November, 2009
WHO: Keith and Maureen Jaret
WHAT: The Petite Café, Home of the Stuffed Cupcakes
WHERE: Nutley, NJ
WHEN: 2001
HOW: “I was in corporate and always felt that I would have my own business,” says Maureen Jaret, a veteran of Wall Street. Looking for an outlet from the world of finance, Jaret took a job as a hostess at a nearby restaurant, and it was there that fate began to take its course. While working at the restaurant she met Keith, an Executive Chef from the Culinary Institute of America who would later become her business partner and husband.
After they wed in 1987, the couple continued to add to their food industry experience, running a catering company and several restaurants. In 2001 with $100,000 in savings, they launched The Petite Café in Nutley, New Jersey. “We served breakfast, lunch, dinner and did catering,” explains Jaret. While the Petite Café prided itself with being ahead of the curve with trends and products, there was one area of the business where they struggled. “The one area where we could not attract attention was with desserts,” says Jaret.
That all changed when Jaret decided to put her chocolate cake on the menu. “I made a chocolate cake that had always been popular with friends and family, so we chose to put it on the menu.” To promote the treat, Jaret decided to bake the cake in cupcake form and sell it during the busiest time of the week: Sunday brunch.
Keeping with their tradition of having unique items on their menu, Jaret decided to mix things up a bit and fill the cupcakes. “My husband and I developed a recipe for a peanut butter filling. The following Sunday, I prepared 200 chocolate cupcakes, filled with the mixture…it was an instant hit.” While Jaret expected customers to rave about the chocolate cake, they sang the praises of another aspect of the dessert instead. More…
Hi Jean, I just read your book, “Pay It Down!” I have $15,000 in credit card debt. I am dedicated to cutting some major things in my life to cut down this debt. My question is, when I save $10 where am I putting it? Do you want me to put it in some sort of savings account, a piggy bank, or a safe?
- Antonio, Pennsylvania
First off, congrats on taking the first steps towards paying down your debts. I think that with the information you’ll find in “Pay It Down!” and your dedication to cutting down on spending, you’re on the right track to financial freedom.
Let’s talk about where to put the $10 you’re saving every day. Ideally, you should be keeping it in a high-yielding savings or More…
On this morning’s edition of Money 911, Carmen Wong Ulrich and I tackled another round of your money questions. Miss the segment? Check out the video below.
It’s Thanksgiving Tuesday, which means most of you are busy shopping for your turkey and all the trimmings. Others of you have an entirely different kind of shopping on the brain: Black Friday shopping. To help you map out your Black Friday shopping strategy, I went right to a pro—The Coupon Mom, Stephanie Nelson. Here are some of Nelson’s favorite tips for getting the most bang for your buck on both Black Friday and all holiday season long.
Shop online. “Shopping for gifts online is a stress-free way to shop for the holidays because you avoid traffic and crowds, and you can get a lot done in one sitting,” says Nelson. According to Nelson, the web is a great place to save thanks to things such as coupon codes, free shipping offers and printable mail in rebates. “For example, Amazon.com notes in the item description if there are any “special offers” that go with item, so pay attention. The Special Offer section will list specific coupon codes, free shipping, or rebate details,” she adds.
Search for printable coupons. “When I go out to local stores, I always search for a printable coupon by entering the name of the retailer and the term “printable coupon” in a search engine,” says Nelson. She also makes a habit of scoring her newspaper flyers for department store coupons.
Change it up. According to Nelson, many people don’t realize that some coupons are interchangeable between different stores. “Craft stores tend to More…
Nervous about breaking the bank this holiday season? Luckily, there are things you can do to stop holiday spending before it even starts. Watch the video below for some of my tips, and be sure to check out my Holiday Budget Calculator to see how much you can afford this year.
WHO: Karen Robinovitz
WHAT: Purple Lab Cosmetics
WHEN: 2007
WHERE: New York, NY
HOW: It all started with a cocktail party. “I ate so much that after twenty minutes, I felt full and uncomfortable, like my pants were suddenly one size too small. I told my husband I had to go home and he was a little disappointed…I jokingly said, “Well, if my lip gloss would plump my lips and not my hips, I wouldn’t be in this mess.” And with that, the idea for Purple Lab Cosmetics was born. “The light bulb in my head blinded me,” says Robinovitz. “What if there was a lip-gloss with plumper and appetite suppressant?” she thought.
After that fateful cocktail party, Robnovitz picked up the phone and called a friend who worked at a major makeup brand to see if she could make the product. “My husband grabbed my phone and said, “YOU make this product. This is the start of your brand!”
Two weeks later, Robinovitz trademarked “Huge Lips Skinny Hips,” a lip gloss that plumps your lips and curbs your appetite, seting the wheels in motion for developing her brand. “I had no idea what I was doing but after asking around, I found a lab, who recommended a manufacturer for components. I joined a beauty organization so I could create a network of insiders who could guide me,” says Robinovitz.
To get the product off the ground, Robinovitz and her husband invested their life savings into the new brand. “In the beginning, the investment didn’t seem large. What started as $5,000 turned into $50,000. And it hurt when I crossed the threshold of $250,000.” At one point, Robinovitz even considered selling her engagement ring. Thankfully, today, Purple Lab is funded by outside sources—and Robinovitz still has her engagement ring. “We now have investors and partners, which was vital and really the only way for us to take Purple Lab to the levels we envision,” says Robinovitz.
When Robinovitz started her brand she was working as More…
My husband has a couple of credit cards that have high limits but no balances. We are considering added my name to those accounts in an effort to improve my debt ratio and credit score. Is this a good idea?
- Traci, Alaska
Whether or not adding your name to your husband’s accounts will improve your credit score depends on a couple of factors. “If the account is new, or young then your score could go down,” says Credit.com’s John Ulzheimer. He adds that if the accounts become overly utilized, it could ding your score as well. However, if your husband’s accounts are well established and you don’t foresee over-utilization being an issue, by all means, add yourself as an authorized user. Here’s why doing so can give your credit score a boost:
It can lower your utilization ratio. When you sign on to your husband’s accounts, it will affect something know as your aggregate revolving utilization ratio, which in turn affects your credit score. Revolving utilization is the amount of your revolving credit limits that you’re currently using. Revolving accounts are those where your monthly payment is based More…
Savings was the hot topic on today’s Money 911 segment. How should I start saving for retirement? How can I save on health care? This morning we answered these questions and more. Watch the video below for the answers.
Did you know that the average American household spends a whopping $2,200 on electricity each year? Using a power monitor can slash your bill by nearly 20%. Watch the video below to see how much I was able to save on my electricity bill by using one.
A recent survey from my friends at Franklin Covey found that 61 percent of people say they always spend too much during the holidays. That’s a problem, particularly when the excess is floated by credit cards.
So how do you keep from kicking off the new year in a load of debt? To start, you need to know what, exactly, your budget is. I’ve developed a handy calculator that can help you do the math, so go ahead and run your numbers now.
You’ll see that I’m suggesting you spend no more than 1.5% of your take-home pay on the holidays. Why? Because in my experience, that’s an amount most people can pay off by February — if not sooner. You’ll see in the calculator’s results that putting the holidays on a credit card and then going the minimum payment route to erase them can have you paying for this holiday season through 2013 (or beyond)!
Once you have your magic figure, make a list of the people you typically purchase gifts for, and how much you can spend on each person, using your overall budget as a guide. (Be sure the amount you settle on for each gift is inclusive of shipping charges, taxes, and other incidentals.) Not only will organizing your thoughts into a list keep you from forgetting anyone, it’ll also help fight off distractions, like the cashmere sweater your mom would love but, sadly, you can’t afford. And remember that if you seem short on cash, you can always turn to inexpensive or even free gifts – offer to baby-sit for your best friend’s kids — joint gifts for couples or families or (a personal favorite) Secret Santas.
One final, favorite tip: If you’re like me, you might have a few gift cards you’ve accumulated over the last few birthdays or holidays. There’s nothing wrong with using those for your holiday shopping – it’s essentially free money to add to your budget, and no one will be the wiser.
