The Luckier this Young Mom / Entrepreneur Gets
By Home Business Magazine

Melissa Biskner, 26, typically wakes up each morning to the sweet sound of her 6-month-old baby needing to eat. That is at 5am. Good thing her commute is about 17 seconds to her home office where the fax machine starts buzzing around 7am. A former hair stylist, Melissa started her company partly by pure luck and partly by necessity after she found out she was 4 weeks pregnant. The problem was that she was deeply in debt and always short on cash.

Then something happened. Some call it divine intervention, others call it luck. Melissa was giving a haircut to a client who owns an insurance company. He was complaining about the high cost of toner cartridges for their laser printers. That same day, the boss at her salon bought a new printer and no longer needed their unopened toners. Melissa bought the brand new cartridges from her boss, resold them to her client at a deep discount, made a small profit, and her business, NewTonerSale.com, was born.

To quickly build her business, Melissa started calling other small insurance companies and doctor offices. Now the majority of her business is word of mouth and referrals. She plans to do a million dollars in sales by 2011 and set aside enough money to cover the cost of college for her son.

“Most people assume that because you work from home you get to take it easy all day,” says Melissa. “Nothing could be further from the truth. I work harder now then I ever have in my life. It’s true that you can wear jogging pants instead of khakis, but I think there is more pressure to perform because everything is on your shoulders.”

“The best part of working from home by far is experienced on the snowy days we get here in Michigan, “continues Melissa. “When everyone is fighting through the snow and slush, I can boot up my computer with a hot cup of coffee while looking out the window.

Melissa is most proud of being able to run a profitable business while at the same time being a good Mom. “Those are probably the two hardest jobs in the world..., “ she says. “I feel if I can accomplish success in these areas, I can accomplish just about anything!” For more information, email Melissa@NewTonerSale.com. HBM

V16-3 Add: 7/09 HP: 3/4/11 CAR: 4/21/11

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