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Teaching It, Learning It, Doing It!

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Homeschooling Entrepreneurs

                          . . . that are doing it!

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Can you tell us a little about your family, your children, ages, how long homeschooling, method of homeschooling?

 I have been married to my wonderful husband, Randy, for 20 years. We have 4 children. 3 boys ages 18 ,14 & 9. And 1 daughter age 6. I have homeschooled all of my children since my oldest started kindergarten 13 years ago. I have always used a very ecclectic approach to our curriculum; piecing together what works best for each of my children. Over the years, some of our favorites have been SonLight, Five in A Row, The Life of Fred, Easy Grammar and Sequential Spelling.

 

Do you have any background in business?(biz in family, biz degree, job in mkt’g, etc.) Have you had any businesses before, if so, could you tell us about them?

I've never had my own business before. I have tried selling Mary Kay and Avon, although I was never comfortable trying to get people to buy things from me! Hoops for Healing is my first venture in the business market.

 

Tell us a little about your business and how it’s doing now.

I was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer in December 2007. After completing extensive chemo treatments, major surgery, and radiation, I was looking for a family-friendly, easy-on-the-body way to get in shape. I decided to try hooping and found that keeping up a child-sized hoop was impossible for me. After some research I found that an adult-sized hoop was what I needed. There were no businesses in my area selling large hoops so I decided to make my own. The kids & I had a lot of fun creating our own unique hoops. After some trial and error, we developed 3 different hoop sizes; 1 for youth and 2 different sizes for adults. The business is doing really well. Up until I published my website a week ago, the advertisement has been word of mouth. Many customers are friends of previous customers.

 

Did anyone else help you start your business?  Anyone else in your family involved and what part do they play?

I've been very blessed to have many people in my life who have different business experiences and have been willing to answer lots of questions, offer advice and give unlimited emotional support. Randy, my husband, has been a great cheerleader. My 14 year old, Joshua, does most of my manual labor. He hauls and cuts the tubing and helps with the connecting. My younger children, Isaiah & Sarah, help by just being kids - taking our hoops to the park and allowing others to see us having fun! This has been our best advertisement.

 

Can you give us the history of your ‘start-up’? Timeline from idea to receiving your first dollar?

We made our first hoops February 12 of 2009. After taking the hoops to the park the next day and receiving an amazing amount of positive feedback from everyone who saw them I realized that hooping could meet a need for other families while supplementing our income.  I made my 1st sale of an adult size and a youth hoop just 2 days later on February 14 and have been going since then.

 

How much money did you begin with?

I kept the start-up cost to a minimum (less than a couple hundred dollars) by purchasing materials as they were needed instead of buying larger quantities and using the money from each sale to reinvest back into the company.

 

What online services have you used-that you liked.  

I have been very pleased using Host Gator as my web host and PayPal for my ordering cart. Their support has been great and I've called with lots of questions!

 

How do you schedule your biz in your busy day? About how much time do you spend on it each week/month?

I normally start my day around 4:45 am so that I can do all of my computer stuff (answering emails, building/tweaking the website, working on improving web visibility, etc.) and fill any hoop orders without cutting into any of our school time. I check orders and emails throughout the day. I make needed phone calls, make deliveries and restock needed supplies after we're through with our school day. I'm able to get alot done in the evenings and on weekends too. I also incorporate the business into our school whenever possible.

 

What do you like best about having your own business?

There are many things that I like about having my own business...being able to promote something that I feel so good about, knowing that this business is a ray of sunshine born from a dark time in my life, knowing that I will be supplementing our income without compromising family time or our homeschool, just to name a few.

 

What service did you use to build your website? How long did it take?

My website is www.hoopsforhealing.com  I'm using Host Gator's Site Studio, the web builder that’s included in the hosting. I published the website about 2 weeks after I started building it. Host Gator came with pre-made templates that could be used, but I added my own images and page content. I built the website myself kind of in the same way that some people call a cake made from a box a 'homemade' cake. I can't take credit for the nitty-gritty stuff, but I still did a lot of work!

 

 

What advice would you give other families looking at starting your own business?

Be careful to look for balance. When I first started Hoops for Healing I found that I was so busy running around and getting stuff done for our 'fun, family' business that I was stressed and was no fun to be around. I quickly looked for ways to be better organized and fit more into my day without compromising the very heart of the business - my family! For me, that was getting out of bed at least 3 1/2 hours earlier. I'm not a morning person, but I've found that this really makes our lives a lot easier. Also, don't be afraid to ask advice and seek input from people that you trust.

 

Are you willing to share how much you make monthly/yearly in your biz?

I've only been in business a few months and so far have put all of the money back into the business. Which means that I haven't seen a profit yet. Although I am a little less in the red each month.

 

How can people contact you to learn more about Hoops For Healing?

My mailing address is,  Candy Reid, P.O. Box 71464, Albany, GA 31708; or you can email me at candy@hoopsforhealing.com. My website is  www.hoopsforhealing.com

 

 

Attention homeschool entrepreneurs! You have to take a look at Candy’s website that she did in less than 2 weeks (!) with Host Gator’s site builder. It’s very professional looking, and covers all the bases. What a great testimony of turning negative circumstances around and creating a terrific family business on limited funds AND time!

 

Candy has also won her battle against cancer! If you would like to read more about her journey, go to http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/candyreid

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