Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Hi there! I found SuN a few weeks ago, and jumped right in posting, instead of introducing myself first. I realized my error yesterday when replying to an introduction, so I figured I`d make good ASAP.

My name is Heather, and I have been an entrepreneur for as long as I can remember. When I was young, I worked with my mother in her business. Back in the 80`s, she made and sold some pretty amazing jewelry made of Shrinky Dink (shrink plastic, remember that?).

By the time I was 16, I was testing my salesmanship in a traveling carnival (loooooong story). For a few years, I settled into the corporate world with Kinko`s (starting at seventeen) while I went to college. Moving up the ladder from co-worker to color copy specialist to desktop publisher to print specialist (for outside work) to corporate trainer over three years had me moving all over the country.

As soon as I got the chance, though, I got back to my dreams of owning a business by writing and publishing my first book. Selling it meant I made my first website in 1996 (it was one long gif, because HTML couldn`t make it look like what I wanted yet), and start my first email newsletter (I met potential customers through the Compuserve forums).

I kept my business going until 2007, when I let it go for personal reasons whie it was still bringing in good money. I had done what I dreamed for ten years... supported myself and my family very well with something I loved.

During that time I also consulted and helped start-ups and other companies at no charge. I have worked with everything from a skateboard company, a tattoo shop, several magazines, a shopping center, a pet store, a barbecue company, a enviromental engineering firm to real estate agents and restaurants. I used theopportunities to see inside those businesses, and to learn as I taught and helped.

Now, I have gone back to corporate for a short time. I took the job I`m in because I felt (and still feel) it had something to teach me. I am the marketing coordinator for a local corporation. I oversee the graphics, list management, email schedules, promotions, and social media efforts for Queensboro, a company that offers custom embroidered and printed apparel for small businesses.

I also take freelance work on the side in web and graphics design (specializing in marketing-driven design), but I don`t really push that myself, since I have a girlfriend who I work with that pimps me out quite nicely. I am also working on a new project.

My project is part online community, part charity, and part Project Runway. In those ten years of business, I taught sewing, fashion design and personal style development, and I will be using some of my considerable accumulated resources from that time to build the foundation for my new project.

I learned something from my ten years in business for myself... I can`t and don`t want to do it all.

In a few months, I will be looking for skilled people who would be interested in participating in a business experiement, a team of professionals giving a small amunt of time per week (say 4 hours) for a year to learn new things, challenge themseves, and quite possibly make a nice chunk of change.

Of course, the money is never a guarantee, so even I am in it for the fun and challenge (although the goal is serious cash), and then to repeat the template again and again. *smiles*

I`ve probably rambled on enough.

I am not the greatest expert in anything. I am just me, with experiences and opinions in nearly every part of running a business, and willing to share them.

I look forward to continuing my discussions with some of you, and meeting many more of you.

Thanks for having me.

Hi Heather :-)
Although it was bandied about for awhile, the Sloan brothers conscientiously decided to not have forum police, charged with upholding rules and regulations. That doesn`t mean you`re free and clear, and you may still end up in jail for not properly introducing yourself. It only means that for the moment, your case is probably undecided.


Actually, way back when, there wasn`t an introduction topic. With so many people joining the community, someone proposed a separate topic and it came to be. Sounds like you`ve had a pretty varied and interesting life. :-)

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Our Goal Is Your Success!
Founder Girls with Goals

Well, I am willing to take responsibility for my lapse, so decided to turn myself in... *grins.

I have done some interesting things, for sure. They have not always been the "right" things, but they have nearly always bee interesting! Hopefully, I`ll keep up that trend.

Thanks, Erin! I Found you on twitter from your posts on here. *smiles*

My mother had a sort of ongoing motto: "It`s an Adventure!"

We were too young to understand much of anything, so whenever anything got weird, she`d say it was an adventure, and we`d just go right along with it. Toddlers and little kids are fun that way. They just agree with pretty much anything.

One time we were on the way to JFK International airport in New York to pick up my father. He was on his way back from Europe, some sort of business trip. Mom took a wrong turn (or 12), and next thing you know, we`re driving around on a taxiway behind the main hangers.

Needless to say, she was probably a bit panicked. But rather than worry the kids, she just said, "Oh...we`re having an Adventure!" (Over and over again.)

Funny thing is that I`ve had a life that make not a whole lot of sense, in terms of a linear progression. But...it`s an adventure, that`s for sure! :-D

Funny thing is that I`ve had a life that make not a whole lot of sense, in terms of a linear progression. But...it`s an adventure, that`s for sure! :-D

LOL! Sounds like mine. I wouldn`t trade it, even the challenges I have faced and mistakes I have made. I am learning something new every day.

It`s an adventure!

I think that`s my new motto. That, and "Slowly, slowly we catchee monkey." *grins*