Strawberries to die for!

I went to a restaurant in the San Diego area a while back and on their menu was corn from Chino Farms. How odd to advertise where they got the corn from, I thought. So I asked the waiter what Chino farms is. Apparently it’s been on the Food Network and they are the supplier of fruits and vegetables for many restaurants around SoCal. Additionally, students come from around the globe to learn this family’s farming techniques. Since I grew up on a farm, I was very intrigued to see what was so special about Chino farms. So I drove up to Rancho Santa Fe and went through the dirt roads to find this little vegetable stand in the middle of nowhere. All their produce is fresh picked in the morning and they stay open until they are sold out for the day. And they do sell out everyday. No prices on any of the food, of course. I had to get the corn on the cob, that’s what I drove out there for. I only wanted two ears, but had to buy at least 6 (their rule). They were a dollar apiece! My dad would have a heart attack if he knew I spent that much on their corn. The clerk sold me on some strawberries too. For a tiny supply of French strawberries I think we paid ten bucks or something crazy. Turns out it was the best ten bucks ever spent. They were the best strawberries you can imagine. Melted in my mouth. My daughter threw one on the floor and I picked it up and ate it. Can’t waste any of those!

No more style for babies?

I have a list of successful companies I want to write about but apparently I was too late on this one: I just read an article that the store Babystyle filed for bankruptcy. Say it isn’t so. They offer high priced baby/toddler and maternity clothes in their little boutique shops. My daughter was given a jumper from there and I gotta admit she lived in that thing. I recently went in the store, was the only one in there besides two salespeople, and no one acknowledged my presence. I remember seeing a $70 pair of jeans there and nearly fell over upon seeing the price tag. They became “famous” by selling to a lot of celebrities like Liv Tyler and Elisabeth Hasselbeck. They were founded in 1999 and last year they acquired Cadeau Maternity. Check out this article to read about their demise.

Special tours

Speaking of wine from my last post, I’m reminded of another experience I had while touring through Bordeaux, France. I had booked a tour guide to take us through the first growth chateaus, as I knew it would be difficult to get in on my own. The concierge at the hotel we were staying in gave me the name of Bade Jurgen, who gave us a private tour. He met us at the airport and was about five minutes late. “Where are your bags?” he asked. “Aren’t you from America? You should have about five bags each if you’re from America.” Nope. Not us. We just took carry-ons for the two week trip. The minute we got into his van he asked “So what do you think of President Bush?” uh. Not something I wanted to get into a discussion about on the first day of five with this guy. “Bush is Cowboy – Bang Bang!” he said. The next topic he brought up was our ancestry and last names. “Oh, you’re from Armenia." he said to my husban. "Armenians are bandits and thieves.” At this point I was a little worried our trip wouldn’t go well. However, we ended up loving this guy, even invited him to visit us when he comes to America, and by the end of the trip we were giving him gifts. I will try to find his contact info and post it.

Black sheep in wine country

When I was in Napa a couple years ago I went to a winery called Ferrari-Carano. The grounds were perfectly manicured and the experience was amazing. Then we got in the car and went for a little drive down the street to a little hole in the wall place called David Coffaro. Talk about an “otro mundo (other world)”! The place smelled like burnt toast and there were dirty glasses stacked in their sink. The tasting room resembled an army barracks, and I can still hear the dog barking. I couldn’t stop thinking about that place throughout the rest of our stay. When I got home I ran a Google search and found the most interesting blog ever on his website. David talks candidly about daily activities on the vineyard and how much a bottle of wine costs to make and he’s incredibly honest. He's got to be the black sheep of the wine country. I love it! I plan to go back the next time I am in the area.

Photos anyone?

The internet is pretty cool in that anyone can publish anything (like myself on this blog), and amateurs can become professionals pretty quickly. I get most of my pictures from 123rf.com. When I became a free member, I had the option of contributing some of my own photos as “stock photos” and allow other people to purchase them. What a great opportunity for a newbie photographer to make some money. I really love this site because I can get free photos from there too. I should short Getty Images stock. This site will put them out of business for sure.

Melissa and Doug

Since hearing about all the toy recalls, I’ve been quite leery about buying toys for my kids. I’ve noticed some of the high end toy stores carry a line called Melissa and Doug. The products supposedly have higher testing standards than other toys, so that makes me feel a bit more at ease. I’m not sure whether I’ve been blind and just haven’t noticed it before but now I see these Melissa and Doug toys popping up EVERYWHERE! Everywhere I turn they are around. It’s like a Seinfeld episode or something. Melissa and Doug started out in their basement back in 1988 and now they are in lots of toy stores. They have over 600 products.

BJ car auction

I am not really into old cars. I don’t really understand auctions. However, I’m in LOVE with the Barrett-Jackson car auction each year in January. I think it’s because I’ve witnessed first hand what a well oiled machine the business is. Truly an experience. I haven’t been to the auction in several years but I watch it regularly on the Speed network and have seen it grow. People put their classic cars on the auction block at no reserve and consistently sell them for large sums of money. There’s an auction assistant named Amy Assiter who seems to be the big seller every year. All the big wigs go to her when they are interested in placing a bid. Do these guys really think they are going to woo her by bidding high? Suckers. She’s married, folks. To the auctioneer. Anyway, Craig Jackson owns the auction and he seems to have done everything right – gets the publicity by showing the auction and behind the scenes on tv, he’s really emerged as the big player in the industry.

Car wash carousel

Going to Danny’s family car wash is a cultural phenomenon. It’s become the place to be for people in the know. The first time I went to Danny’s I was convinced the mob ran the place – it’s impeccable, grand, and elaborate. Cars are washed through the carousel they have built. It just kind of has that mob feel. Guess I’ve watched too many Godfather movies. I did a little research on the place and it’s actually owned by Danny Hendon, an ex-cop from Detroit. There are a total of almost 30 Danny’s shops in the Phoenix area. He also owns Barcelona, one of the hottest nightclubs/restaurants in North Scottsdale. The man has it going on. His revenues are around $300 million/year.

Hang on!

I have to own up to one of my guilty pleasures: I sometimes watch QVC and HSN. There’s a lady on HSN this weekend selling a product called Huggable Hangers. Her name is Joy Mangano. She’s on there about once a month selling these things and every single time I tune in she’s got like 10,000 + hangers sold. What a great product this has to be, right? Well, some of the comments on the HSN blog say otherwise – the hangers are flimsy, they fall apart, they are cheaply made, blah blah blah. So why is everyone buying these hangers??? Answer: Joy Mangano is an AMAZING salesperson. Amazing. She could sell a brush to a bald man.

Clean or Dirty?

One of my exboyfriends used to say there is someone out there for everyone. I think there’s a business out there for everyone too. I’m truly amazed at the types of businesses some people start. For instance, this week I got a postcard in the mail from someone who will clean out my garbage and recycling cans for me. Is this for real? Does someone really want to do this or are they just trying to burglarize my house? Will this business be so successful that it will be listed next year on Entrepreneur magazine's list of top franchises? I’ve heard that sometimes small ideas are the biggest ones, but this one's a bit extreme to me.

Lights Camera Action!

A friend of mine has a panoramic photo taken by Peter Lik in her family room. It’s absolutely stunning. I don’t know how much money they paid for it but I got on ebay to see what his photos are going for and they are in the several thousand dollar range. For our honeymoon we went to Australia and I believe we went into a Peter Lik gallery while we were in Cairns. He was one of the first photographers to be famous for panoramic pictures. He’s a self taught photographer, currently with galleries in Cairns, New York, Aspen, Hawaii, La Jolla, Las Vegas and Florida. How nice to see someone making a living doing something he’s so passionate about.

ParkWhiz makes parking a whiz

Finding a parking spot near a sporting or theatrical event can be very difficult sometimes. And the people trying to fill the parking spots have some troubles too, as if they don’t fill the lot before the event starts, they’ve lost out on the revenue. That’s why Parkwhiz is a win-win situation. Get online to reserve your parking spot and you don’t have to hassle with driving around to find where to park on game day. It’s genius. Why didn’t I think of that? The founders came up with the idea in 2006 while they were developing a wireless device to help determine whether a car was sitting in a parking space. They determined this was too costly, so they came up with the idea of Parkwhiz, as it seemed more efficient and useful. I hope they do well. I plan to use this service.

Bringing out the kid in you

“When you tell people you make candy, people usually smile,” says Lisa Brasher, whose great, great, grandfather Gustav Goelitz started the Goelitz Candy Company in 1869. The company did fairly well until 1966, when Ronald Reagan traded his tobacco habit with his jelly bean habit. Word got out that the Goelitz jelly beans were on Reagan’s desk and then the Goelitz candy company got bombarded with orders. In 1976, the company took another turn, when asked to produce a jelly bean with natural flavors. Finally in 2001 the company changed its name to the Jelly Belly Candy Company. Last year the company sold 15 BILLION jelly beans. They now have over 50 flavors too. I like the buttered popcorn flavor the best.

Artsy Fartsy

I know lots of people who make crafts. They do such a good job I tell them they should sell their wares. The problem is setting up shop and finding outlets to buy their products. Not anymore though. There is a website called Etsy.com, which is like an ebay for all things handmade. People can list their handmade items for a nominal listing fee, and then pay a commission similar to the prices on Ebay. Overall, I like the concept. However, there are a few things about this business that turn me off: 1) the CEO sounds like an arrogant spoiled twentysomething without any background in business (he was a “classics” major in college, was also a carpenter) who’s been handed a lot of money from venture capitalists, and who decided to skip the business plan because there is “so much you can’t plan for”. 2) the website looks just like Ebay to me. Come on use a little creativity! 3) I guess I’d feel a little schadenfreude if they didn’t do well. I’m evil I know!

Anything for a pet...

I was just watching Fox News business channel and saw a lady on there for eddieswheels.com. They make “wheelchairs” for dogs. I think she said they make 30-40 wheelchairs a week (or was it a month?) and employ a dozen people. The dogchairs are about $300-$500 each. Come on, can they be making any money on this business??? Is there really a high demand for doggy wheelchairs these days?

Doing Good

Years ago I saw a 60 minutes segment on a company called Greyston Bakery. I was very moved by the founder of this business and the mission of the company. They hire anyone who wants to work there and you don’t need a resume or any qualifications for that matter. They employ the unemployable: homeless, drug abusers, ex-cons. Everyone starts at entry level and they are able to move up within the company as they progress. Most people stay between 1-3 years, but several have been with the company for 10-15 years. In 2006, sales were around $6.5 million. Founded by a group of Buddhists, Bernie Glassman borrowed $300,000 to open the storefront near the Bronx. They make the brownies for Ben and Jerry’s ice cream mix-ins. Additionally, they make wedding cakes and other bakery items. You gotta check out this 60 minutes transcript. It made me all teary eyed.

Toffee 4 Me

12 million pounds of candy. That’s how much toffee Enstrom’s has sold over the last 40 years. Or you could say Started in 1960, the company is family owned and in its third generation. They continue to use the same recipe Chet Enstrom perfected years ago. The toffee can be purchased online or at one of their four retail locations in Colorado. My uncle used to buy this stuff for my grandma for Christmas and her birthday. My mom would look forward every year to trying some of it. Since my Grandma passed away, my mom has been craving it, so I scoured the internet to find the toffee and bought some for her this year for Christmas. She went ballistic over it. Apparently it’s the best thing since sliced bread.

From Model to Jewelry Designer

In today’s marketplace it seems everybody and their brother has a jewelry line. Makes sense, I guess, as people like jewelry, it’s small and easy to ship, you can inventory the pieces forever, and you can have a decent markup in price. However, the competition seems intense. Competition didn’t seem to bother Lana Fertelmeister, though, when she came out with Lana Jewelry in 2003. She designs the jewelry and sells to such high brow places as Neiman Marcus, Saks, Borsheims, to name a few. She’s a former model, and has managed to get her product in the hands of celebrities and on several television shows. Her sales this year are projected to be $6 million.

Nursing + Alcohol

As a nursing mom, I’d like to have a glass of wine now and again. However, I’m always concerned that the baby is getting some of the alcohol in the breastmilk. The founders of a product called Milkscreen by Upspring claim to have found a test for this. They offer some amazing products like Night Knight, designed to detect when there is no motion for 23 seconds while the baby is sleeping, and Walking Wings, to help the baby learn to walk. Why anyone would want their kid to walk earlier than later is beyond me, but this product helps one do that. The founders are mothers, and they are projecting sales in 2008 of over $5 million. Not bad, considering the company was started in 2005.

Clutter be Gone!

I have a friend who is completely organized. Once I went to her house and she didn’t want me to open one of her kitchen cabinets because it was a “mess”. I opened it anyway and the cabinet looked better than mine does AFTER I’ve organized it. She’s the type of person who would be perfect for a Clutterbusters franchise. This company was started in March 2002 by Betsy Fein, who had been laid off from her job as an HR director. She had always gotten compliments by her friends that she’s organized, and decided the world had a market niche for organizers. She started the company with only $5000. She began by charging lower prices for her services than her competitors, then raised the price when she obtained some clients. Her initial ad campaign garnered 10 clients in the first week. Today, she’s franchised the business to two others, and has plans to franchise to 300 before she’s finished in the US.

Big Bucks Tiny Prints

In 2004, three friends pooled their money together - $10,000 – and started the company tinyprints.com. This is a website where customers can buy and personalize cute baby announcements and other cards and invitations. The three started working out of their homes, then a year later expanded to renting office space. Two years later, they had over $10 million in sales. The site receives over 128,000 unique visits per month. I think one of the things they have done well is obtain a trendy, modern product, and they have also gotten their invitations in the hands of celebrities, which is BIG.

Heeeere's Ronnie!

When I was in Maui seven years ago I happened upon an art gallery called Celebrities. My hubby and I loved it and we went there every night to look at all the expensive artwork made by artists like Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones and Grace Slick. We lusted over the Eric Clapton guitar and Bruce Springsteen signed albums. Several years later, to our delight, a new store very similar to Celebrities popped up across from our old apartment, called Rockstar Gallery. Michael Dunn owns it though it’s since moved to Kierland Commons, a high end shopping mall a few blocks away. What a great business that is. You feel like a celebrity when you walk in, and can enjoy the fantastic signed art. Not only does Michael hobnob with celebrities like Ronnie Wood (he even hosted a party for him in his showroom), but he gets to meet people from all over the world with interests in the artwork he features in his store.

No more monkeys jumping on the bed

Ever heard of Pump it Up? Seems the franchises are everywhere I turn, and my daughter LOVES to go bounce. In fact, we are going Friday. Brenda Dronkers started the company on a tight budget. She didn’t have a college degree, was a mother of three, and had no money. Now though, there are over 160 franchises and the company brought in over $55 million last year. She just started the biz 8 years ago. Now, she’s sold out of the company and is starting a new company this year called Thriving Ink. She says one of the big lessons she learned was to use professionals from the beginning, because she skimped with Pump it Up, and in the end it cost her more than if she had just done it right from the beginning. I see her point, but half of all businesses fail, so I would probably follow her original method and skimp in the beginning but once it’s successful upgrade.

What do you get when you mix a color blind artist with a model?

Tracy Porter home products!!!! I LOVE their story. She started out as a model making up to $1500/day, but yearned for a simpler life. Her boyfriend John was a model. In 1990 his mom held a crafts party, featuring Tracy’s designs. Tracy’s designs were a hit and sold out that afternoon. The following year she and John got married and decided to sell their “art” full time. They started out making their products in a non-heated chicken coop in a small town in Wisconsin. Today they are a multi, multi-million dollar empire, selling to Neiman Marcus and just about every other store you can think of. The husband and wife founders still work out of a small Wisconsin town but now have some kids, commute only five minutes to work each day, and have mandatory “date nights” once a week.

Customer service finesse

I may be going out on a limb here, but I truly believe in the not so distant future, retail stores are going to be extinct, due to the efficiency of purchasing over the internet. There are a few exceptions to this theory – some clothing stores, grocery stores, services industries. Most other items I can get over the internet without the hassle of going to the mall, wasting gas and time. And the products are cheaper for the internet retailers because they don’t have to pay the overhead of the retail location and employees. I think the main reason people to go to retail stores is for customer service. So how can you have great service over the internet? Simplysoles has done it by sending a selection of shoes to the customer without charge so you can find out whether the shoes feel good and look good with a certain outfit. If you don’t like the shoes, you send them back to the company in a prepaid mailer. The company also sends out handwritten notes if you buy their shoes. The owner claim there she had over $2 million in revenue last year, with goals of reaching $10 million in the future.

Meet me in the park…

I think the best business idea I’ve ever heard of is the website meetup.com. Brilliantness! It’s a website where you can either start or join a group to meet new people for any topic you can think of. It’s a way to actually meet some of the people you have something in common with. And the website doesn’t sell anything, they just provide the framework for you to make your own meetup group. The founder, Scott Heiferman, tells his story here.
In a nutshell, after 9/11, he saw NYC as a city of neighbors instead of a city of strangers, and wanted that sense of community to continue, especially after reading a book called Bowling Alone by Robert Putnam about the decline of local community. Makes me actually want to read.

Dropped out of High School to make millions

Gurbaksh Chahal came to America from India in 1985 with his parents, who had only $25. His parents’ dream was to see their four children succeed, which traditionally means to become an engineer or a doctor. Gurbaksh’s philosophy is failure is only when you let fear take over your dreams. Averse to failure, he dropped out of high school and started the company ClickAgents when he was only 16. At age 18, he sold the company to ValueClick for $40 million in stock. After ending his three year non-compete agreement, he started a company called BlueLithium, which is an online ad company focusing on behavioral targeting. Last year he sold that company for $300 million cash. He’s now worth over $100 million and he’s only 25 years old. Not too shabby. His website discusses the details. The shirtless picture is a little creepy though, don’t ya think?

Everything I need to know I learned in…

David Kravetz and Eileen Spitalny have known each other since kindergarten. They started their company back in 1992, when they began selling brownies at local craft fairs. After graduating from USC, they began on a shoestring budget and used a commercial kitchen at night to make their brownies from scratch. That first year of business generated $250k in sales. Since then, they have grown to over $8 million in sales. David attributes much of their success to buying the webname http://www.brownies.com/, in 1995. Pretty smart cookie, I mean brownie! However, I must say I was disappointed to learn their sales are only $8 mil. I live in AZ, and hear about this company all the time. Why are sales so low?

Back up!

To me, there is nothing more brilliant than delivering a product that has a monthly automatic payment program. If a person likes something once, they will probably go back for more, so why not have a program in place where the owners can count on this repeat business every month? This is exactly what the founder of Massage Envy has done. Members sign up for one massage a month, and can receive additional massages at reduced fees. The founder, John Leonesio, had previously worked in the health club industry, and saw a niche for corporate massages. He opened up the first Massage Envy in Scottsdale, and has since franchised the concept throughout the country.

Bread makes lots of Dough

I have an allergy to wheat so I can’t fully appreciate this company, but I have long been saying someone needs to put a good bakery in this town. Finally, someone from Chicago did it. Harold Back had a real estate business in Chicagoland, then moved to Phoenix and realized we need some good bread here too. So he started a company called Simply Bread. What I love about this guy is the speed at which he got his business up and running: he was looking at buildings in September 2005, got the building permits the day after Thanksgiving and started construction that night. They were in business January 31, 2006. Today they are looking to be able to make 7 million loaves of bread a year. Additionally, he didn't have a lick of experience in the industry.

Attitude is everything

I only spent two months getting into shape with him, but the experience is one I will never ever forget. You haven’t worked out unless you’ve worked out with Mack Newton. The conditioning class I attended used no equipment, just one’s own body weight and lots of mountain climbers and situps. Just when you think you can’t do it Mack is shouting in your ear “This is the moment you’ve been working towards. A basketball game has four quarters but the last minutes are the only ones that count.” Mack attendees are to follow a strict 3-2 plan: three things you can eat – meat, green vegetables and fruit, two things you can drink – water and 100% fruit juice. I could write an entire novel on the time I spent working out with Mack. He combined music with hard work and discipline and personal motivation stories. He’s trained Sammy Sosa, Barry Bonds, the Oakland As and Bo Jackson, to name a few. Even though it’s extremely pricey to attend Mack’s class, he makes you feel privileged and honored to be one of his students. I wish he had a location closer to where I live, I don’t care how much it would cost, it was the best shape I’ve ever been in and I had about ten stories to tell after every class. I wish I could cookie cutter his business, but it takes a special personality to do what Mack Newton does in his classes. There's only one Mack.

Killer quality cheap wine

Killer quality cheap wine. Four words I love to hear. Most wine is shipped from the winery to distributors to wholesalers to retailers, then lushes like you and I finally buy the wine. The makers of Cameron Hughes wine decided to skip several of those steps and sell directly to Costco. Additionally, their business idea is to take the surplus wines from higher end wineries and blend/bottle their own special taste. So they don’t have to harvest their own grapes or own a winery. It’s a similar strategy utilized by Charles Shaw, the big difference really is that the wine actually tastes good. Make that Great. And it’s cheap, not two dollars cheap but in the ten to fifteen dollar range. They do the whole breakdown of the cost of a bottle of wine on their website. Supposedly they made $16 million in sales last year, according to CNNmoney.com. I especially like their story because the founders Jessica Kogan and Cameron Hughes started their business together and then got married and now have kids together as well! What a dream life they have!

Toys Netflix

I have a list of over one hundred business ideas which I’ve come up with over the years, thinking that someday I may actually start one of them. One of the ideas on my list was an online toy rental exchange. Geniosity! Kids are sick of toys after a few months and then the toys end up in a reject pile in the corner. Not sure why, but I was shocked the other day when I saw another mom is actually doing this business idea. It’s called Babyplays.com. It’s sort of a netflix for toys- you pay a monthly fee, rent up to six toys a month, then send them back when your child is finished. She says she funded the company in October 2007 with $250,000, and has been putting an additional $12k/month into the business. Good luck to her on this idea. I think it should do very well.

Doomed restaurant?

I used to live in an apartment across the street from a restaurant called the Persian Room. They did some things right – there weren’t any Persian/mid-eastern restaurants in the vicinity, the menu’s great for what it is, and the ambiance is decent. The only problem is that it opened the week of 9/11/2001. Nobody in Scottsdale, or America, for that matter, wanted to support middle eastern anything for months after 9/11. My husband and I gave it the sign of the cross the day it opened. Every day I would drive by and see an empty restaurant. However, it’s 6 ½ years later and the restaurant is now going strong. How did they overcome 9/11? Word got out that they have a fantastic product – good food, good service, they filled a niche, plus they must have had some deep pockets.

It started with a ball

I’m always interested in how people make money and how they come up with their successful businesses. The other night I was watching Donny Deutsch and heard about this lady who came up with Sendaball.com. The concept is you send a ball instead of a card for a birthday or celebratory event. Apparently the company has made millions. Who’d a thunk? The founder claims she was watching Oprah when she got a “sign” she needed to start this business. I’ve watched Oprah hundreds of times and it's never dawned on me to send someone a ball through the mail for a business. Maybe I’m not listening to my signs enough.
One bit of advice: expand your product line! Once I’ve sent a ball to someone, the gig is pretty much up. One trick pony. What about send a rubik’s cube in the future? Or send a chair? I want 10% for that expansion idea, by the way.