Windfall Profits

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It started as a joke. But Linda Katz's tumbleweed on-the-Web startup isn't just in Kansas anymore

The lowly tumbleweed is a nuisance to most inhabitants of Western Kansas. The Russian thistle bushes are everywhere. They clog drainage ditches, pile up against fencerows, and have even been known to cause traffic accidents.

But the weed is blowing only good fortune to Linda Katz of Garden City, Kan., who is proving that you really can sell almost anything on the Internet. You see, this former real estate agent, who's married to a roofer, sells tumbleweed over the Web.

"It all started as a joke,"says Katz, 49. She asked her son to build her a family Web page so she could communicate with friends and give it the tongue-in-cheek name Prairie Tumbleweed Farm. Never mind that she didn't even live on a farm, but in a subdivision. Nevermind that you can't cultivate tumbleweed, which spreads its seed as it tumbles in the wind. For authenticity's sake, Katz added a price list ($35 for a big weed, $25 for a midsize one, $20 for the small economy model). And she guaranteed that each tumbleweed was "Y2K compliant" and quality-tested to tumble in even the gentlest of breezes.

Remember, Katz wasn't looking for business, but it found her all the same, thanks to the power of Web search engines. Orders started to pour in from all the places where people love Hollywood Westerns: Alaska, Austria, Britain, Hong Kong, India. Japanese customers proved so eager that she has added a section to her Web site in Japanese. Movie and TV production companies in Britain, Finland, and the U.S. have ordered tumbleweed for props, too, including a $1,000 order for the children's show Barney & Friends. A scientist from New Mexico wanted tumbleweed for research purposes. Many of Katz's newfound customers use tumbleweed to decorate their homes, even in lieu of the traditional Christmas tree.

During Katz's first two months on the Web, the site (www.prairietumbleweedfarm.com) logged 2,000 visitors. By mid-January, the number had grown to more than 56,000. Katz says she's making about 30 tumbleweed sales a week, which suggests revenues of about $40,000 a year.

That may not sound like much, but neither are her costs. She fills orders by grazing Kansas fence lines for tumbleweed and buys her mailing boxes in bulk lots. For labor, Katz uses her five nieces and nephews (aged 11 to 19) to help collect the stuff, and she gives them a share of the profits.

"Isn't the Internet a wonderful thing?" says Katz.

 

Technorati tags: business, profit, startup, joke

Source: Windfall Profits

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Small Talk: Postal rate hike changing the way many do business

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When postal rates go up on May 14, many small business owners will be looking for ways to save on their mailing costs. Many will switch to e-mail and other high-tech methods, while others will opt for smaller envelopes or thinner packages.
    And some will take more drastic steps - such as abandoning higher-cost, low-margin parts of their businesses.
    Steve Weber, who sells books online, already stopped shipping some lower-priced books in recent years because he simply couldn't make enough of a profit as mailing costs increased. When rates rise again, he expects to pare his inventory further, discarding or donating books that would sell for $5 or less.
    ''I'll probably downsize quite a bit and focus in on the items that are worth more money,'' said Weber, adding that he'll also be shipping fewer books overseas.
    Weber noted that there are booksellers whose specialty are books that cost just a few dollars, and so shipping costs - which can be limited by online retailers that display the booksellers' inventory - can offset or outstrip any profits. That means some book merchants will be forced to find entirely different books to sell, perhaps targeting a niche market.
    ''The key to making money is to specialize,'' said Weber, who runs his business, Weber Books, from Falls Church, Va. ''You've got to focus in on markets like collectible cookbooks or poetry.''
    The postal rate change that will send the cost of a first-class stamp up 2 cents to 41 cents will also make it more expensive for businesses to send most of their letters and packages. Evan Bloom, who co-owns a Sir Speedy printing franchise in Westbury, N.Y., said that while in the past the U.S. Postal Service based its prices on weight and size, now thickness of a letter or package is being thrown into the mix.
    He noted, for example, that a business sending out a letter with a complimentary pen to a prospective customer has only had to worry about the weight of the package. But as of May 14, the thickness of such an envelope will figure into the cost because the pen will make it harder for the package to be sorted.
    Bloom said many companies will be able to save on postage costs by using different size envelopes or making smaller mailings. But, he said of the increase, ''there's no way to avoid it entirely.''
    He expects his clients to do what his company has already been doing to contain its own costs - culling mailing lists to target the best sales prospects. ''It makes me think more in detail about how I'm mailing, whether it will reach the people we need to,'' Bloom said.
    Bloom also expects the postal increase to affect his revenue as well as his costs. ''Some clients will now decide maybe they'll do a little less,'' he said.
    The postal rate hike follows by several months rate increases at package delivery services including FedEx Inc. and UPS Inc. And so the higher cost of mailing and shipping is likely to make many small businesses turn to e-mail and Web-based mail to send out letters, reports, presentations, projects and more.
    Andy Abramson, chief executive of Comunicano Inc., a Del Mar, Calif.-based marketing firm, said his company uses e-mail and the Web to send and receive most of its documents, bills and letters. For larger mailings that are too big for some Internet service providers or servers to handle, Comunicano relies on companies that deliver PDF files.
    Business owners wanting to learn about the various high-tech ways of mailing need only talk to other, more tech-savvy entrepreneurs, or to search the Web. While there are many sites run by companies wanting to sell you services, you can still learn about your options without signing up. You can also get some help from SCORE, the organization of retired executives who counsel small businesses for free; its Web site is www.score.org.
    But Abramson, who noted that he is the son of a postal worker, said businesses shouldn't expect to abandon regular mail altogether. Some pieces of mail can have an impact - especially an emotional impact - that e-mail and PDF files just can't deliver.
    ''There is something special about receiving a card, or a calendar that goes on your wall,'' he said.

Source: Salt Lake Tribune - Small Talk: Postal rate hike changing the way many do business

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