| Jennifer Gonzales and John Gonzales Story | | | | Domestic charm: Jennifer and John set up a work |
| Courting period: When Jennifer Gonzales' husband, | | | | space in their living room and placed shelves on |
| John, gave her an Italian charm bracelet for | | | | the wall for the charms. "Everyone who knew us |
| Valentine's Day in 2002, Jennifer--a huge | | | | thought we were crazy," says Jennifer. But in |
| Sacramento Kings fan--searched in vain for a | | | | addition to the advantage of keeping costs low, |
| Kings charm before deciding to create one herself. | | | | operating from home also allowed the mother of |
| Jennifer visited the Team Store at Arco Arena | | | | three to stay close to her children throughout the |
| (home of the Kings) to ask about licensing, and a | | | | workday, with the eventual assistance of a nanny. |
| helpful employee called Kings' co-owner Gavin | | | | After four months, they moved into a small |
| Maloof and let Jennifer leave a message. She was | | | | office and began hiring employees. John handles |
| stunned when Maloof returned her call and | | | | ordering, inventory and product development, |
| directed her to someone at Arco, eventually | | | | while Jennifer oversees everything as president. |
| leading to a $7,000 order. | | | | Team spirit: ProCharms now sells to charm |
| Sports nut: After talking to local jewelry-makers | | | | retailers, e-tailers and approximately 20 |
| and suppliers and doing many hours of online | | | | professional sports teams/venues. The company |
| research, Jennifer found a company that could | | | | has also done very well expanding into the |
| manufacture the charms and was a licensee for | | | | collegiate sports market, counting 65 college |
| Major League Baseball, the NBA, NFL, NHL and | | | | bookstores as customers. New products include a |
| professional players associations. Jennifer recruited | | | | silver-toned, Tiffany-style heart bracelet; cell |
| her first rep--a charm-store business owner--and | | | | phone charms; and leather cuff bracelets, all with |
| collected a 20 percent deposit from interested | | | | team logos. |
| charm retailers. The deposit, in addition to | | | | Company name: Procharms Inc. |
| maxed-out credit cards, paid for ProCharms' first | | | | Location: Sacramento, California |
| shipment. | | | | Estimated sales: $2. |