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On October 24, 2008, "Goode Scents" was mentioned in an article in the Knoxville News-Sentinel by Carly Harrington.
Not Too Late For A New Enterprise
If there's one thing Evelyn Miller and Debbie Shepherd want you to know, it's that you're never too old to start your own business.
Evelyn, 68, and Debbie, 57, began their home-based business Goode Scents a year ago, selling hand-poured soy candles and natural bath and body products.
"It has absolutely taken off. We cannot believe it," said Debbie, who is Evelyn's niece. "Everything just happened so quickly. It's awesome."
What essentially started with a $35 candle kit last September has become a labor of love for the Knoxville baby boomers, who in a year of doing business have made unbelievable progress.
"We're older so we have to work faster," Debbie says with a chuckle. "We can't necessarily think about a five-year plan because of our age."
The pair began selling their products at Southern Market in Homberg in February.
Soon thereafter, they had a Web site created and began selling at other retail outlets including M Boutiques, Medi Spa, Youth Glo Day Spa, Iland Productions, the East Tennessee Historical Society and The Shoppes at Meadowview Garden in Lenoir City.
They also sell wholesale to the Monte Carlo Hotel in Las Vegas; The Mustard Seed in Charlotte; and at Kelly's Beauty Supply and Accessories in Devine, Texas. They are currently in negotiations with additional businesses in five other states.
Both Evelyn and Debbie, who share the maiden name Goode, maintain other careers as well.
Evelyn, who previously served as president of the Knoxville Symphony League and is currently on the Ramsey House board of directors, has worked for RBM Co., a petroleum industry supplier, for 35 years. Debbie, who is actively involved in the service organization Akima, has worked for the heavy equipment parts distributor Regal Corp. for 22 years.
The knowledge gained from those careers has proven invaluable to the success of the business.
Evelyn, who focuses on creating the bath and body products, does the bookkeeping. Debbie, who makes the candles, is director of quality control and customer service at Regal. She was previously director of purchasing. Both roles, she said, have given her a foundation for inventory control and manufacturing.
It's not uncommon for the two of them to work all day and then go home and work all night.
"You won't find us sitting in a rocking chair," Debbie said. "We're feisty older women. It gives us something to look forward to. It's not really work."
Both say they have dreamed of owning their own business but were distracted by life.
"I've always worked but my heart has always been somewhere else," Evelyn said.
They hope to make Goode Scents into a solid business and possibly pass it down to their grandchildren.
"It's a very exciting time," Evelyn said. "With our age, we're still able to do this and to follow a dream we've always had. If it doesn't go anywhere, we're still having fun and that's what keeps you young."
-source Knoxville News Sentinel
Knoxville woman turns layoff into start of bath and body business
April 28, 2009 10:53 AM EDT
By GENE PATTERSON
6 News Anchor/Reporter
KNOXVILLE (WATE) -- Getting over the shock of being laid off takes time, but when you've come to terms with it, what do you do next? A Knoxville woman's answer was to start her own business making candles and bath and body products.
After more than 20 years on the job, Debbie Shepherd, 58, found herself laid off.
"I think I first went through the shock, the disbelief. Then the anger and then more anger and then hurt... And did I mention anger?" she says, smiling.
With just a few years before reaching retirement age, Debbie thought she had job security. She figured in five or six years, it was off to a life of leisure.
But the lay off put a crimp in her plan.
So what was plan B? "I didn't think about getting another job," Debbie says. "I've got something at home that I can turn this whole thing around."
That something is a small business she started in her basement last year with her aunt.
Originally, the idea when Debbie started "Goode Scents" was to grow the business over time and use it to supplement her retirement.
That thought is now out the window. Her goal is to make the small operation big enough to be her main source of income.
It's not as far-fetched as some might think. Tom Graves, director of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center at the University of Tennessee, says Shepherd's chances of surviving two years is about 66 percent.
He says a full third of start ups last a decade. The old story that nine out of 10 small business startups fail, is an urban legend, he adds.
Graves recommends that Debbie turn to the Small Business Administration or locally to the Family Business Institute for help with her business needs.
He also says most start ups aren't profitable for a year or two.
Graves says Debbie needs access to capital and her sources would include banks and equity investors. But mostly, family and friends are the biggest sources of cash in those early days of a start up.
"If someone has that dream or desire and they go about it properly, chances of success are far greater than it would appear from the urban legends that seem to be existent today," Graves says.
Still, there are lots of candle makers out there and that will make success more difficult.
But Debbie is optimistic. She's heard that "everybody makes candles," but she says, "There was coffee before there was Starbucks, too, you know?"
Debbie already has a Goode Scents Web site and a storefront presence, a small space at the Southern Market in West Knoxville.
And since her layoff, she's developed a business plan that includes a marketing plan. 6 News found her on Twitter and she's sending samples of her work to major retailers.
"I'm hoping in two years, I can go back to my former employer and say thank you, because though this adversity, I've become the person I am right now," Debbie says.
She understands the challenges she's facing in her new career path. She says she'll give it her all for the next six months and work as hard as she can to make her business succeed.
-source WATE 6
