Mom Goes From Hobby To Manufacturing Company

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March 17, 2011 by Angela Shupe | 0 Comments

Tobi Kosanke never expected to turn her little side hobby into a big business. After all, she had a steady career. However, as the mom of a special needs child, she required flexibility. When she was given a new boss, the flexibility that was once there disappeared.

“I telecommuted in order to care of an ill child until a manager forced me to choose between my career and my child,” Kosanke said. “I chose my child – and returned to my roots, reinventing myself as a stay-at-home momtrepreneur.”

But Kosanke wears a lot more than just one or two hats. Along with being a wife, and caring for a daughter and 200+ animals, she is also a long time pet products inventor. With a combination of self-funding and loans, Kosanke turned her hobby of inventing items to increase the quality of her cats’, parrots’ and chickens’ lives into a thriving business called Crazy K Farm Pet and Poultry Products LLC.

“Through hard work, persistence, self-education, coaching from the small business development center, and a rabid emphasis on branding, marketing and customer service, I have grown Crazy K Farm from its humble origins as a manufacturer of one-off items sold on eBay – into an award-winning business with a successful internet store, and two of my inventions are patented,” Kosanke said. “My products are manufactured by the tens of thousands in Bangladesh and sold to pet owners and retail stores in the United States, Canada, Europe, the United Kingdom, Australia – even Dubai.”