Entrepreneurs across America - Cover Story

Entrepreneur, April, 1996 by Janean Chuna, Debra Phillips, Cynthia E. Grifin, Heather Page, Lynn Beresford, Holly Celeste Fisk, Charlotte Mulhern

That's why in 1986 he decided to expand the mill his father started and begin creating chair pieces using an innovative process in which a "bending machine" uses radio frequencies to bend moistened wood. Since then, Favreau has continued his investments in modern technology and carved a nice niche: The curved products make up 50 percent of his business, and his wares are used in merchandise produced by Ethan Allen and 75 other furniture manufacturers.

INDIANA

Company: Campus Classics Inc. Location: Indianapolis Business Began: 1989 Start-Up Cost: $5,000 1995 Sales: $1.75 million 1996 Projections: $2.1 million

All he wanted was a sweatshirt. What he got was a business. Sigma Alpha Epsilon member Byron Wilson wanted a sweatshirt with the fraternity's coat of arms on it but couldn't find one anywhere. So he grabbed a gray sweatshirt from his closet and had the design embroidered. On a Saturday, he wore it to an Indiana University football game--and on Monday, he got seven orders for the sweatshirt.

Wilson, 32, swears he never intended to launch Campus Classics, the mail order sportswear business he started with wife Natalie. "I didn't wear the shirt to the game to market it," he says. "I wore it because it was one of the only sweatshirts I had!"

The accidental entrepreneur's business now sells licensed sportswear and gifts bearing the insignias of the nation's 15 largest fraternities and sororities. His staff has grown from two full-time employees to 14--with as many as 40 during the holidays. Natalie, 30, a former merchandise buyer for J.C. Penney, handles accounting, finance and purchasing, while Byron oversees sales and marketing. Occasionally, their 4-year-old daughter even pitches in by sorting packages for shipment.

A recent influx of competitors doesn't worry the Wilsons: "We welcome the challenge," says Byron. "It keeps us sharp."

ARKANSAS

Company: Terra Studios Inc. Location: Fayetteville Business Began: 1975 Start-Up Cost: $25,000 1995 Sales: $2.4 million 1996 Projections: $3 million

When Leo and Rita Ward (68 and 65, respec-tively) left California teaching jobs and moved to 10 acres of pastureland in the Ozarks to pursue hobbies and happiness, they got more than they bargained for: Their handmade glass crafts have become a thriving collectibles business.

Terra Studios began with the pair peddling their crafts to Arkansas gift shops and took off when Leo designed a glass wind chime. "I didn't know anything about marketing," he says, "or business, for that matter." But a giftware representative he met at a gift show helped him sell the chimes, which became so successful the Wards eventually gave that portion of the business to their children and focused on creating new gift items.

The core of their business, Leo's hand-formed glass Bluebirds of Happiness, started as mail order collectibles, but inquiries from gift stores led the Wards toward wholesaling. The birds are now sold in 8,000 stores.

The Wards haven't abandoned their talent for teaching, either. At 44-acre Terra Studios, would-be crafters will soon be able to enroll in clay and glass classes at a crafts school the Wards are developing. Doing what they enjoy most, these entrepreneurs have moved to the head of the class.