How I became a Stay at Home Dad

Ranked #34,880 in Business & Work, #492,679 overall

How I created a legacy for my family

Hi! My name is Owen and I am an entrepreneur. My dad was self-employed. My uncle is self-employed. My brother and sister-in-law are self-employed. I believe my children will be also. Anyway...here is a bit of my story. I grew up in a home where being "self-employed" was a focus.

I was the kid who sold seeds door to door, sold pumpkins (grown in Grandma's garden) out of my little red wagon, and sold balloons at our town's festivals. In high school, I was a photographer. I made money taking pictures and working with a professional photographer in nearby towns! By the time I was 18, I knew I wanted to be my own boss, but the exact path remained unclear.

It was in my third year of college; I attended a "Job fair" where oodles of employers set up booths at the college and talked to us students about the opportunities that awaited us with their respective companies. It was a break-through day for me; I knew that day there was no way I would be able to survive working for someone else.

When I was 21, my dad came across the business advertised in the back of Entrepreneur magazine, (can you imagine?) that would change my life. I started my own vending company in an 850 square foot rental house next to the home I grew up in. Talk about small town living. 2 years later, I got married, bought 6 acres of land and moved my business. The land we purchased had a home, office building, and a horse barn, er, um, I mean warehouse. It took me 18 months to find this property, but it was perfect. I quickly grew my business to over 1500 customers.

3 years later our warehouse was struck by lightening and burned to the ground. Thankfully, no one was hurt. In a matter of 4 days we had the business up and running in a rental unit. We had a lot of help from neighboring businesses and our employees jumped on board to keep things going. We had quite a team!

Over the course of the next year, I took on the roles of general contractor and master negotiator (that's what my wife calls it) . I also had to negotiate with the city to change the zoning of our property. I built a 7500 square foot custom building for our vending company. It was cool! In the end, we overcame huge obstacles and moved into our new building 1 year after the fire! I forgot to mention that we continued to grow our customer base to over 2000 during that same year.

The story continues....my wife and I started a family. My wife worked in the office and so the kids were there too. It was great to be a part of their every moment. I was able to see my kids throughout their day, before school, after school, on the swing outside the warehouse. It is awesome being around them. Now that they are older and in school, I treasure those moments we had together.

About creating a legacy... my kids are now 14 and 10 years of age. My daughter has her own jewelry business and teachers others how to make jewelry at a local craft store. My son takes videos and pictures, he edits them and posts them online. He also takes are family videos and creates fun DVDs we share with family and friends. I believe that my influence on them has given them the foundation to become business owners of the future. WOW!

I would like to show others how to do the same thing. It all started in a rental house and some hard work!

Lock the Doors!

A mass exodus

OK, Lock the doors because what I'm going to say next usually causes a mass exodus. Ready? "A woman's place is in the home." Now wait just a minute before you get all upset and run for the fire exits. I'm not quite done yet, listen to the whole thing and you'll understand. In fact, you'll probably agree. "A woman's place is in the home; with, of all people, her husband." Why should she get all the benefits?

HonorSnack Background Intro from a 30 Year Veteran

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Why Snacks on the Honor System?

The majority of U.S. businesses employ less than 50 employees. This huge market is open to a system called HonorSnacks. Snacks on the honor system provide 100 items with 30-40 choices replaced regulary to assure freshness and selection. This system offers you an excellent return on your time, low capital outlay for start-up, and outstanding absentee owner potential. You will see positive cash flow in just weeks after your start-up!
Important!

Grab your HonorSnacks Guide

Click here to get yours:
HonorSnacks Operations Manual

How does the honor system work?

Our service is not made available to the general public. It is only left with small businesses for the exclusive benefit of their employees. These people all know each other and help monitor the purchasing.

Few people realize how provitable our business is! The average wholes cost of our snack food products leaves us with a very wide margin between cost and retail price. This wide margin is part of how we generate excellent profits.

Owen's Links

Entrepreneur/Inventor/Investor/Mentor

I'm a great believer that any tool that enhances communication has profound effects in terms of how people can learn from each other, and how they can achieve the kind of freedoms that they're interested in. ~Bill Gates
Business Owner, Age 22
This is the first business I owned as an adult. I had several as a kid
My first Invention for Small Location Vending
The Clear Choice Revolution was made by vending operators for vending operators.
Investing and technical stuff
I have always had an interest in stocks and managing your own portfolio.
My Entrepreneurial Daughter's First Business
Check out her jewelry creations.

The Legacy continues....

Jewelry hobby becomes a business

My children have grown up with an entrepreneruial attitude. Mommy and Daddy were around because we had our own business.

From a young age, my daughter wanted to be just like her Daddy...yes her Daddy. A few years ago she took a jewelry making class that turned into a hobby that turned into buisness. In just 2 years she went from making plastic beaded bracelets to designing high quality sterling silver and crystal jewelry. She teaches others how to make jewelry as well as attending 4-5 craft shows a year. She is now in the process of setting up her own website and blog!

My son loves technology...no not the typical Wii games. He enjoys taking video, editing video and publishing video. He has taken our family videos and turned them into entertaining, shorter versions! You know, the kind you actually like to watch. Did I mention he is only 10? He is a master at PremierPro, After Effects,The award-winning Autodesk® Maya® software is a powerful, integrated 3D modeling, animation, visual effects, and rendering solution and Illustrator. Did I mention, he is only 10!
Jango Jewelry
Innovative, original jewelry design

Questions? Comments? How can I help you?

  • ozlars Mar 12, 2010 @ 2:55 pm | delete
    I spelled Lightning wrong? I don't doubt you for a second. I can spell a word 4 or 5 different ways, it all looks right to me. Thanks for stopping by Zeke, it's been a long time since I spoke with you on the phone. I just had a conversation with someone last week about you and your product. Make it a Great Day!
  • Zeke McFarland Mar 12, 2010 @ 2:32 pm | delete
    I can't type either..........DUHHH!
  • Zeke McFarland Mar 12, 2010 @ 2:31 pm | delete
    You spelled LIGHTNING wrong. I may not ne an entrepreneur, but at least I can spell. And I'm just a dumb old hick from western Pennsylvania. LOL.
  • skiesgreen Jul 5, 2009 @ 10:06 pm | delete
    Good insight into the makings of an entrepreneur. It does not happen overnight. Well done and very nice info..
  • mysticmama Jul 5, 2009 @ 7:41 pm | delete
    very nicely done :-)
  • silvipera Jul 5, 2009 @ 7:35 pm | delete
    This lens is on my favorite list for sure!
  • ozlars Jun 30, 2009 @ 3:32 pm | delete
    Please share your comments with me here...

Honesty??

Are people still honest?

Honesty is the Best Policy?

One of the things I have been asked is, "Why honorsnacks? People are not honest anymore."

Most people won't build this business because they don't have the guts to. I can show you how to overcome this major obstacle. First of all, you get what you expect. If you expect people to be dishonest, they will be. However, if you deliver the best and expect the best you will receive the best.

As a customer, what do you expect? Do you want good or great service? Do you want a smiling face or just a grumpy voice over the phone? Do you want your complaint taken care of now or later? Think of how many products and services we buy right off the internet. How much of our communication is done directly on-line? The internet is great..hey it's what I am doing now. However, there is a personal element that is missing when we do most of our communication in this way. That element is customer service.

Customer serivce seems to be something that is missing in business today. We move so fast and demand so much, we don't often slow down to think about it.
When it comes to honesty, it is easier to believe it doesnt' exist. That way, we won't be disappointed when we have been lied to. Do you know there are over 254,000 books on the subject of honesty on amazon? Do you think our society is concerned about it? Yea, I think so. We all want to be honest, we want to do what is right.

Merriam-Webster dictionary says the following:

synonyms honesty, honor, integrity, probity mean uprightness of character or action. honesty implies a refusal to lie, steal, or deceive in any way. honor suggests an active or anxious regard for the standards of one's profession, calling, or position. integrity implies trustworthiness and incorruptibility to a degree that one is incapable of being false to a trust, responsibility, or pledge. probity implies tried and proven honesty or integrity.

Years ago, I used to hire "route drivers." You know, the ones who just drove a van around and delivered a product. After, a few years and many lessons later, I changed that to "customer service representative." I did that because I expected more from my employees than some guy delivering candy. I did that because I wanted my employees to expect more of themselves. If you give them something to shoot for and they fall short, well, they didn't fall off, just short. They get back up and try again. I trained my employees to exemplify good character, to be repsopnsible and to treat customers properly.

HonorSnacks succeeds because we provide training in the art of customer service. I can teach you how to create that trust between you and your customer so that honesty will exist. You will have a relationship with your customer and they will pay because they trust you. They want to "do right" by you. As your business grows, the relationship you create with your employees will then be passed on to your customers. It's what you expect, and you will get it.

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ozlars

Owen Larson is an entrepreneur, inventor, investor and mentor. His goal is to make money...My first business, honorsnacks, I started at age 21. I can... more »

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