only on supermarket shelves in mass-produced jars.
However, in the past five years, the pickle has made something of a comeback. Fueled in part by the artisanal movement, an interest in unprocessed foods, and the trend in ethnic flavors, a new crop of pickle merchants have revitalized the iconic cuke. Borrowing from Eastern European customs and marrying them to those of Indian, Chinese, Korean, and other pickling traditions, the new picklers offer both an urban sophistication and a folksy, homespun allure.
Sold at farmer's markets across the country and in gourmet specialty stores, these new pickle crossbreeds are finding their way onto the menus of trendy, upscale restaurants and pickle bars. They've also given rise to a number of shops devoted to the making and selling of homemade pickles.
"After 100 years, pickles were on their way out," says Lucy Norris, the author of Pickled: Preserving a World of Tastes & Traditions and the commercial kitchen manager at the Food Innovation Center at Oregon State University in Portland. "Now you see people in their 20s and 30s reclaiming their food heritage, making pickles accessible and combining Old-World flavors with ethnic ingredients and a making a completely new pickle."
http://rickspicksnyc.com/
On the surface, Rick Field, a Yale graduate and former TV producer for Bill Moyers, would not seem the most likely candidate to become a pickle peddler, much less spearhead a new pickling movement. But he has done just that. The entrepreneur behind Brooklyn (N.Y.)-based Rick's Picks is offering New-World twists on an Old-World condiment, inventing a whole new pickle palate in an industry whose heyday was a century ago -- and creating a market in the process.
It started as a hobby. Field learned the art of pickling when he was growing up in Vermont. About eight years ago, gripped by a sense of nostalgia, he took up pickling again. In his tiny kitchen, Field made family recipes and then quickly began experimenting.
Inspired by the trend in ethnic food fusion, he infused his brine with new flavors and essences such as coconut and dried cherries, dreaming up innovative varieties of pickled cucumbers, cauliflower, and string beans. "In food, people were interested in new flavors and creating new ideas," he says. "I put that into my pickles."
Field gave his offbeat hybrids to friends and family. Their wildly enthusiastic response to his Windy City Wasabeans (soybeans in wasabi brine) and Slices of Life (sliced pickles in aromatic garlic brine) told him he was onto something. So four years ago, Field entered the annual Rosendale International Pickle Festival in upstate New York and won six ribbons, including Best in Show.
After defending his title for two successive years, Field decided to go pro. "It galvanized me to take my hobby more seriously," he says. At the end of 2003 his job with Moyers ended, and Field says he decided "to go for it."
Initially, Field gained a local following selling his wares at the Union Square Green Market in Manhattan and on his Web site. Culinary nods from New York magazine and Food & Wine soon followed, and Field found himself in the brine full-time.
The challenge, he says, came in converting a personal passion into a viable business without losing the artisanal spirit in translation. "It was really an issue of scalability," he says. "From home canning to making 80 cases in multiples of 40 was not straightforward. I made this first massive batch of brine that was incredibly vinegary. I had to throw it out."
That was a relatively inexpensive mistake. Field says he blew $1,000 on labels that were not refrigerator-grade. Furthermore, he chose square jars that he says looked great, but the labeling machine couldn't roll properly. Field ended up hand-rolling 3,000 jars.
In one year, Field says, his sales have increased 200%. He sells 10 different varieties (nine more are in the works) online and in specialty stores in nine states including Whole Foods and Dean & Deluca. Now, he says, "My issues are not of pickling but of taking a small business and nurturing it into an intelligent business."
He's not the only one facing that challenge. Until recently, pickling was a dying art. The number of pickle merchants in New York City, once the cuke capital, had by the late 1990s dwindled to less than a handful. By 2000, only Guss's, established in 1910 on Essex Street, had survived.
Across the country there were a few outfits, such as Minneapolis' fifth-generation family-owned Gedney's, which celebrated its 125th anniversary this summer. But for the most part, the descendant of the Eastern European culinary tradition could be found only on supermarket shelves in mass-produced jars.
However, in the past five years, the pickle has made something of a comeback. Fueled in part by the artisanal movement, an interest in unprocessed foods, and the trend in ethnic flavors, a new crop of pickle merchants have revitalized the iconic cuke. Borrowing from Eastern European customs and marrying them to those of Indian, Chinese, Korean, and other pickling traditions, the new picklers offer both an urban sophistication and a folksy, homespun allure.
Sold at farmer's markets across the country and in gourmet specialty stores, these new pickle crossbreeds are finding their way onto the menus of trendy, upscale restaurants and pickle bars. They've also given rise to a number of shops devoted to the making and selling of homemade pickles.
"After 100 years, pickles were on their way out," says Lucy Norris, the author of Pickled: Preserving a World of Tastes & Traditions and the commercial kitchen manager at the Food Innovation Center at Oregon State University in Portland. "Now you see people in their 20s and 30s reclaiming their food heritage, making pickles accessible and combining Old-World flavors with ethnic ingredients and a making a completely new pickle."
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
TV Show Fan Finds A Unique Niche To Profit From Other Fans
Georgett Blau Story
http://www.sceneontv.com/
Linda O'Brien and her 16-year-old daughter, Tess, are devoted fans of Sex and the City. They watched it religiously during its initial TV run, and now relive all the Cosmo-fueled moments on DVD. So it should come as no surprise that on their first trip to New York, the Australian duo have forgone some of the usual hotspots for a different type of sightseeing experience: The Sex and the City Tour.
Creator Georgette Blau introduced the tour a month after the September 11 terrorist attacks, hoping to give a boost to businesses in the same neighborhoods where much of the show was shot. Since then, the three-hour tour, which runs twice a day, has been a sellout.
Visitors from all over the world, most of whom learn about the tour online, eagerly shell out $37 a ticket for a chance to photograph themselves on the stoop of the building where Carrie, the series' central character, lived and to buy the girls' favorite cup cakes from the Magnolia Bakery.
You would think that the business of showing homes, parks, restaurants, and other real-life locations from TV shows and movies would be a given. Glance at a newsstand today, and it's clear that the fascination with celebrity culture only continues to grow. But when Blau moved to New York in 1998, a 24-year-old Skidmore College graduate and newly minted editor at Prentice Hall, she was star-struck and keen to indulge her passion.
What she couldn't find, however, was a tour that could show her famous New York movie and TV landmarks. Often walking past the apartment building featured in The Jeffersons, she came up with an idea. "Imagine my surprise when I couldn't find a single tour," Blau says.
So, in 1999, with $3,000 from her savings, she started what initially was a weekend hobby -- the Scene on TV Tour, starring Blau as tour guide. Soon after, she renamed it the Manhattan TV & Movie Show, with tourists paying $15 to see sites from hit TV shows and movies.
Like many entrepreneurs, Blau identified a way to turn her passion into a business capitalizing on the passions of others who share her enthusiasm for the big and small screens. The pool of potential customers is deep. In 2005, New York welcomed 17.2 million tourists, each spending an average of $190 per day, according to NYC & Company, the city's official marketing and tourism organization.
Blau realized early on that she had stumbled upon a potentially great business idea. New York is one of the most-filmed cities in the world, where many of prime-time hits are based. Of course, it would almost seem like a no-brainer, considering that Hollywood has had tours of movie stars' homes for years, and Hawaii has its own movie tour featuring locations in Kauai from Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jurassic Park, and other blockbusters. Even California's Monterrey has a own movie tour that includes a scene featured in Marilyn Monroe's Clash By Night.
Blau's company, On Location Tours, now runs four tours -- the Manhattan TV and Movie Tour, the Central Park Movie Tour, The Sex and the City Tour, and The Sopranos Tour.
But it was tough going initially for Blau, who barely made $400 during the weekends showing visitors places such as the building from The Nanny on the Upper East Side, the Lower East Side police precinct from NYPD Blue, the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld, and the Jacqueline Kennedy-Onassis High School on 46th Street from Fame. She continued her day job as an editor.
But as the popularity of the bus tour increased, Blau began stepping up her marketing and PR efforts -- handing out brochures at the Museum of Television & Radio and other tourist-stomping grounds, establishing a Web site, generating as much word-of-mouth buzz as possible.
Real success came to Blau when she quit her job as an editor and started a tour based on The Sopranos in March, 2001. The HBO mobster sensation was in its third season, and media interest was at its peak. When Blau started the tour, which features various spots filmed in New Jersey, it generated a major buzz, including a spot on the Today show. The tourists went crazy, and Blau was easily filling up the two buses' 100 seats, even though the tour ran on Sundays.
She later launched The Sex in the City Tour, which has also been a tremendous success. Now 31, with five full-time employees and 18 part-timers, Blau brings in more than $1 million in revenue each year. With a full-fledged operation on her hands, she eventually decided to hang up her tour-guide hat and hire others.
In March, 2005, she advertised on Craigslist to hire guides for The Sopranos and Sex in the City tours. The response was stunning -- 300 people showed up for the interviews, which lasted two weeks. "We're in New York, so we had to pick from beautiful struggling actresses to standup comedians," Blau says.
For the comedians or actresses, the tour is a great forum to practice their craft. Lisa Perlman, a tour guide on the Sex and the City bus, is a standup comic at The Gotham Comedy Club. And it shows. She keeps the tourists entertained and well-humored during the three-hour tour.
"The bus is just like the club -- you're never quite sure how the audience reacts to my jokes, and it's great practice," says Lisa, who peppers her banter with knowledgeable tidbits about New York architecture and questions like: "Are there any shoppers in this bus, or alcoholics, or virgins, anyone?"
The O'Briens can barely contain their squeals of delight as tour guide Perlman fields the question -- "which one among you is a Carrie, a Charlotte, a Samantha, a Miranda?" -- the show's four main characters. Daughter Tess admits that her friends from Down Under have often referred to her as a Charlotte, the well-bred, eternally optimistic brunette.
The tour's fanatical fans are nearly all women. Once, Blau recalls, actor Kyle MacLachlan, who played the role of Trey McDougal, was buying cupcakes at the Magnolia Bakery -- one of the tour hot spots -- and was surprised to see a horde of women rushing toward him. "I thought they'd get his autograph," Blau says. But to her surprise, the women all went up to him wagging their fingers and shaking their heads at how poorly his character treated wife Charlotte in the show.
The success of The Sopranos Tour taught Blau the need to constantly update her tours to attract young tourists. So, while You've Got Mail, the Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan romantic comedy filmed on the Upper West Side, was part of the tour until just two months ago, it has now been replaced with a stop at Rice to Riches, the rice-pudding store that makes an appearance in the Will Smith's Hitch. Of course, the classics like Breakfast at Tiffany's and the house from Wait Until Dark are always shown, as is the Empire Diner from Woody Allen's Manhattan.
Next up, Blau plans to start a tour in Washington, D.C., within the next few months that will show the sites from movies and TV shows filmed there. Fans of The West Wing and Commander in Chief needn't wait too long before their own "on-location" experiences.
http://www.sceneontv.com/
Linda O'Brien and her 16-year-old daughter, Tess, are devoted fans of Sex and the City. They watched it religiously during its initial TV run, and now relive all the Cosmo-fueled moments on DVD. So it should come as no surprise that on their first trip to New York, the Australian duo have forgone some of the usual hotspots for a different type of sightseeing experience: The Sex and the City Tour.
Creator Georgette Blau introduced the tour a month after the September 11 terrorist attacks, hoping to give a boost to businesses in the same neighborhoods where much of the show was shot. Since then, the three-hour tour, which runs twice a day, has been a sellout.
Visitors from all over the world, most of whom learn about the tour online, eagerly shell out $37 a ticket for a chance to photograph themselves on the stoop of the building where Carrie, the series' central character, lived and to buy the girls' favorite cup cakes from the Magnolia Bakery.
You would think that the business of showing homes, parks, restaurants, and other real-life locations from TV shows and movies would be a given. Glance at a newsstand today, and it's clear that the fascination with celebrity culture only continues to grow. But when Blau moved to New York in 1998, a 24-year-old Skidmore College graduate and newly minted editor at Prentice Hall, she was star-struck and keen to indulge her passion.
What she couldn't find, however, was a tour that could show her famous New York movie and TV landmarks. Often walking past the apartment building featured in The Jeffersons, she came up with an idea. "Imagine my surprise when I couldn't find a single tour," Blau says.
So, in 1999, with $3,000 from her savings, she started what initially was a weekend hobby -- the Scene on TV Tour, starring Blau as tour guide. Soon after, she renamed it the Manhattan TV & Movie Show, with tourists paying $15 to see sites from hit TV shows and movies.
Like many entrepreneurs, Blau identified a way to turn her passion into a business capitalizing on the passions of others who share her enthusiasm for the big and small screens. The pool of potential customers is deep. In 2005, New York welcomed 17.2 million tourists, each spending an average of $190 per day, according to NYC & Company, the city's official marketing and tourism organization.
Blau realized early on that she had stumbled upon a potentially great business idea. New York is one of the most-filmed cities in the world, where many of prime-time hits are based. Of course, it would almost seem like a no-brainer, considering that Hollywood has had tours of movie stars' homes for years, and Hawaii has its own movie tour featuring locations in Kauai from Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jurassic Park, and other blockbusters. Even California's Monterrey has a own movie tour that includes a scene featured in Marilyn Monroe's Clash By Night.
Blau's company, On Location Tours, now runs four tours -- the Manhattan TV and Movie Tour, the Central Park Movie Tour, The Sex and the City Tour, and The Sopranos Tour.
But it was tough going initially for Blau, who barely made $400 during the weekends showing visitors places such as the building from The Nanny on the Upper East Side, the Lower East Side police precinct from NYPD Blue, the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld, and the Jacqueline Kennedy-Onassis High School on 46th Street from Fame. She continued her day job as an editor.
But as the popularity of the bus tour increased, Blau began stepping up her marketing and PR efforts -- handing out brochures at the Museum of Television & Radio and other tourist-stomping grounds, establishing a Web site, generating as much word-of-mouth buzz as possible.
Real success came to Blau when she quit her job as an editor and started a tour based on The Sopranos in March, 2001. The HBO mobster sensation was in its third season, and media interest was at its peak. When Blau started the tour, which features various spots filmed in New Jersey, it generated a major buzz, including a spot on the Today show. The tourists went crazy, and Blau was easily filling up the two buses' 100 seats, even though the tour ran on Sundays.
She later launched The Sex in the City Tour, which has also been a tremendous success. Now 31, with five full-time employees and 18 part-timers, Blau brings in more than $1 million in revenue each year. With a full-fledged operation on her hands, she eventually decided to hang up her tour-guide hat and hire others.
In March, 2005, she advertised on Craigslist to hire guides for The Sopranos and Sex in the City tours. The response was stunning -- 300 people showed up for the interviews, which lasted two weeks. "We're in New York, so we had to pick from beautiful struggling actresses to standup comedians," Blau says.
For the comedians or actresses, the tour is a great forum to practice their craft. Lisa Perlman, a tour guide on the Sex and the City bus, is a standup comic at The Gotham Comedy Club. And it shows. She keeps the tourists entertained and well-humored during the three-hour tour.
"The bus is just like the club -- you're never quite sure how the audience reacts to my jokes, and it's great practice," says Lisa, who peppers her banter with knowledgeable tidbits about New York architecture and questions like: "Are there any shoppers in this bus, or alcoholics, or virgins, anyone?"
The O'Briens can barely contain their squeals of delight as tour guide Perlman fields the question -- "which one among you is a Carrie, a Charlotte, a Samantha, a Miranda?" -- the show's four main characters. Daughter Tess admits that her friends from Down Under have often referred to her as a Charlotte, the well-bred, eternally optimistic brunette.
The tour's fanatical fans are nearly all women. Once, Blau recalls, actor Kyle MacLachlan, who played the role of Trey McDougal, was buying cupcakes at the Magnolia Bakery -- one of the tour hot spots -- and was surprised to see a horde of women rushing toward him. "I thought they'd get his autograph," Blau says. But to her surprise, the women all went up to him wagging their fingers and shaking their heads at how poorly his character treated wife Charlotte in the show.
The success of The Sopranos Tour taught Blau the need to constantly update her tours to attract young tourists. So, while You've Got Mail, the Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan romantic comedy filmed on the Upper West Side, was part of the tour until just two months ago, it has now been replaced with a stop at Rice to Riches, the rice-pudding store that makes an appearance in the Will Smith's Hitch. Of course, the classics like Breakfast at Tiffany's and the house from Wait Until Dark are always shown, as is the Empire Diner from Woody Allen's Manhattan.
Next up, Blau plans to start a tour in Washington, D.C., within the next few months that will show the sites from movies and TV shows filmed there. Fans of The West Wing and Commander in Chief needn't wait too long before their own "on-location" experiences.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Fishing Lures Go High-Tech
Chris Podlewski And Michael Armbruster Story
http://bikinilures.com/
After working long hours doing contract engineering for space systems, Podlewski looked forward to relaxing with friends on the open water. But with the cost of live bait on top of another $60 to gas up the boat, his hobby was also a bit pricey. That's when Podlewski came up with the idea for an artificial lure, designed to attract fish as well as live bait.
His day job eventually brought him to New York. There, Podlewski tried to make a business out of his artificial lure but could never get past the prototype stage -- until he met Michael Armbruster, an engineer for a consumer-products company in Buffalo, N.Y. The pair started Bikini Lures and is just now bringing their innovative fishing aid, a reusable electronic product that mimics the sound of live bait, to market.
Q: How did you and Chris meet?
A: We met in July, 2003, through mutual friends. Chris was looking for a job. He's a contract electrical engineer, and I was working for a local consumer-products company, so he was looking for a job at that company. First, we started talking on the phone. We didn't know this at the time, but we were both adopted from the same orphanage in Korea.
When we started talking, we had no idea. I thought I was talking to a Podlewski, and he thought he was talking to an Armbruster. When we met, all of a sudden we were like, "Were you adopted?" That's where we just kind of hit it off.
Q: Did you both fish frequently?
A: Growing up in Long Island, I used to fish when I was younger. As I grew up, in college and high school, I had all these miscellaneous activities, so I didn't have time to devote to fishing, but Chris got really interested in fishing when he was doing contract engineering in Florida.
Q: Did you plan to go into business together?
A: We first started off as friends. We didn't really think about starting a business together. He [had] the concept down in Florida. He tried to do something with it with various other people, and he wasn't successful.
When he met me, that's exactly where my background was, in consumer products from conceptualization to the finished product on the shelves. He definitely has an edge with R&D, having worked [on space systems]. He has an electrical engineering background, combined with fishing. We met in July, we started talking about it in the fall of 2003, and then we went and started a corporation in December, 2003.
Q: What was the biggest challenge in making this?
A: Our recharge circuit is what makes it powerful. We've been approached by other lure manufacturers, and they all said the same thing: "We thought of this idea, it's not a noble idea." The thing that's noble is that we were able to do this idea.
There are electronic lures out there. There are electronic lures that have lights, one or two LEDs, and there are electronic lures that have a little speaker inside that buzzes. The reason why a recharge circuit is so critical is when you're putting a microcomputer inside a lure, it's not cheap. The other electronic lures out there are either disposable, meaning once the battery runs out, you have nothing but a plastic body left.
The other option is that there are a few lures out there that have batteries [you can replace] instead of two- to three-button cell batteries. But everyone who fishes knows that once you compromise the seal, electronics and water don't go well. Because our integrated recharge circuit is inside, enclosed, you don't have to compromise the seal or open up the lure -- everything is 100% sealed inside the body.
Q: How do you recharge it?
A: The product comes with recharge cables, and you have many options. Consumers connect the 9-volt battery to the clip, the other side has two cables -- a red and black cable that they connect to the lip and to the tail end of the lure. The tail has a hook on it, and the lip is where you put the line.
Q: So, after a day of fishing, consumers are able to go home and plug it in?
A: Absolutely. Our lure can be used for more than 12 continuous hours, but that's all we're claiming because we want to be conservative, especially if we start changing the programming and it starts reducing the battery time.
http://bikinilures.com/
After working long hours doing contract engineering for space systems, Podlewski looked forward to relaxing with friends on the open water. But with the cost of live bait on top of another $60 to gas up the boat, his hobby was also a bit pricey. That's when Podlewski came up with the idea for an artificial lure, designed to attract fish as well as live bait.
His day job eventually brought him to New York. There, Podlewski tried to make a business out of his artificial lure but could never get past the prototype stage -- until he met Michael Armbruster, an engineer for a consumer-products company in Buffalo, N.Y. The pair started Bikini Lures and is just now bringing their innovative fishing aid, a reusable electronic product that mimics the sound of live bait, to market.
Q: How did you and Chris meet?
A: We met in July, 2003, through mutual friends. Chris was looking for a job. He's a contract electrical engineer, and I was working for a local consumer-products company, so he was looking for a job at that company. First, we started talking on the phone. We didn't know this at the time, but we were both adopted from the same orphanage in Korea.
When we started talking, we had no idea. I thought I was talking to a Podlewski, and he thought he was talking to an Armbruster. When we met, all of a sudden we were like, "Were you adopted?" That's where we just kind of hit it off.
Q: Did you both fish frequently?
A: Growing up in Long Island, I used to fish when I was younger. As I grew up, in college and high school, I had all these miscellaneous activities, so I didn't have time to devote to fishing, but Chris got really interested in fishing when he was doing contract engineering in Florida.
Q: Did you plan to go into business together?
A: We first started off as friends. We didn't really think about starting a business together. He [had] the concept down in Florida. He tried to do something with it with various other people, and he wasn't successful.
When he met me, that's exactly where my background was, in consumer products from conceptualization to the finished product on the shelves. He definitely has an edge with R&D, having worked [on space systems]. He has an electrical engineering background, combined with fishing. We met in July, we started talking about it in the fall of 2003, and then we went and started a corporation in December, 2003.
Q: What was the biggest challenge in making this?
A: Our recharge circuit is what makes it powerful. We've been approached by other lure manufacturers, and they all said the same thing: "We thought of this idea, it's not a noble idea." The thing that's noble is that we were able to do this idea.
There are electronic lures out there. There are electronic lures that have lights, one or two LEDs, and there are electronic lures that have a little speaker inside that buzzes. The reason why a recharge circuit is so critical is when you're putting a microcomputer inside a lure, it's not cheap. The other electronic lures out there are either disposable, meaning once the battery runs out, you have nothing but a plastic body left.
The other option is that there are a few lures out there that have batteries [you can replace] instead of two- to three-button cell batteries. But everyone who fishes knows that once you compromise the seal, electronics and water don't go well. Because our integrated recharge circuit is inside, enclosed, you don't have to compromise the seal or open up the lure -- everything is 100% sealed inside the body.
Q: How do you recharge it?
A: The product comes with recharge cables, and you have many options. Consumers connect the 9-volt battery to the clip, the other side has two cables -- a red and black cable that they connect to the lip and to the tail end of the lure. The tail has a hook on it, and the lip is where you put the line.
Q: So, after a day of fishing, consumers are able to go home and plug it in?
A: Absolutely. Our lure can be used for more than 12 continuous hours, but that's all we're claiming because we want to be conservative, especially if we start changing the programming and it starts reducing the battery time.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Hats Off To This Business Woman
Fiona Markowitz Story
http://www.partyhats.org/
At a birthday party 14 years ago, Fiona Markowitz, 40, rolled up paper bags into hats and let her children paint them for fun. Encouraged by party attendees who were wowed by her creativity, she and her husband Steve, 45, took a chance at making it a business. Now Party Hats Entertainment offers pre-made hats and many decor options, such as feathers, buttons, beads, silk flowers and more.
Fiona credits some of their success to The Special Event, a yearly international conference and expo for event specialists that she began attending seven years ago. "That's where I learned who the [event] industry people were, what their greatest needs were and what we'd be able to accomplish with [our business]," she recalls.
The Markowitzes honed their business skills while learning about the preparation and psychology that go into planning events. "We try to understand who's going to be there and what the needs are," says Fiona. Initially, there was resistance from event planners who thought the idea wouldn't appeal to adults, but the Markowitzes began sponsoring hat-decorating events at the conventions they attended. Says Steve, "Once those event planners saw the energy and realized that it's for [all] cultures, all ages and both genders, it sold 10 times over."
Party Hats has been hired around the country for events of all sizes and purposes. Requested themes are tied into the service. Customers can also throw a Party Hats event on their own with the company's Party in a Box product. The business, with projected 2006 sales over $1 million, isn't just about hats, however. The Markowitzes have made flip-flops, gloves and handbags, all of which can be pre-decorated on request. The latest product: Pimp Your Tux, which gives men the chance to decorate some tuxedo pieces.
"People say, 'This is the best thing ever,'" says Fiona. "Our best source of work is the people who spread that message to others."
http://www.partyhats.org/
At a birthday party 14 years ago, Fiona Markowitz, 40, rolled up paper bags into hats and let her children paint them for fun. Encouraged by party attendees who were wowed by her creativity, she and her husband Steve, 45, took a chance at making it a business. Now Party Hats Entertainment offers pre-made hats and many decor options, such as feathers, buttons, beads, silk flowers and more.
Fiona credits some of their success to The Special Event, a yearly international conference and expo for event specialists that she began attending seven years ago. "That's where I learned who the [event] industry people were, what their greatest needs were and what we'd be able to accomplish with [our business]," she recalls.
The Markowitzes honed their business skills while learning about the preparation and psychology that go into planning events. "We try to understand who's going to be there and what the needs are," says Fiona. Initially, there was resistance from event planners who thought the idea wouldn't appeal to adults, but the Markowitzes began sponsoring hat-decorating events at the conventions they attended. Says Steve, "Once those event planners saw the energy and realized that it's for [all] cultures, all ages and both genders, it sold 10 times over."
Party Hats has been hired around the country for events of all sizes and purposes. Requested themes are tied into the service. Customers can also throw a Party Hats event on their own with the company's Party in a Box product. The business, with projected 2006 sales over $1 million, isn't just about hats, however. The Markowitzes have made flip-flops, gloves and handbags, all of which can be pre-decorated on request. The latest product: Pimp Your Tux, which gives men the chance to decorate some tuxedo pieces.
"People say, 'This is the best thing ever,'" says Fiona. "Our best source of work is the people who spread that message to others."
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