Mom turns home business into multi-million dollar empire

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- It's been said that if you really want to be successful, find your passion. We have the story of how one local mom took her passion and turned it into a multi-million dollar business. 

The milestones of Rosie Herman's business are in a scrapbook. The first picture, though, is not of a product, but a young mother with twins with huge bills. "I thought, how can I do something and make extra money at home to help participate in paying off the debt load?" said Herman, founder of One Minute Manicure.

The answer was to focus on what she knew, and as an esthetician, she knew manicures. As a mother, she knew the value of time and she created a quick fix concoction, first calling it Mommy's Magic. "'Cause it was my magic. I could only take a shower every two days and caring for the twins and so I'd use it all over my body and it would exfoliate, moisturize and last two days," she said. She shared it with friends. It caught on and it got a new name -- the One Minute Manicure. The factory was at first the family kitchen, then garage. The jars sold out at craft shows and developed a following, all this while her husband worked long hours as a flooring salesman. One weekend, she went to a craft show and when she returned... "He goes, 'I don't think you can do these shows anymore. This is too much for me for a weekend,' and when I walked by the coffee table and threw down $2,000 and I said, 'Are you sure about that,'" she said. That's where the scrapbooks change, from photos at home to glossy magazines in which the One Minute products were featured. Herman was featured on Oprah, as well, which brought in even more business and turning what began in a kitchen to a million-dollar business. During all that, husband Neal quit his sales job and became her business partner. Their communication was forced to improve. "It just makes a world of difference, not just in our business relationship while we're here at the office, but with our personal lives as well," he said. This is the now the factory floor in Spring, automated bottling. And the product line has expanded to include more body creams and lotions. The One Minute line is now sold internationally and Rosie Herman has received several Businesswoman of the Year awards. Hers is a success story and she tells it to inspire other women that they too can create their own empires. "We tend to, 'I think I can't do it.' Then you need to be around those positive people, and if you aren't around them then you need to find them," she said.
Source http://abclocal.go.com/