Farm Wife Started A Business At Home

Farm Wife Started a Business at Home AG WORLD Ag World 15-6-19 Thanks to computers, faxes and telephone modems, more and more people are working out of their homes. Illinois farm wife Sandy Deters who made use of such high-tech equipment to start her own home-based business. "It lets me be at home to care for our two daughters and help with the hog farm when needed. I love having more control over my life and spending time with my husband and daughters," says Deters, who started her computerized service bureau 2 1 /2 years ago. "I had been working for several years for a computer services company and began a business plan for my own business while lying in a hospital bed awaiting the arrival of our second daughter. After she was born I took $2,500 which was set aside in my profit-sharing plan and began "The Print-Out Shop", my complete computerized service bureau. "Services include computer consulting, record keeping, applications programming, desktop publishing, word processing and computer training. I started with a computer and printer we already had for farm use and then contacted the small business development centers and read a book about home-based businesses ("Home Made Money" by Barbara Brabec). "I started out slowly, beginning with my past employer, and began to pick up customers. Word of mouth advertising and just talking with people has created nearly all my customers. "Business was getting slow. Just as I was ready to give up last February, I met a representative from a German agriculture software company at a Pork Producers show I attended with my husband. He was looking for a computer person with a hog back-ground to work on a swine management software program they were translating. I jumped at the chance! They flew me to Germany to meet the programmers and company staff. This was exciting because I had never flown before. After returning home, prospective customers I had contacted 6 and 8 months prior were calling for services. Since then I've been very busy. "I now have a fax machine, laser printer, modem, and a second computer. I live in a very rural area. Our town has a population of 350 (we have more hogs than people). Without the advanced technology offered by computers, faxes and modems, I would never have been able to work with a foreign company, or most of my other customers. Thanks to this equipment, it doesn't matter where I am. You can do the work and send it anywhere." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Sandy Deters, The Print-Out Shop, Rt.1, Box 29A, Sigel, Ill. 62462 (ph 217 844-2414).

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