Dr. Nancy M. Hill thought people might think she'd lost her mind when she quit her job as a member of the president's staff at Utah Valley State College to "sit in her basement cutting out little barns, baby rattles and reindeer" with a hand-cranked die-cutting machine.
But after falling in love with scrapbooking and spending months experimenting with die cutting, Hill was filled with excitement about her vision of "DieCuts With a View," which is now a leading company in the scrapbook supplies industry. It has a line of 4,000 items supplied to major retailers and more than 2,000 independently owned craft stores across the world.
Hill started DCWV with a $180 die-cutting machine and a set of six dies, hoping to create a job opportunity for her children. The company's name comes from its first product, a line of die cuts with holes in which photos could be placed.
The die cuts were an immediate success, but the scrapbooking industry is incredibly fickle, and Hill kept up with changing trends. Today, die cut sales account for less than 2 percent of the company's business.
DCWV adds hundreds of new products several times per year, as well as manufacturing private-label products for major chains, home television networks and the like.
DCWV operates under a "cottage industry" model, with many employees mothers who complete their work at home. These employees earn above-minimum-wage salaries and do not have to pay for their equipment or supplies, resulting in a long waiting list of people interested in working for DCWV.