Texas mother-daughter team smiling at dot.com success!

Following a year of famous dot.com failures, a mother daughter team from the Houston area is smiling as they celebrate their second anniversary in business. After opening TheSmileBox.Com in early 2000 with a $5,000 investment, the women are projecting sales for 2002 at $350,000.

TheSmileBox.com started out as a small, home based adventure for MariVonne Essex, 56, a Houston attorney looking to get out of the legal profession, and her daughter Shannon Rubio, 32, looking to make some extra money. After considering several different internet businesses, it was Rubio who suggested that the pair focus on care packages after speaking to a friend who was assembling a gift for a college student during finals. Rubio says, We wanted to take a common gift idea and give it a twist. People often think of care packages for college students. My idea was to come up with a care package suitable for adults, was fun and friendly-basically 'cracker jacks for grown-ups. I wanted a combination of snacks and gifts, as well as the ability to let people choose items for the package based on the situation or unique likes and dislikes."

TheSmileBox opened online in early 2000 and quickly grew beyond what either of the pair ever imagined. In October 2000, the company hired it's first employee and six months later was able to move the business out of Rubio's home and into a 2,000 square foot office and warehouse. In November 2000, the company launched a second web site, www.1800CreateABox.Com, which gives consumers the ability to create a care package online from scratch. Sales have doubled each year since the business went online and, says Essex, 'continue to surprise us.' And while many large internet companies spend millions on advertising dollars, TheSmileBox.Com attracts it customers almost entirely through repeat customer referrals and internet search engines, with almost nothing spent on true advertising.

Although other mothers and daughters may not be ready to open up shop together, this duo believes it is their unique combination that has led them to this point. Says Essex, Neither of us could have done this without the work or experience of the other. Our strengths and weaknesses fit perfectly." The best part, though, according to Rubio, is the personal feedback they get from customers. We have had people send our boxes for some very special occasions. So for us to know that someone likes a product that we thought of and designed well enough to trust us with it for such an important moment is an amazing feeling. It becomes less about the money and more about making sure every box is just right for each of those moments."
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