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American Morning
Dream Jobs
Aired December 16, 2003 - 07:53 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Now to the second installment of our week-long series called "Dream Jobs." We're profiling people who have made a career change; then taken it to a new level.
This morning, a former teacher who turned a family recipe into a million-dollar business.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN (voice-over): Twenty years ago, Michele Hoskins took inventory of her life and realized she needed to make a major change.
MICHELE HOSKINS, FOUNDER, CEO, MICHELE FOODS: I was going through a divorce, and I had these three small children, and I was really kind of worried about how was I going to survive?
O'BRIEN: She needed to work, but Michele had never enjoyed her job as a schoolteacher, so she took a leap of faith and decided to turn a closely-guarded family secret into a business.
HOSKINS: My great-great grandmother, who was a slave, worked for a family that didn't like molasses. So, she came up with this recipe called honey cream, made out of churned butter, honey and cream.
O'BRIEN: Michele sold everything she owned, packed up her three girls and moved into her parents' attic.
HOSKINS: Everyone thought I had lost my mind. Everyone who came to the door was told, you know, Michele is crazy. She's down in the basement make syrup.
O'BRIEN: It was much harder than she imagined. And for a short time, Michele even went on welfare, but she stuck to her goal -- to get her syrup on supermarket shelves. Michele spent months marching into stores all over Chicago, including a major grocery chain.
HOSKINS: The buyer told me that it was very unusual to see anyone walk in that owned their own company, and he thought that if his grandson liked the syrup, he would consider putting me in the Jewel food stores. So, that next day I got a call that his grandson loved it, and I was in every Jewel food store the six months in Chicago, which was like 300 and some stores.
O'BRIEN: Today, Michele's syrups can be found in 10,000 stores across the country, and her company is grossing $8 million a year in sales. HOSKINS: I wanted my daughters to have more than just a recipe. I felt that I would like for them to be businesswomen also and be independent and be able to know that they can take care of themselves.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
Stephen Viscusi is an author and host of the nationally- syndicated radio show called "On the Job." He joins us to talk this whole week about the success stories that we're featuring in our "Dream Jobs" series.
It's nice to see you back again. Thank you.
STEPHEN VISCUSI, HOST OF "ON THE JOB" RADIO SHOW: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: You hear Michele's story. What do you think was inherent to her that made her a success? I mean, it's more than just the recipe, obviously.
VISCUSI: I think that the important thing is that she pursued, pursued, pursued. People that really are successful ultimately have the one theme in common. They pursue their dream until the very end.
O'BRIEN: Willing to live in the attic. Willing to go on welfare if it means getting to the end.
VISCUSI: That's right. But there's something really important I think to the story today representing two parts. One is that for today Michele, being an African-American woman had a hard enough time finding a regular job, let alone a dream job today. So, today it's really inspirational for people to see a story like this, to know that she can be out there and pursue what she wants to do and turn it into a multimillion dollar company.
O'BRIEN: Do you think that today also there would be small business loans? I mean, she didn't really talk about any real financial help she had outside of clearly her mom let her move back in and she went on welfare. But would the SBA be able to help out?
VISCUSI: Yes.
O'BRIEN: I mean, is there a better path for sort of women who want to do something like this?
VISCUSI: There is a formula, but many women and small business people in general are really naive of the formula. But there are small business loans that are available for people like Michele, and there are also really advisers and mentors now that really reach out and help people like this start businesses and ideas.
O'BRIEN: And clearly, her personal connection, she went in, you know, hands on.
VISCUSI: She went store to store, actually knocked on the door, brought the syrup into the store and made people try it.
O'BRIEN: So, she's really what made her own career a big success.
VISCUSI: Yes, yes, absolutely.
O'BRIEN: Stephen Viscusi, nice to see you. Thanks for your analysis of this.
VISCUSI: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: Were going to continue to check in with you throughout the week to get you to weigh in on all of our success stories.
VISCUSI: Happy to be here.
O'BRIEN: Thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired December 16, 2003 - 07:53 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Now to the second installment of our week-long series called "Dream Jobs." We're profiling people who have made a career change; then taken it to a new level.
This morning, a former teacher who turned a family recipe into a million-dollar business.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN (voice-over): Twenty years ago, Michele Hoskins took inventory of her life and realized she needed to make a major change.
MICHELE HOSKINS, FOUNDER, CEO, MICHELE FOODS: I was going through a divorce, and I had these three small children, and I was really kind of worried about how was I going to survive?
O'BRIEN: She needed to work, but Michele had never enjoyed her job as a schoolteacher, so she took a leap of faith and decided to turn a closely-guarded family secret into a business.
HOSKINS: My great-great grandmother, who was a slave, worked for a family that didn't like molasses. So, she came up with this recipe called honey cream, made out of churned butter, honey and cream.
O'BRIEN: Michele sold everything she owned, packed up her three girls and moved into her parents' attic.
HOSKINS: Everyone thought I had lost my mind. Everyone who came to the door was told, you know, Michele is crazy. She's down in the basement make syrup.
O'BRIEN: It was much harder than she imagined. And for a short time, Michele even went on welfare, but she stuck to her goal -- to get her syrup on supermarket shelves. Michele spent months marching into stores all over Chicago, including a major grocery chain.
HOSKINS: The buyer told me that it was very unusual to see anyone walk in that owned their own company, and he thought that if his grandson liked the syrup, he would consider putting me in the Jewel food stores. So, that next day I got a call that his grandson loved it, and I was in every Jewel food store the six months in Chicago, which was like 300 and some stores.
O'BRIEN: Today, Michele's syrups can be found in 10,000 stores across the country, and her company is grossing $8 million a year in sales. HOSKINS: I wanted my daughters to have more than just a recipe. I felt that I would like for them to be businesswomen also and be independent and be able to know that they can take care of themselves.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
Stephen Viscusi is an author and host of the nationally- syndicated radio show called "On the Job." He joins us to talk this whole week about the success stories that we're featuring in our "Dream Jobs" series.
It's nice to see you back again. Thank you.
STEPHEN VISCUSI, HOST OF "ON THE JOB" RADIO SHOW: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: You hear Michele's story. What do you think was inherent to her that made her a success? I mean, it's more than just the recipe, obviously.
VISCUSI: I think that the important thing is that she pursued, pursued, pursued. People that really are successful ultimately have the one theme in common. They pursue their dream until the very end.
O'BRIEN: Willing to live in the attic. Willing to go on welfare if it means getting to the end.
VISCUSI: That's right. But there's something really important I think to the story today representing two parts. One is that for today Michele, being an African-American woman had a hard enough time finding a regular job, let alone a dream job today. So, today it's really inspirational for people to see a story like this, to know that she can be out there and pursue what she wants to do and turn it into a multimillion dollar company.
O'BRIEN: Do you think that today also there would be small business loans? I mean, she didn't really talk about any real financial help she had outside of clearly her mom let her move back in and she went on welfare. But would the SBA be able to help out?
VISCUSI: Yes.
O'BRIEN: I mean, is there a better path for sort of women who want to do something like this?
VISCUSI: There is a formula, but many women and small business people in general are really naive of the formula. But there are small business loans that are available for people like Michele, and there are also really advisers and mentors now that really reach out and help people like this start businesses and ideas.
O'BRIEN: And clearly, her personal connection, she went in, you know, hands on.
VISCUSI: She went store to store, actually knocked on the door, brought the syrup into the store and made people try it.
O'BRIEN: So, she's really what made her own career a big success.
VISCUSI: Yes, yes, absolutely.
O'BRIEN: Stephen Viscusi, nice to see you. Thanks for your analysis of this.
VISCUSI: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: Were going to continue to check in with you throughout the week to get you to weigh in on all of our success stories.
VISCUSI: Happy to be here.
O'BRIEN: Thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
