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The Economic Census profiles American business every 5 years, from the national to the local level.
2007 Economic Census forms were sent to more than 4 million businesses in December 2007, asking for information about business activity during calendar 2007. The forms were due back February 12, 2008. Follow-up is currently under way with businesses from which forms have not been received. Results will be published during 2009 and 2010.
MONROE - Almost half (49 percent) of the nation's businesses are operated from home, according to a September 2006 U.S. Census Bureau report on characteristics of businesses and business owners.
"Home-based businesses collectively generated a remarkable amount of economic activity, especially for women and minorities," said Census Bureau Director Louis Kincannon.
Kari Fernstaedt, Monroe, said her 14-year-old at-home business, Monroe Engraving Inc. on County FF, had its best sales ever in June of this year.
That should be encouraging for two area women with new, unique at-home businesses.
Kim Dobbins, 26, Monroe, became a home-party business consultant with Tomboy Tools in April. Friends wanted Dobbins to get into the make-up and home decorating party business, but she went looking for a "non-girlie" business, and found Tomboy Tools.
Carrie Norder, 27, Woodford, is seeking to corner a tiny piece of the new "Going Green" market. She began her at-home business as a type of salesperson through Work At Home United three months ago.
The three women themselves are rare; only 14 percent of new businesses are started by 25- to 35-year-olds. That rate increases as people age.
Retail trade, like Dobbins' tools, make up 11 percent of home-based businesses, and only 10 percent offer services, like Norder.
Fernstaedt's business, requiring her to personally design the items she sells, falls in both categories.
But in other respects they are not unusual. Home-based businesses made up 56 percent of women-owned firms, and more than six in 10 of all owners used their own money or family assets to start a business.
Dobbins got a starter kit for $159. Fernstaedt purchased a used engraver in 1994 for $1,200. It still is used for odd-shaped items.
TOOL TIME
Dobbins works full-time in market research in Madison, and started her at-home business "on a whim."
Twenty-nine percent of sole operators operate a business to supplement their income.
"The extra income helps, for sure, but I didn't get into it solely for that," Dobbins said.
The company's original motto was "no pink tools." Not wimpy, "girlie" tools, the blue tools were designed to be effective and to last.
"We offer ergonomic-designed tools targeted for women who have smaller grips," Dobbins said.
Anyone will find the curved-handled paint brushes easier on the wrist, and the company has a handful of male consultants.
But female customers started clamoring for pink.
"Make mine pink so my husband doesn't use them," they told the company.
So Tomboy Tools partnered with Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and made pink tools in addition to the blue line. Ten percent of proceeds go to the foundation.
The company sells utility knives, hammers, power tools and household wrenches. They also sell a sturdy, soft-sided zippered tool bag. All in pink or blue.
"My boyfriend and my mother are my biggest promoters," Dobbins said.
Fernstaedt, Dobbins' mother, said she bought a blue set of Tomboy Tools in hopes that her husband would use them. She also has a set of Dobbins' tools on display in her shop,
"I'm excited for her," Fernstaedt said. "Kim has a business head on her."
ENGRAVED IN BUSINESS
Fernstaedt tried having engraving home-parties for a while, "but they're a lot of work," she said.
Fernstaedt tried being an Avon representative when she was 29, and pregnant with her first child. Later she tried Creative Circle selling stitchery kits.
But 15 years ago, after she got divorced, Fernstaedt started looking for a home-based business so she could be at home with her children who had become teenagers.
Working full-time, she began her engraving business on weekends and evenings in her living room, where Kim, then 12, and her brother watched television. When the door bell rang, the children had to leave the room.
When the business grew, Fernstaedt went full-time into the business. The family moved out of Monroe about 10 years ago, and expected business to decline.
"But we noticed it grew after that," Fernstaedt said.
Eight years ago it became too large for her alone. Her husband, Daryl, joined the business full-time. Four years ago, they added on to the showroom.
Dobbins said she got her entrepreneurial interest and "especially the work ethic" from her mother. By age 18, she was working for her mother and would "take the night shift," staying up late putting together trophies. She also started designing graphics for plaques and plates, and brochures.
"After designing fair plates one year, Daryl (Fernstaedt) told me I was better than Mom," she said.
HEALTHY OCCUPATION
Carrie Norder started looking for an at-home business to help relieve the stress on her husband, Fred, 35, who works three jobs. When they met, he was working five jobs. But the couple also wanted someone at home to raise their children.
"Money is tight, but he would go for months without one day off. And our oldest is getting to the age he wants his daddy around," she said.
Norder was working as a waitress when she had their first child, and missed his first steps. During her second pregnancy, her doctor ordered her off work.
"It was probably really a blessing in disguise," she said.
Norder does not handle selling or delivery of the company's products. She works on commission from the online sale purchases of her clients.
"It takes out the middle man," Norder said.
Norder markets through Internet sites, flyers, friends and family. She seeks out people "going green" and getting toxins out of their houses. She will begin targeting companies in a couple of weeks.
Although it is 23 years old, Work At Home United is relatively unknown.
"Only 10 percent of the nation has heard of it," Norder said. "And 65 percent of the clients sign up only to purchase the products."
Norder thoroughly researched the company's credibility and found it was in the Better Business Bureau's Hall of Fame.
Norder said a major draw for her to become involved with the company was the non-toxic, non-caustic, non-cancer-causing products. If she stopped working for the company, she still would buy the products, she said.
Work At Home United sells products under that brand name Melaleuca for the home and family, "soaps, vitamins, snacks and kids' stuff," she said.
Melalueca's product base is made from an Australian tea tree oil, "in its purest form. It cleans, it's an awesome shampoo and it kills germs," Norder said.
Norder said she is not afraid to use the products around her three children, ages 4, 3 and 18 months. Even her 4-year-old is allowed to use the products to clean up after himself.
"It doesn't bother me a bit that he uses them," she said.
Norder said she has tried other health and wellness products, "but none of them really worked."
One bathroom cleanser she used while eight months pregnant reacted with the water.
"It sent up a puff of toxin and took my breath away," she said. That incident required a trip to her doctor.
"Now we're getting the yuckies out," she said.
The Norder family plans to move to Benton soon, but the business will stay intact.
"That's the nice thing you don't find in many businesses," she said.
"Home-based businesses collectively generated a remarkable amount of economic activity, especially for women and minorities," said Census Bureau Director Louis Kincannon.
Kari Fernstaedt, Monroe, said her 14-year-old at-home business, Monroe Engraving Inc. on County FF, had its best sales ever in June of this year.
That should be encouraging for two area women with new, unique at-home businesses.
Kim Dobbins, 26, Monroe, became a home-party business consultant with Tomboy Tools in April. Friends wanted Dobbins to get into the make-up and home decorating party business, but she went looking for a "non-girlie" business, and found Tomboy Tools.
Carrie Norder, 27, Woodford, is seeking to corner a tiny piece of the new "Going Green" market. She began her at-home business as a type of salesperson through Work At Home United three months ago.
The three women themselves are rare; only 14 percent of new businesses are started by 25- to 35-year-olds. That rate increases as people age.
Retail trade, like Dobbins' tools, make up 11 percent of home-based businesses, and only 10 percent offer services, like Norder.
Fernstaedt's business, requiring her to personally design the items she sells, falls in both categories.
But in other respects they are not unusual. Home-based businesses made up 56 percent of women-owned firms, and more than six in 10 of all owners used their own money or family assets to start a business.
Dobbins got a starter kit for $159. Fernstaedt purchased a used engraver in 1994 for $1,200. It still is used for odd-shaped items.
TOOL TIME
Dobbins works full-time in market research in Madison, and started her at-home business "on a whim."
Twenty-nine percent of sole operators operate a business to supplement their income.
"The extra income helps, for sure, but I didn't get into it solely for that," Dobbins said.
The company's original motto was "no pink tools." Not wimpy, "girlie" tools, the blue tools were designed to be effective and to last.
"We offer ergonomic-designed tools targeted for women who have smaller grips," Dobbins said.
Anyone will find the curved-handled paint brushes easier on the wrist, and the company has a handful of male consultants.
But female customers started clamoring for pink.
"Make mine pink so my husband doesn't use them," they told the company.
So Tomboy Tools partnered with Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and made pink tools in addition to the blue line. Ten percent of proceeds go to the foundation.
The company sells utility knives, hammers, power tools and household wrenches. They also sell a sturdy, soft-sided zippered tool bag. All in pink or blue.
"My boyfriend and my mother are my biggest promoters," Dobbins said.
Fernstaedt, Dobbins' mother, said she bought a blue set of Tomboy Tools in hopes that her husband would use them. She also has a set of Dobbins' tools on display in her shop,
"I'm excited for her," Fernstaedt said. "Kim has a business head on her."
ENGRAVED IN BUSINESS
Fernstaedt tried having engraving home-parties for a while, "but they're a lot of work," she said.
Fernstaedt tried being an Avon representative when she was 29, and pregnant with her first child. Later she tried Creative Circle selling stitchery kits.
But 15 years ago, after she got divorced, Fernstaedt started looking for a home-based business so she could be at home with her children who had become teenagers.
Working full-time, she began her engraving business on weekends and evenings in her living room, where Kim, then 12, and her brother watched television. When the door bell rang, the children had to leave the room.
When the business grew, Fernstaedt went full-time into the business. The family moved out of Monroe about 10 years ago, and expected business to decline.
"But we noticed it grew after that," Fernstaedt said.
Eight years ago it became too large for her alone. Her husband, Daryl, joined the business full-time. Four years ago, they added on to the showroom.
Dobbins said she got her entrepreneurial interest and "especially the work ethic" from her mother. By age 18, she was working for her mother and would "take the night shift," staying up late putting together trophies. She also started designing graphics for plaques and plates, and brochures.
"After designing fair plates one year, Daryl (Fernstaedt) told me I was better than Mom," she said.
HEALTHY OCCUPATION
Carrie Norder started looking for an at-home business to help relieve the stress on her husband, Fred, 35, who works three jobs. When they met, he was working five jobs. But the couple also wanted someone at home to raise their children.
"Money is tight, but he would go for months without one day off. And our oldest is getting to the age he wants his daddy around," she said.
Norder was working as a waitress when she had their first child, and missed his first steps. During her second pregnancy, her doctor ordered her off work.
"It was probably really a blessing in disguise," she said.
Norder does not handle selling or delivery of the company's products. She works on commission from the online sale purchases of her clients.
"It takes out the middle man," Norder said.
Norder markets through Internet sites, flyers, friends and family. She seeks out people "going green" and getting toxins out of their houses. She will begin targeting companies in a couple of weeks.
Although it is 23 years old, Work At Home United is relatively unknown.
"Only 10 percent of the nation has heard of it," Norder said. "And 65 percent of the clients sign up only to purchase the products."
Norder thoroughly researched the company's credibility and found it was in the Better Business Bureau's Hall of Fame.
Norder said a major draw for her to become involved with the company was the non-toxic, non-caustic, non-cancer-causing products. If she stopped working for the company, she still would buy the products, she said.
Work At Home United sells products under that brand name Melaleuca for the home and family, "soaps, vitamins, snacks and kids' stuff," she said.
Melalueca's product base is made from an Australian tea tree oil, "in its purest form. It cleans, it's an awesome shampoo and it kills germs," Norder said.
Norder said she is not afraid to use the products around her three children, ages 4, 3 and 18 months. Even her 4-year-old is allowed to use the products to clean up after himself.
"It doesn't bother me a bit that he uses them," she said.
Norder said she has tried other health and wellness products, "but none of them really worked."
One bathroom cleanser she used while eight months pregnant reacted with the water.
"It sent up a puff of toxin and took my breath away," she said. That incident required a trip to her doctor.
"Now we're getting the yuckies out," she said.
The Norder family plans to move to Benton soon, but the business will stay intact.
"That's the nice thing you don't find in many businesses," she said.