One Year Later

Sometimes it helps to stop and consider the progress of your growing business. After all, how far have you come from those startup days?

Last year USA Today began chronicling the adventures of six entrepreneurs with one dream: to take an idea and create a viable business. Each business owner has seen his or her share of up and downs, but they are still working hard toward their goals. Two of these startup entrepreneurs are below.

Susan Riegg, The Medical Skin Spa

Riegg’s customer base has increased dramatically, and she expanded her offerings to areas such as weight loss and treatment of hormonal imbalances.

As for the crazed workload, Riegg says she doesn’t mind it since she’s in charge of her destiny — and can still take time off to visit colleges with her daughter or block out two hours to take her other two kids to the dentist.

“I’m just having the time of my life,” she says. “This is totally different because I’m making my own schedule. … I’m living the dream.”

Lee Goldberg and Rodney Hughes, Poppa D’s Nuts

After more than a year of working to get distribution in sports arenas, bars and retail stores, they hit pay dirt: 7-Eleven agreed to sell the nuts in stores across Florida. The rollout began last week.

The Poppa D’s founders have made smaller sales inroads as well. They sold their nibbles during the Detroit Tigers spring training (in Lakeland, Fla.) and secured distribution deals to smaller store chains across the country. (Kwik Shops in the Omaha area and Rouses Supermarkets in Louisiana and Mississippi.)

“Hopefully, the product does well, and we’ll go national (at 7-Eleven),” says Goldberg.

Hughes is thrilled for the success.

“In 2010, we hoped for a mere 5,000 to 10,000 (bags sold),” he says. “We sold more more than 30,000 bags.”

Screenshot from Poppa D’s Nuts

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