I probably watch way too much daytime t.v. Occasionally, I can justify it by telling myself that it's for "educational purposes". In any event, home entrepreneurship seems to be one of the hot topics of the moment. Oprah has done a few shows on kitchen table moguls, as has Montel.
If you can catch a repeat of Montel's February 8, 2007 show, I recommend it. I particularly enjoyed Michele Hoskins' story.
Her maternal line had handed down a secret recipe for a honey, cream syrup for three or four generations. Ms. Hoskins decided that rather than just hand the recipe down to her daughter, she preferred to hand down a business: so she brewed up a batch in her basement, labelled the bottles and convinced her local supermarket to do a trial sales run by handing out free samples and a free case to the market itself. She then had friends and relatives buy like crazy and purchased the remaining bottles herself as a customer. This created buzz for her product and the manager decided to actually purchase a few cases and then to permanently stock her pancake syrup. From this humble beginning, a million dollar business was born.
I love stories like this.
Check out the show highlights at www.montelshow.com under "past shows" type Feb. 8, 2007.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Homepreneur
This blog is intended as a think tank for small home-based entrepreneurs.
I've found myself getting more and more interested lately in the success stories of kitchen table entrepreneurs - people who come up with a new pancake syrup or beautiful jewelry design or home staging concept and make it work from virtually nothing.
Partly, I think my newfound interest derives from a change in our culture, a feeling that the workaday world can be one tough place to navigate and that the business world offers its own forum for creativity. The main reason, though, is that I've been seriously ill for the past 8 years and now that I'm returning to health need to find a way to pay my bills. Returning to my old work isn't an option, so I'm looking for something new. Hence this blog.
I've heard that people make money from blogging. It's a sort of magazine business model, if I understand correctly. So I thought I'd gather up my home business research and see what we could accomplish. Stay tuned in the months ahead for information on what kinds of businesses people are thinking up, how they're marketing them and what problems they're encountering. I'll have ideas for you on businesses you can start at your kitchen table and what to do when you've outgrown your homebase. I'm aiming for a weekly post, hopefully more.
Welcome.
Arleigh Cee
I've found myself getting more and more interested lately in the success stories of kitchen table entrepreneurs - people who come up with a new pancake syrup or beautiful jewelry design or home staging concept and make it work from virtually nothing.
Partly, I think my newfound interest derives from a change in our culture, a feeling that the workaday world can be one tough place to navigate and that the business world offers its own forum for creativity. The main reason, though, is that I've been seriously ill for the past 8 years and now that I'm returning to health need to find a way to pay my bills. Returning to my old work isn't an option, so I'm looking for something new. Hence this blog.
I've heard that people make money from blogging. It's a sort of magazine business model, if I understand correctly. So I thought I'd gather up my home business research and see what we could accomplish. Stay tuned in the months ahead for information on what kinds of businesses people are thinking up, how they're marketing them and what problems they're encountering. I'll have ideas for you on businesses you can start at your kitchen table and what to do when you've outgrown your homebase. I'm aiming for a weekly post, hopefully more.
Welcome.
Arleigh Cee
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)