Entrepreneurs Who Turned Hobbies into Million-Dollar Businesses
"Kim Lavine started making microwavable pillows as gifts for her kids’ teachers in 2001, assembling them at her kitchen table in Grand Haven, Mich., using a corn kernel filling. Around the same time, her husband lost his job, prompting her to consider turning her pastime into a source of income.
She went from selling pillows out of her truck to setting up mall kiosks and incorporating her company, Green Daisy, in 2002. Within two years, Lavine’s Wuvit pillow was in national chains, including Saks Fifth Avenue, Macy’s and Bed Bath & Beyond, and by 2006, it generated more than $1 million in sales.
Lavine then branched out into a pajama line, and after moving to a licensing model, a home décor line as well. In 2008, she put the retail business on hold and started a media company with plans to eventually relaunch the Green Daisy brand again. Lavine wrote about her success in Mommy Millionaire: How I Turned My Kitchen Table Idea into a Million Dollars and How You Can, Too! (St. Martins, 2007).
To determine whether your hobby can become a business, she says, first ask: "Do you have a great product and can you demonstrate and prove its marketability?" That may sound elemental, but Lavine says too many entrepreneurs fail to consider that question." BY JANE PORTER | September 13, 2012
