Lake entrepreneur offering grants

By GINGER LITTRELL

Lisa Richey knows how it felt to receive an unexpected gift that carried her through a tough time.

“I will never forget the morning several years ago when I found out that I’d been awarded a $500 Amber Grant from ‘Melody’ at womensnet.net,” said Richey. “That grant not only paid some important bills, it also gave me hope.”

Six years ago, Richey started her home-based business, “Cheap Therapy — Handmade Paper Art That Celebrates Life.”

“I wanted the business to accomplish three things, financially,” Richey said. “I wanted it to pay for itself; pay for some help since I can only work as long as the MS (multiple sclerosis) in my body allows; and be able to support my favorite charities.”

Richey has all three goals under her belt.

The business now pays for itself. Eight part-time employees help her keep up with the orders, and 75 percent of the company’s profits go to charity.

“We were able to contribute to The National Multiple Sclerosis Society, The Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund and Habitat for Humanity last year,” she noted.

As she was updating her business plan at the end of last year, Richey added a new goal for 2006.

“I wanted Cheap Therapy to fund a grant every year, then I realized that funding would be available for three $500 grants in 2006,” she said. “I call it the ‘Pay It Forward’ grant from a movie of the same name. A young boy is assigned a social studies project that will ‘change the world.’ He comes up with ‘Pay it Forward,’ a system where he does three really good deeds for three different people and those people have to do three good deeds for three other people.”

To get the word out about the Pay it Forward Grant, Richey utilized her website, www.cheaptherapy.net and contacted the readers of her monthly Soul Booster e-newsletter.

“On the first round of the grant (awarded in January), I had 60 applicants from all over the country and one from Iceland,” recalls Richey. “Our first Pay it Forward recipient was Juliet Freitag, an author and the owner of Dog Tag Publishing Company in Crawford, Nebraska.” (Read about Freitag on Richey’s website.)

Recipients of the grants are requested to pass on their good fortune by ‘Paying it Forward’ to someone else and telling Richey about it when it happens.

The second of this year’s ‘Pay it Forward’ grants will be awarded May 1 with an application deadline of April 15.

“Although there are no restrictions on who may apply, I’d especially like to hear from some scholarship applicants this round,” noted Richey.

The application is short and sweet — basic information and then telling your story.

Details about the application are available at www.cheaptherapy.net. Click on the ‘Pay It Forward’ link.

“There are so many discouraging things going on in our world that leave people feeling hopeless and helpless,” explains Richey. “I absolutely realize that $500 won’t change the world, but invested wisely, it can make a significant difference. I choose to invest in people — one person at a time.”

Richey is an avid promoter of small business and has been an excellent role model for entrepreneurs. In six years Cheap Therapy has grown from five customers to more than 700 in 49 states and four countries. Richey noted that 70 percent of her business is done via the Internet and about 1,000 people visit her website daily.