KINGSTON -- Christine Hanisco is always in a hurry these days.
"You're my second interview today," she says as she opens the door of the Kingston ranch home where she creates and sells "Dippy Chick" dip mixes. "I just finished a radio interview for the Start-Up Nation radio program."
Hanisco is on her fourth career. She's worked as a nail technician, then as a graphic artist for 15 years, and spent three years in real estate. In addition to the national radio interview, she has been interviewed by ABC Television for a program on mothers with home-based businesses, and will be featured in Family Circle this winter. "Things are moving really fast," she says with a smile.
But while Dippy Chick is exploding, Hanisco remains true to her original goal: Spending more time with Mack, 4 Ѕ and Angus, 1 Ѕ.
While many mom-and-pop businesses begin with mom making a product and pop saying she ought to sell it, Hanisco's story is a little different.
Though she has always cooked, she says it wasn't a "huge hobby" of hers.
She'd never given dips one thought over another until she started going to craft fairs and noticing how many people sold homemade dip mixes.
Hanisco knew it was something she could produce with a relatively small start-up cost, and she'd been looking for something to do out of her home since she became pregnant with Angus. She concocted a spinach dip and a garlic dip first, trying them on friends and family, and then branched out.
"I think I created my entire product line in one week," she recalls. Her husband remodeled part of the basement for her to create and package dips.
Surprise, surprise
While she knew dips would be easy to sell, the popularity and media attention have been a surprise for Hanisco. She knows her dips are good, but thinks the packaging has helped with sales. "Most people just sell their mixes in plain packages that say 'Dill Dip' or whatever," she said.
But Hanisco used her graphic arts background to create funky packaging and even funkier names. A dill dip is called "In the Dill of the Night." She started doing craft fairs, but didn't like being away from her family on weekends, and eventually switched to selling wholesale. She is now featured in 50 stores across the country, but still has booths at the Made in NH Expo and the Deerfield Fair.
The media attention began when ABC contacted her for its segment on home-based businesses. "I have no idea how they found me," she admits.
Start-Up Nation is a "community" of entrepreneurs who meet through a message board and a Web site. She had posted messages on the site, she says. "It's actually a huge community, and they have their own radio program." Ellen Parlapiano and Patricia Cobe, authors of "Mompreneurs," found her Web site. Parlapiano contacted her for the Family Circle article, which will be published in January. "That's six million readers,' Hanisco says with a smile.
Product line
Hanisco now produces 15 dip mixes, with names like Kamikaze Wasabi and Battlestar Garlic-tica. The dips are appropriate for special diets, she says. All her ingredients are natural, some are organic, and all are gluten-free, as she and the boys have celiac disease. All are vegetarian, and some can be vegan if mixed with tofu, according to her. She is working on a coconut-ginger curry.
She also makes a line of candied nuts called "Squirrel Bait," in four flavors. She is developing a line of Killer Crock crock-pot helpers.
"We'll have one where you sprinkle the mix on chicken and some cream cheese, and you come out with Alfredo sauce," she says.
Not-so-dippy chick Hanisco still does most of the work herself, relying on a part-time nanny and two friends who come in occasionally. She says she probably works 80 hours a week, but likes it that way. "I get bored very easily," Hanisco says. "I love being my own boss, wearing many hats. I hate not having something to do. I get very little sleep." She's thinking about renting a commercial space and hiring more people.
However, an off-site shop will still have space for Mack and Angus. "I'll have my husband build a special area where the kids can come and play," she says.
Her commercial facility will have a small shop in front, for her items and other local products, and a production room in back. But she doesn't want to get so big she neglects her family, the original reason for the home-based business.
Hanisco has never taken a business course. "I read a lot," she says. "When I want to learn something, I grab a book and read it, or go on-line." As her business continues to grow, she'll be doing more reading. "There's so much I want to do," she says, "and it seems slow in accomplishing it."
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