I live in a community that’s a lot like Mayberry. It’s a community that has a focus on family. It’s the biggest reason my husband Greg and I decided to move to Pacific Palisades. Everywhere you go there are children involved in some sort of activity: soccer, baseball, basketball, hockey, tennis, music, art, drama, playing at the park. The baseball league, in particular, is quite popular. They have a well thought out program in place with an Opening Day celebration, an organized season, and Closing Ceremonies to honor the players. Our family attended the closing ceremonies last weekend and this got me thinking about how Smart Women could learn a lot from the local Pacific Palisades Baseball Association. Read the rest of this entry »

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Recently, I took my son Jack shopping for a new baseball glove. The old glove was too small for his hand and his coach felt that a new glove might be just the thing that he needed. We both enjoyed looking through all of the gloves. He tried on quite a few (The smell of all that leather was so wonderful!). Read the rest of this entry »

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Name of company: Strategic Staffing Solutions
Name of woman leader: Debra Maynard
Based in: Indianapolis
Description: Provides supplemental staffing for client organizations
Began: 2002
2003 sales: $1.3 million
2007 sales: $3.9 million

What was the inspiration for your business?
After 19 years in the staffing industry, Debra Maynard felt circumscribed in her efforts to provide the kind of customer care she believes in. “I came to the point where I thought, ‘Why can’t I do this?’ That was my inspiration. Just being able to provide something I thought would be better.”

How much did it cost to start the business?
It took six months and $60,000 in cash to launch the business. To finance the operation, Maynard cashed in a 401(k), took out a second mortgage on her home and lived on her savings for the first year of business. “That first year I had like $4,000 in salary,” she says. There wasn’t any furniture in the lobby the day she opened, but Maynard had 60 associates ready for hire. The furniture arrived in boxes later that afternoon, Maynard recalls.

Name of company: Enterforce
Name of woman leader: Marie O’Brien
Based in: Waukesha, Wis.
Description: Managed services provider
Began: 2001
2003 sales: $1.9 million
2007 sales: $50.3 million

What was the inspiration for your business?
O’Brien co-developed another company in the mid-1990s that was attached to a staffing business. But that meant other suppliers were skeptical when she tried to recruit them. “You’re going to give that business to your sister company first,” they would say. So O’Brien determined to develop a management consulting firm that would offer a level playing field to all the suppliers at a client site.

How much did it cost to start the business?
She used $16,560 from her family’s savings.

Name of company: Temporary Housing Directory Inc.
Name of woman leader: Teresa Vidger
Based in: Castle Rock, Colo.
Description: Coordinates the selection and management of short-term housing choices for individuals displaced because of an insurance claim or corporate relocation.
Started: 2001
2003 sales: $281,000
2007 sales: $20 million

What was the inspiration for your business?
Vidger had a background in the field of corporate relocations, driving people around to show them properties. But she had also developed a sideline finding temporary housing for insurance companies, which she could do over the phone.

Then Vidger’s son was born nine weeks premature, at only two-and-a-half pounds. “I couldn’t drive people around any longer, and I was just continuing to do my insurance business because I could do those placements over the telephone. He couldn’t go into day care because he was so little. It made me re-evaluate what I was doing. I thought, I could do this on my own and carve out a niche and only do temporary housing placements, because it’s mainly phone work. So I decided to get my real estate broker’s license and start my own company.”

How much did it cost to start the business?
“I didn’t have to have a lot of cash, but I had about $100,000 that I could use. It was mainly to be able to upfront some of the costs for me–because I was used to working really hard and making money–and then to upfront the cost for the placements.”

Name of company: Pinnacle Technical Resources
Name of woman leader: Nina Vaca
Based in: Dallas, Texas
Description: IT staffing, consulting and vendor management firm for Fortune 500 companies.
Launched: 1996
2003 sales: $9 million
2007 sales: $141 million

What was the inspiration for your business?
“It was the right time in the industry and it was the right time for me personally,” says Vaca, who established her company in 1996. She’d been working for a New York tech firm that provided talent to Fortune 500 companies. When she moved to Texas to be near her family, Vaca–a third-generation entrepreneur–decided to start her own firm. “The industry was absolutely booming. Technology was at a point where the need for technical talent was just incredible,” she says. “There was an incredible demand, and I happened to be in the industry; I saw the opportunity and capitalized on it.”

How much did it cost to start the business?
“We’re a service organization, so I started from my living room floor in my one-bedroom apartment. It cost me giving up a salary and giving up a fixed income. I opened my first checking account with $300.”

For more information and to find out who the other 21 women are, go to http://www.womanentrepreneur.com/

Copyright: 2008 WomenEntrepreneur.com All rights reserved

Sandra Levitin

I love being in my fifties! Smack in the middle of the baby boomer generation of women; a

generation of women unlike any other. A group of women not ready to move over, lie down or let life

pass them by sitting in a rocking chair.

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They’re powerful, outspoken, and know how to band together to make brands sit up and take notice of their needs. Find out how and why you should seek the approval of moms for your next campaign.
Moms are joining social networks en-masse. If you’re a mom, or married to one like I am, you’ve probably noticed a lot more activity with moms on Facebook in the past six months. Read the rest of this entry »

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