The Kathy Cisneros Success Story
Stairway to Stardom
This is the step-by-step success story of how single-mom Kathy Cisneros turned a simple bottle cap hobby into a profitable homebased business, first as a teacher, author and columnist, and then an internationally-recognized songwriter and vocalist.
HOW DOES ONE BUILD A LIFE, a career, a home business? One step at a time.
Kathy Cisneros, whose success story was featured in my Creative Cash book in 1998, has now updated me on all that has happened in her career since then. She was then–and still is–a perfect example of how life leads us in new directions when we least expect it. Her story is sure to inspire you as you continue to pursue your own secret dreams.
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* IN 1992, I INVENTED some bottle cap Christmas ornaments to raise money for a little girl at our church who had a rare form of cancer.
* WHILE BUYING SUPPLIES to make more ornaments, I was hired as a bottle cap craft teacher at Ben Franklin’s craft store.
* WHILE CONDUCTING my “bottle cap demonstration” in Ben Franklin’s store, I was spotted and hired by the Sheriff’s Department to teach my craft to various schools all over Orange County, Florida.
* THE ORLANDO SCIENCE CENTER asked me to participate in their annual major fund raiser, “The Winterfest Pet Fair.”
* I WAS INVITED and featured at the Orlando Museum of Art as one of Orlando’s ecological artists.
* WHEN BEN FRANKLIN’S national craft magazine did a feature article on me, I received mail from all over the country asking if there was a book on bottle cap art.
* THE SCIENCE CENTER asked me if I could provide bottle cap kits for their Recycling Birthday parties. So I got a business license and began to put together craft kits for them to buy. I also got a computer and taught myself how to work the graphics. I then wrote and illustrated a bottle cap craft book titled Recreational Recycling.
* THE HUMANE SOCIETY featured me and my bottle cap business in their national children’s newspaper, Kind News.
* THE OSCEOLA COUNTY LIBRARY SYSTEM featured my crafts for a month in their Earth Day display showcases, and the Disney Village Marketplace also invited me to participate in their Earth Day events. (Plaid Enterprises supplied me with quantities of paints and glue for each well publicized event.)
* WHILE SEEKING ADVERTISING, I was offered my own craft column in Flea Market News.
* PAC-O-FUN international craft magazine featured several of my crafts in various issues, including my bottle cap yo-yo and cross.
* I GOT MY FIRST WEBSITE (no longer under my control, however).
* I TEAMED WITH a local musician and music teacher to write and produce the play, The Bottle Cap Kids, which was based on my book and featured at the Orange County’s Earth Day events, as well as the Walt Disney World Village.
* IN JUNE 1997, the County Commissioner presented me with an Environmental Excellence Award for my business. At this time, I also signed a contract with Humanics Publishing to publish my book, Bottle Cap Activities, which was to include my play.
* IN 1998, my success story was featured in Barbara Brabec’s book, Creative Cash because I introduced myself to her in a thank-you letter after reading two of her books.
* IN 1999, after writing over 16 songs, Deep Blue Records offered me a songwriting contract to do an album.
* BETWEEN 1998-2001, I continued to write my national column and wrote several books that were published by Havoc Publishing. For these books I was offered an upfront one-time fee in exchange for publishing rights. As a starving artist, I jumped at the chance. Havoc published seven beautiful books that I wrote before the company went out of business years later. Some of the books are still available through Amazon.com.
They can be previewed at my Amazon.com store, under my books link.
* AS A SINGLE MOM and career/business woman, in August of 2001 I felt the need to continue and complete my education, so I enrolled in the University of Phoenix to get my BA in Business Management. This had been a lifelong dream of mine and something I felt I needed to accomplish. I vowed that nothing would stand between me and my goal, (not even my fear of algebra) because I needed to do this for the sake of my children and for me. I felt I deserved it, too. I graduated in 2006 with a 3.86 GPA.
* IN 2005, on my birthday, I married my soul mate, Robert Michael Greenberg, an accomplished professional drummer. We have been making beautiful music together ever since.
* IN 2006, Robert and I finished our first solo CD entitled “Beyond This Fantasy.” This album is hosted by CD BABY, which is one of the largest sellers of independent music on the web.
* IN 2008, after a year of musical collaborations, I finished an album with Malcolm Womack entitled “Just Between You and Me,” and Robert and I completed our third album entitled “Echoes.” (All of my songs can be sampled on my pages on the CD Baby website above.)
* IN 2009, the title song from my second album, “Bury Me,” won an award in the Song of The Year international songwriting competition sponsored by V-H 1’s Save The Music Foundation. I wrote this song to celebrate the energy within all of us that becomes battered with the strife of life and survives against all odds to be heard and not forgotten. Competing against entries from all over the world, it placed in the top five for the Dance Electronic category. (This was the second song to win an award from that album. “No Matter Where You Are” placed in the top five four years earlier.)
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EDITOR’S NOTE: In case you think Kathy’s crafting interests have gone out the window, think again. She continues to write her monthly bottle craft column (now twelve years old) for the National Flea Market News.
“I still receive bottle cap project sheet requests and comply with each one as they continue to come in,” she says. “Plaid Enterprises continues to pay me endorsement fees for non-toxic products I promote to make the crafts and they have been staunch supporters of my ideas for over a decade as well. So you can see that dream is still alive and kicking as well. I have never believed in putting all my eggs in one basket–I just have a lot of eggs to juggle at all times!”
As Kathy has achieved one new goal after another, she has used those achievements as tools to inspire others. “I have never taken anything for granted and I have earnestly tried to constantly learn from my mistakes,” she says. “I never let age or time get in the way of what I believed in or how I wanted to express myself. My greatest achievements have been my children, Ricky and Valerie, and I have always tried to be an inspiration to them so they would follow their dreams. Below is a quote I’ve often shared with them. I don’t know where it originated, but I do live by these concepts.”
The stupid man keeps making the same mistakes over and over again. The smart man makes a mistake and learns from it. But the WISEST man of all learns from OTHER people’s mistakes!”
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Comments
Dear Kathy, I am compelled to write you. As I was reading each accomplishment I was sitting at my PC and found myself sticking my chest out!!! I am so proud of YOU!!! Coming from a hard life, it took a long time to acknowledge myself as a Success Story. Out of all those that I am in touch with, it was Barbara Brabec who was part of that. She always would finish what she was saying with an encouraging word. And, as I go on to read your article, I feel like anything is possible. So I can try to really make an effort to write my book. The best to you Kathy, Sharon R.
All I can say is “Wow!” What a fantastic story. Thank you for sharing it with us.
Best,
Traci