Doll's Fashions Doll Clothes Made From Your Kids' Outgrown Outfits Maria Duarte www.dollsfashions.com Doll's Fashions was started by Maria Duarte who's been a professional seamstress for over twenty years. She specializes in handmade clothing to fit 18" dolls (such as the American Girl Dolls). You send her your favorite outfit and she'll make a dress for your doll from your favorite outfit. Her most popular outfits are private-school uniforms, Holy Communion dresses and Girl-Scout uniforms. Can't bare growing out of that favorite dress? Don't worry, Maria will replicate that dress, and it will be preserved as doll clothes-forever! More >>

Cap n' Go Kid's Hats Alicia Gray www.capngo.com Cap n' Go was founded by Alicia Gray. After her daughter was born, almost eight years ago, she desperately wanted to work at home. One fateful day, Alicia and her daughter were out doing errands. Her daughter was wearing a homemade hat. Everywhere they went people commented on the cute hat! From that, a business idea was born. She began making children's hats and selling them at local craft fairs. The response was tremendous. In 1996, pregnant with her second child, Alicia business suffered a setback when most of her house burned down and all inventory was lost. It took a year to recover from the devastation of the fire, but she pressed on and continued to create unique and original hats. All of these hats are extremely functional and many of the styles are reversible, have snap-on earmuffs and interchangeable bows. More >>

Cuddle Baby Baby Diaper Covers Rebecca Clark www.cuddlebaby.com Cuddle Baby began in 1997 by Rebecca and Michelle who wanted to stay at home with their children. All of the products are designed and manufactured at home. Cuddle Baby features custom nursing and breastfeeding clothing, diaper covers in hundreds of fabric selections, toys accessories and much more. More >>

Blissful Blankets for babies, children, and adults! Camille www.blissfulblankets.com Blissful Blankets blends simple design with high-tech fibers to create blankets that are soft, durable and useful all year long. The blankets are good for camping, road trips, vegetating in front of the TV or sitting on the porch on a summer evening. Blissful blankets offers foot cozy blankets, throws, travel blankets and much more. More >>

Borman Designs Personalized Baby Towels With Hoods Kelsi Borman www.kelsibormandesigns.com Kelsi Borman Designs began out of necessity in late spring of 2001. In looking over her budget, one of the many things she found was that quite a bit of money was being spent on baby gifts. Kelsi wanted to continue being able to give gifts, so she decided that the best alternative was to design and make hooded baby towels. Kelsi's friends then began asking her to make towels for them to give as gifts! What started as a way to save money was quickly turning into a profitable business. So, with the encouragement of her husband Dan, Kelsi Borman Designs was born. Kelsi loves designing and making monogrammed towels and other accessories because it gives her ample opportunity to be a stay-at-home mom. Kelsi Borman Designs is a creative and profitable at-home business. More >>

Greg's Custom Bunk Beds Gregory Gatons www.gregscustombunkbedsandplaylofts.50megs.com Greg's Custom Bunk Beds was born after Greg and his wife were looking for a bunk bed as their youngest daughter was quickly out growing her crib. They looked around and could not find a good quality bunk bed for a reasonable price. So they did what any good parent would do, build and design their own. Friends and family saw the bunk bed and said that Greg should sell them so, Greg's Custom Bunk Bed's and play Lofts was born. Greg is a Navy veteran and protected our country's freedom during the Gulf War. Greg is a stay at home dad who works hard to support his family. More >>

Best Products Inc. - Fido Rido (dog seat for car) Christine Best Wright Best Products Inc. 877-709-2154 www.fidorido.com The idea for the "Fido Rido" all began with a puppy who wanted to run around the car and look out the windows. The Fido Rido is a rectangular-shaped container made of durable plastic. A vinyl-covered foam block fills the container for "boosting" small pets to window level. A fleece cover wraps snugly around the container for easy cleaning. The Fido Rido is held in place with the car's seat belt. The pet is restrained by attaching nylon straps to a harness that comes with the Fido Rido. More >>

Baby Bee Incorporated Beautiful Blankets Lisa Barnes www.babybeeinc.com Lisa Barnes founded Baby Bee, Inc after a baby shower given for her daughter. She received some really unique and beautiful handmade flannel baby blankets from a friend. They were so incredibly soft and cozy and the fact that they were handmade made them even more special. Lisa was inspired to design her own blankets. Baby Bee, Inc. donates a portion of the proceeds from the sale of each blanket and/or donates blankets to various charities benefiting children including the Dr. Laura Schlessinger Foundation . More >>

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Musical Spanish Publishing Music At Home by Stacey Tipton Musical Spanish is a project I've been working on for nearly 5 years. It all began with an idea I had one day while finishing up my M.A. in Latin American studies. It seemed so simple to find some songs and use them as the basis for a language teaching book and CD. Surely a publishing company would see the potential in such a project! The next few years turned into an exercise in tenacity, as one big company after another expressed enthusiasm in the project, only to find a reason not to commit in the end. I suppose it was ambitious to assume that I could overcome the hurdles of music licensing or the inherent aversion to new and risky products that most publishing companies have, but I knew the idea was good. So I kept sending out demo chapters and proposals. After 3 years of rejection letters and near misses, I eventually found a small publishing house that was willing to publish the project, but we couldn't agree on the budget. The publisher suggested I consider applying for venture capital in order to fund the book and music development properly. Then it dawned on me: why should I go to the trouble of getting venture capital, only to allow this guy the control and majority of the profits for all of my hard work? I was fortunate enough to secure private funding from family members, and my little company was born. During the past year the majority of my book and CD sales have come through the internet-a wonderful tool enabling me to reach customers all over the globe. Learning how to build the website was as easy as learning to use a word processing program. Being my own webmaster also allows me to make changes and additions regularly, keeping the website current and as attractive as possible. My website is a far cry from first site I created a year ago! Aside from good design and content, the most important ongoing job has been promotion. This includes finding as many sites as possible to link to my own site, getting listed in all of the major directories, and optimizing my web pages so that they rank at the top of a web search for anything related to Spanish or Spanish teaching tools. It has been a lot of hard work, but it has definitely paid off. I get nearly 30,000 unique visitors a month, and receive many emails each week from users who have enjoyed the site. This has helped sales and also the word of mouth campaign about my teaching program and my website. The great thing about working at home is that you can set your own schedule, and you get to be your own boss. I love feeling that I am in control of my own destiny-if I work hard, I will make this business a success! A few years back when I was a struggling writer, I had lunch with a fellow aspiring writer who had written several fiction books but was afraid to submit them to publishers. He asked me "aren't you afraid of failing?" I said "No way! I'm not afraid of failure, because I am the one who decides when this thing has failed. And I'll never accept failure as an option." Well, working for yourself, you get a chance to really test that theory#133;.there are days when a consistent paycheck would seem like a Godsend. But since YOU are the one who decides just how hard you're willing to work, which options you are willing to pursue, how creative you are willing to be to help promote your business, success is up to you. When I look back on the 5 years I've spent working on Musical Spanish, the most important thing I have learned is that hard work, research, flexibility, and tenacity (with a little bit of stubbornness thrown in!) can overcome just about any obstacle. Written by Stacey Tipton, author of Musical Spanish, learn through pop music! (The Musical Linguist, LC) Stacey has her own small business in Miami Beach, FL. She is a former teacher and holds an M.A. in Latin American Studies from Tulane University. Visit Musical Spanish online at www.musicalspanish.com . Permission Granted For Use On DrLaura.com. Stacey Tipton The Musical Linguist mlinguist@aol.com www.musicalspanish.com Revolutionizing Language Learning! More >>