Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, January 27, 1992 TAG: 9201270071
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: EXTRA 3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DEBORAH SEYMOUR TAYLOR LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Long
ANIMAL-COSTUME SERVICE IS NO MONKEY BUSINESS FOR ENTREPRENEUR
It's not easy being Ramona Chandler: a daydreamer with a head for numbers, a career-oriented fantasist. The sort of woman who writes children's stories about dinosaurs substituting for reindeer when Santa was in a prehistoric pinch.And the sort of woman who sees profit potential in a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle costume.
But Chandler wanted to launch her own business - one that had equal parts profit and play, and made use of her public-relations and marketing skills.
What to do?
For Chandler, sending people to social functions dressed as joke-cracking, balloon-blowing animals seemed a reasonable alternative. So she bought a franchise for a business that provides mimes, jugglers, magicians, clowns and actors dressed as mutant turtles and other cartoon heroes for entertainment at parties.
"Granted, it wasn't the most ideal time to start a business," says Chandler, who was seven months pregnant last year when she bought the local rights to Party Animals Inc. "But you can't choose the time when opportunity comes knocking. You simply have to be ready to fling open the door when it comes."
That's what she did, with the gusto of a 34-year-old "big kid."
Her husband, Jim Chandler, executive director of the Tidewater Emergency Medical Services Council, deserves some of the credit for her new-found career, she says.
"Before opening Party Animals, I had a bug," she says. "I wanted to open my own business. So I kept coming up with ideas, left and right. First, it was a dress shop. I had a girlfriend who was selling one in Ghent, and I thought I could turn it into an artsy clothing boutique.
"When I suggested to Jim that we go talk to her, he said, `You don't know how to run a dress shop. You're clueless. You'd lose every penny. I'm not giving you any money to invest in that."'
Then, just before she was laid off from her second marketing job in a year because of management shake-ups, she noticed Party Animals was for sale.
Chandler mentioned it to her husband. She says she was shocked by his reaction: "Instead of saying I couldn't do that, he simply said, `That's right up your alley. When can we go talk to her?' "
Four months later, in September 1990, she had invested $10,000 and was coordinating the business from her Virginia Beach home. Chandler had bought a license agreement from Cheryl Carter, who founded the Party Animals concept four years ago in Virginia Beach before moving to Atlanta.
Carter has sold franchise rights in a handful of areas in the Southeast. Chandler owns the company franchise for Hampton Roads, Williamsburg, the Eastern Shore and the Outer Banks.
Now, working out of her new home in the Oak Grove section of Chesapeake, Chandler says business has been good: She expects gross revenues for 1991 to be nearly $120,000.
"Of course," she says, "very little of that is profit, since I have reinvested most of my earnings back into the business to purchase more costumes, a computer and the endless array of supplies that are needed."
From the beginning, Chandler says she knew what she wanted.
"When I started, everyone told me not to expect to make money the first three years," she says. "But I went into it with a positive attitude, certain I could prove them wrong.
"And when the previous owner showed us the financial figures for her first three years in business, I was pretty excited. In her first year of business alone, gross revenues were $120,000. By her third year, it had increased to $145,000. I figured I could at least make $100,000."
Chandler charges $59.50 "per hour, per creature," she says. Her troupe of performers typically entertains about 40 times a week, from kids' birthday parties to business affairs.
One of her regular clients is Divaris Property Management Corp. in Virginia Beach.
"We've been using Party Animals . . . about four times a year," says Andrea May, assistant property manager. "Typically, they will pass out gifts depending on the season to the tenants at One Columbus Center. They love it. I can't tell you how wonderful it's been."
Chandler says her performers deserve much of the credit. "The truth is," she says, "I am only as good as my staff. I am extremely lucky to have a group of people that are extremely talented and conscientious."
The part-time entertainers represent a mix of ages - from 14 to 60 - and backgrounds, including professional actors, theater students, musicians and schoolteachers. But they have one common element, Chandler says: "They are people that love to ham it up and adore children."
Performers earn a flat fee, $17, per function.
Chandler says she wants Party Animals to extend into North Carolina and farther north along the Eastern Shore. In addition, she hopes to have the chance to perform more original plays and productions with a wider variety of characters.
The current lineup of make-believe creatures includes Ninja warriors, the Snow Queen, the Merry Mermaid, Santa and Mrs. Claus, Beatrice the Butterfly, and Eunice the Unicorn.
But building a thriving enterprise takes more work than whimsy.
"If you are going into business for yourself, you have to be prepared to give 200 percent," Chandler says. "And you can't expect it to just happen.
"In my case, I was so anxious to be independent, I welcomed the long hours and withstood the lack of privacy. Now, when I start to feel it's too much, I get a baby sitter and take off for the weekend with my husband on business trips - just to get away," she says.
"But, the truth is, I have always been a big kid, and this lifestyle suits me to a T."