What do Greek women use on the gums of teething babies?
Ouzo, as in the licorice-flavored Greek liqueur.
That sample Q&A comes courtesy of entrepreneur Molly Cox Ziton, whose "The Coaster Game" hit the market recently for $18.95. Cox Ziton's tin of 25 trivia coasters — yup, the cardboard discs placed under a drink — is the latest product from Strongcoffeeink, the 3-year-old venture she runs from her home. The game joins the edgy greeting cards, notepads and coffee mugs she markets under her Careerchik brand.
Cox Ziton launched Strongcoffeeink after noticing she couldn't find the right greeting cards for her working women friends. Too sappy and not funny, said Cox Ziton, who wanted verse with edge. Office banter about coffee sparked her first card. It reads: "Someone at work thought it would be a good idea to change the coffee to decaf." Inside: "So I killed him."
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"It is, to date, my best-selling card," she said.
So began Strongcoffeeink, an apt name for Cox Ziton's one-person company, located at www.careerchik.com online. Not only does the 46-year-old love a good cup of joe, but she's also juggling enough projects to convince you she has had too many of 'em. Cox Ziton has been a professional speaker on business communication since 1992, when she quit her job as general manager of a fitness club to speak full time.
The speaking circuit led to a company called Out of the Blue, which she founded in 2000 with improvisation pros Mark Bergren and Jim Detmar. Companies hire the Minnetonka, Minn.-based company to coach employees on communication skills using improvisation theater techniques. The trio co-authored the 2002 book "Improvise This! How to Think on your Feet Before You Fall on Your Face" and they are developing a related improv board game tentatively named "Act Out."
Cox Ziton recently penned her first children's book, "Goal Kick Nick," and is writing a novel when she's not rearing two children.
"I just write it whenever I can, like when my husband decides to take my son to a basketball game and I'm like, 'Yay! I have three hours,' " she said.
Despite the juggling act, Strongcoffeeink became profitable last year. No doubt some of the secret to her success is having the energy of three people. Cox Ziton also has a successful business background and had enough savings to launch Strongcoffeeink without a loan — or any market research, she acknowledged. She trusted her instincts about her Careerchik cards.
She has very low overhead — an office off the dining room — and products with high profit margins. The margin on greeting cards is about 70 percent, she said.
Still, no venture comes without hitches. For one, she can't draw. Cox Ziton said she went through two artists before telephoning her sister, Terry Cox-Joseph, a painter, in frustration. Her sister assembled the initial drawings in five minutes and continues to do much of the artwork for Strongcoffeeink.
As for marketing, she improvised as she went. She started by peddling cards at her speaking engagements. Then she and her daughter set up a table at the Minneapolis Gift Mart trade show. There, she hooked up with a greeting card trade representative who began marketing Cox Ziton's cards to retailers.
Through an ad she ran in a gift magazine, she found another trade rep. She hooked up with three more through a friend at card company Gina B. Designs Inc. Cox Ziton also mails post cards directly to gift stores, and has created a four-page brochure with an order form in it.
With the company established, she now needs to think up more new products such as "The Coaster Game."
The game is aimed at women throwing parties and showers. Each coaster has a question printed on one side, and the answer and history printed on the flip. The set comes with a sand timer and extra trivia for a two-minute "lightning round" of trivia for guests to play together.
Booster packs to augment the original set of 25 coasters are in the works. She hired someone from the Minnesota History Center to help her research the trivia, seeking obscure facts.
"I've got enough trivia to fill a small VW," she said.
