On to Plan B: Starting a Business

I just read this on NYTimes.com, very good article. And it's a reminder that the world is very different now, so you gotta to do what you got to do to make it happen

By MICKEY MEECE
CALL them accidental entrepreneurs, unintended entrepreneurs or forced entrepreneurs. A year and a half into the Great Recession, with the jobless rate hovering near double digits, corporate refugees like Lisa Marie Grillos of San Francisco are trying to fend for themselves.

Along with her brother Hernan Barangan, Mrs. Grillos started Hambone Designs, after her full-time contract position with Williams-Sonoma as a production manager wasn’t renewed in January. The new company makes bicycle bags that hold things like keys, wallets and cellphones.

“You have the time — why not focus your energy on something, rather than just trolling Craigslist and sitting and watching TV?” Mrs. Grillos says. “It’s really taking matters in my own hands.”

Mrs. Grillos, 34, built a Web site called hambonedesigns.com, opened a virtual shop on Etsy.com, an online marketplace, and hit San Francisco street fairs. So far, between the online marketing and the street fairs, she and her brother have sold 70 bags, which retail for $20 to $40. Each sale results in a profit.

“We have been talking about mass producing, but we’re not there yet,” Mrs. Grillos says. “It is a whole other thing, approaching stores and having the inventory.”

To help make ends meet, Mrs. Grillos also does textile design and photography projects, and it helps that her husband has a full-time job. READ