Contestant's Case to Win

As a petroleum geologist with a flexible telecommuting work arrangement, I successfully balanced a well-paying career with caring for a child who has special needs. Then a new manager forced me to make a decision: care for my toddler daughter at home or work in the office. I chose my daughter. Our family farm takes in rescued livestock and covering our considerable bills after a 60% drop in income became impossible, so out of necessity I started a work-at-home business to manufacture and sell three unique items I had invented to improve the lives of our own animals. Although Crazy K Farm Pet and Poultry Products was born in the midst of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, I quickly learned from tremendous customer response and positive feedback that people who are tightening their belts will elect to spend money on items that provide safety and/or comfort to their pets, provided they are not over-priced. My mission is to produce high-quality essential pet and poultry products and to offer them to consumers at reasonable prices. All three of my highly innovative patent-pending items are the first of their kind on the market and each provides a vital “service” to the animals they are purchased for. The Hen Saver hen apron protects hens from treading by roosters, pecking from other hens, and gives chickens a fighting chance against chicken hawks; it also enables existing wounds to heal and lost feathers to regrow. The Kitty Holster is a soft, ultra-lightweight, clothing-like cat harness that even cats who hate to wear other types of harnesses love to wear. And the Avian Haven hut is two products in one: a fabric hut shaped like a house that provides a semi-enclosed space for birds to retreat to within their cage to feel safe and secure and in which they can sleep and rest undisturbed in a natural perching position; inside the hut is a soft, thick-pile back wall for birds to snuggle against. My start-up costs were minimal in that each item was initially made to order. I bought all material from discount stores, and only after an item was purchased and paid for on-line would I have a sewing contractor make it. When the orders became too numerous to keep up with, my biggest lay-out of money to date occurred when I elected to use a US clothing and fabrics company with a factory in Bangladesh (although we continue to make made-to-order and customer-requested "Made in the USA" items here in the US). Problem was, my profit per item was very small and although I was putting food in the 200+ mouths on the farm and covering my company's bills, I had very little money left over for a first run. I utilized the free services of my local Small Business Development Center, and with their considerable assistance and support polished my business plan and obtained a loan at a time when banks were cutting back lending to small businesses, especially start-ups. My successful one-woman, at-home budget business certainly merits consideration as a winner in the Recession Buster category of the Home-Based 100 Competition. Although we are still in a deep recession, my first run is selling briskly to distributors and retail stores in the USA, Canada and Europe, as well as directly to American and international consumers, and the business continues to grow to meet customers' needs: I will be offering both the Avian Haven, which recently received an endorsement from a board certified avian veterinarian, and the Kitty Holster in two additional sizes; I just introduced a new Kitty Holster "Boutique Line;" and have begun offering Hen Savers with "Predator Eyes" to deter hawks from attacking chickens. Consumers feel that these products are essential to their pets' safety and comfort and are buying them at a time when they are severely cutting back on spending. Consider the words of my very first Kitty Holster Boutique Line customer: "My cat actually seems to like being in her harness, it gives her a sense of security, it seems to me. I can now take her out in confidence and without worry since I have control of her. This device is one of the most remarkable and useful products I have ever come across for my cat." As I prepare for my next run, I continue to maintain a very streamlined, low-budget, recession-busting operation: I still have no employees or helpers beyond a contract seamstress, my brother in Florida who telemarkets my products to retailers across the country in return for a small commission, and my 4-year-old daughter who happily dresses up in a chicken or kitty costume when the presence of a mascot is called for; I design and maintain my own websites (I chose my website hosting company specifically because it provides free user-friendly software that enabled me to build my own websites and store without knowing a word of html); I have a small, highly targeted advertising campaign (and design all of my print and banner ads myself); and my self-run fulfillment center is housed in my garage!