Today's Living On Today's THV At 5: "Tool Parties"

Liz Massey

8 months ago

In Today's Living, women around the country are pounding and sawing their way to "tool parties."

Lorraine Goodnight is one of thousands of women who've built their passion and income with Tomboy Tools.

The company mantra: women, tools, knowledge, pass it on gets hammered home at tool parties all over the country. Women don't just buy tools they learn to use them.

Debbie Steele says, "Now I can put the whole project together and have the right tool to use. I never thought about the fact that it's something I could do."

That's the vision of Co-founder and CEO Janet Rickstrew.

Rickstrew says, "we say there is a little tomboy in everyone. So we say release the tom boy in you, because when they find out they can do something when they pick up a tool it is so empowering."

Rickstrew grew up a tom boy on a western Colorado farm learning her way around hardware. Now women around the world pink pliers, drills and tape measures and take on their own home repair.

They are lighter, smaller and designed to fit a woman's hand.

Rickstrew searches the world for convenient features so women can do more with less.

She says, "You'd be amazed at how much you can save by just doing some of the simple projects. So anything from basic plumbing, who has not had a leaky faucet, we'll show you how easy that is to repair."

Empowerment, saving money and making money are central to the company blueprint.

Rickstrew says, "We're saving our customers money and there's also that opportunity to join the business and earn additional money. So what we're seeing right now is a lot of women out of a job or looking for additional income. This is a perfect fit because your your own business owner."

The company reported 46-percent growth last year when most companies were bottoming out and rickstrew expects 50-percent growth this year.

But she points out this is not all about dollars and commonsense, it's about feeling good.

Rickstrew says, "They realize I'm capable of doing this so all of a sudden they're not relying on someone else, who wants to rely on someone else."