Brian and Jamie Ratner came up with the idea for their business, CertifiKID, during a four hour drive in their mini-van with their two kids.Twelve years ago, my husband Brian and I were raising two toddlers. While we made enough money through our 9-to-5 jobs to support our family, I was itching to start my own business.
We now bring in an average of $5 million in sales a year, and we're on track to generate $6 million by the end of 2022. In emails and on documents, people also often spell the name wrong, including on checks, which leads to us having to spend time addressing the error.Rather than come up with a budget when first starting out, we used only what we could afford to invest, which was $5,000. We maintained a lean staff, with a mix of full-time employees and independent contractors.
During our first two years in business, we focused solely on our home base in the Washington D.C. and Baltimore area. We asked our family and friends to spread the word. I also did my best to connect with every local parent-teacher association, business owner and media outlet. Early on, we turned down 10 acquisition and partnership opportunities. We had built a great team, and we wanted to run things our way for as long as possible.
MakeIt With enough effort and determination. Dreams come true.
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'Wow, must be nice to have the luxury of starting a business with $5,000 when the rest of us are just trying to make ends meet!'
MakeIt give me $5000 to start a business, cnbc
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MakeIt Excellent story. Thank you.