Lice Problems Find Nice Solution
Who says being nitpicking doesn’t pay off?
Twenty years ago, Adele Horowitz was experiencing every parents’ nightmare: finding out your kid has head lice, and then trying to get rid of the pests.
Horowitz remembers the comb snapping in half as she tried to remove lice and nits out of her daughter’s hair and then applying toxic products to her scalp to make sure the buggers were gone.
There had to be a better way. So Horowitz started Licenders, a professional lice-removal company, which is well, making a killing.
Last year, Licenders made over a million dollars in revenue.
Horowitz didn’t start her business right away. Up until the company’s launch in 1996, she had a busy career managing other people’s businesses, including her father’s Wall Street Camera company in Manhattan. “My father would often say, ‘You’re going to make a great secretary someday,’ and I would say, ‘No, Daddy, I want your business.’ ”
Now she’s finally a business owner — of a company that sees clients at its Manhattan office or in their homes. A disposable applicator tip on the FDA-approved LouseBuster device directs heated air against the hair roots, essentially killing off lice and nits during a 30-minute treatment.
In 2010, Horowitz sailed past the $1 million mark, two years after earning a spot in Make Mine A Million $ Business, a Count Me In initiative geared to help female entrepreneurs reach this financial milestone. At that point, she vowed to take Licenders to the next level. She has added 20 employees and done media outreach, which includes appearances on Regis & Kelly, and FOX News.
“They teach you. They guide you, and they hold your hand,” she said about the Count Me In Initiative. Once she hit $1 million, she was already dreaming of eight figures. “By the time you get close to it, you’re already looking past it,” she said.
This month, Licenders adds a second office, in Connecticut, and is planning to open nine more locations within the next 18 months. The company also recently received Ministry of Health approval from Israel, which will allow the products to be sold throughout Europe.
Yitz Elman of Brooklyn, N.Y., dialed up Licenders after he spotted lice in his daughter’s hair. “It was right before a major holiday. They came over with this big, almost Ghostbusters-type of machine, and they took care of it. It took a horrible situation and made it very manageable.”
In addition to his other daughter, his wife was immediately examined for head lice. The wife went to Licenders’ Manhattan office. “She said it was like going into a spa,” said Elman…continue “Lice Business Makes a Killing” by Kristine Hansen for CNN Money here.
