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

Home Office Computing, Sept, 1994 by Jenny McCune

MINNESOTA

SCOTT OLSON. 35 Sports equipment designer and developer; manufacturer Waconia, MN BUSINESS #1: OS Designs BUSINESS #2: Ice GROSS INCOME: $310,000 YEARS IN BUSINESS: 3 HARDWARE/SOFTWARE: Two Macintosh Classic Ils, Performa 475, PowerBook 180c, HP DeskWriter, Sharp Wizard, Murata fax machine; Aldus FreeHand, Lotus 1-2-3, MYOB, Quicken WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST BUSINESS? Rollerblades. I tried licensing the idea, but companies kept saying, "Nobody's asking for these things." I realized I was not going to make a business trying to license it, so I started my own company. The rest is history. WHAT'S YOUR PRESENT BUSINESS? My partner, Tom Howard, and I started OS Designs as an R&D company. We contract out to third parties--take their ideas and build them into prototypes or come up with ideas and try to license them. WHAT OTHER PRODUCTS ARE YOU MARKETING? The RowBike--a cross between a rowing machine and a bicycle--is certainly at the top of my list. WHAT'S ICE? We manufacture a two-foot-tall penguin, a yard decoration, something to give the pink flamingo a run for its money. It moves in the wind.

MISSISSIPPI

DENISE TIDWELL, 33 JOE TIDWELL, 37 Construction company Batesville, MS BUSINESS: Tidwell Construction GROSS INCOME: $158,000 YEARS IN BUSINESS: 12 HARDWARE/SOFTWARE: Generic 286, Panasonic KXP2123 laser printer, Brother Intellifax 600; Peachtree Accounting, Professional Write WHAT DO YOU DO? Heavy construction. Right now we're doing all the dirt work on the Enid Dam's emergency spillway. WHY CONSTRUCTION? My husband, Joe, thought he could make more money than he did working for the fellow he was working for. I took over so he can be out doing the work.

MISSOURI

STACY L. DYE, 30 Medical claims consulting Paris, MO BUSINESS: Claim Care Inc. GROSS INCOME: $75,000 YEARS IN BUSINESS: 3 HARDWARE/SOFTWARE: Packard Bell PB6-10 486, Epson 2250 printer, Sharp SF750 copier; Microsoft Works WHAT DO YOU DO? We help with medical claims: figuring out if Medicare has made the correct payment, helping people file for supplemental insurance and get reimbursed. We also developed an expandable file system so that people can track medical claims. HOW DID YOU GET THE IDEA? I managed a surgeon's office for years. I noted that client after client didn't understand coverage, and the rules kept changing. People needed help DO YOU TAKE CARE OF YOUR KIDS? No, they go to daycare. There's a real misconception about home offices that you can have your children in the background. Mine are too active. WHAT MIGHT HEALTH-CARE REFORM DO TO YOUR BUSINESS? We'll be even more profitable. Medicare is federally run...it's major and reform is going to make what we do even more important.

MONTANA

TOM DOOLING, 52 ANN DOOLING, 51 Cashmere farmers, manufacturers Dillon, MT BUSINESS #1: Pioneer Mountain Farm BUSINESS #2: PMF Cashmere Co. GROSS INCOME: $200,000 YEARS IN BUSINESS: 5 HARDWARE/SOFTWARE: Compu-Add 386, Bondwell 386 notebook, Epson Stylus 800 printer, Toshiba fax machine, Mita copier; Almplus, Cashstud, PFS: First Publisher, Professional Write, Quick-Books, WordStar DOES THE COMPUTER HELP WITH YOUR ANIMALS? We keep records nobody else does and have the most progressive cashmere herd in terms of management. The Cashstud program tracks pedigrees and can do rankings for the entire herd. HOW DID YOU GET STARTED? We both had to work in town but lived on this 100-acre farm about a mile high in the Rockies. The farm by itself wouldn't make enough to support us, and we wanted something different. Ann has this lifelong passion with fibers. We discovered that cashmere, a wonderful fiber, grows on goats. We ended up buying 200 animals from friends in Australia--the single largest import into this country of cashmere goats. WHY THE KNITTING BUSINESS? When we began raising the goats, we sold our cashmere to a buyer--but we were very unhappy with the returns. So we decided to make garments. When you add value, you're getting a lot more for your product than what it costs you to get to that stage.