Sweet Labels 4 you- A mother & daughter business

Shirley and Jenny are a mother and daughter team who created Sweet Wrappers 4 You. Sweet Wrappers is a business making labels for various items, candy bars, gallon and quart cans, clocks, first aid kits, mint wrappers, gum wrappers, sucker wrappers, water bottle labels, play dough and bubble labels. The products are a personalized option of celebration and memory creations. The business began in June 2010 and is located in Beverly, West Virginia.

Sweet Wrappers matches their personal talents, interests, and a shared desire to operate a successful and fun business. The mission of Sweet Wrappers is to provide exceptional high-quality personalized and memorable products that are convenient, affordable and guaranteed to put a smile on each and every customers face! Job Squad assisted in their business start-up by providing funding for initial costs through a microloan. For further information about this business please visit SweetWrapper's Blog.

Jesse's First Week of Sales:
$$ Money In The Bank $$

Jesse Malley is a young man from Gilmer County West Virginia who has tried for seven years to find a job. Since finishing High School he's been unsuccessful, until now. His business just started a week ago, and the photo above shows him holding his first check for gross sales of $191. After business expenses and taxes, he made a net profit of $131. If his sales continue like this for the next three weeks he'll end up earning $563 in his first month of business and projected earnings of over half of SGA (Substantial Gainful Activity) in his first year.

How did he do this in a rural county where unemployment is over 20 percent? It is a fascinating story that we would like to tell in the weeks ahead as this blog chronicles Jesse's Beverages, Bar Rags and Washouse exciting development.

Using an employment strategy referred to by the US Department of Labor as Customized Employment, one of Job Squad's Career Counselors approached local business owners and gleaned, by means of informational interviews, some ideas for employment that Jesse was quite interested in.

After Jesse and the owner of Self Suds Laundromat met together and discussed various employment options, an idea for a business-within-a-business started taking shape. Jesse could maximize his income and build personal wealth by taking the path of self-employment, rather than being a wage earner/employee. (most wage earners in Gilmer County, WV receive minimum wage level pay).

And self-employment would provide the flexibility in Jesse's daily work schedule, as well as job security to accommodate personal health issues that have been preventing him from finding employment in the conventional job market. He would have a customized, tailor made job that would meet his specific needs.
The host business would supply the location/space (brick and mortar), mentoring and staff support, and piggy back Jesse's services onto the Self-Suds Laundromat's services and existing customer base. The synergy and mutually beneficial combination of a full service laundromat, with a bar rag rental service, a frozen beverage service (chosen by popular demand and a survey of the many college students who frequent laundromat), and added capacity of more and larger washers and dryers owned and operated by Jesse within the existing business, has given birth to this one of a kind business. (At least we think it's one of a kind at this time.)

But the big problem almost all businesses face when starting is "Where are we going to get the money?" Jesse is using a Social Security Work Incentive called a PASS (Plan for Achieving Self-Support) along with a $3,000 zero interest micro-loan, provided by Job Squad, Inc. His micro-loan was used to jump start his business, covering the initial purchase of equipment and supplies, while his PASS application is going through the approval process, which can take a number of months when used for starting a small business.

Who would have thought that Jesse Malley would someday be a small business owner? His mom can hardly believe it, as she examines his Business Plan and PASS application.

"As we invest in critical job training, we are giving workers the bargaining power they need to custom-design their jobs around their lives—instead of the other way around."

—Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao

The Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP), an agency of the U.S. Department of Labor, is committed to improving employment outcomes for individuals with disabilities. To achieve this goal, ODEP established a Customized Employment initiative to build the capacity of workforce systems to serve all customers, including individuals with disabilities. The strategies developed through this initiative can assist all workforce customers who have complex needs and may require more individual assistance to achieve their employment goals. The Customized Employment initiative also focuses on incorporating universal strategies into all aspects of workforce services.

A World In Which People With Disabilities Have Unlimited Employment Opportunities

Congratulation's on your successful first week of business, as the proud owner of Jesse's BBR&W!