Fred Ball Speaking on Business Each weekday on KSL Radio 1160, Fred Ball of Zions Bank highlights a Utah business -- from small home based businesses to large Utah based corporations. Access the latest "Speaking on Business" report below. More info on Speaking on Business

Once Upon a Charm -- December 10, 2004

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This is Fred Ball for Zions Bank, speaking on business.

I was surprised to learn that Jodi Leishman, founder of the company, Once Upon a Charm, has spent most of her career in scrapbooking. Even though Jodi taught at national scrapbooking conventions around the nation for six years, she now owns a charm bracelet business. So what is an expert scrapbooker doing with a charm bracelet business anyway?

Easy — during Jodi's years of scrapbooking, she found that people everywhere had interesting and special stories they wanted to share with others. One day Jodi was talking to a friend who was wearing a charm bracelet. They began discussing the significance and stories behind each charm, and Jodi realized that charm bracelets would be the perfect way for people to share their stories.

So Jodi set out to introduce charm bracelets to her friends and family, starting Once Upon a Charm in 2001. She expected the business to stay small and temporary, until people began expressing great interest in working for the company. Jodi quickly went to work on a consultant program, working out the details late into the night with her husband, Michael, after they put their children to bed.

Today, Once Upon a Charm is a booming company with consultants in 24 different states and a selection of more than 2,000 charms. The large selection of charms continues to increase because of Jodi's efforts to provide a charm that will represent every type of story and memory people might have.

Something I found interesting is that each bracelet comes with a book where customers can write down the stories that each charm represents. Jodi's scrapbooking experiences inspired her to create these books to be kept with the bracelet as a family heirloom.

The Once Upon a Charm catalog and Web site at www.onceuponacharm.com are full of stories detailing many of the touching experiences customers have been able to share thanks to the charm bracelets. For more information, please call 1-866-6CHARMS.

For Zions Bank, I'm Fred Ball. I'm speaking on business.

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