Before Kathy Ruggiero started her own vending company, Mountain States Enterprises, she had done a little bit of everything.
Ruggiero remembers her first attempt to conquer the business world was as a high school sophomore, when she marketed a calculator stand her father was manufacturing.
In college, she helped support her small family by making "final exam survival kits" designed to help students make it through the last grueling days of each semester. Each kit was filled with snacks and study tips, an inspirational note from home and toothpicks as late-night "eye openers".
Ruggiero recalls that at one point, she worked at home, typing real estate appraisals after her children went to sleep, often working into the wee hours of the morning hoping to finish her work before the children woke up.
Ruggiero graduated from Brigham Young University with a B.A. in Interior Design, but found job prospects in her field were slim. She had used her secretarial skills in the past, and, quickly discovered she could make more money as a secretary than as a budding interior designer. Ruggiero was faced with choosing between making a good living, or being able to be home with her three children. It was clear that working full-time away from home was not the answer yet, realistically, she knew she needed to have an income.
Ruggiero began looking for ways to work out of her home and still make money. After months of research, she found the perfect answer in bulk vending machines. This was a business she could operate out of her home. The machines were light enough for one person to move easily and she was able to arrange her working hours around the needs of her family. Ruggiero found a style of candy machine she liked and, using her savings, she bought 16 machines.
Three years later, Ruggiero has 50 machines and hopes to have 150 before her company stops growing. In fact, her vending business has become so successful, the company that manufactures the machines she uses on her vending route hired her to be one of their Utah distributors. Ruggiero believes the vending business offers the best of both worlds by allowing her to have an income and no compromise her family life. She is even able to take her older children with her while she services her route-noting that the children love to help mom count all those quarters.
"I think having your own business is the only way to go. You have the control and, if you are a success, you can thank yourself and, if you fail, you can blame yourself."
Ruggiero noted that she is keeping the entrepreneurial spirit alive in the family-her oldest daughter recently purchased her first vending machine.
-Salt Lake Tribune- Article written by Marilyn G. Sanders