OpTree

workathomewear.com (Michigan) DJ Nelson of (All Diva Media and Business Wife & Life) has a brand new project and it has just launched. The new endeavor is called WorkAtHomeWear.com.

The company provides clothes and gifts for the estimated 4.2 million Americans who work from home. Nelson says the idea came to her because she saw how skeptical people are of those who work at home. Many people are under the impression “work at home” businesses are scams, or those who were working at home are lazy and don’t want to go out to get a job. They don’t realize that today, many people whether they have their own business, are network marketers, or telecommute, work from the comfort of their own home. But just because you work at home doesn’t mean you can get dressed and look good.

Nelson’s new company seeks to help those who work at home, to be proud of who they are AND of what they are wearing. The new line includes clothes and tee shirts with funny sayings and witty gifts for the home. Nelson herself has been working and blogging from home since 2003.  As her site grows she hopes to continue to add products as well as allow people to customize their own products.

We kind of like her approach although she is going to need more of a selection to make it into a business.  There are currently 12 different t-shirt themes on the site now but should be easy enough to add.  How about, my downline is bigger than yours? If we do put together a schwag bag, we may want to throw this one in since we think a bunch of people will love it.

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On February 1, Princess House (Taunton, MA) officially kicked off their 2008 American Heart Association Campaign by participating in National Wear Red Day and launching company wide “Love your Heart” initiatives. Princess House is a proud partner of the American Heart Association’s Go Red For Women Movement, which celebrates the energy, passion and power of determined women who join together to fight the number one killer of American Women: cardiovascular disease, the cause of one in every 2.6 female deaths.

Princess House raised $133,939 for the American Heart Association in 2007! As part of the fundraising drive, the company has also helped raise awareness of heart health, risk factors for cardiovascular disease and how each person can begin taking steps to protect their hearts by making healthy choices a way of life.The company is looking to break last years mark and if you are interested in making a donation or finding out more, click here.

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There was an interesting article that Liz Austin Peterson of AP put together on Lori Pope and her toy rental company, Baby Plays.

After scouring the Internet to fill her house with only the best toys for her infant twin sons, Lori Pope hated to watch the clutter build as her boys lost interest.

If you can rent movies, video games and even handbags online, she thought, why not toys?

That’s the idea behind Baby Plays, a Web-based company Pope launched in October that allows parents to receive four or six toys in the mail every month, assembled and ready for playtime.

Call it Netflix for the toddler set.

Baby Plays subscribers visit the company’s Web site to browse among nearly 200 toys for newborns through preschoolers. Customers build a wish list of toys they’d like to rent, and Pope’s staff ships them to their door.

“It’s going to take a load off of moms,” Pope said.

Pope started with 10 customers, shipping toys out of spare office space in her business. Now she’s got about 200 customers nationwide, including about 40 grandparents, and is preparing to move into a 3,000-square-foot warehouse next door.

She has spent $250,000 of the money she’s made from her other business to get the company off the ground, from buying toys and hiring employees to subletting the office and storage space. She still pours about $12,000 a month into the company but hopes to begin turning a profit by this fall.

Customers pay $28.99 a month to get four toys a month for three months and $35.99 a month to get six toys a month for three months. Families willing to sign a yearlong contract can get six toys a month for $31.99.

Baby Plays’ inventory includes popular toys by brands such as VTech, LeapFrog and Playskool as well as more obscure European manufacturers. Pope keeps at least seven of each kind of toy in stock so she can fulfill almost every request. She plans to double her inventory over the next two months.

Pope mainly stocks sturdy, easy-to-clean toys with few parts or parts that are easily replaced. She searches Web sites and catalogs for popular toys that are appropriate for small children and meet all European and American safety standards.

Once a new toy comes in, Pope invites Houston-area customers and their children to her office for some hands-on testing. If the kids love them, she’ll order more. If they ignore the toy or lose interest just a few minutes, it’s cut.

The toys are sanitized with Clorox wipes and loaded with fresh batteries before being shrink wrapped and boxed for shipment. The few toys that are too big to be shipped fully assembled are boxed with a screwdriver and instructions.

Families generally keep the toys for one month and then send them back in the box they came in, using a postage-paid return label the company includes with each shipment. Most parents know that’s long enough for little kids to exhaust their interest.

But it’s no big deal if the little one wants to hang on to a couple of toys for several months, Pope said. Parents can just exchange the toys they don’t want, and new toys are shipped out as the old ones are returned.

Each type of toy is also tested for lead paint when a new shipment arrives from the wholesaler, Pope said. She also avoids toys with small pieces that a child could break off and choke on.

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Longaberger, (Newark, Ohio) Blaming a tough economy, central Ohio’s Longaberger Company has laid off 200 of its basket makers, as well as eliminating 25 of its senior management positions. “We’re an Ohio manufacturer that makes its products by hand,” said Tom Matthews, company spokesman. “There are not many companies doing that anymore. It creates challenges, and we’re working through those challenges that we face. We’re committed to preserving jobs for the future.” . In December, Tami Longaberger took over as president when Jim Gimeson resigned. After assuming her new role, Longaberger evaluated the organization of senior management and decided the company was too top-heavy. It became clear to her that in order for the company become more efficient in decision making, it was necessary to streamline the senior management team. Longaberger felt that a smaller management team would help the company make smarter decisions in a more time-efficient manner.

The elimination of 25 senior-management positions occurred during an eight-week period, beginning in December. The positions included a variety of management levels at the corporate headquarters and manufacturing campus, ranging from chief operating officer and vice president to director and manager. “This tough economy requires difficult but common sense decisions to ensure we remain in a strong financial position,” Tami Longaberger, chief executive officer and president, said in a press release. “We are building positive momentum on many fronts, and we’re optimistic about the future. But, in these uncertain economic times, it is just smart business to plan conservatively.” In less than a year, Longaberger has laid off about 1,084 employees and recalled 471. If the laid-off employees are not recalled, the company’s work force will officially drop to about 2,575, down from a peak of 8,200 in 2000.

The company has eliminated approximately 150 positions from its headquarters in the last year. In January 2008, the company saw a 200 percent increase in new consultants compared to January 2007. Online sales exceeded expectations by 100 percent in 2007. The company is hoping that as the economy improves, they will be able to rehire some of those they had to let go. The basket makers whose jobs were eliminated are welcome to apply to re-join the company. Each March Longaberger begins to rehire seasonal employees, and they believe that with online sales being so strong, that too will allow them to rehire some of those who were let go.

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