Tag Archives: Patrick Sauer

About 2970 days ago E-Commerce

26 Most Fascinating Entrepreneurs: Michelle Cardinal Tim O’Leary

Michelle Cardinal & Tim O’Leary Cmedia and Respond2 for rewriting the rules for husband-and-wife teams Husband-and-wife business teams are common enough that they even have a nickname, “copreneurs.” When the arrangement works, it works well; when it doesn’t, a couple can be crippled both emotionally and financially. Michelle Cardinal and Tim O’Leary have come up with a novel way of doing the “for richer, for poorer” thing as business partners — they decided not to share ownership completely. Each spouse runs an independent company in the infomercial business, even though they work together all the time. Wife Cardinal, 37, is the CEO of Cmedia and husband O’Leary, 45, is CEO of Respond2. Together, the couple and their 100-odd employees have created spots for NordicTrack, KitchenAid, Stanley tools, the Songbird hearing aid, and those best of Johnny Carson DVDs that surged in sales after the comedian’s death in January. O’Leary’s team produces the infomercials; Cardinal’s group holds inventory for some of the product lines and manages the sale from pricing to buying airtime to telemarketing and fulfillment. “I always joke that we talk shop in the shower,” Cardinal says. (They also co-own two smaller firms 50-50). Interestingly, a wide gap in terms of revenue exists between the companies. Respond2 grossed $10 million last year, compared with Cmedia’s $100 million haul, half of which came from serving clients whose infomercials were not shot by Respond2. The remaining two firms kicked in an extra $10 million. “Michelle made more than I did last year,” O’Leary freely admits. The arrangement still suits them, Cardinal explains, because “our egos are too big to tell each other what to do. It only works because I have my thing and Tim has his thing.” That strikes Kathy Marshack, author of Entrepreneurial Couples, as a shrewd insight. “Lots of husband-and-wife teams won’t acknowledge their competitive personalities, so this sounds like an ideal setup because it levels the playing field for each one’s strengths,” she says. Plus, Marshack notes, it avoids a common copreneurial mistake: “Not paying the wife a salary.” In certain ways, Cmedia and Respond2 operate as one. They share an 18,000-square-foot headquarters in an old dairy festooned in Tonight Show memorabilia. Their websites are also noticeably similar, featuring the same breakeven calculator for potential customers. And one monthly executive summary tracks key numbers of both companies. On the flip side, the firms pay taxes separately, and Cmedia bills Respond2 for accounting and vice versa for Web maintenance. There is, however, one not-so-far-down-the-road issue that will test the arrangement. “For the first few years, I thought we wouldn’t have children,” says Cardinal, in an everyone-asks-that tone. “But we just built a new house with a nursery.” Patrick J. Sauer Martha Stewart, Martha Stewart Omnimedia because she took one for the team Richard Branson, Virgin Group because he’s game for anything. In fact, everything. Michael Dell, Dell Computer for being brilliantly straightforward Jim Sinegal, Costco because who knew a big-box chain could have a generous soul? Diane von Furstenberg, Diane von Furstenberg Studio for staging an elegant comeback Julie Azuma, Different Roads to Learning for offering hope and help to the parents of autistic children Fritz Maytag, Anchor Brewing for setting limits Ray Kurzweil, Kurzweil Technologies and other companies because he is Edison’s rightful heir Craig Newmark, Craigslist for putting the free in free markets Jack Mitchell, Mitchells/Richards because his family business makes an art of customer service Frank Robinson, Robinson Helicopter for whipping an entire industry into shape Mark Melton, Melton Franchise Systems for giving immigrants their shot at the American Dream Michelle Cardinal & Tim O’Leary, Cmedia and Respond2 for rewriting the rules for husband-and-wife teams Mike Lazaridis, Research in Motion because someone had to stand up for all those frustrated engineers Trip Hawkins, Electronics Arts and Digital Chocolate for still scrapping Warren Brown, Cake Love and Love Cafe because only in America will someone quit a secure job as a lawyer to start a bakery Muriel Siebert, Muriel Siebert & Co. for being a notable first with a worthy second act Chuck Porter, Crispin, Porter + Bogusky for verging on reckless Katrina Markoff, Vosges Haut for setting a completely unreasonable goal for her business Barry Steinberg & Craig Sumerel, Direct Tire and Auto Service for showing the power of the peer group Victoria Parham, Virtual Support Services for serving as a mentor to military spouses Tom LaTour, Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants for staying at fleabag hotels so that we don’t have to Mitchell Gold & Bob Williams, Mitchell Gold for creating a true comfort zone Izzy & Coco Tihanyi, Surf Diva for kicking sand in the face of conventional wisdom Tony Lee, Ring Masters for saving 16 jobs, including his own Rueben Martinez, Libreria Martinez Books and Art Galleries for simultaneously building a business and nurturing Latino culture

About 2970 days ago E-Commerce

26 Most Fascinating Entrepreneurs: Mark Melton

Mark Melton Melton Franchise Systems for giving immigrants their shot at the American Dream Mark Melton has turned his master franchise from Coverall Cleaning Concepts into a tidy $9 million empire by supplying training, marketing, sales, and other services to his 250 franchise owners, many of them Hmong and Hispanic immigrants. Cleaning offices, says Melton, 46, “is not glamorous work. But it’s stable, year-round, and highly sought after, and no technology is going to make the industry obsolete. It really impacts owners’ lives.” What makes a Melton franchise an accessible route into the ownership society is the low barrier to entry. One midlevel package, available for an investment of $11,750, with $6,000 down, guarantees $2,000 in monthly income from clients provided by Melton. After insurance, finance costs, and a 15% royalty fee, franchisees can expect to pocket two-thirds of their billings. Some go-getters have boosted their monthly billings to $10,000. “I bought the $1,500 package with my income tax refund and started with three clients. Now I have 13,” says Francisco Reinoso. An X-ray technician in Guatemala, he’d had to settle for work as a janitor in Bakersfield. “At church, people look up to me and ask, ‘Francisco, can I have a job?’ Owning a business, that makes me feel like part of the United States.” Patrick J. Sauer Martha Stewart, Martha Stewart Omnimedia because she took one for the team Richard Branson, Virgin Group because he’s game for anything. In fact, everything. Michael Dell, Dell Computer for being brilliantly straightforward Jim Sinegal, Costco because who knew a big-box chain could have a generous soul? Diane von Furstenberg, Diane von Furstenberg Studio for staging an elegant comeback Julie Azuma, Different Roads to Learning for offering hope and help to the parents of autistic children Fritz Maytag, Anchor Brewing for setting limits Ray Kurzweil, Kurzweil Technologies and other companies because he is Edison’s rightful heir Craig Newmark, Craigslist for putting the free in free markets Jack Mitchell, Mitchells/Richards because his family business makes an art of customer service Frank Robinson, Robinson Helicopter for whipping an entire industry into shape Mark Melton, Melton Franchise Systems for giving immigrants their shot at the American Dream Michelle Cardinal & Tim O’Leary, Cmedia and Respond2 for rewriting the rules for husband-and-wife teams Mike Lazaridis, Research in Motion because someone had to stand up for all those frustrated engineers Trip Hawkins, Electronics Arts and Digital Chocolate for still scrapping Warren Brown, Cake Love and Love Cafe because only in America will someone quit a secure job as a lawyer to start a bakery Muriel Siebert, Muriel Siebert & Co. for being a notable first with a worthy second act Chuck Porter, Crispin, Porter + Bogusky for verging on reckless Katrina Markoff, Vosges Haut for setting a completely unreasonable goal for her business Barry Steinberg & Craig Sumerel, Direct Tire and Auto Service for showing the power of the peer group Victoria Parham, Virtual Support Services for serving as a mentor to military spouses Tom LaTour, Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants for staying at fleabag hotels so that we don’t have to Mitchell Gold & Bob Williams, Mitchell Gold for creating a true comfort zone Izzy & Coco Tihanyi, Surf Diva for kicking sand in the face of conventional wisdom Tony Lee, Ring Masters for saving 16 jobs, including his own Rueben Martinez, Libreria Martinez Books and Art Galleries for simultaneously building a business and nurturing Latino culture

About 2970 days ago E-Commerce

26 Most Fascinating Entrepreneurs: Victoria Parham

Victoria Parham Virtual Support Services for serving as a mentor to military spouses Victoria Parham knows firsthand how tough it is to be a soldier’s wife. Her husband, Andre, served in the Army until last year. When he was deployed to South Korea in 1995, Parham was forced to move in with her mother and to sell her small resume-writing business. When she later started another company, Virtual Support Services, she designed it to be portable. If Andre received another distant commission, she would go with him. So would VSS, which provides administrative support to businesses through a network of independent contractors. The test came in 2000, when Andre was assigned to Anchorage, Alaska. On the cross-country drive, Victoria ran VSS from the back seat of the family SUV, juggling a cell phone, laptop, and portable printer. Over 22 days, 5 hours, and 30 minutes of travel, VSS never faltered. Today VSS’s revenue is in the six figures. Once Parham, now 36, settled in Alaska, she began volunteering as a mentor at the Service Corps of Retired Executives. She parlayed that into a gig with the Navy, teaching military spouses, by Web seminar, how to design businesses that can move with them from base to base. She has taught 400 people so far. For the armed services, says Ed Roscoe, a program manager for the Navy, “our return on investment is keeping highly qualified soldiers on active duty by stabilizing families.” And that’s just what Parham is doing. Patrick J. Sauer Martha Stewart, Martha Stewart Omnimedia because she took one for the team Richard Branson, Virgin Group because he’s game for anything. In fact, everything. Michael Dell, Dell Computer for being brilliantly straightforward Jim Sinegal, Costco because who knew a big-box chain could have a generous soul? Diane von Furstenberg, Diane von Furstenberg Studio for staging an elegant comeback Julie Azuma, Different Roads to Learning for offering hope and help to the parents of autistic children Fritz Maytag, Anchor Brewing for setting limits Ray Kurzweil, Kurzweil Technologies and other companies because he is Edison’s rightful heir Craig Newmark, Craigslist for putting the free in free markets Jack Mitchell, Mitchells/Richards because his family business makes an art of customer service Frank Robinson, Robinson Helicopter for whipping an entire industry into shape Mark Melton, Melton Franchise Systems for giving immigrants their shot at the American Dream Michelle Cardinal & Tim O’Leary, Cmedia and Respond2 for rewriting the rules for husband-and-wife teams Mike Lazaridis, Research in Motion because someone had to stand up for all those frustrated engineers Trip Hawkins, Electronics Arts and Digital Chocolate for still scrapping Warren Brown, Cake Love and Love Cafe because only in America will someone quit a secure job as a lawyer to start a bakery Muriel Siebert, Muriel Siebert & Co. for being a notable first with a worthy second act Chuck Porter, Crispin, Porter + Bogusky for verging on reckless Katrina Markoff, Vosges Haut for setting a completely unreasonable goal for her business Barry Steinberg & Craig Sumerel, Direct Tire and Auto Service for showing the power of the peer group Victoria Parham, Virtual Support Services for serving as a mentor to military spouses Tom LaTour, Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants for staying at fleabag hotels so that we don’t have to Mitchell Gold & Bob Williams, Mitchell Gold for creating a true comfort zone Izzy & Coco Tihanyi, Surf Diva for kicking sand in the face of conventional wisdom Tony Lee, Ring Masters for saving 16 jobs, including his own Rueben Martinez, Libreria Martinez Books and Art Galleries for simultaneously building a business and nurturing Latino culture

About 3335 days ago E-Commerce

Laima Tazmin

Laima Tazmin LAVT because she’s a lot like other kids–and then again… Laima Tazmin, president of LAVT LLC, a Web consulting company based in a ramshackle prewar upper Manhattan building, is laying out her vision for the company’s expansion into customizing computers and developing community-based online businesses. Tazmin’s office is efficiently sparse, all her papers are properly filed, and her workspace is ordered and symmetrical, down to the dueling computer terminals that allow her to work side-by-side with an assistant, who scours Internet boards for new markets. It’s a lean, effective operation, considerably more advanced and potentially more lucrative than the typical entrepreneurs of Laima’s lot. That lot would be babysitters, lawn mowers, paper routers, and burger flippers. Laima Tazmin is a 15-year-old freshman. The assistant is her mom, Lora. “Laima is the top kid I have personally ever worked with, and that’s out of 9,000,” says Steve Mariotti, founder and president of the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE). “I’ve never met a kid like that.” It was an NFTE instructor who introduced Laima, who was then in sixth grade (she was thoroughly self-taught in HTML by that point), to the world of small business. “He taught us we could turn our interests and hobbies into ideas for companies,” says Tazmin. She parlayed her love of computers into a business plan that initially won a regional competition and then, after a bit of tweaking, bested plans from high school and college-age kids to win her the “Young Entrepreneur” contest sponsored by Fleet Bank. That netted her both $2,500 and a taste of media exposure. Money doesn’t seem to be the force behind Tazmin’s march toward the wunderkind hall of fame. Rather she has a sincere desire to build a viable company that can more or less sustain itself when she hits some lucky college campus in 2007. Essentially, she sees herself setting up a “network of associates” (other college kids) to do her grunt work. To that end, she has burned through every program NFTE offers and is now the guinea pig in an “Executive Incubator” that offers Deutsche Bank director Joe Carvin as a mentor. “Laima has the technical skills, creative ability, and seriousness of purpose,” says Carvin, “and she’s in an industry where young people can have a competitive advantage.” To think she took her baby steps toward becoming a mogul on Communist soil. Laima was born in Cuba, the daughter of a Russian mother and a Cuban father who left the family portrait years ago. Lora brought Laima and her older brother Arlin, who is now 26, to the United States via the Soviet Union in 1995. It’s the American dream played out with a tinge of adolescent angst, or it would be if Laima weren’t so preternaturally calm. On top of her quiet confidence, Laima has incorporated Buddhist meditation into her daily routine, which explains her Taoish nuggets like “Failure is a step to success.” She is the polar opposite of the high-strung, ready-to-snap-and-go-ballistic type A’s who water the lawns of prep schools with their tears over a B-plus. She is a sunny, charming, well-adjusted young girl who just happens to have a copy of the Idiot’s Guide to Making Millions on the Internet on the same bookshelf as the latest Harry Potter, a Shrek DVD, and Hello Kitty memorabilia. “I find Laima to be extraordinarily poised beyond her years,” says Tom Phillips, one of her (10, at the moment) clients, who owns a communications consulting firm and hired her to give him a Web presence. “Her work is great.” The accolades pour in from all corners, including her fellow students, who recently voted her class president, just another application-builder in her heavily scheduled young life, which is filled with: studying; shaking it as a member of the school’s hip-hop dance team; hardwiring desktops; playing tennis and basketball; volunteering for a cyber-project that lets war veterans tell their stories digitally; speaking on behalf of NFTE; writing a novel; and oh, yes, running a successful business. If she seems too good to be true, remember that teenagers have a way of defying expectations. So maybe she won’t become Bill Gates, but she’ll definitely be Laima Tazmin. “I want to direct my own life,” she says with a knowing grin. “Entrepreneurship is about planning for the future, and I want to develop my creativity to have freedom. I want to grow myself.”–Patrick J. Sauer Patrick J. Sauer is a staff writer. Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com because “optimism is essential” Betsey Johnson, Betsey Johnson for her stylish life Russell Simmons, Rush Communications for his powerful example Scott Cook, Intuit because he learns, and teaches Sergey Brin & Larry Page, Google for their integrity. And, well, for Google David Neeleman, JetBlue for creating an airline fit for humans Tom Stemberg, Staples for doing it exactly right Jack Stack, SRC Holdings for going naked Judy Wicks, White Dog Enterprises because she’s put in place more progressive business practices per square foot than any other entrepreneur Davin Wedel, Global Protection because he’s a lifesaver Pat McGovern, International Data Group for knowing the power of respect Steve Jobs, Apple Computer, Pixar because we like to be seduced Lance Morgan, Ho-Chunk because a man must make his own arrows–Winnebago proverb James Goodnight, SAS for saying no to Wall Street (repeatedly) and yes to the people who really matter Stella Ogiale, Chesterfield Health Services for doing good while doing well Rhonda Kallman, New Century Brewing for seizing opportunity– again and again Laima Tazmin, LAVT because she’s a lot like other kids–and then again… Laura & Pete Wakeman, Great Harvest Bread for living a little –no, a lot Andra Rush, Rush Trucking for rolling up her sleeves Kathleen Wehner, Cirrus Aviation for refusing to quit Frank Venegas, Ideal Group because he parlayed a little bit of luck into a lot of good fortune for others Dan Wieden, Wieden + Kennedy because he’s a true independent John Sperling, Apollo Group because he stirs the pot, and apparently always will John Stollenwerk, Allen-Edmonds for his commitment to U.S. workers. We also love the shoes Mel Zuckerman, Canyon Ranch for showing the way