30+ Women Owned Businesses

Connecting with Women Homeowners

Starting a business is one of the hardest things anyone can do.

Running a business requires a broad range of skills from bookkeeping to marketing and sales, to attract customers. When you don't have the experience or time to do your own marketing, you have to get help.

That's why you need a business plan, and my plan helped me see that I needed to invest $3,500/mo on marketing when opening my handyman business. This investment allowed me to focus on building the business, and grow revenues to $250,000 in my first full year.

4 Walls 1 Roof, the First Homeowner Directory

Most small business owners don't have the resources needed to succeed. They're stuck working “in the business” rather than marketing and sales to build their business. It's not easy and you learn by trial and error. When Kimberly, owner of Black Dawg Sealcoat walked into my handyman office asking for help, I knew it was time to do something.

Kimberly and many other home professionals, lacked the experience and money to effectively market their businesses. That's where the concept of a shared website made sense, to help lots of businesses get online quickly. By sharing the costs (time and money). we had 40 women business owners online in 3 months. We called our group 4 Walls 1 Roof, and in our first year we accomplished a lot.

• A logo was designed, and a website built by Julia, owner of J-REDigital, and every business got a one page profile.
• We introduced our group to the public at the NH Home Builder Show, with a “living room” booth designed by our interior decorator members.
• We donated more than $2,000 in products and services, to Habitat for Humanity's annual fund raiser.
• Members started writing articles, and Tina Gleisner published them on the website, and sharing them in a monthly newsletter.
• Members joined together, to advertise in local newspapers as individually, the cost was prohibitive.

We grew quickly but learned that women are caretakers, and didn't have time to invest in group marketing initiatives. So like many start-up businesses, 4 Walls didn't have the money to keep going, and needed a new business model to turn the shared website concept into a viable business.

From 4 Walls 1 Roof, to a Homeowner Directory

With the biggest economic challenge to face the US since the great depression, the home construction industry was hit hard. Many of our businesses had to seek alternative employment because their businesses were luxuries that homeowners couldn't afford. We've invited our 4 Walls members to join our new resource directory for homeowners at Home Tips for Women.

We want to recognize and thank them for sharing their business journey with us.

• GRS Home Images – Gayle Sanders
• Artform Architecture – Wendy Welton
• Your Castle Group (formerly Domito Builders) – Donna Rattee
• Classic Building & Design Co. – Hannah Burke
• Crossroads Contracting – Jan Jacome
• Feng Shui Connections – Peg Donahue
• Hearthstone Kitchen Designs – Shelby O’Donnell
• JA Joy Custom Woodworking – Andrea Hamel and Judy King
• Tomboy Tools for Do-It-Yourself (DIYs) – Lisa Bell
• Signature Heating – Anita and Bill Jordan
• C.E.O. (Cleaning, Errands, and Organizing) – Patty Duval
• Good Earth Gardening – Michele Heisner
• Purely Green Environmental LLC – Madeline Flagg
• Exeter Paint and Exeter Paint West – Nicole Durant
• Jen Croteau Wallpapering and Painting – Jen Croteau
• B & C Floor Store – Carol & Bret Burgard
• Wade Landscaping – Susan Wade
• All in the Details – Ann MarieFinn  & Patti Phelps
• Jennifer Myers Interiors – Jennifer Myers
• Hosking Interiors – Jill Hosking-Cartland
• Room ReVisioning – Denise Whittier
• Organization Solutions – Elizabeth Early Sheehan
• mission accomplished – Avis Jones
• Perfectly Organized – Barbara Whipple
• The Anonymous Organizer – Robin Husslage
• Mitzi’s Window Fashions & Interiors – Mitzi Davidson
• Today’s Window Fashions – Sandra Makmann
• My Handyman of Southern NH – Tina Gleisner
• Creek Hill Upholstery – Jeanne Freeze
• Sue’s Customer Interior Sewing – Sue Woulfe
• Sand and Water Creations in Glass – Amalia Flaisher
• A-Z Associates – Stefanie Afonso

4 Walls 1 Roof Member Testimonials

• Jennifer Myers – Had I not had the home show experience of setting up our booth, I would not have gotten the job designing a booth for someone else. My experience showed with questions like how much set-up time, type of booth dividers, backdrop colors, etc. At our open house, I  focused on networking, a new set of skills for me. Everything I learn helps me somewhere in the future.
• Gayle Sanders – You are doing a great job with 4Walls. My husband circulated the 4 Walls eNewsletter among women in office. Some never knew what I did! I am anxious to take the time to put together a distribution list of all my customers and prospects. 4 Walls 4 You is a comfortable way for me to inform acquaintances about my business without feeling too pushy.