Free from 9 to 5 Chronicles of people and ideas to inspire and achieve freedom from a 9 to 5 job

Interview with Karen Zack of Antonia Rose Printing, Part I

I came across Karen Zack’s Antonia Rose Printing a few months ago when I was looking for custom printed post-it notes. I ended up not ordering from anybody (yet), but I saw a picture of Karen and her children on her Contact Us page, with the caption “This is me, Karen Zack, with my four children. They are my inspiration for success!” And I thought what a great touch that was. (I also noticed that, since then, she has started a business blog and added a link to her personal blog!) I knew her story would be perfect to tell here, so here it is…

Please give us a little background on your business.

Antonia Rose Printing is an online printing retailer. We specialize in custom Post-it notes (for businesses, personal use, wedding favors, coupons, etc.), but we also sell everything from wedding invitations to personal stationery and business cards. We provide free basic design help to our customers, which is a great boon to those individuals and small businesses that do not have graphic designers or advertising firms to layout their artwork for them. Other online printing retailers do not do this at all. I have incorporated more custom printing options into the basic items I sell, so we can print your artwork on our wedding invitation stock for example; most other online retailers will not do this for anyone.

We started up in November 2003, so we have been in business less than a year and a half. The business is now based in Bordentown, NJ, though I started it in Minnesota; we moved to New Jersey due to my husband’s promotion in June 2004. (He is now the Area Veterinarian in Charge for the state of New Jersey, working for the USDA APHIS VS in public health, monitoring things like mad cow disease, bird flu, etc.)

We are an online-only business, located at www.antoniaroseprinting.com and www.custompostits.com. I also have two wedding information sites which indirectly promote Antonia Rose Printing: www.IDoinMN.com and www.IDoinNJ.com. My office is in my home, in what used to be a dining room.

What kind of traditional 9 to 5 job(s) have you had in the past, if any?

In high school, I worked full time during the summers doing clerical work. In college, I worked full time during summers in a fish cannery in Alaska. After college, I worked for 12 years as a legal assistant, first for private firms, then for the county child support enforcement division.

I’m sure I won’t be the only one to wonder, how did you get a job at a fish cannery in Alaska?