| In
This Issue
2003 Count
Me In Rising Stars
Seasons Greetings from Count Me In
Count Me In Holiday Marketplace
Loans Available for Women Entrepreneurs
Credit Desk – Be Sure to Pay on Time
Shop Online At Office Depot and Help Count Me In
Biz Corner
Tis the Season: Planning So Your Business is Calendar-Savvy
in 2003
Biz Education
Sign Up Now for Online Workshops with Count Me In This Winter
BizLine™ and BizLine Archive
Count Me In Family News
Interesting Fact
2003
Count Me In Rising Stars
Rising Star
Awards were bestowed upon 14 Count Me In loan recipients at
the Business Women’s Network (BWN) 2003 Women and Diversity
Leadership Summit in Washington DC on October 23rd and 24th.
The Rising
Star awards honor women not only for successfully realizing
their small business dreams, but also for being an inspiration
to women business owners or future business owners to achieve
their dreams.
A special
reception was held on the 23rd and Marilyn Carlson Nelson,
President of Carlson Companies, Inc. and Chair of the National
Women’s Business Council, was present to honor the Count
Me In loan recipients and hand out the Rising Star Awards.
Marilyn also announced a research grant to Count Me In from
the National Women’s Business Council.
BWN, together
with its federal agency partners, works to promote more procurement
and contract opportunities for America’s small, minority
and women-owned businesses. Headed up by a member of Count
Me In’s Board of Directors, Edie Fraser, BWN builds upon
the unique umbrella of support for women in business. Their
goal is to build more business for women across all corporate
and government borders.
Following
the reception, representatives from the Small Business division
of American
Express hosted a dinner for the Count Me
In loan recipients attending the Summit. The dinner gave American
Express staff an opportunity to witness first hand the success
their work with Count Me In has created in its endeavor to further
small business development.
Rising
Star award winners from Count Me In include:
Dawna
Brown
Second
time loan recipient, Dawna
Brown, of
aCCent Pottery and Gifts imports specialty pottery from Poland and sells it on
her web site, www.accentpottery.com, and in her shop in Virginia. |
Judy
Knutson
First time loan recipient, Judy
Knutson, of Encore Kids, Inc. makes and sells specialty
dollhouses
and children’s
furniture. |
Kathleen
Burke,
founder of SunStuff Sun Protective Accessories, and second time CMI loan recipient
designs hats and clothing that are particularly resistant to UVA and UVB rays. www.wearsunstuff.com |
Kendra
Lewis
First time loan recipient, Kendra
Lewis, started her own consulting firm, Development Concepts,
specializing in fundraising
and development needs of the non-profit sector. |
Angela
Campbell
First time loan recipient Angela
Campbell is Partner of the Maryland Health and Safety Institute,
an organization that specializes in health and CPR training. |
Joyce
Patterson
First time loan recipient Joyce
Patterson founded JMPS Phlebotomy Services, a mobile phlebotomy
services company providing clients with in home visits by skilled technicians.
|
Trina
Charlot
First time
loan recipient Trina
Charlot brings a little taste of New Orleans to Atlanta
GA with her Snow Ball stand that she runs during the summer while she has time
off from teaching.
|
Peg
Shaw
First time loan recipient Peg
Shaw represented the Beehive Hair Salon, which she runs
in conjunction with her partner
Amy May. |
Towanda
Cooper
Second
time loan recipient Towanda
Cooper runs
her own mobile automotive repair service, Cooper Automotive
Repair, in Athens, GA. |
Kellen
Simpson McCluskey
Second
time loan recipient
Kellen
Simpson McCluskey
represented Good Use, the furniture refurbishing store
she runs with
her partner
Rebecca
Seems. www.good-use.com
|
Adele
Horowitz
First time loan recipient Adele Horowitz created Lice Advice, a consultation
service for getting rid of lice. She also designed a patented comb for getting
out nits. www.liceadvice.com |
Adrienne
Smalls
First time loan recipient Adrienne Smalls started Prison Help, a service of Small
Quality Packaging Corp., which provides supplies and packaging, personalized
shopping and consulting services for inmates
and their families. www.prisonhelp.com |
Melissa
Kesner
Christina Krause
First
time loan recipients Melissa
Kesner and Christina Krause started Mrs. K’s Cookies, or Baker in a Bottle,
with nothing more than
a glass bottle, wooden spoons and recipe instruction cards. www.bakerinabottle.com |
Rowena
Taylor-Mills
First
time loan recipient Rowena
Taylor-Mills is the co-owner of Cakes and Creations, a
specialty cake shop she started with her sister when they decided to combine
their talents to
serve
people doing what
they love. www.cakesandcreations.com |
Rising Star award
winners Peg Shaw of Beehive Hair Salon, and Kendra Lewis of
Development Concepts with Nell Merlino, President
and CEO of Count Me In; Edie Fraser,
President of BWN and Count Me In Board Member; and Marilyn Carlson
Nelson, President of Carlson Companies, Inc. and Chair of the
National Women’s Business Council.
Season’s
Greetings from Count Me In
The holidays
are already upon us and Count Me In is celebrating its third
successful year. We have many exciting initiatives ahead of
us in the New Year, but most importantly we’re looking
forward to being able to double the amount of loans we made
last year thanks to a generous investment in our Invest in
Women Notes program by The Listwin Foundation.
Count Me
In would also like to extend a specials thanks Lorene Arey
Listwin, President of the Listwin Foundation and new member
of the Count Me In Board of Directors, and Rusty Robertson,
a new member of Count Me In’s Advisory Board for hosting
events at their homes to introduce their friends and colleagues
to Count Me In and the Invest in Women Notes Program. Rusty
hosted her event in October and featured a performance by special
guest Nora Dunn of Saturday Night Live.
Count Me
In is also thrilled to be featuring our Holiday
Marketplace again this year to help you out with your holiday
shopping.
Nell, Staci,
Kathy and Brenda wish
you and yours a safe and happy holiday season.
Count
Me In Holiday Marketplace
 Don’t
forget to visit the Count Me In Holiday
Marketplace for all of your holiday gift giving, baking
and travel needs. The Marketplace features women who have received
Count Me In loans.
Loans
Available for Women Entrepreneurs
Great news!
Count Me In has $1,000,000 available for qualifying women in
the form of small business loans. Loans range from $500 to
$10,000 with first time loan recipients being eligible for
loans up to $5,000. Count Me In for Women's Economic Independence
is the only online micro-lender that is national in scope providing
access to capital to women across the United States. All a
woman needs to apply is an already existing business that is
ready to expand or a viable business idea with a concrete plan.
Please go to here to
apply for a loan.
Please let your friends and other women know about this great
opportunity!
Count Me
In wishes to thank The Listwin Foundation for making the first
investment of $1,000,000 in the loan fund through the Invest
in Women Notes Program. Lorene Arey Listwin, President of The
Listwin Foundation is a member of Count Me In’s Board
of Directors.
Credit
Desk – Pay on Time
Count Me
In would like to remind all current and new loan recipients
that we are now reporting all loan activity to the credit bureau.
This includes both positive and negative payment information.
Reporting will help women establish a credit history for themselves,
as all of the information will be reported in their name. Please
also be aware that if you are late or behind in your payments,
this will be reflected in your credit history. Remember, we’re
counting on you to make your payments on time!
Check
Out Office Depot’s Online Business Services
Now in addition
to shopping online at Office Depot and helping Count Me In
(link on our home page), you can obtain valuable information
for your startup or growing business. Just log onto the Office
Depot
web site
and
visit
their Small
Business Handbook. Learn everything you need to know about
running your business from equity to employees.
The
Biz Corner
Tis
the Season – Make Your Business Calendar-Savvy
Taking full
advantage of natural, or artificial, timing in marketing your
products and services simply requires a little information,
some creativity, and planning far enough in advance to do it
right.
There are
six categories of calendars you should look at during a planning
year:
- Common
Promotions
- Monthly
- Seasons/Quarterly
- Holidays
(traditional and unusual)
- Specific
Industry Cycles
- Your
Own Business’ Cycle
Not all
types of cycles apply for all types of businesses but using
the calendar to anticipate marketing opportunities will increase
your success.
Remember
in planning to “back out” all the preparatory work
to be done in the weeks and months preceding the actual promotion.
As you will
see, there are plenty of silly holidays and observances but
these can serve as a launching point for your own promotions.
Be creative, have fun, and let the orders begin!
To read
this article in its entirety please click here.
Stay tuned for more articles that will be posted in the BizEducation
Library.
Terre Thomas,
the author of this and other articles including Finding and
Keeping a Good Sales Rep, is a marketing/planning consultant
and writer living in Minneapolis, MN. She specializes in assisting
companies and organizations in launching new endeavors and
the transition from the early stage of “surviving” into
the “thriving” state of business. For more information
about Terre please click here.
Biz
Education
Online
Classes Start on January 8th
The next
workshop series will be held on January 8th and 9th and again
on January 15 and 16th. Register now to participate Count Me
In’s curriculum of online classes on How to Start a Business.
Join Count Me In Business Instructor, Kathy Keeley, in learning
how to start your own business.
Topics
include:
- What
You Need to Know Before You Start
- Writing
a Business Plan
- Obtaining
Financing; and
- A Checklist
for Starting a Business.
Join a lively
online discussion.
Hear other
women entrepreneurs tell their stories and ask questions and
get your own questions answered. Classes are for one hour in
the evening and they are a great opportunity to share your
experiences and learn from others. Complete an application
and sign up now for this exciting new opportunity made possible
by Morgan Stanley.
All classes
are currently conducted using AOL Instant Messaging, which
is free to the public for download. Click
here to get started.
Don’t
Miss the Online Financial Empowerment Workshop
This online
workshop is featured on our web site and provides women with
the knowledge they need to manage their businesses and personal
finances more effectively. The lesson they will learn is it's
not how much money they make but what they do with it that
counts. The workshop is designed with that in mind. The workshop
was created for Count Me In by Moneyworks, Inc. and is supported by
a generous grant from Morgan Stanley. Click
here for more information.
BizLine™
Business
Question Stumping You?
We developed BizLine™ (insert
link) so that we can help you - the small business owner
or aspiring owner - build your business. Email us a business
question and the Count Me In experts will answer it within
48 hours!
Ask us
a question about what is puzzling you - whether you are just
starting a business or growing fast. Email your questions
to BizLine@count-me-in.org.
Just remember,
your questions need to be business related and try to keep
them to less than a paragraph with just enough relevant information
to outline your question. We want to help!
BizLine™ Archives
If you
have a question that you are hesitant to ask or are just
plain curious, check out our BizLine™ archives.
Count
Me In Family News
 Judith
Knutson
First time loan recipient Judith Knutson, of Encore Kids,
Inc. used her Count Me In loan to develop two product lines
for her business. The first, Mom and Janie, named after Judy’s
mother and her sister, is made up of hand-painted, solid
maple furniture and wooden dollhouses. Each piece in this
line comes with a wonderful book written by Judy’s
mother about her childhood that she and Janie had. The second
line called Haunted Hills consists of spooky Halloween scenes – constructed
of plywood, Styrofoam and illuminated villages, trees, figures,
etc. They vary in size from a 47’ high floor display,
with 11 illuminated buildings, to a smaller size that fits
easily on a tabletop. Encore Kids is located in Beldenville
Wisconsin, one hour southeast of Minneapolis/St. Paul Minnesota,
(715) 273-6420 or email encore@redwing.net.
All of their products are manufactured, with great pride,
in Wisconsin.
 Amy
May, Peg Shaw
First
time loan recipient Amy May, and partner Peg Shaw, decided
to mix old-fashioned values with contemporary style and started
Beehive Hair Salon
in
Philadelphia. Although the Beehive is billed as a salon it
mirrors and old-style barbershop. The salon is laden with
character from the regulars who stop by just to gossip or
pick up the paper, to the resident dogs that greet you as
you walk through the door. The Beehive has been open now
for almost 2 years and it’s already commanded a lot
of attention, and was even voted the “Best Place to
Get a Haircut” in 2002 by the readers of the Philadelphia
City Paper. If you’re in the Philadelphia area visit
the Beehive at 2319 Fairmount Avenue, (215) 235-4483.
 Isabelle
Meza,
of Los Alamitos, CA worked full time For six
years, while raising her three children, all the while dreaming
of becoming a successful female entrepreneur. Suddenly she
had an amazing opportunity to open up her own store in the
center of a series of cottage houses that have been converted
into a popular shopping area. She opened up her own event-planning
studio, Taylor Your Memories, which where she offers invitations,
planning and gifts. Her passion is designing beautiful unique
invitations for all occasions. In fact one of the styles
she carries won the viewers choice award three years ago
on the Today show on NBC. With her Count Me In loan Isabelle
has now expanded her inventory to include the upcoming holidays.
Visit her business on the web at www.tayloryourmemories.com.
Laura
Winter
First time loan recipient Laura Winter, after becoming
continually frustrated with trying to decide what she wanted
to do professionally, started her own business, Taste of
Spirits, and became a 33-year-old female entrepreneur. While
working
with a temp agency she was placed with a wine and spirits
company, which ended up hiring her full time. Having a background
in food service, she decided to try her hand at sales and
absolutely loved it. After making
several contacts in the wine and spirit world, she decided
to try to make a go of it on her own a business she truly
loved. Laura’s new company provides an alternative
for wine and spirit suppliers who need a sales rep to fill
in for them when they are unable to make a tasting or event.
Her growing business provides educated professionals with
experience in the wine and spirit world.
Randi
Rubin,
 being a social worker by trade, never considered
starting her own business—that is until she finished
graduate school and discovered the job market to be less
than what she expected. And after becoming disabled the job-hunting
process became twice as hard. Then one day it dawned on her,
why not start a Geriatric Care Management business? She loved
case management and senior citizens were her favorite population
to work with. It was a field that she new a lot about and
had a lot of experience in. She began researching the field
and joined numerous professional organizations such as the
National Association of Professional Geriatric Care Managers.
From
this research she was able to glean the necessary information
to start her own Geriatric Care Management Business, Golden
Years Management.
Julia
McCormack
of Orinda CA was a one-person operation
running her travel business, Worldwide Escapes, when she
was expecting her first child. As she was contemplating how
she would manage the business and her newborn she came across
Count Me In and was approved for a loan that helped her hire
an employee to cover for her while she was on maternity leave.
Business was booming following her maternity and she was
able to maintain her additional employee. Worldwide escapes
offers over 20 short trips in Asia and eight short trips
in South America as well as 8-day trips to Costa Rica and
Belize. They also design custom trips nearly anywhere in
Asia, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Belize, Turkey,
New Zealand and Australia. For more information log onto
www.wwescapes.com.
 Carolyn
Watkins
Second time loan recipient Carolyn Watkins established
Carolina Timeless Floors as a business that would continue a tradition
of providing quality floor finishing and installation services
to consumers in and out of the area in which she resides.
Deciding to go into business was both a sentimental and an
economical decision made after many hours of discussion and
soul-searching. Her first Count Me In loan helped her purchase
materials for running her business and the second loan enabled
her to purchase a new van to carry the tools and materials
from site to site. She has been exposed to this business
all her life as her 74-year-old father was in this business
for many years. Now she carries on her father’s legacy
with her own business along with the help of her two employees:
her husband and her son.
Michelle
Newton
First time loan recipient Michelle
Newton was running a successful
day care center, Ms. Michelle’s Childcare, when one
summer day she received notice that she would have to vacate
the building her business was housed in due to unsafe conditions.
She had no idea how she was going to pay for a new lease,
the transference of her utilities and the purchase of new
equipment. She tried several avenues in search of funding—all
to no avail. Then she found Count Me In. With her first loan
from Count Me In Michelle was able to reopen her center in
its new location on. The loan enabled her to get a lease
in a new building, repaint and purchase new equipment within
a week and reopened just 3 weeks after being told to vacate
her original business space. When she moved she had 4 preschoolers
and 5 school-agers. She has already added 9 new children
and has reservations in her center for 3 more. She is also
now able to hire a second person for the center.
Rowena
Taylor-Mills
First time loan
recipient Rowena Taylor-Mills, and
her sister Rochelle, are co-owners of Detroit based
Cakes and Creations and have combined their unique talents
to serve people while
doing what they love! Everything they create is custom ordered,
which means all cakes and floral designs are one of a kind.
Special attention is given to every detail from birthday
to wedding cakes and from bud vases to the main attraction
in
a grand foyer. Read more about their specialties, and look
at some of their unique designs. Visit their web site at
www.cakesandcreations.com.
Kendra
Lewis
First time loan recipient Kendra Lewis started
Development Concepts, is a California based full-service
fund raising
and event-planning firm. Their focus is fund-raising and
event planning for individuals, non-profit organizations
and corporations. The firm serves a variety of cultural,
social service, educational institutions, health, religious,
environmental and professional organizations and associations.
Development Concepts is responsive to the special needs of
the non-profit industry.
Patricia
White Watson
First time loan recipient Patricia
White Watson, of Chameleon
Photos, represents New York City photographers to corporate,
advertising and graphic companies. She had a thriving business
until September 11th with mostly corporate clients. In order
to keep the current lease on her gallery and keep up with
equipment rental, Patricia needed a loan to help with cash
flow. She just got a new partner in her business and so far business
is starting to pick up now that a full year has passed.
 Towanda
Cooper
was nine years old when she first began getting
grease under her fingernails while helping her father at
his service station. She pumped gas, handled minor repairs
and learned how to change the oil in cars. Towanda coupled
her introduction to car work with some formal automotive
training and opened a mobile auto maintenance business in
Athens, GA called Cooper Automotive Repair, Inc. She operates
her business from her home and takes the garage to the customer
by using a van as her office and garage. For a nominal fee
Towanda will visit a customer’s residence or place
of business to perform minor repairs. Her services include
oil changes, tire rotation, brake jobs and tune-ups on automobiles
and light trucks, full-size pickup trucks and vans.
Ruby
Ferguson
First time loan recipient Ruby Ferguson started
her business in the long distance trucking business to bring
in extra
income to support her family. She works part time as a policy
dispatcher, which enables her to take 3 days off to drive
trucks for food brokers. In order to serve her clients better,
she used her Count Me In loan to upgrade her equipment and
radio in her leased truck. She has ten years prior experience
driving for trucking firms.
 Amy
Toop
First time loan recipient Amy Toop, of Tacoma, WA is
a floral designer and founder of Custom Creations. Amy had
always been a stay at home mom, but following a divorce,
she became a correctional officer for the County Sheriff.
In addition to working full time, custom designing as well
as selling candles has been one of her hobbies for a number
of years. She just decided that if she liked doing it so
much - why not do it on her own. With a loan from Count Me
In she got her side business off the ground and recently
designed a coffee shop in downtown Seattle. Her Count Me
In loan enabled her to make flyers for her business and purchase
more supplies.
Dawna
Brown
Second time loan recipient Dawna
Brown is
a military spouse who has lived all around the world. Her
business, aCCent Pottery & Gifts, started while she was
based in Germany. She went on several shopping tours to Poland,
where Polish pottery is made, and kept hearing other customers
say over and over that they couldn’t get the items
home that they wanted to purchase. So she started offering
to ship items home for them via the Deutsche Post. Before
she knew it the shipping turned into personal shopping and
she was a licensed business in Germany. The next step was
to make her Pottery findings available online at www.accentpottery.com.
In just three years her business went from a simple beginning
to an Internet store, to having consultants share her products,
to wholesale shipments to stores around the country. Dawna
used her first Count Me In loan to upgrade her packing and
shipping system. And she just used her second loan to open
a new retail store in the Heritage Square Shopping Center
in Grafton, VA.
Gladys
David-Flounoy's
company does business under two names:
VGN Corporation and El Club Centro Americana. VGN is a promotional
marketing company that was started by one individual, Gladys,
and then later she incorporated her two sisters into the
business. They had been doing promotions unofficially for
15 years before they decided to make it into a business.
For more information please visit the Upscale Promotions
web site at www.upscale-productions.com.
Myrna
Wigley
First time loan recipient Myrna Wigley is
a full time flight attendant and is married with a 16-year-old
daughter
getting ready to go to college. Although life is hectic right
now, she is looking forward to retiring from her current
full time job after her daughter goes to college, so she
can focus on her own business. Phoenix Training & Development
serves as an umbrella for several training programs. First
and foremost Myrna operates as an independent contractor
for Independent Means, Inc. As a certified program provider
for them, she facilitates entrepreneurial education and economic
literacy programs for teen women. She also develops and teaches
her own Personal/Career Development Programs for teen women.
She used her loan from Count Me In to set up office space,
open a business checking account, establish and market an
Internet presence, execute sales and marketing plan and network.
For more information please log onto www.independentmeans.com.
Sarah
Liston
 First
time loan recipient Sarah Liston’s New
York City based vintage clothing store,
Tallulah Vintage, was
nominated for the 2002 Small Business Awards as one of
Manhattan’s
Best Small Businesses. Visit Tallulah Vintage at www.tallulahvintage.com.
Do
you have news you’d like to share with us?
Send your
news to: info@count-me-in.org.
Remember, keep us informed and we’ll keep you informed.
Interesting
Fact
Each day,
1,600 women become new business owners. (Case Study: Women’s
Growth Capital Fund) (www.ewowfacts.com)
|
