Success

Fashion designer Karl Kani - Inside Track Karl Kani Infinity Inc founder Carl Williams was determined to become the Ralph Lauren of street fashions, so he designed his own clothes and had them custom-made by a tailor. After selling his creations from his car in front of New York City night clubs and local basketball tourneys, Williams legally changed his name to Karl Kani, to address the gnawing question of whether he can succeed. Kani's creations are now sold by such upscale stores as Nordstrom and Macy and his company posted 1995 s...

Build a foundation; get the right hardware to keep your home office humming.

The Technology Edge The right hardware for home offices include the Apple LaserWriter Select 360, the Apple Newton 2.0 and the Hewlett-Packard 7050 Pavillion. The LaserWriter Select offers 600 dpi print quality, as well as a fax option and a paper feed that is twice as fast as its nearest competitor, for under $1,300. The new Newton is a vast improvement over the older version, with an ability to move information over both phone lines and through the air. The Hewlett-Packard 7050 Pavillion is reasonably priced a...

Finding success in unexpected places.

Hot Opportunities In Advertising Entrepreneurs who discovered new mediums for promotional messages and turned their ideas into businesses include Diana Morton, who founded Santa Fe's Great Expectations; Lori Baxter, who founded Promote It Inc; and Martin Herring, founder of Entry Media Inc. The three entrepreneurs are making money by placing advertisements on such open spaces as stadium turnstiles and gas pumps. Revenues range from $500,000 to $1 million.

For teaching kids to read, entrepreneur John Shanahan got ... whacked! by the government, the media and educators.

John Shanahan founded Gateway Educational Products Inc to market the catchy jingles and reading exercises he developed to help teach his son how to read. Called Hooked on Phonics, Shanahan saw the potential in his creation when his neighbors approached him to help their children to learn how to read after they saw the miracle he wrought with his son. Shanahan's success, however, did not sit well with some people in the educational establishment and before long the Federal Trade Commission, ai...

Force of character: the philosophy that built a $35 million company.

Direct Selling Dudley Products was started in 1969 by Joe Dudley after a short stint working for Fuller Products, a company that sold beauty products for blacks. Dudley says that he decided to market his own line of products after Fuller Products got into financial problems. He notes that his key to success was his ability to sell his mission to his employees and encouraging the staff to read such books as 'Secret of the Ages' by Robert Collier, and 'Think and Grow Rich' by Napoleon Hill. The company has an...

Freedom! Abandoning corporate America for business ownership.

Franchising: Business Service Richard Hurley decided to go into business after he lost three corporate jobs in seven years. He managed to secure $150,000 by utilizing his severance pay and a 25% contribution from an outside investor to set up a business that supplies administrative support to business people, as well as rent executive offices to companies. Eventually, Hurley bought a franchise from HG Network Systems and he says that he has never regretted going into business for himself.

House call: networked employees are good for what ails you.

The Technology Edge Aspen Home Health Agency CEO Kristen Gunsay utilizes a wide array of high-technology tools ranging from pagers, cellular telephones, computers and servers to run her network of nurses and service providers. Aspen Home Health helps senior citizens to remain self sufficient, and with her workers spread out all over the state, sophisticated technology has enabled Gunsay to plan effectively and keep a tight control over her operations.

Nothing but net; how to start a Web-based business from scratch.

The Technology Edge/Cyber Forum The World Wide Web can be used to start successful home-based businesses that offer hard-to-find information and services. One entrepreneur that has found success on the Web is Virtual Vineyard's Peter Granoff. Granoff says that his business has no overhead costs, offers total interactivity with his market and provides 24-hour service. He notes that products with distribution problems are ideal for the Web.

Phone finesse: for a better automated system, press one ...

The Technology Edge/Tech Clinic Music Choice decided to use an automated response system (ARS) to answer the thousands of calls the commercial-free music service receives from listeners who want to know where they can buy CDs of music they heard on the system. Despite the success that Music Choice has had with the ARS, it is essential that companies that plan to utilize such a system approach it right from the start by keeping it simple and making it user-friendly.

Reinventing the the cocktail lounge.

Trend Setters The need to find a sophisticated bar in New York City that is not loud and impersonal led Raju Mirchandani and Mark Grossich to open the Hudson Bar and Books in the city's Greenwich Village area. Investing $100,000 in the project, the partners installed a copper bar, antique furniture, and bookshelves and created a drawing room ambience by installing wood panels. The concept was so successful that the pair opened two more bars and are planning on expanding to such places as Boston and Washing...

Targeting generation X.

Marketing Brian Gordon and Dennis Roche formed Beyond The Wall in 1993 with a working capital of $500,000 after Gordon convinced Roche that they could turn billboard and magazine advertising into sellable posters to be marketed to college and high school students. With students paying $12.99 for three posters and corporate clients paying about $40,000 for a page of as, Beyond The Wall posted sales of $2 million during 1995.

The rebellion of '96; fed up with Washington, 80 entrepreneurs are now running for Congress.

Eighty entrepreneurs are running for Congress after concluding that their elected officials were neglecting the interests of the entrepreneurial class. Arguing that career politicians and lawyers did not understand and appreciate the risks entrepreneurs have to take, the entrepreneurs decided that they need to take control of Congress to underscore the effects unbridled government regulations are having on their businesses. Those running for office include Bob Coffin and Bud Walker.

The road less traveled; going public on a foreign exchange.

Creative Financing Soligen Technologies founder Yehoram Uziel turned to the Vancouver Stock Exchange when he needed to raise cash to fund his nascent company, which uses a revolutionary computer technology to manufacture complex metal parts. Uziel settled on the Vancouver Exchange after he decided that the legal and accounting costs involved in meeting the guidelines of the Securities and Exchange Commission for domestic listing were too much. He raised $4.2 million from the Vancouver Exchange. Soligen currentl...

Thread by thread; weaving a new work ethic into post-Communist economies.

Global Entrepreneur Michael Smolens and his partner Phil Lightly founded Danube Knitwear Ltd in Hungary after Smolens closed his clothing and footwear operations in Haiti following the US embargo on that country. Smolens choice of Hungary was largely because of the country's most-favored-nation status, as well as the strategic advantages it provided in accessing other European countries. Building on the remains of a textile industry that collapsed with the fall of communism, Danube Knitwear's clients include Nik...

Whacked! An account of regulators run amok.

Editorial Federal regulators, such as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), have become thorns in the side of entrepreneurs who are faced with wanton acts that adversely affect their productivity. Although entrepreneurs help create jobs, they always have to fight against entrenched interests that see entrepreneurial successes as threats to their own survival. A case in point is Hooked On Phonics founder John Shanahan whose business was almost destroyed by the FTC, aided and abetted by the media.