As a young girl I lived in a small fishing village on the island of Terceira, in the Azores. My mother had very few opportunities to make money because culturally she was expected to stay home and provide free labor to support the family. Her only source of income was embroidery. There was someone in the village that would provide the local ladies with embroidery materials, training and patterns. The finished work was exported to European countries. Mom embroidered to pay for her clothes as a single woman, her wedding dress, household needs, baby needs, and to buy each of her three daughters a gold cross necklace. I always think of her and how she was able to earn from home, when I see women struggling to meet the needs of their families. When I married and became a homemaker myself, my mother-in-law introduced me to knitted dishcloths she received from her cousin Claudia, better known as "Toockie". I very quickly became dependent on these "Toockies" to clean my home, my kids and my car. Soon I started thinking everybody should have these amazing Toockies® that worked hard and lasted for years. They were cost effective because they out performed the disposable cleaning products I used before and did not need to be replaced every week. I began to think about how I might start a home business, with the help of women who could use a bit of extra money in the developing world like my Mom did.