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A game that aims to make winners of parents
by
Marcia Pledger
Tuesday September 02, 2008, 5:21 PM
So far Michael and Juliette Reynolds of Cleveland Heights have spent about $30,000 developing and marketing their new Parent Talk game.| Parent Talk
Location: Cleveland Heights Product: Board game about parenting by Babysteps Ltd. Employees: 2 Inspiration: A business opportunity that sprang from being excited about parenthood. Price: $29.99 Information: ParentTalkGame.com or 216-320-0602 |
The thought of an evening filled with money talk didn't especially appeal to Juliette or her friend, both of whom had put professional careers on hold to be stay-at-home mothers of preschoolers. Chatting as their children romped at a playground, "We jokingly agreed that we should have been playing a board game on parenting because that's what we spent all of our time thinking about," Reynolds recalls.
That night four years ago, she shared her playground conversation with Michael -- and both immediately saw a business opportunity. They formed Babysteps Ltd. with the idea of creating a board game to help parents to think about how to handle challenging situations as their child grows and develops.
That game is Parent Talk, aimed at the parents of babies and toddlers. Last month they launched ParentTalkGame.com, a Web site through which they sell the game.
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A mother's invention matches women's skills with employers' needs
by
Marcia Pledger
Tuesday August 12, 2008, 11:16 AM
BRIGHT IDEAS
A monthly feature about entrepreneurs with creative ideas or innovative products.
As a mother of toddlers, Shannon Davis had problems finding the kind of flexible work environment she needed. Figuring plenty of other stay-at-home moms were in the same boat, she started BeyondMotherhood.com to match the women's skills with the needs of local companies.UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS -- Shannon Davis was at home with two small children when a nagging thought just wouldn't go away: There has to be a better way for stay-at-home moms to leverage their skills and still be around for their children.
Davis, of University Heights, never wanted to be an entrepreneur. She just wanted to do something that she enjoyed with flexible hours, ideally a job that could draw on her master's degree in instructional technology and distance education. Instead, she found administrative jobs that didn't interest her or corporate jobs that weren't flexible.
"I started exploring things I always wanted to do and ended up working evenings as a sous chef coordinator for three years at Legacy Village," she said.
Before Davis changed careers, she managed e-learning and webcasting nationally for professional services company Ernst & Young. Prior to that she worked in a placement firm. Her background ties in perfectly with her new company, BeyondMotherhood.com, a niche job board aimed at connecting employers with experienced stay-at-home moms.
Continue reading "A mother's invention matches women's skills with employers' needs" »Policewoman finds her business niche with arresting jewelry
by
Shaheen Samavati
Tuesday July 01, 2008, 11:15 AM
BRIGHT IDEAS
A monthly feature about entrepreneurs with creative ideas or innovative products.
Amparo Vega, a Cleveland police academy instructor, makes law enforcement-themed jewelry that she sells through her side business, Cuff-N-Stuff.She's always been selling something: pepper spray, miniature police badges, stun guns. She even owns her own ice cream truck.
Her favorite, though, is jewelry. On a given day, the Cleveland woman wears multiple hoop earrings, gold chains and bracelets. She started buying jewelry from a wholesale distributor shortly after she became a police officer 23 years ago and resold it to friends and coworkers. Today she is a police academy instructor.
Given Vega's social circle, it wasn't a surprise that her hottest sellers were items tailored to police and firefighters -- especially those featuring their respective patron saints, Michael and Florian, and custom pieces with individual badge numbers.
Continue reading "Policewoman finds her business niche with arresting jewelry" »How a pet project became a money-making business
by
Shaheen Samavati
Tuesday June 03, 2008, 11:15 AM
BRIGHT IDEAS
A monthly feature about entrepreneurs with creative ideas or innovative products.
Corrie Hanton, 29, holds a freshly baked apple cinnamon muffin as her ferret, Jools, takes a sniff at her home in Lakewood. She sells a version of the muffin for both dogs and horses through her company, Pet Pastries, which also makes a variety of other specialty dry and moist foods for pets.After pulling a large apple cinnamon muffin in a bone-shaped cake pan from the oven, she explains that the healthy treat is designed for a special occasion -- like a doggie birthday party.
The muffins are among a range of pet food created by Hanton, who extends her holistic approach to nutrition to her four ferrets: Joey, Hobbes, Haley and Jools, who regularly enjoy home-cooked meals.
In January, she decided to do the same for other animals. She founded Pet Pastries, a home-based business that sells freshly made pet food with specialty ingredients. That includes using herbal remedies in custom treats for pets with specific health issues.
For example, she puts the dietary supplements glucosamine, chondroitin and MSM -- which some humans take for joint health -- in some of her snacks for animals with malformed hips or arthritis.
Continue reading "How a pet project became a money-making business" »A retiree on a mission barrels into a new business
by Shaheen Samavati
Tuesday May 06, 2008, 11:15 AM
BRIGHT IDEAS
A monthly feature about entrepreneurs with creative ideas or innovative products.
David George of Lyndhurst makes and sells rain barrels through his two-month-old company, Blue Water Ohio. What he saves is water -- and, at the same time, money.
The avid gardener in Lyndhurst has used rain barrels for years to capture the runoff from his roof. When the weather turns dry, his plants get a free drink.
After George, 60, retired last year, he kept busy by making and installing rain barrels for his friends and neighbors. And he began to see a business opportunity in catching raindrops.
He learned that no one around here specialized in full-service installation of rain barrel systems. People who really want them usually end up doing the work themselves -- which, George admits, is not terribly complicated.
But not everyone is handy, he points out. So two months ago George started Blue Water Ohio, counting on demand for green home improvements among people looking for ways to conserve water and energy.
Yard care without the roar of machines
by Shaheen Samavati
Wednesday April 02, 2008, 11:15 AM
Allison Hurley and Daniel Lake's company, Simple Yard Care, does not use any power equipment or chemicals. Most customers are in Cleveland's Tremont and Ohio City neighborhoods.
Daniel Lake unstrapped his harness and eased the 20-pound leaf blower off his back.
He was done after eight hours of listening to the machine's whirring motor and smelly gasoline. His job that day was to blast leaves from a tangle of English ivy.
"It'd be really cool to have a landscaping business where everything was done by hand," Lake said to his boss before heading home.
"It would take forever," his boss laughed. "That's a crazy idea."
Online company from Independence airing Super Bowl ad
by Shaheen Samavati
Wednesday January 30, 2008, 11:21 AM
BRIGHT IDEAS
A monthly feature about entrepreneurs with creative ideas or innovative products.
Location: Independence.
Product: A searchable online database of coupons from local businesses.
Employees: 30.
Inspiration: Serial entrepreneurs Jonathan Schaefer and Darren Rose wanted to move into the online space. After brainstorming, they decided one of the biggest concerns of people today is saving money. They convened focus groups to pinpoint what consumers would want out of a money-saving Web site.
Price: Free to consumers. Vendors pay $99 to $1,399 per year in order to have their coupons and ads posted on the site.
Information: HeyButler.com or 216-901-9585.
That's the philosophy behind HeyButler.com, a searchable online database of local coupons created by Jonathan Schaefer and Darren Rose, both of Solon.
The longtime friends launched the Web site at the beginning of the year and are spending tens of thousands of dollars on promotional gimmicks in order to drive people to it -- including a 15-second local TV spot during the Super Bowl on Sunday. The relatively low-budget ad will feature the company's logo and its Heeyyy Butler tagline.
"We're committing money, and lots of it, to get the name out there," said Rose, noting that funding for the HeyButler.com bus, mini-blimp, billboard, TV and radio ads, contests and other gimmicks has almost all come out of their own pockets.
"Visa, American Express and MasterCard have been integral investors in what we're doing," he said with a laugh.
Rose, Schaefer and WJW Channel 8, the local Fox affiliate, would not say how much the HeyButler.com Super Bowl commercial cost. But a 15-second ad during last year's Super Bowl would have cost $17,500, according to TNS Media Intelligence, an advertising research firm in New York.
Inventor shoots for success with young basketball players
by Shaheen Samavati
Thursday January 03, 2008, 11:15 AM
BRIGHT IDEAS
A monthly feature about entrepreneurs with creative ideas or innovative products.
Alexis Hohl, now 14, wears a visor designed to help train youn basketball players to shoot properly. The white line is used to help guide the index finger of the shooting hand.In 2000, he became a stay-at-home dad after moving to Beachwood from Los Angeles for his wife's job. Finally, he had the time and freedom get started, he thought.
"The kids were sleeping and I was on the computer trying to come up with my big idea," he said. Hohl explored different investment opportunities, but his efforts were mostly fruitless.
He went back to work full-time in 2002, but the dream of being an entrepreneur still lingered in his mind. Finally, an idea hit him while he was playing basketball in the driveway with his son, Alex, then 10.
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