Remember when you were little and your parents wanted you to be a doctor or lawyer? There is a great joke that says when a Jewish son is born, his parents send out a birth announcement that reads…”We would like to announce the birth of our son- Dr. Barry Moltz”. No expectations there right? It took me a long time after I graduated college to realize there are a lot of professions in this world beyond just a doctor or lawyer and a lot of ways to make money especially if you want to have your own business. Most of our guests today are very well educated people who switched their careers later in life.
Today’s show focused on business owners that have found fascinating and sometimes even bizarre ways people make money in a business.
Aynsley Deluce had her first job in corporate sales for Virgin Airways in Hong Kong and now is the founder of Parkingspots.com. Her clients have run the spectrum from, Walmart, Kroger, Walgreens, Safeway and Microsoft, Her passion for travel and culture have led her to almost every continent and played a large role in her ability to understand consumers, and their motivations. I talked with Aynsley about how she made the transition from the corporate world to having her own business. She talks about the amazing applications she is developing that will make it easier for all of us to find parking!
The most important thing about my next guest, Scott Swanay is that he picks my Chicago Cubs this year to win the World Series. He went from being a Harvard trained applied math major and actuary to starting his own business for fantasy baseball and football leagues. We talk about how his business is like being an escort service and how he took his passion and turned it into a business.
Kate Hart , Jill :-) is an award winning home staging and design expert who has helped hundreds of home owners prepare their homes for sale. Her work has been featured in numerous books and national publications, and she has appeared HGTV Radio, The Fine Living Network, Comcast News Network and CNN Headline News. We talk about how home sellers need to realize that they are selling a product not their personal space and how the only 2 factors you can control when you are selling your home- price and presentation.
Richelle Shaw is the owner of Freshstart Telephone and the only female African American public utility owner in the nation. Her book is, How to Build A Million Dollar Business in Las Vegas – Without the Casinos. We talk about how she lost her $36M business after 9/11, filed for bankruptcy and built it up again. She also tells us how she stole successful strategies from casinos and car dealerships for her telephone company.
Libby Andrews received her MBA at the University of Chicago, Graduate School of Business.pursued a career in sales and sales management in technology for another 8 years before switching careers to full-time homemaker and mother. In 2003. Libby started Libby’s Luxuries when her children were 1, 2, and 3 years of age. We talked about her patented product, Yoga Stick-e® Socks. We talk about how she made the transition from corporate marketer, to homemaker to starting her own business.
John Hayden taught English in Japan after finishing his undergrad at the University of Oregon. It was a gig that was intended to pay the bills while he looked for a job in business with a Japanese company. After 6 months he found that job and worked for Hitachi for a few years and when it came time to return to the US and start his own company, he drew on the experience of teaching and started a company that now helps a million people learn English each month. John talks about he built his company, English Baby (Austin Powers anyone?) in an untraditional way using celebrities and video.
My last guest is an amazing online success story. Jeremy Shepard, started PearlParadise.com. in 1996, on a shoestring budget and after maxing out his credit card. By 2008 the company became the Internet’s largest pearl network. All of this was accomplished with no background in pearls, e-commerce or jewelry, and with no traditional advertising. The company continues to grow at a tremendous rate, more than doubling in sales every year from 2001, with the past two years’ sales totaling over $40 million. In 2006, Jeremy invested in a pearl farm in China which will harvest its first crop this year, utilizing state of the art equipment and technology. Jeremy talks about his amazing his success in this distribution and internet retail business. He also gives his Mother’s Day gift advice!
