Title: HandStands: iPod Accessories, Auto Accessories, Mouse Pads, and more!
Address: 102 West 12200 South Draper UT 84020 US

Description:
In 1982,,, Don Watkins had been a real estate developer and agent. Economic forces were causing him to consider an alternate career. He recalled a fond relationship he had with Gary Deaton. Gary had climbed the corporate ladder at AT&T in the computer sales division, but was growing increasingly disenchanted with the corporate scene. They got together and decided to make dust covers for the then popular Atari, and Texas Instruments computers and home video games. They struggled but put together a program where they could make covers using corporate logos. Things were going okay, just as they thought they were beginning to see the light they were "cut-out" of the deal on a major account by a so called "partner." Now it was stress time. Both had just quit their "day jobs" and now were ready to throw in the towel and quit! Gary had borrowed $25,000 from his father who had grown-up homeless and had eaten from garbage cans at age 14. He made an appointment with his father to tell him they were going to close the business and that they had lost the $25,000 and would not be able to pay it back. At this time Gary missed his comfortable job at AT&T, especially since he was forced to make his house payment on this already full Visa card. He was also sending his 4 kids to the neighbors around supper time hoping they would get an invitation to dinner. The response Gary got from his father was unexpected "the hell you're going to quit! Now get out there and make it happen." With Gary and Don's pride at stake they regroup and gave it another shot. Don sold his home and loaded his 4 children (he now has 8) into a motor home and traveled throughout the western states. He called on emerging computer retailers with dust covers as an accessory, while his wife Peggy, educated their children in the motor home between towns. Meanwhile, Gary stayed back in Utah waiting for an order and arranging sub-contractors, sewers who did piece work from their homes. Don says "It wasn't my sales skills or knowledge of the industry that got us a few sales, it was the good Lord blessing a couple of guys who didn't know what they were doing." Orders did begin to come in. It was slow at first, but soon a couple of large accounts signed up. After one year, business was finally going pretty well, or so at least they thought. Gary paid his dad the $25,000 back and the largest account was a nationwide computer distributor named Computer Depot. Computer Depot had been buying like crazy and had over $100,000 on receivable. (More than all other accounts combined). Gary finally felt things were going well enough that he could take his sweet wife, Teresa, out for a nice dinner and a night out. They got a room in one of Salt Lake's finer hotels to celebrate their anniversary and the success they were finally experiencing. One hour after Gary left work on Friday night, Don got a call from a factory representative indicating that Computer Depot had filed for bankruptcy. He didn't dare call Gary and ruin his anniversary, but Don had been up all night calculating and recalculating the devastating effect this would have on the company. He finally put it in a nutshell when he made the dreaded call to Gary, "Gary, I've got bad news... we just lost Computer Depot as a customer and even lost what they owe us. Now, I've been up all night and it isn't that bad. Here's why. Since we have a 50% margin, we really only lost $50k. If you split that between us, it's only $25k a piece. After taxes it nets to about $18k each." Instead of a banner year worth celebrating it was a near fatal blow to the little company with a handful of employees. In the first couple of years Gary and Don decided two things: One, HandStands would always be debt free and two, HandStands would control growth. Both goals paid off well. Today HandStands is very profitable and remains debt free. The company has now diversified into two divisions; a retail and a promotional division, and offers a wide range of products, from iPod accessories, Air Fresheners, CD / DVD media storage, Computer Accessories, to sporting and Automotive Accessories.