Posted on Monday, August. 9, 2004
A Woman's View: Starting Your Own Business
Jul 26, 2004 4:00 pm US/Eastern
PHILADELPHIA (KYW) More than five million women own their own business nationwide. As Alycia Lane reports, there are likely just as many who want to and don't know where to start.
Necessity is the mother of invention for Tina Marie Connors and it all started with an unruly beach towel: "Every time I would try to relax on the beach the corners would fly up."
Connors came up with a way to tame her towel by sewing pockets in the corners to hold sand that would weigh the towel down.
”I went to buy a sewing machine and some towels and wash clothes and made my own,” she recalled.
Lane reports that was the easy part. It took three years to get a patent and four more to find a manufacturer and start her company - Towel Down.
"So many times I sat and said, 'Oh forget it, it sounds like such a silly thing to do,'" she said.
Connors hung in there and now her home-based business is paying off. She did it by herself, but the Small Business Administration often helps women like her get their ideas off the ground.
"Women are starting every type of business, we have women in construction, we have women in technology, trucking," explained an administration representative.
Ingenuity mixed with dedication has earned Connors numerous awards and even Donald Trump has given her the nod buying 2,500 Towel Downs to give as promotional gifts this month in Atlantic City.
Connors has this advice for others: "You don't want to give up. You don't want to say 'Oh, somebody probably has this.' You just want to go for it."
While Connors wouldn't say just how many towels she's sold she did say business is up.
(MMIV, CBS Broadcasting Inc., All Rights Reserved.)
File last updated 06/11/2004 at 16:39:01
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