(FSB Magazine) - "We're busy as a one-legged man at a dance contest," says Jeff Trott of Timeless Message (http://www.timelessmessage.com), a Phoenix company that sells bottles with greetings inside them. The firm, which received a Small-Biz Makeover in the fall of 2004, is benefiting from FSB's advice to raise its prices from an average of $30 a bottle to $60, a calculation based on the firm's operating costs and the estimated market value of its products.

Trott says that while this move resulted in a brief sales dip, the lost revenue was more than offset by lower production costs and bigger margins. "We actually started making a profit per sale for the first time in four years," he adds. "It was like we had been shipping a $10 bill out the door with each order, and that was causing a slow bleed of about 100 grand a year. We've gotten our numbers back up in the last few months."

Still, Timeless Message has some distance to travel before it's truly on course. Although the company expects to gross $750,000 this year, up slightly from 2004, and is now cash-flow positive, it is still burdened with $250,000 in outstanding bank and personal loans. Timeless Message is scouting for an investor willing to provide growth capital in exchange for an equity stake. Trott realizes that won't be an easy sell. "For now I'm just pleased that our bottles are floating," he says.

The management team no longer includes Jeff's brother, Mike, or Mike's ex-wife, Angela, the founders of Timeless Message. Both stepped aside last fall as ugly battles over control and strategic direction threatened to run the company aground. Angela moved to Knoxville to live near her mother. Mike, a former CIA operative, now lives in Austin, where he works for a security firm.

"There's still a lot of stress on the family, but we're trying to get through it," says Jeff, who runs the company with his wife, Jackie. Mike and Angela did not respond to requests from FSB for comment. But each still owns a third of the firm--a combined majority stake that gives them continuing influence.

We're busy as a one-legged man at a dance contest," says Jeff Trott of Timeless Message, a Phoenix company that sells bottles with greetings inside them. The firm, which received a Small-Biz Makeover in the fall of 2004, is benefiting from FSB's advice to raise its prices from an average of $30 a bottle to $60, a calculation based on the firm's operating costs and the estimated market value of its products.

Trott says that while this move resulted in a brief sales dip, the lost revenue was more than offset by lower production costs and bigger margins. "We actually started making a profit per sale for the first time in four years," he adds. "It was like we had been shipping a $10 bill out the door with each order, and that was causing a slow bleed of about 100 grand a year. We've gotten our numbers back up in the last few months."

Still, Timeless Message has some distance to travel before it's truly on course. Although the company expects to gross $750,000 this year, up slightly from 2004, and is now cash-flow positive, it is still burdened with $250,000 in outstanding bank and personal loans. Timeless Message is scouting for an investor willing to provide growth capital in exchange for an equity stake. Trott realizes that won't be an easy sell. "For now I'm just pleased that our bottles are floating," he says.

The management team no longer includes Jeff's brother, Mike, or Mike's ex-wife, Angela, the founders of Timeless Message. Both stepped aside last fall as ugly battles over control and strategic direction threatened to run the company aground. Angela moved to Knoxville to live near her mother. Mike, a former CIA operative, now lives in Austin, where he works for a security firm.

"There's still a lot of stress on the family, but we're trying to get through it," says Jeff, who runs the company with his wife, Jackie. Mike and Angela did not respond to requests from FSB for comment. But each still owns a third of the firm--a combined majority stake that gives them continuing influence.