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Home Based, continued Susan found the promotions business to be very complex, but developed an insider's knowledge of the business while writing books and working as a bookkeeper for a small company. She visited shows to promote her books, but after loosing her job, Susan founded S&L Promotions as a local source for people to expand their businesses through the use of promotional items. What are promotional items? They are the pens and trinkets that businesses often give away at trade shows or to various customers to keep their company name in front of the public. Whenever a company pen is given away, someone like Susan helped acquire them for that company. Susan is typical of many entrepreneurs who operate businesses out of their homes. She needed to start the business with the lower overhead of operating out of her own home to give her the additional time needed to build her client base. She seeks to eventually move into a storefront where people can come to her and look at the items available for their business promotions. She knew it would be helpful to learn more about running her business so she went through the Women's Entrepreneur's training program with the Delta College Small Business Development Center. The launch date for her business was in March of 2002, but she officially launched the company later in July of that same year. She treats her business much like any normal business and only works during normal business hours. This helps her to keep things in the proper perspective and prevents her from working from morning to evening. Much of her recent business success has come through her affiliation with the Tracy Chamber of Commerce and the Tracy Express Network. She also has a booth at the Farmer's Market in downtown Tracy on Wednesday evenings between five and eight. Although most promotional items are prepared and shipped to Susan, she is moving into the area of making some items herself. Susan personally does certain sublimated products where she uses special materials to create the logo or photo that can be imprinted into a ceramic coffee mug or fabric. The process involves using equipment that turns the ink into a vapor that is absorbed into the ceramic mug or fabric. She hopes to expand further into this area in order to provide a more rapid turnaround on orders. Susan is also a successful author of romance novels. She was an avid reader who tried writing a scene to see if she had talent. She found it necessary to write several chapters to develop the characters. It took seven years to fully create the first book and another two years before she saw it on the store shelves. Her "White" series of books are staged in the early nineteenth century and her next book, White Shadows, is scheduled to be released in November of 2003. |