Business Opportunities Weblog

Many homeowners want to give their home the best advantage with a beautifully designed driveway, but the cost can be a huge factor in the decision. Hand-laid brick can be quite costly, but there is a franchise which gives potential franchisees and customers alike a chance to try something different.

Through a process called StreetPrint®, Driveway Impressions, a subsidiary of Integrated Paving Concepts Inc., offers customers a driveway which will look beautiful, continue to be long lasting and will be cost effective. Although they began this process in 1992 it wasn’t until 10 years later when they took it to the next step and created the Driveway Impressions franchise brand and started selling their business plan and opportunity to others interested in making this a business of their own.

Continue reading Driveway Impressions

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The New York Times:

Laura Udall noticed that her young daughter suffered back pain from lugging her books back and forth to school. Udall decided to develop and market a backpack light enough for children to wear safely.

She founded her own company in 2003 and hired an industrial design firm. But after growing frustrated with a lack of progress, she turned to her husband, Nick. “He is brilliant at coming up with things, so he went into the garage and came up with our first prototype for a rolling book bag,” she said.

Today, Udall, 52, is chief executive of Züca Inc., a $2 million business in Campbell, Calif., that makes luggage. Her husband works for her as vice president for design and manufacturing.

“The buck really stops at me,” she said.

Udall’s situation may be somewhat unusual, but it is hardly unique.

At a time when high-profile women have suffered some setbacks on Wall Street and when women in general still struggle for pay parity, a group of entrepreneurs has proved that women are comfortable not only with running their own companies, but also with having their husbands work for them.

In addition to finding ways to work together at home, the couples have created a separate balance of power in their business relationship. And though it may help that both partners do this to enrich a family enterprise, the woman may make a conscious effort to ensure that her mate is getting appropriate recognition.

Read more.

Photo by Jim Wilson.

The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur:

Are you familiar with the 80/20 Rule, often referred to as Pareto’s Rule?

Vilfredo Pareto, an Italian economist in the 19th century, was directed by the King of Italy to determine the distribution of the country’s wealth.

Through Pareto’s tedious analysis he determined that 20% of the Italian population controlled 80% of the country’s wealth. Likewise, 20% of the country’s wealth was controlled by 80% of the population.

This observation can be applied to many facets of business and life. But buyer beware, this formula doesn’t apply all the time.

Here’s where the 80/20 Rule often works:

* 80% of the time you wear only 20% of your clothing. That’s a lot of clean shirts sitting there, unused. Hopefully your undies get a little more rotation.

* 80% of your revenue comes from 20% of your customers. Check out your accounting, you may be surprised to find this true. Maybe it is time to try bringing in more clients like those in the 20%.

* 80% of the time you drive the same 20% of all roads you have ever driven. This is also called “the commute.”

But here’s where the 80/20 Rule often falls short:

* 80% of your success comes from 20% of your efforts. While small moments can yield huge results, it is the combined package of everything you do that yields success.

* 80% of your profit comes from 20% of your customers. While the top line is affected by your customer base, you control the flow of every penny. Your profit is solely dictated by your spending. You have the ability to turn every client into a profit center, or fire the ones that aren’t benefiting the bottom line.

* 80% of your colleagues are working 20% of the time. If this is your situation, you have only one person to blame… yourself. Inefficiencies among staff are a result of poor systems and poor leadership.

Photo by economyprofessor.

Many parents all have the same crib-related fears when their children are babies. Whether it’s the unpredictable reality of SIDS, blanket suffocation or other potential injuries that can be incurred. SleepaRoo takes those worries head on with a new, secure sleep system.

The system is an easy one to use. From the support used to hold the baby on their back while they sleep, to the secured blanket which will not get kicked over the face while laying down. Only a product like this could be from someone who knows from experience how important baby sleep safety is; a parent.

Stacey Battersby, a mom and the creator of SleepaRoo, has been able to get her product placed in a variety of Ontario stores including, Baby World’s, Dear Born Baby, In The Pouch, and many more which can be found listed on her website.

What is the SleepaRoo?

SleepaRoo is an innovative design in infant crib bedding. It allows parents to follow many of the Canadian Health Recommendations to safely putting their infant (0-12 months) to bed.

What are some of the safety benefits?

SleepaRoo comes complete with a fitted sheet, a built in sleep support and a blanket. After placing the infant in their back to sleep, the built in sleep support allows the infant to remain on their back to sleep and in the middle of the crib. This prevents the infant from rolling into the crib rails and getting their arms and leg caught.

SleepaRoo allow has a built in blanket that is attached to the fitted sheet with a zipper at the foot of the crib. This allows the infant to remain warm and covered, without being able to pull the blanket up and over their face.

Continue reading Mom Commits To Baby Sleep Safety

The St. Petersburg Times:

After years of starting her workday at 3 a.m., Jennifer Holloway says she’s ready for a change.

By the end of the year, she expects to step down as Bay News 9’s morning TV anchor.

But she has another job ready: promoting the exercise machine she invented, the Workout 180, as it hits the Home Shopping Network and other outlets over the next few months.

Profiled last year on the PBS series Everyday Edisons, Holloway’s invention offers a souped-up take on the typical aerobic step platform, adding a pushup bar, resistance bands and a removable middle section users can balance on to complete a wide range of exercises.

As part of the series, inventors partner with the creators of Everyday Edisons to develop and market their products. Selected for the PBS show from 500 Tampa-area hopefuls in 2005, Holloway has spent years with them refining the product; the company spent $400,000 just to build molds for the units.

She’s got two more ideas ready, once the Workout 180 is established.

“I won’t retire on this product, but it’s a dream come true,” she said. “I’ve done what I said I was going to do.”

Photo by Workout 180.

Daily News:

From Florida to Massachusetts, New Mexico to Georgia, Puerto Rico to the Bahamas, Juan Casimiro is training students how to be effective entrepreneurs and in the process become change agents for a sustainable world.

Casimiro is the owner and lead trainer for Insight, an international youth entrepreneurship training company that meets the needs of youth and adults who are seeking to develop into strong and effective entrepreneurial leaders. From July 28 to Aug. 1, he will be in Red Bluff to train local teens in his program.

An Entrepreneurial Camp for Teens is geared at youth 15 to 18, who are curious about the world of business. Camp organizers are now seeking interested students from throughout the county who are entering their sophomore, junior or senior year of high school in the fall.

Forty students will be accepted into the camp, which will take place at Red Bluff High School. Students do not have to have an idea for a business to participate.

“We want to grow and inspire young entrepreneurs, and offer value to our clients by delivering innovative programs and training,” said Casimiro. “But personally, it is of utmost importance for us to motivate students to learn entrepreneurial skill sets at an early age while they have less to risk.”

Photo by aernst.

PRNewswire:

Sidestepping the startup pitfalls so common in business is crucial to an entrepreneur’s success. Savvy entrepreneurs avoid these startup pitfalls by capitalizing on the experience of others, including tapping business mentors to help blaze their way.

Here are some specific startup pitfalls that business mentors can help entrepreneurs avoid:

Tackling a business you don’t understand. You might be a quick learner, but you’ll still spend time climbing a learning curve if you enter into an entirely new field. As a general rule, go with what you know — and if you don’t know it, utilize the resources of someone who does.

Funding faux pas. Don’t waste time and money securing the wrong funding from the wrong people; it pays to build investor relationships correctly from the beginning. Business mentors can help you to source potential angel and venture groups that have an interest in your particular niche.

Not selling from the start. Startups often focus all their efforts on getting everything just right, from funding arrangements to design details. Don’t forget to make sales your priority — bringing in critical cash flow and customers early on. Tap your business mentor’s network to build a customer target list and get you that first meeting.

Missing the big picture. Entrepreneurs often zero in on one area of their new enterprise — usually the area where they’re strongest. But all aspects of your business should grow in unison; from finance and marketing, to operations and staffing.

Starting from scratch. Seasoned business mentors will tell you that buying an undervalued operation and building it up will ultimately save you valuable time, money and energy.

Skimping on salaries. Great businesses are built by standout people, so take the time and spend the money necessary to build a solid management team and employee talent pool.

Photo by nookiez.

ABCLocal:

You’re probably enjoying your first or second cup of coffee right now, brewed the usual way: in a coffee pot. But that’s not the only way to make a Cup-of-Joe. A college student from Westchester is finding success with his unique approach to brewing.

Luke Kelly is making a special delivery to the Chocolations candy store in Mamaroneck. The product is cold-brewed coffee, hazelnut, French vanilla and Colombian, made from his own secret recipe. “Luke’s Brew” is a big seller. Store owner Maria Valente says she’s glad to help out the 20-year-old entrepreneur. “He’s very enthusiastic and he has a great product…He knows how to sell it, I’m very proud to have him here and I know he’s going places,” Valente said.

He also gets support from other locals in town. The owner of the business Lunch with Lou gives Luke use of his commercial kitchen. But before Luke went commercial, he had more humble beginnings. Luke was looking for a coffee drink to sell on his college campus when he hit upon a cold-brewed blend. First, ground beans are soaked in water for 24 hours. The mixture is then strained a few times and poured into 32-ounce mason jars and can be served hot or over ice. It’s a simple process that involves lots of hard work.

Image via Grahamfurlong

Bizjournals:

The allure of getting up before dawn to battle massive crowds at the mall on the day after Thanksgiving escapes some people, but a Greensboro entrepreneur is hoping to improve on the “Black Friday” shopping concept with a new Web site, TomorrowOnly.com.

The site will feature dramatic discounts for a very limited period of time from advertisers year-round, hoping to lure shoppers into action with discounts on the scale of the $350 flat-panel TVs and $280 laptops that awaken turkey-stuffed holiday hopefuls.

Mark Grochala, a former restaurant owner who said his business failed because of the high cost of advertising, said he got the idea for the site when he saw the line outside a Wal-Mart for a big Christmas sale.

“They had put all their toys on sale at cost, knowing that the people who came in were going to do other shopping, too,” Grochala said. “A small business can’t afford to put everything on sale like that, but we can afford to put one thing on sale.”

TomorrowOnly.com will be divided into sections for one-day-only and one-week-only offers. Advertisers will pay $14.95 for a single ad that will run two days, with discounts for multiple placements.

Grochala said his goal is for his advertisers to stand out from the crowds through the kind of extreme discounting that is sure to drive customer traffic. “Buy one, get one” offers are old hat by now, he said, so he wants advertisers to think bigger.

Image via Flickr

Launched in 1983 as The Sports Section, Inc.; TSS Photography got their start in the sports photography business, founded by Carl Hansson and Dan Burgner. It wasn’t until ‘84 that they started franchising. Since then they have brought on over 200 franchisees in 45 states as well as Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

It was in 2005 that they changed their name, showing their expansion from just sports photography into school and other forms of group photography.

Continue reading TSS Photography

Construction is a large business. Whether it’s home repair, or starting from the ground up. There is always someone, somewhere, looking to hire the right contractor to work on their home. G.J. Gardner is a home building franchise opportunity that is opening up in a variety of regions which include the US, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and South Africa, with 80 franchises currently in business.

Those who already have construction experience and are interested in developing a business where they can expand on their experience, while increasing their earnings, will find G.J. Gardner’s franchise opportunity worth taking a look at.

Through their system a franchisee will be able to continue with what they love to do while maintaining a balanced lifestyle. No more 24/7 calls and work days. Through their business plan you can learn how to organize your life and make it work for you.

So what are some of the benefits you’ll see, besides what I already mentioned? Some of those things include:

• Buying Power: Through their brand you will be able to find some of the best deals on supplies needed for each project.
• Personal Website: They will set you up with a personal website where customers can check online the variety of house designs available and even receive an online quote.
• Marketing and Advertising: These are done at a local and national level. They will handle the advertising for you, although you do have some creative control at the local level.

When it comes to constructing homes, they are definitely the franchise to stop and take a look at. They’ve shown success through their current franchisee’s and it continues on.

Toilet Paper Entrepreneur:

For young entrepreneurs, it’s not just homework or hormones and friends or fashion. For these exceptional young people, it’s all of that — plus finding funding, building business and securing their futures at an early age.

And it’s important that their parents understand and appreciate their struggles and offer them support every step of the way. These 10 tips are a great way to help young entrepreneurs start down a path toward success.

1. Start Early - By exploring interests at an early age, it encourages children to take an active pursuit of their passion — and perhaps eventually turn it into profit. Visit museums or parks, check books out of the library — anything to help cultivate their genius.

2. Try different stuff - “If at first you don’t succeed …” It’s a good quote for a reason. Help potential profiteers learn this for themselves by encouraging learning by trial and error. Keep trying plans or products until they find the one that excites them into entrepreneurship.

3. Discuss values - Equip them with the tools they need to make important decisions by discussing ethics and the importance of playing fair and being honest — on the field, in life and in business.

4. Make a business plan - A business plan needn’t be long — a one-page plan should work for most efforts. By answering the below questions, teens will be able to clearly define their products, customers and advantages: - What business am I in? - Who are my customers? - How will my customers know about me? - How am I different?

5. Ask questions - Enforce the need to think everything through early by asking questions — even if they may be hard for young people to answer. And remember: Be careful to come across as a partner, not as a nag! During this step, you should discuss materials, inventory, funding and budgeting.

Read more.

Photo by woodsy.

Biz Chicks Rule:

Take this list to nearest mirror, look yourself in the eye, and consider the path to success you are traveling to grow your business. Just a few meaningful changes can result in a smoother journey and a faster road to success. This I know for sure based on over 30 years of experience in the entrepreneurial trenches.

Mistake #1 - Being Addicted to Being Right
If you’re ultra-competitive, watch for signs that you argue every point to the death — right or wrong. Make a practice of listening to every side of an argument. Owning a business does not make you right about everything. What’s the point in having a staff that agrees with you 100%?

Mistake #2 - Being a Control Freak
You know if you’re a control freak. You can’t delegate, you’re a workaholic, and you are picky about every detail. The ONLY way to grow your business is to find people who are better than you are at every task, let them do it, and manage the results. To grow, you’ll have to find great people and delegate or work 100 hours a week.

Mistake #3 - Having a Captious Personality
Are you quick to point out the trivial faults in other people and never give compliments? If you bask in the negative and focus on pointing out the problems, nip this tendency now. Make a habit of praising the good. Take a trip from animal trainers who reward their subjects for doing the desired behavior. Be lavish with praise and short but to the point with criticism.

Mistake #4 - Blaming Other People
Accept personal accountability in yourself. Insist on it from those who work for you. If you blame your staff, outside forces, competitors, the economy, etc. for all of your woes, you’ll never accomplish what you set out to do. Problems are a normal part of doing business. A business is never going to be perfect. Take the blame and move on.

Mistake #5 - Seeing the Trees and Not the Forest
If you’re mired in the day to day with every detail demanding your attention, step back, dust off that vision, and set bigger goals. See the greater good.

Read more.

Photo by Disney.

When that time comes around and you’re about to be another year older, did you know that many establishments will actually give you a discount or offer a free birthday promotion? Most people don’t know that, but one mom is taking the time to change that perception with her new website, Free Birthday Treats.

With over 2000 listings for a variety of birthday bonuses, there is bound to be something you can enjoy. They also have your pets and children covered with a variety of birthday discounts or free treats as well. Julie Northrop was kind enough to spend some time sharing with us some of what she has listed, as well as what inspired her website startup.

How did you come up with the idea for your website, Free Birthday Treats, and what do you offer?

I was sharing with friends what I did for my birthday and how I had saved money by using some birthday coupons. They started asking where they could sign up so I offered to send them emails with the links to join. I knew that if my friends and family wanted to know how to get these deals then so would millions of others. From there spawned the website, Free Birthday Treats.com which is a nationwide directory of businesses offering birthday freebies and discounts for all ages and even includes treats for pets. The site also provides other birthday related resources such as gift ideas, birthday services and birthday supplies.

When did you launch your website? What kind of growth has your website seen since then?

FreeBirthdayTreats.com was launched in January, 2007 with just over 500 nationwide birthday freebie listings. The site now has over 4,000 unique visitors a month and over 2,000 nationwide listings for birthday freebies and discounts. A new blog was established as well at the end of May which offers frugal birthday tips, featured businesses and weekly product reviews/giveaways.

Continue reading Freebies For Your Birthday

Star Tribune:

Mark Kroll is running out of time.

The man who is already Minnesota’s most prolific inventor wants to keep pumping out patents before the Grim Reaper ultimately arrives at the door.

“You got things in your brain, and if you die with them left in there, it’s a waste,” said the 55-year-old inventor, a tall, boyish-looking man who often takes several seconds to ponder a question before answering. “I want to get out what little I have left in my brain before I expire.”

Kroll has already gotten plenty out of his brain. He holds more than 270 patents, tops in Minnesota and second in the world for medical devices. Some of his work has led to impressive breakthroughs in cardiovascular technology.

Kroll, a former top executive at St. Jude Medical Inc. who specializes in electric physiology, developed ways to shrink implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs). Such devices, now also sold by major companies including Medtronic, Boston Scientific and Johnson & Johnson, shock an errantly beating heart back into rhythm.

Other ideas are less profound: A life vest that allows tanning. A phone for pets. But Kroll’s brain keeps turning and so do the patents.

Photo by Glen Stubbe.

New York Post:

Before a TeleBrands product gets tagged with a snappy name, before its virtues are lauded in the breathless tones of an infomercial, before it’s whisked to eager customers who’ve made the first of two easy payments, it has to survive the scrutiny of a panel that regularly convenes around the conference table in A.J. Khubani’s corner office.

With Khubani seated at the head, a congenial group of four vice presidents and a pair of youthful product-developers gave a few items the sniff test last week, in search of the next million-seller. Finance vice president Bob Barnett made the first pitch.

“I don’t know about you, but I’ve got a broom closet at home that’s full of stuff,” he says, neatly dispatching with step one: Identify a common problem.

The proffered solution: the Fold-a-Broom, a collapsible broom stored inside a dustpan that’s being marketed on the Web. (While some TeleBrands products are created in-house, many are licensed from inventors and smaller companies.) They watch the site’s demonstration video, and Khubani opens the floor for opinions.

The last presentation is Khubani’s, and he leads with several assertions. Vast numbers of people watch TV, and many watch in bed. And too often, that presents issues.

“Personally I can never get comfortable,” he says. “You’re stacking up pillows; your back starts to hurt, your neck starts to hurt.”

But what if you could lie flat on your back, he asks, producing a pair of glasses with a built-in refracting mirror. They go around the table, producing a satisfying buzz of curiousity.

“People will see that and say, I’ve got to try it,” says Iler. “It’s the wow factor.”

That doesn’t mean people will take it seriously enough to cough up $20, points out Zendell. But the glasses have made a small splash, and while no final decision is made, there’s a gleam in Khubani’s eye that might mean they’re headed for a small screen near you.

Photo by Telebrands.

USPTO:

The 13th annual Independent Inventors Conference will be held on the campus of the United States Patent and Trademark Office in Alexandria, Virginia August 8-9. A pre-conference workshop, for anyone interested in learning about the basics of patents and the importance of intellectual property protection, will be held on August 7 from 5 to 7 p.m. The workshop is for beginners and is a good foundation for the conference It is included in the $100 registration fee.

Top officials of the USPTO, including Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce Margaret Peterlin and Commissioner for Patents John Doll will be presenters at the conference. Also appearing this year will be Louis Foreman, creator and executive producer of the Emmy award winning PBS series, Everyday Edisons.

For registration info, click here.

Photo by USPTO.

Newstimes:

In an era of e-mail, voice mail and text messages, such personal notes are rare. Ella Curren cherishes the handwritten notes and letters her now 86-year-old grandmother wrote to her over the years for birthdays, holidays and special occasions.In tribute to her grandmother — Elizabeth Curren, the society page editor at The New Haven Register for 40 years, who now suffers from Alzheimer’s disease — the 2008 Shepaug Valley High School graduate created a personalized stationery business, Ella Notes, as her senior project.

All of Ella’s stationery can be personalized with names or initials. She can also add such creative touches as hand-tied ribbons, hole punches, alphabet letters on strings, or stamped floral images.

“I’m a perfectionist,” she said of her attention to detail.

On March 15, Ella held a trunk show at Minor Memorial Library in Roxbury, where she sold 35 prepackaged sets of thank you cards and took 59 orders for personalized notes.

She invested $1,232 in the project, borrowed from her parents, and earned enough to pay them back in addition to making her $2,000 donation. “It’s been a pleasure. It was what I wanted to do,” said Ella, who spent 250 hours her “Notes from an Entrepreneur: Launching a Note Card Business” project, which earned an A.

Iht.com:

In 1976, when Oscar Pistorius, the double-amputee sprinter from South Africa, was 21, his left leg was severed below the knee in a water-skiing accident. At the hospital, he was measured for a pink wood-and-rubber leg and sent home. A former athlete, Phillips said it felt “like a sentence from hell.”

Phillips said he became obsessed with creating a better prosthetic leg. When he was a student at the Northwestern University Medical School Prosthetic-Orthotic Center, professors discouraged him from challenging the status quo, he said. He learned that the artificial limb industry had changed little since World War II and the Korean War. Most prosthetics were designed within the cosmetic envelope — a prosthetic foot resembled the human foot. There was no energy to propel a leg.

Borrowing concepts from pole vaulting, the spring of a diving board and the C shape of a Chinese sword his father owned, Phillips imagined a prosthetic that would let him jump and land. The day after Phillips first ran down a hallway wearing his invention, he quit his job, found partners and started a company, turning his basement into a lab. He would make a leg, break it and refine it, churning out 100 legs in two years.

In 2000, Phillips sold his business to Ossur, a prosthetic and orthotic company based in Iceland, which continues to sell the Cheetah and other Phillips designs. Its chief executive, Jon Sigurdsson, called Phillips “a visionary, whose ideas and progressive techniques are central to our heritage.”

Image via Iht

Happy 4th of July from all of us at the Business Opportunities Weblog.

Photo by mugley.

A reader wrote in to tell me about his business opportunity:

Hi Dane, I have a math education software program I license to schools and sell to homeschoolers. I’m looking for educators, probably retired, to represent CapJaxMathFax to their local school districts and homeschoolers in their area.

It’s a part time opportunity, but we’re offering over $300 per school the first license year and $150 per school per year after that. Current retail to homeschoolers is $45.00, discounted 50% to agents.

More info is available at www.capjax.com.

From the site:

Elementary and Montessori teachers use math drills for basic math training and assessment. Many teachers rely on homework with flashcards to build math learning. CapJaxMathFax Math software works best to teach arithmetic skills: addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. The goal is numeracy and automaticity.

If you’re a mom and you don’t know about Mommy Perks, you are missing out!

For the mom who is looking for an opportunity to work from home, they offer an opportunity through their Representative program. For other moms who are looking for great discounts, advice, and a community of women they can related to will find that through the free membership. If you have a parenting question, their very own Dr. Sally might be able to help.

I got a chance to talk with Shara about all these great aspects of her website, and what moms like her can find when they visit.

What is Mommy Perks and what do you offer?

Mommy Perks is a free online savings program for moms, nation-wide. We offer discounts and perks from each business listed. We have contests, giveaways, freebies, informative newsletters, events in varying states, etc. We have secured Dr. Sally Goldberg, PhD as our resident parenting blogger - she offers free parenting tips on her blog and is the author of 7 parenting books (currently working on her 8th!). We have a great kid’s page, also, with various experts writing articles and ideas for kids about music, health, culture, arts, and crafts and more. Our GreenScene page gives simple green living tips and we have a Resale Shop coming soon - we are very excited about that! A safe and affordable way to buy and sell for the whole family - yay1

How does someone become a Mommy Perks Representative and how does it work?

We used to accept any mom who wanted to be a Rep. We now screen the forms more closely (which research tells us is far more effective when running a business like ours) that come through to make sure the moms are a good fit for Mommy Perks, before offering a Rep spot. We get inquiries almost daily now and many moms are unaware of the amount of time and effort we put into each Rep - to train, answer questions, give them marketing materials, run the website (which we have to pay for, of course), etc. Therefore, we do require an annual investment. Rather than make Mommy Perks a “franchise” (the cost of this is VERY high and would require that we charge thousands of dollars to buy in) we have chosen to offer Rep spots for a low annual investment of $200. This fee can be paid back with the sale of just a few ads and this way, no mom will ever need to take out a loan to work with us. All Reps earn 50% of any ads that come into their area or any ads they sell. Mommy Perks maintains the entire website and we do not charge the Reps a web fee of any kind. Reps can also earn money by referring others to the Resale Shop (once it’s open) and by selling newsletter spots, goodie bag spots in their own areas at events, etc. We provide each Rep with a press release to send out, banners, buttons, fliers, tips, ideas for marketing and more. We are growing a team… not just a business.

Continue reading The Real Perks Of Motherhood

Rhonda Abrams, USA Today:

Independence: it’s been a goal of Americans for over 230 years.

Entrepreneurs are particularly independent.

We throw off bosses like the colonists threw off the king.

No matter how risky starting a business seems, to us it’s the route to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

While we started our companies to be independent, did we lose that freedom along the way?

Have we allowed ourselves to become subjects of the petty demands of our businesses?

Take some time this holiday weekend to contemplate why you do…what you do.

Photo by Americas Library.

NZHerald:

Watching DIY entrepreneur Angela Beer totter down a steep driveway in 10cm heels and designer fur-trimmed coat, it’s hard to picture her on a building site. She’s clutching an over-sized handbag, not a 30-piece toolkit.

Beer launched Hello Dolly in 2006, with five products, meagre funds and a huge ambition to go global. The range now includes 37 products and another 15 are in the pipeline. It retails in 700 stores throughout New Zealand and 2000 in Australia and Beer has lost track of the international stores carrying the range.

Real blokes might scoff at the ultra-feminine Hello Dolly range of DIY tools. Surely the hammer with dainty pink handle and diamantes isn’t up for the job? Beer, 35, has a worldwide following for her range of DIY products. There’s a toolkit for the home and garden, and even a raunchy one for the bedroom (think sexy negligee, riding crop and spanking paddle).

Image via NZHerald

WCSH6.com:

Andy Tyne hopes the rising price of gas helps his new business thrive. He recently bought a rickshaw and is now riding it around town. Tyne said he decided to buy the bike and carriage to ride his children back and forth to scool, but then realized it could make him some money.

“I run another business on the side. I’m a chimney sweep and I guess maybe I’ve inhaled too much soot,” said the owner of Broadway Rickshaw. “I’m always thinking of something different to do. A mobile hot dog stand. But this one seemed to fit more with our family and the community’s needs.”

His plans are to take tourists around town to show them some of the local flavor. “Of course we’ll talk about the water, Penobscot River, the history of Bucksport because of the water,” he said. He’ll also talk about Fort Knox, show them some of the historic homes and at Halloween time tell stories of hauntings.

Image via WCSH6