Eastern Onion “Whatever you can do or dream, you can. Begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.” —Goethe It doesn’t take a college degree to be successful. Mary Flatt is testament to that. She had tried her hand at several businesses by the time she was thirty, but all had failed. Seeking new opportunities, she and her husband, Jim, and two kids moved to Las Vegas with no money and no jobs. Fortunately, Jim found permanent employment at a casino, but Mary skipped from one job to another. One day Mary was at a party when a Western Union singing telegram was delivered. Mary felt the presentation was flat. She believed that singing telegrams should be fun, exciting, and even outrageous. An idea was born. Mary scraped together $1,200 to get her idea off the ground. At first Jim thought the idea was harebrained and gave Mary no support or encouragement. Still, Mary continued with her plans. Songs were written for almost every occasion, from birthdays to “Happy Divorce Day,” and friends helped make costumes for the venture, which Mary cleverly named Eastern Onion. The first week, five “grams” were sold, and she was on her way. Although the business made virtually no profit during its first ten months, a big break came when stories about Eastern Onion’s novel telegrams appeared in the local newspaper. With the free publicity, sales began to increase. When the company was featured in the national press, Mary Flatt began getting calls from people interested in obtaining franchises. Today, Eastern Onion is a franchised nationwide singing telegram company with locations in virtually every major U.S. city. Consider This: Many people have failed and failed again. If they keep trying, they increase their chances of finding that one idea that will make it big.
Posted on: Mon, 02 Sep 2013 15:39:33 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015