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Fast Forward
St. Louis Business Journal
Hobbies as Business:
Making a Splash
by Angela Mueller
Your hobby doesn't have to be just your hobby. Just ask Baye Hennessey Frederic and her niece Courtney Hennessey.
Frederic, 36, (grantrent@aol.com) studied economics in college. in her spare time she enjoyed swimming and working out. She has now developed and teaches her own water aerobics program, Splashercise.
"I certainly didn't plan on this in college," Frederic says. "It was the furthest thing from my mind. I just knew I liked working out and teaching fitness."
Hennessey, 22, (hennessey_court@hotmail.com) graduated from St. Louis University in May with a degree in communications. Over Christmas break in 1999, she started making her own jewelry in her free time.
She has now created and is selling her own jewelry line, Codi.
"I don't think I could have planned this," Hennessey says of Codi. "It was just one of those things that I fell into because I enjoyed it."
While neither aunt nor niece wrote a business plan before launching their ventures, they both emphasize that turning a hobby into a serious business is serious business.
"You have to devote a lot of time to it," Hennessey says. "And you have to understand the business side of the whole equation. Without that you can't succeed."
Hennessey started her career in jewelry design in December of 1999, when she went to a bead store for the first time, spent $400 and started making her own jewelry. Seeing the interest from others, she began selling her pieces, and in her first year of business, she had sales of more than $80,000.
Nearly $20,000 of those sales came from two trunk shows held at the St. Louis Neiman Marcus store.
"Some of my customers were in there shopping, and one of the employees at the jewelry counter saw one of my pieces several times, so she stopped them and asked them where they got their jewelry," Hennessey says. "One day I was in there, and I had the jewelry onm and she stopped me and we started talking and she told me I should talk to their fashion jewelry manager."
Before leaving the store, Hennessey tracked down the manager and set up an appointment to show the manager her designs.
"She loved it right off the bat," Hennessey says.
After the trunk shows, Neiman Marcus also put some of Hennessey's pieces on display at the jewelry counter. The store is currently considering carrying the Codi line nationally. The brand also has been presented to buyers for the Saks Fifth Avenue stores, and boutiques in St. Louis, Chicagom Denver, and Aspen, Colo., are carrying or considering carrying the jewelry. Thepieces in the Codi line range in price from $20 to @200.
Hennessey says she doesn't discount the items or her work just because she's an amateur recently turned professional. She simply sets the prices according to the law of supply and demand. After, all, this is a business, not just a hobby.
"I'm getting so many orders that if I were selling it too cheap, I would be making jewelry 24 hours a day," she says. "That wouldn't be a very good business plan."
In addition to selling Codi products at Neiman Marcus, Hennessey has expanded her customer base through jewelry parties hosted by friends, acquaintances and family members, of whom in the Hennessey family there are many.
...
Establishing an identifiable, trademarked name to "get out there" has been part of the business strategy of both Frederic and Hennessey. Frederic developed a Splashercise program, a one-hour workout certified by the Aquatic Exercise Association, which is distinct and easily reconized.
"Splashercies is my trademarked name," she says. "When you say Splashercise, people say, 'Oh, that's Gaye Frederic.' They know it's a good, hard workout. It's not people hanging out in the water eating bon bons."
Creating a strong brand and a business such as Codi or Splashercise takes a serious long-term commintment, Frederic says.
"It's very hard to make something like this a career," she says. "You've got to be willing to sacrifice in the begining -- whether it's time or money.
"It's a lot of work, but it's still fun."
"You have to be serious about it," Hennessey says. "This is a full-time business that I've devoted my life to, but it's still my hobby, which is the best part of all."
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