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CastCoverZ!™ Featured on Yahoo's! "Shine" Portal with Video and a Write-up CastCoverZ! Founder, Annette Giacomazzi, and her family tell the world the unique story about how they turned one family member's proclivity for broken bones into a booming business. |
HOLLISTER, CA (March 2012) – CastCoverZ! is the epitome of a family business, and the entire family took turns telling the world about their unique company in a video and article that first appeared on Yahoo's sister site "Shine," in the "Financially Fit" section, sponsored by Bank of America, on Thursday, March 15, then migrated to Yahoo's home page on March 16, with explosive results. In the three and a half minute segment titled, "The Accidental Entrepreneur", the Giacomazzi's talked about how Annette had what she dubs an "aha!" moment after her then-ten-year-old daughter Elli had recently broken her sixth bone, and eventually turned a perceived negative moment into a significant positive.
Primarily because "casts are boring, and ten-year-olds are not," as Annette says in the video, she decided to sew custom covers for her daughters cast, and an additional Halloween-themed set, since it was the end of October. After Elli reported a lot of positive feedback from her friends, Annette's marketing background kicked in and "the light bulb went off." That was late 2008, and in the last three and a half years, Annette has turned an "aha!" moment into a booming family business that has increased revenue by a reported 20 percent every month, and the regular discussion around the family dinner table isn't about television shows or movies or music—instead, the kids are asking about profit margin and revenue stream.
"This truly is a family-run business," says Annette. "My daughter is the inspiration, my son named it, my husband financed it and is now helping with it, and I'm working it!"
Adding to the family aspect of the business, CastCoverZ! is run out of the family home in Hollister, California, though business has grown to the point where they have a team of four people to help cover all the various responsibilities. Annette is truly grateful that she is able to run a successful business out of her own home, saying that it affords her the capability to "throw in a load of laundry in between a phone call to India and a phone call to France." More importantly, though, the family and the family business gave Annette all the motivation she needed to overcome a bout with breast cancer not long after she first conceived of the CastCoverZ! idea. Looking back, she knows that all of Elli's misfortune with broken bones—she even had two more after CastCoverZ! was born—was for a greater purpose. The CastCoverZ! family business isn't just an engine to add money to the bank account; it's an exercise in family bonding, because the family that works together...well, it just flat out works.
Check out the full CCZ! video and story, "The Accidental Entrepreneur", at Yahoo's Shine portal.
About CastCoverZ!
CastCoverZ!™ offers functional and fashionable products designed to cover casts, orthotic walking boots, splints and braces, and companion products to bring relief and comfort to orthopedic patients. Their flagship product is a stretchy and washable cast covering fabric sleeve in a range of designs that easily slips over casts and braces of multiple shapes and sizes. Necessity is the mother of invention; created originally to comfort the 10 year old daughter of the founder, who has broken 8 bones, CastCoverZ! is now international, carrying 10 product lines and distributing 4 additional lines. CastCoverZ! has been featured in Parenting Magazine, About.com, Mom Invented, Orthopedic This Week, Lower Extremity Review, KidzWorld, Newsday, and many more. CastCoverZ! products are currently available at select orthopedic surgeon offices, pharmacies, or direct at CastCoverZ.com. CastCoverZ! ships world-wide.