Tough as LeatherBuilding a business isn't easy, but how much can one entrepreneur take?
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When Julia Duren arrived from Hamburg, Germany, at the SanFrancisco Airport in 1982, she was a 30-year-old mother with twochildren, ages 5 and 2. Her second husband, an American, was doinglife at San Quentin. She had almost no money and no friends, familyor contacts to speak of. But Duren knew something about leather,and she had a dream.
That put her on the road to success. Today, she's thelargest shareholder of K.L. Manufacturing Inc., a Larkspur,California, firm that had revenues of $1.2 million last year. Shehas 24 employees, all of whom have profit sharing, 100 percenthealth benefits, paid vacation time and all the other benefitssuccessful businesses can afford. But the ups and downs Durenendured are perhaps better-suited for the trampoline business.
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