inspired with these amazing 8 small business success stories
TRANSCRIPT
CITIKITTY INCC A T S C O U L D B E A G O O D S O U R C E O F I N S P I R A T I O N
FOUNDER
REBECCA
RESCATE
REBECCA RESCATEmoved into a tiny apartment andhad to squeeze everything into thatplace, when she realized that shehad no place for her cat’s litter box.She decided to toilet train her cat,but could not find an easy and cost-effective toilet training kit. In orderto simplify the process, CitiKittyInc. was formed and is nowavailable in more than 1,000 storesand the business has peaked toabout $1 million in annual sales.
Lee Zalben came up with the idea for his business incollege…but not sitting in any classroom.
As Lee and his friends studied for finals, they developed a funcompetition to hold during those much-needed study breaks:who could create the “craziest but best-tasting peanut buttersandwich.”
Fast-forward to post-graduation when Lee saw an emptystorefront in the Greenwich Village area of New York City andthought it would be an ideal locale for a peanut butter sandwichshop. In 1998, The Peanut Butter & Co. Sandwich shop opened.
Offering gourmet peanut butter sandwiches as well as desserts,milkshakes, and smoothies, the company has grown quickly,selling its varieties of all-natural peanut butter in more than15,000 supermarkets and specialty food stores.
A nurse for 35 years, Barb Przybylowicz,saw first-hand how some patients,especially those she worked with inindependent and assisted-living homes,often need a more secure way of sittingin chairs.
"The day came when a resident kept'slip-sliding' from her chair," saysPrzybylowicz.
That is when she came up with her idea:pants designed with a non-slip area onthe buttocks to keep people safe fromslipping or sliding regardless of wherethey sit. No longer in the nursing field,Przybylowicz continues to help otherswith her invention.
“My kids are slobs and when they come home, they throwtheir backpacks against the foyer wall, kick off theirshoes into my white moldings, and generally destroy theplace,” says Debbie Wiener of Slobproof!
“My oldest son Sam came home from college forThanksgiving and saw me on my hands and knees,
filling in the dings and dents on my baseboard moldingwith crusty cans of white paint. Without moving aninch from the TV, he asked, ‘Hey Mom, isn't there a
better way for you to do that?’”
From that one statement, Wiener developed theSlobproof! PaintPen, a vacuum-sealed paint pen that
can be filled with any color paint for touch-ups.
Slobproof!
Inspired by AnAnnoyed Dad
Big Hot Dog was the brainstorm ofDan Abbate, “da Boss” of Big Hot Dog,during a family BBQ. His dad, Denny,
got annoyed when “regular” hot dogswould roll onto the ground – which
gave Dan the idea to create a hot dogthat wouldn’t roll.
“One day I was eating a corner brownie, andrealized that I loved the corner the best...but never
really talked about it. Then I realized that wasprobably true for lots of people,” says Matthew
Griffin, President and CEO of Baker's Edge.
Griffin decided to invent a pan that only made edgepieces, resulting in the Edge Brownie Pan, which wonthe Grand Champion prize for the Visa/MSN “IdeasHappen” contest. Along with their other products, theEdge Brownie Pan is sold online at their web site andAmazon.com, as well as retailers like Sur La Table andSolutions.
T I N A N E L S O N
“When my children were two, four
and five years old, I thought [a great
Father’s Day gift] would be a game
to teach them what Dad did after he
left for work each day. He's a lawyer,
and I found no game fitting that
description.”
"On Father's Day, I always give my
husband homemade gifts: the kids'
feet imprinted on a t-shirt, a
matching game using their photos,
ceramic pieces with my kids'
artwork, a laminated keepsake box
with their photos on it,"
So, she created her own game
—Lawsuit! which has won “Game of
the Year” by Creative Child magazine
five years in a row.
“A few years ago, I was out to dinner with a friend, and I hadexcused myself from the table. When I returned, my
handsome dinner date had scribbled on the back of hisbusiness card, ‘Want to have dinner?’ As we were leaving the
restaurant, he slid that card to an attractive woman at anearby table,” says Lori Cheek.
This gesture made her realize how many folks want to connectwith someone they see in real life, but don’t necessarily want
to hand over a business card—with so much personalinformation—to a stranger.
In May 2010, she launched Cheekd.com, combining the use ofreal cards and the technology to safely connect with each
other online.