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Cottage Industry – Global Goods Partners

Our Cottage Industry tab features small business opportunities and budding entrepreneurs. This week, we’re talking to Catherine Lieber Shimony and Joan Shifrin about the Non-Profit Organization that they have started to help alleviate poverty and promote social justice by strengthening women-led development initiatives for marginalized communities in Asia, Africa, and the Americas.

  1. Tell us about your business: Global Goods Partners (GGP) is a nonprofit, fair trade, international development and education organization all tied into one. Essentially, we create opportunities to generate income for our global partners and help fuel our partners’ community development goals. The first step is identifying effective women-led community organizations (CBOs) with a strong development focus. These groups are at the forefront of creating positive social change within their communities. Once we have decided to partner with a CBO, then we provide technical assistance to both strengthen their community development programs and their micro-enterprise in craft development. GGP brings handcrafted products from the CBOs to the US marketplace which translates into income-generation for the women and their families as well as income for the CBO to support their community development/social change programs.

  2. Why did you start this business? During our careers, my partner and I saw the real benefits to family and community that result when poor women are empowered by earning an income. We saw an opportunity to contribute to local organizations that support women’s empowerment and economic independence. We wanted to contribute to the sustainability of the important social change work being implemented by the women-led CBO’s while at the same time develop a sustainable livelihoods program for the women artisans who wanted to to continue with their traditional crafts.

  3. What is your background? Catherine and Joan, the two co-founders, attended the same graduate school program in international affairs, JHU SAIS and pursued careers in international development mainly in the nonprofit sector but also with experience in the private sector.

  4. What skills did you need to acquire for your new endeavor? Analytical skills, to think innovatively and creatively, management skills, cultural awareness and understanding, respect for your colleagues everywhere, and the confidence that your work makes a difference in people’s lives.

  5. Biggest challenges? Growing our market share in this challenging economy.

  6. What have you learned and advice to others? Trust your instincts. Try not to take on too much. It’s important to start small.

If you’d like to find out more about Global Goods Partners, visit their website at www.globalgoodspartners.org.

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Sable Foods: A Cottage Industry

This week we’re talking with Alicia Sable-Hunt, RN, MBA, who is the Founder and President of Sable’s Foods (www.SablesFoods.com). She has created a unique niche business within the Nutritional Bars and Supplements space. Here’s her story:

  1. Tell us about your business:

    Sable’s Foods is a line of Nutritional Empowerment Bars® designed for the cancer community by the cancer community.

    Developed with the input of nutritionists, cancer specialists, and most importantly, with patients themselves, I have created a line of bars that are baked like a brownie, bursting with flavor and offer a nutritional value enjoyed by the cancer community, athletes and everyone else in search of Nutritional Empowerment!

  2. Why did you start this business?

    Sable’s Foods Nutritional Empowerment Bars were born from firsthand knowledge developed over many years caring for cancer patients. As a long-serving oncology nurse, I understood the immense struggle of those fighting cancer and what I term cancer’s “nutritional challenge”—the crucial need for proper nutrition during treatment coupled with the loss of appetite and digestive issues that often prevent patients from receiving the nourishment they need. Discontent with patients’ lack of flavorful yet nutritionally balanced options, I felt compelled to direct my experience and empathy toward a solution. I knew that cancer patients needed foods that would meet their specific nutritional requirements while offering flavors and textures that would taste great and be easy to eat. I also wanted to offer them something portable, as I strongly believe that patients should be able to thrive while continuing with their daily lives during treatment and recovery. Championing this cause, in 2006, I stepped into my kitchen and began baking up a solution.

  3. What is your background?

    I am a Registered Nurse with a master’s degree in business administration. My commitment to the cancer community stems from over 15 years working as a bedside oncology nurse, clinical research nurse, manager of a leading orphan-cancer consortium, and consultant to disease-specific non-profit organizations.

  4. What skills did you need to acquire for your new endeavor?

    My expertise lies with the cancer population not in food production. The first thing I needed to do, was to identify my strengths and weaknesses then hire consultants to fill the voids. That level of self-reflection is paramount. The second skill set necessary for success is the ability to identify, engage and manage vendors. Due to the nature of my target market, it was necessary to engage experts in the field of food products, nutrition, nutritional supplements, etc. It is time consuming yet critical to set forth clear deliverables, create budgets and manage every step of your vendor relationships. Without this level of oversight, you are at risk of spending too much money and not obtaining the results you need.

  5. Biggest challenges?

    I think the biggest challenge I face as a start-up company is building brand awareness. The sheer amount of money and time required to build a brand in the food product industry is enormous. Especially, in my case as my product is designed for the cancer community. While my market is expanding to include athletes, busy moms and dads, teenagers and other medical conditions, my brand activities center around the cancer community.

    Due to the nature of cancer, we all know someone that has been touched by the disease. Therefore, everyone should know that my product exists; however, my consumer is a sub-sector of “everyone”. Building brand recognition within the food product industry and the cancer community has been a challenge as it is for any start-up company.

  6. What have you learned and advice to others:

    I knew that starting my own company would difficult. I even knew it would be very difficult. I didn’t know it would be so lonely. I am a one woman show responsible for every aspect of the business even in my outsourced model. The all consuming responsibility of the day to day activities of the business as well as managing the expectations of customers, investors, vendors, and my own expectations is very difficult. Burnout is a very real part of an entrepreneur’s pathway. Simply finding time for you and allowing yourself to the take the time, is critical to remain motivated, creative and effective.

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Cottage Industry: Book Boxes!

This week we are talking with the creator and maker of Book Boxes, Diane Thodos. Book Boxes are real books with fabric lined boxes inside them. Here’s what Diane had to say about starting her Cottage Industry:

  1. Tell us about your business: I make Book Boxes – hollowed out books lined in velvet to hide small valuables on a book shelf. They are designed to blend invisibly with the books on your shelf and are the perfect place to safeguard jewelry, cash, watches, collectibles, coins, stamps, small antiques, letters, documents, credit cards, keys, cell phones, TV remotes, and other small valuables with simplicity and convenience. The price of Book Boxes average between $14 and $24 per book depending on the size.

  2. Why did you start this business? To have independence. I wanted to have freedom to move my time around for my main career and also I wanted to earn effective profit from my labors, not share the money with someone else.

  3. What is your background? I have an art degree.

  4. What skills did you need to acquire for your new endeavor? You need to be good with your hands and good at listening to customers needs. I learned a lot about new uses for my product this way and could expand my reach.

  5. Biggest challenges? Affording individual health coverage. Also you need physical energy and stamina for this labor-intensive business.

  6. What have you learned and advice to others: To take the road less traveled and you can find new freedoms and well as responsibilities. Thinking outside the box can have minimal risk with good rewards.

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Cottage Industries: Mama’s Goodies

mama

This Cottage Industries article features a company called “Mama’s Goodies, ”which produces Iranian-inspired artisan nut butter brittles in unique flavors including sesame, which is traditional in Iran, and almond, another Iranian flavor. They also produce the brittles in cashew, pecan and macadamia – coconut flavors. Their story is a good one to share around the holidays because they are Iranian immigrants who are living the American dream as entrepreneurs by starting their own family business.

Here is their story:

In 1979, Rohy Khorshidian, her husband and their four young daughters fled Iran for a better life in the United States. They left behind all of their personal belongings but retained the things deeply rooted in their heritage. One of those things was Rohy’s old-world family recipe for nut butter brittles.

In the early years as new immigrants, Rohy strived to help her family adjust to their new life. One thing she did to “make her feel at home” was to work in the kitchen making her nut brittles that she had become known for in Iran. She began with the traditional flavors of sesame and almond. Before long, Rohy was recognized throughout the community for her nut brittles, often taking them to family gatherings and giving them to neighbors as gifts. When she was invited to an event, the host would often call and say, “Don’t bring anything except your nut brittle”.

Her daughter Kathy saw her mother’s gift as an opportunity. As a former businesswoman turned stay-home-mom, Kathy decided to market her mother’s brittles, but also to teach her young children the importance of following their dreams. Kathy lost her husband to a sudden illness when her children were only 9 and 5 years old. Today, her son, Ryan, is 14 and her daughter Dana is 10 years old. She wanted to show her own children the importance of pursuing your passion, moving forward and feeding the entrepreneurial spirit. And thus, in 2008, Mama’s Goodies was born.

Today, Mama’s Goodies produces five unique flavors of nut butter brittles –and Rohy and Kathy are always there to taste and approve each batch to insure they have that old-world, homemade quality. Rohy still makes her own batches every week, which she continues to share with friends and family.

The skills that she needed to acquire to start the business were to learn the ins and outs of the food industry, learn how to market a food item, but most importantly, learn how to deal with many walks of people.

Their biggest challenge has been to Brand the company name in this economy when many retailers are not adding on new vendors AND downsizing their current inventory.

Kathy has learned that there is nothing that is easy in life, but if you love what you do and have a true passion for it you will succeed no matter what the economy is doing or the odds whether the odds are stacked against you in a food industry. She says that she loves to cite Confucius’ phrase “Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life”. She is living proof of that phrase!

To order from Kathy and Rohy, visit www.mamasgoodies.com.

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Giving Back without Giving Cash – Part 2

photo-secondharvest2

You want to be philanthropic this holiday season, but your current budget doesn’t allow for writing checks to charities or sipping champagne at charity balls. Besides tossing your coins to the Salvation Army Santa, how can you still contribute to those causes about which you are passionate? Check out these websites that have been designed to help you give:

  1. GoodSearch.com – GoodSearch is a search engine which donates 50-percent of its revenue to the charities and schools designated by its users. You use GoodSearch exactly as you would any other search engine. Because it’s powered by Yahoo!, you get proven search results. The money GoodSearch donates to your cause comes from its advertisers — the users and the organizations do not spend a dime.

  2. OneCause.com – Simply shop online at hundreds of well-known merchants, save money with valuable Coupons & Deals and earn contributions for your chosen cause or school on every eligible purchase. Similar to Schoolpop, you may also register your credit and debit cards to earn contributions when you shop at your favorite neighborhood stores and service providers, including local dry cleaners, pizza shops, and even hair and nail salons.

  3. Volunteermatch.org – This online service helps people find local volunteer opportunities by location, area of interest, and/or keyword. A national nonprofit themselves, they have relationships with over 60,000+ non-profits needing volunteer assistance. In addition to helping others, volunteering your time is a great way to connect with your community, meet new people and explore new areas of interest.

  4. Thegivelist.org – The Give List is a wonderful list of 71 Ways to Give Without Opening Your Wallet. Suggestions such as Share a Skill, Donate clothes, Send a Free Holiday Card to a Hero, all remind you how easy and inexpensive it can be to be charitable.

If you DO have a little extra cash, consider donating to your local food bank. They are expecting to have one of their neediest years and hope to help as many people as they can. As always, we are interested in hearing your experiences and ideas so please post your ideas to this blog.

Julie Arnheim
Founder, Rubbingnickels.com

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Organizing Bills: A New Guest Blog …


organizing bills
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Guest Authored By Alicia Rockmore and Sarah Welch.

Here’s a scenario: you come home from work to find a “past due” cable bill in the mailbox. You could have sworn that you had paid it two weeks ago, but your checkbook says otherwise. Still hoping you just forgot to enter the payment in your checkbook register, you rummage around your kitchen, home office, purse … and everywhere else you have little piles of mail stashed. Sure enough, you find the original bill, unopened, under a pile of clutter. Sound familiar? You are not alone. Many people who have problems paying bills on time aren’t necessarily cash strapped, but rather, just need to get more organized financially. We’ve got a few tips to make the dreaded chore easier for you that will save you hours and stress wrinkles.

Alicia on “Why it’s crucial”
“Late payments can harm your credit score, and ultimately make you appear riskier than you might otherwise to lenders and even auto insurers. That can cost you money, or worse, compromise your ability to get a loan when you really need one. Worse, many credit card companies have instituted severe rate hikes – often to levels above 30% APR – for customers who have missed a payment on any of their accounts. Not that credit card companies are making it easier to pay on time. In addition to strict hour deadlines, bills are now mailed closer to the due date, leaving customers with one week less to submit payment than a decade ago. So you must be vigilant.”

Sarah on “Establishing a bill routine”
Paying bills may be the last thing you feel like doing after a busy day. However, without a routine for organizing your bills, it’s just too easy to miss payments. Your routine doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, you only need to establish a designated day and time each week to pay bills. Pick a spot where you feel comfortable and make it your permanent bill paying perch. I pay my bills every Monday evening while sitting at the kitchen table. On that night I get a “free pass” from the dishes so it’s easier to get over my tendency to procrastinate. I like the kitchen table because I still get to interact with my family – I’m not locked away in another room, suffering through the chore.

Once you have picked a day and time for bill paying, follow these simple steps for organizing the process:

  1. Go Electronic

    Computers can practically do everything for us these days, including bill paying. You can automatically pay bills every month by setting up electronic bill paying with your bank. All you have to do is enter in the information of who to pay and when, and with a quick confirmation your bank will write a check and deduct money from your account every month. This is so simple that in 2005, 24% of bills were paid electronically. So jump on the bandwagon and you will never have a late bill again!

  2. Read the rest of this entry »

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Cottage Industries: Schoolpak, Inc.


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Rubbingnickels.com loves it when a Mom starts a business at home. We hope our Cottage Industry guests will inspire all of you to get something started and help bringing in the bacon. There are always challenges, but the feeling of contributing towards your family’s financial health is empowering.

This week, we chatted online with Teri Schulist, who started a business at home called School-Pak, Inc. It has been a Woman/Mom-owned business in Milwaukee, WI since 1991. You can visit her website and check out her goodies at www.schoolpak.com. This is a great service and can keep you from spending that dreaded day in August, taking the tour of Target, Walmart, Aaron Brothers and Office Depot to get all the darn supplies your kids need.

Tell us about your business: Schoolpak takes the teachers’ supply lists and packages all the items for moms and dads, saving them multiple trips to stores looking for hard-to-find items.

Why did you start this business? I was shopping for our son’s school supplies and found so many parents having the same frustrations I had. I felt that families could do better things at the end of summer instead of getting stressed out.
photo-schoolpakpaper
What is your background? I was a shift supervisor for patient registration at a major Milwaukee hospital.

What skills did you need to acquire for your new endeavor? Mainly accounting and purchasing. I had no experience with either. I learned how to forecast products, lead times for delivery, how to keep track of it all, pay bills, report taxes, just about everything about running a business without ever having done it before.

Biggest challenges? Finding enough time to get it all done. My husband was in charge of sales and production. It was difficult dealing with manufacturers when we were so small. We were kind of ignored.

What have you learned and advice to others: Go for it. While it’s stressful at some times of the year (paying bills!) the freedom to make decisions and change an industry can’t be measured. My husband and I are 24/7 in the business and in our private lives and having a great time. Since we’re together all day, our evening conversations very seldom have to deal with work. When one of us falls into that, the other just says, “blah, blah, blah, blah”. We then move on to home life.

Thanks, Teri and good luck with your Cottage Industry!

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How to Search for a Work at Home Job


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Many people want to work from home, especially moms that want to be readily available for their children; but they just don’t know where to start. Just like any other job search, you will need to put in some time and effort, but once you do, you’ll be happy to find that there are a lot of work at home opportunities out there.
Here are three tips to get you started with your work at home job search:

  1. Search Major Career Job Sites. Start by searching the major career sites like Career Builder and Monster using the terms: “work at home”, “work from home”, “home based”, “remote”, “virtual”, “telecommute”, and “telework”. Because companies are trying to save money in this tough economy more and more businesses are hiring people to work from home.

    Just for fun I’ve searched on Career Builder for “home based” positions, and I’ve come up with many pages of results. Yes, you’ll need to take the time to scavenge through these, but the opportunities are there for the taking.

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Cottage Industries: More Time For You

photo-lorikrolik

Here is an excerpt from an interview we did with our friend Lori Krolik, who has a Northern California-based business called More Time For You. Rubbingnickels.com is looking for home-based business owners to share their business start-up experiences. Please contact us from our home page if you have a story you’d like to share. We hope you learn from and enjoy her story.

Tell us about your business:

I’m a professional organizer and time management consultant. I provide de-cluttering assistance to individuals and small businesses. I also help clients set up organization systems personalized to their needs including all rooms of the house (office, kitchen, garage, closets, kids’ rooms, etc.), office organization and paper management.

Why did you start this business?

I had a passion for organization and I liked having the ability to help others. I also wanted to do something that would allow me flexibility while raising my kids.

What is your background?

Before starting my own business I was a CPA having worked for a large public accounting firm and also in the real estate industry.

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Cottage Industries Spotlight: UV Skinz

UV

Here is an excerpt from an interview we did with Rhonda Sparks, founder of UV skinz. Rubbingnickels.com is looking for home-based business owners to share their business start-up experiences with us for our Cottage Industries feature. Please contact us from our home page if you have a story you’d like to share. We hope you learn from and enjoy her story.

  1. Give us your elevator pitch:
    UV Skinz manufactures UV protective swim shirts and clothing for the entire family (sizes 6m to 4XL) and make it a top priority to provide the most fun, fashionable and affordable sun protection around! Most people don’t realize that over 1.3 million cases of skin cancer will be diagnosed this year; 1 in 5 Americans. Or that one severe sunburn as a child more than doubles the risk of getting skin cancer as an adult. We want to help change these statistics by raising awareness about the need for proper sun protection.

  2. Why did you start this business?
    My husband was diagnosed with malignant melanoma at the young age of 27 and we lost him to the disease five years later. Once Darren was diagnosed with skin cancer, we became ultra aware of sun protection and made sure to keep our three young boys protected the best way we could. We soon realized that we needed to come up with something lightweight and breathable so that kids and adults alike would feel comfortable wearing shirts all day long in the sun.

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Setting Financial Goals


Setting Financial Goals
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Everyone has financial goals: A new dress, college tuition, a new computer, car repairs, a kitchen remodel, a vacation, and ultimately, retirement. Some of these goals you hope to achieve in the next six months, some in six years or more. Below is a link to a Financial Goals Worksheet. This worksheet will help you organize and prioritize these goals into short-term, medium-term and long-term goals. It should be reviewed every six to nine months and adjusted as necessary.

Financial Goals Worksheet

Once you have your budget and your financial goals outlined, Rubbing Nickels will help you determine areas to reduce spending and provide ideas for generating income to enable you to achieve your financial goals. For example, if you spend $50 less on food each week, by eating at home and/or packing your own lunch, you will have $2,400 more at year end for that new computer AND car repairs!

Keep visiting rubbingnickels.com and we will help you make those goals a reality. Please let us know if you have any questions.

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