SoGua’s Blog

Forbes just announced the 200 Best Small Companies.

1. Hansen Natural

• Once a staid maker of fruit juices and sodas, the company unleashed a
  beast in 2002 with Monster Energy, a caffeine-loaded drink aimed at
  teens and thirtysomething males.

2. Cognizant Technology Solutions

• Its business is e-business: helping companies migrate from paper trails to electronic statements via the Web.

3. Travelzoo

• Who would believe you could make a thriving Internet business by directing travelers to booking agents?

4. Remington Oil & Gas

• Today it operates 40-plus oil and gas fields in the Gulf of Mexico, which were minimally impaired by Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Rita damaged two rigs.

5. Usana Health Sciences

• Microbiologist Myron Wentz sold out of a viral-diagnostic company he founded and started Usana, a vitamin and supplement multilevel marketer.

6. Forward Industries

• Call them hip protectors. Forward
  makes carrying cases for Razr, the new ultrapopular, ultrathin cell
  phone from Motorola, which accounted for nearly half of the company�s
  third-quarter sales.

7. Laserscope

• Laserscope’s
  trademarked Gemini laser can vaporize moles and skin blemishes, as well
  as assist in hair removal, varicose vein treatments and face-lifts. In
  more urgent medical cases, its GreenLight laser can be used to shrink
  inflamed glands and enlarged prostates and to zap kidney masses.

8. Ceradyne

• With the depressingly high number of roadside explosions and car bombs in Iraq
  and Afghanistan, this diversified ceramics maker pulled in 53% of its
  January-to-June sales from military customers–much of that in body-armor sales.

9. American Healthways

• The company provides services for 21 chronic conditions, offering remote
  monitoring for heart patients and for phone calls by nurses to people suffering
  from conditions, such as asthma and depression. It also reminds diabetics to
  check for swollen feet.

10. Middleby

• Good customer relations and contracts from deep-pocketed customers, like
  McDonald�s, KFC and Papa John�s, helped pull the commercial-kitchen-equipment
  maker out of the fire after negative earnings in 1998.

Click here to find out more about the 200 Best Small Companies at Forbes

Dog lovers attention!!!
Just read an interesting news from a news site. Honda is trying to launch a doggy friendly car!

"WAKO, Japan � Honda Motor Co. has designed a car that’s friendly for dogs � part of the Japanese automaker’s ongoing effort to create vehicles that are easy to use and comfortable to ride in.

A special crate for dogs in the glove compartment allows owners to
interact with their pets while driving. A bigger crate pops up from the
floor in the back seat area and can be folded back into the floor when
it’s not needed. For even bigger dogs, just buckle them up with a
special seat belt to the floor."

Click here to read the full article.

"When Courtney Crawford first explored launching a designer-shoe company in
2004, he had no previous business experience. He envisioned a line of primarily
high-heels for a woman who "didn’t mind being center stage" and was
"unapologetically sexy," he says.

But he knew designing his own line would be an expensive proposition. He’d
have to pay for work space, materials, trademarks and a look book, a collection
of photographs of his designs to show potential buyers and retailers. In
researching, he found that the look book alone could cost thousands of dollars.

"With a luxury brand, people sometimes spend $100,000 or $200,000 on a
look book. I didn’t have anywhere near that kind of money," Mr. Crawford
says.

To make his dream a reality, Mr. Crawford had to persuade potential
investors to provide financing to help turn his designs into the high-end
footwear that upscale boutiques would covet. This meant first climbing a steep
learning curve and then working closely with his backers to assure them that
their investment would one day yield a profitable operation.

P/S: twinsmom i think you should read the whole article and position ur Jewel Mine at the higher fashion market. :p

Mr. Crawford had just entered the Fashion Institute of Technology in New
York City. Always an avid doodler and designer, he wanted to have his own
company. "I grew up around five women, and they were into luxury goods and
into high fashion, so I wanted to jump into luxury," says Mr. Crawford,
now 26. "I always wrote out mission statements and thought about brand
identity. Things started to escalate when I started at FIT and, from there, I
started to develop a real business strategy."

He says he peppered his lawyer and his business-savvy friends with questions
about starting his own company and read Internet articles, books on the luxury
market and such fashion trade publications as Footwear News.

"In researching, I found out how much trademarks cost; I knew I needed
models and ‘look books’ and a PR person, but I didn’t quite know how to get
them," says Mr. Crawford.

Eventually his questions led to a meeting in July 2004 with friends of
friends: investors Lyndon Campbell, head of New York fashion and media
investment limited-liability company Dynasty Global Holdings, and Burnell Guyton, an Atlanta automotive-dealership owner, who
provides financing for some of Dynasty’s portfolio companies.

He came to the meeting armed with sketches and an outline of his target
customer and retailer, he says, hoping his volume of material and strength of
conviction would belie his age and inexperience."

Click here to read more