Home-based heroes - profiles of 51 home-based business persons - Cover Story

Home Office Computing, Sept, 1994 by Jenny McCune

MAINE

AUDREY M. LEEDS, 39 JEFFREY H. MILLER, 39 Vacation rental brokers Boothbay Harbor, ME BUSINESS: Boothbay Cottage Connection GROSS INCOME: $30,000 YEARS IN BUSINESS: 2 HARDWARE/SOFTWARE: Macintosh Classic, HP DeskWriter, Sharp UX104 fax machine, Minolta EP 450 copier; Microsoft Works, Quicken WHAT DOES COTTAGE CONNECTION MEAN? We help people find the right place for their vacations. WHAT'S THE WORK? It's like being a property manager for 120 cottages with 120 owners. WHY WORK FROM HOME? This business is seasonal, and the phone starts ringing at 7 a.m. and doesn't stop until 10 at night. It makes life easier to have the kitchen in the next room. Plus, we rent out our own house in the summer. We have to move the home office wherever we go.

MARYLAND

JAMES D. DRAYTON, 38 Corporate financier Owings Mills, MD BUSINESS: Corporate Capital Funding Inc. GROSS INCOME: $250,000 YEARS IN BUSINESS: 2 HARDWARE/SOFTWARE: Compu-Add 386, generic 486, HP LaserJet II, Hayes Smartmodem, Colorado Memory Systems tape backup, Novell LAN network, Canon FaxPhone; Act!, QuickBooks, Smartware, T-Value [finance calculator], WordPerfect WHAT DO YOU DO? When companies look for short-term capital, say, for one to five years, or long-term financing for the acquisition of real estate, they come to me. WHAT'S YOUR OFFICE LIKE? It's in a springhouse behind an old farmhouse. A springhouse is usually a stone building where they chill the milk from the cows. The only trouble is bees flying in once in a while--I'm killing one as we speak.

MASSACHUSETTS

DEBBIE FRAZZETTA, 35 Food-manufacturing consultant Agawam, MA BUSINESS: I.Q.A. (Independent Quality Assurance) Consulting GROSS INCOME: $20,000 YEARS IN BUSINESS: 3 HARDWARE/SOFTWARE: Macintosh Performa 475, Apple Style Writer; Excel, MacCheck-book, MacDraw, Microsoft Word WHAT DO YOU DO? About 20 hours a week, I help small food manufacturers meet USDA regulatory requirements. I teach good hygiene and Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) to people who perform sanitation and clean equipment as well as to their employers, the small food manufacturers. HOW DO YOU FIND CLIENTS? The hardest part is getting my foot in the door. Why do I need you? I just tell them that to stay competitive, you need to have the edge--give a customer a quality product and that is a customer today, tomorrow, and next year.

MICHIGAN

JOHN SICKIER, 45 Loan broker Saline, MI BUSINESS: Automotive Lending Service GROSS INCOME: $75,000 YEARS IN BUSINESS: 1 HARDWARE/SOFTWARE: Macintosh IIci, HP DeskWriter 550c, Canon Faxphone B-70; Claris-Works WHERE DID YOU GET THE IDEA FOR YOUR BUSINESS? The bank I was working at was looking for somebody to buy its car loan service, thinking that a credit union might be interested. I was evaluating the deal for the bank and decided I could do it as well independently. HOW DO YOU MAKE YOUR MONEY? I arrange loans between new car buyers and credit unions. I work with 27 car dealers in southeastern Michigan, and I'm under contract with three credit unions. DO YOU HAVE EMPLOYEES? No, but my kids [ages 9 and 13] know the system I use--they're integral to the business. They pull together information and input it into the computer.