"IMPACT Unlimited" is My Passion

You wouldn’t think there’d be much market for a start-up business in a rural community, but I’m proof that it can happen! I fell into my in-home desktop publishing business unintentionally. I found a niche market. It started out as a way for me to help my husband, who called on hundreds of farmers in his retail business. He needed to reach the growers in his large area more often than just calling on them one-at-a-time. So, loving to write and needing an outlet when our little ones were napping, I offered to create a monthly newsletter for his customers. Before I decided to be a stay-at-home Mom, I had worked as a typesetter for a printer, so I had some experience in graphic design. I decided most farmers were so busy, they wouldn’t have time to read a multiple page newsletter; so instead, I resolved to make it a one-pager. I divided up the page into three columns, and created multiple small articles and ads in each column; designed to grab their attention, yet brief enough to hold the shortest attention span. I decided to use Quark XPress to create the newsletters on my laptop computer and print them off on our home printer.

My first problem was finding someone to help me fold all those newsletters and get them ready to mail.. I immediately thought of contacting the local workshop for disabled adults to find out if they were seeking any new contract jobs. You see, I grew up with a handicapped mother, disabled from a major stroke when I was 12 years-old. During my late teen years, she inspired me to seek a job at the local workshop, where I learned to train and supervise disabled ones for whatever work contract they could obtain from the local community. The goal was to help them gain job skills in order to live independently some day. I knew from this past experience, that it was not unusual on job contracts for our disabled clients to outperform regular workers, whenever I was supervising a group of them amidst a workplace. Fortunately, they were in need of a new work contract and thought folding newsletters, stuffing and sealing envelopes, and applying postage were valuable job skills; so they accepted my contract.

I was so thankful that my husband’s newsletters became a huge hit. The farmers loved them! When they voiced appreciation at how much they valued being informed, it wasn’t long before I was asked to write a brief column in the local newspaper of our rural Illinois community. That led to the local Kiwanis Club asking me if I could typeset and print some envelopes for them. I figured out how to sub-contract the order at the printer I used to work at, for a discounted rate, enabling me to make a profit. Soon, I was being asked to join the Kiwanis Club and the networking led to more orders for business cards and stationery products.

Meanwhile, the manager at another agricultural retail location (at the same company my husband worked for) came across one of my newsletters and asked if he could hire me to do one for him, and I agreed. By then, I realized I’d better register my business legally, and decided being a Sole Proprietor was best for me. But, what to call it? I didn’t want to limit the impact I could have in multiple areas of printing, so I decided to call it: “IMPACT Unlimited”. After an Area Manager invited me to give a presentation to his entire division managers for retail locations on the value mailing out newsletters could have on their business, my orders multiplied by the dozens.

Soon, we were moving away due to my husband being relocated. But, I discovered I could continue an in-home business no matter where we lived. It wasn’t long before other area managers had discovered my newsletters, and almost overnight, I was producing newsletters which would be mailed to farmers all over the nation! It was exciting for me whenever a new order came in from another state, from the East Coast to the West Coast and all the states in-between. I was making enough money now to invest in some better equipment. The most valuable one, since I had lost my folders, was an electric folding machine.

The advantage to selling a monthly newsletter is that you are guaranteed repeat customers month-after-month! But, they weren’t satisfied with just newsletters… I enjoyed chatting with the customers each time they called to order, and we forged a close business relationship. Years later, a female customer ran into my daughter and after they learned I was her Mom, they told her they still had a condolence note I had sent them with an article about miscarriages after I learned she had lost a baby. She told my daughter she kept it in her dresser drawer and would still take it out to read it occasionally. That touched me, very much.

I soon had to invest in half-page designed card-stock in order to create large postcard mailers as invitations my customers needed to mail out to farmers as invitations for upcoming events. Then, I began to get orders for company envelopes and business cards, and received permission from their corporate office to use their logo to fulfill such orders. In fact, after I talked to corporate, they soon were placing orders themselves. One thing I had to learn to do was to create a gold embossed seal which they could peel off of rolls and use to seal the back of fancy envelopes for special occasion invitations. But, I didn’t hesitate to say: “Yes, I can make those for you” even though I had to learn how to do it. Part of the fun of running your own business is the challenge of pushing yourself to excel with a continuing learning process.

Speaking of learning new things, the day came when someone asked me if I could print their wedding invitations. I did not have the capability to create nice ones in-house, but I quickly found someone I could sub-contract them to; and learned how to send the images to the customer through email, so they could make their selections. That opened up a new line in my business that I enjoyed very much. There were a lot of accessories that go along with a wedding which I didn’t have to do much work for at all; just subcontract them and have everything direct-shipped to the customers.

But, the job that was most exciting for me to accept was when I was contacted by Paramount who wondered if I’d be interested in typesetting some coloring books that they were subcontracting out because their typesetters were overloaded. It was one of the easiest jobs I’ve ever done, but something I’ll never forget.

Time has a way of marching on, and before I knew it, my children were grown. Originally, I had intended just to be a stay-at-home Mom until both my kids were in elementary school full-time. And, I did go back to work for a stockbroker for several years, trying to keep up with my IMPACT Unlimited orders in the evenings and on weekends. But, it became too much trying to juggle two careers. I had to have a “come to Jesus” meeting with myself, and face the realization that it is OKAY to work out of one’s home! You see, even though I was making more income from my in-home business than I was from my away-job, society looks down on stay-at-home parents. Why? I don’t know. It’s stupid peer pressure, because in my opinion, people ought to be praising those mothers who are able to do it, whether or not they manage to figure out a way to generate income… After all, raising children is the MOST IMPORTANT job any parent could possibly have—they are our future! If one good thing came out of the pandemic, I hope it is that society will quit looking down upon stay-at-home parents. Anyway, I found that my children needed more supervision in the junior high and high school years than I had expected. I feel very fortunate that I was able to quit my away-job and focus on my in-home career.

You don’t have to live in a city to make in-home income. I am living proof that someone from a rural community can successfully do it. Just follow your passion. Learn a skill, and then go for it! Find a niche market, and then fill it.