Anything Goes

As a mother of five, Laurie Bucaro was sick and tired of the unsanitary toys kept in doctors' offices. "[The toys] the kids were touching were either broken or dirty," she explains.

With Fun Things Toy Service Inc., Bucaro is fixing all that. Her 6-year-old company cleans toys not only in doctors' offices but in fast-food restaurant play areas and day-care centers as well. It may be a dirty job, but the New Berlin, Wisconsin, entrepreneur is happy to do it.

"We're not afraid to do anything," says Bucaro, 38, whose sales have grown 40 percent annually since the company started. "There are just certain ways we approach each problem."

It helps that Bucaro's partner in grime, husband Michael, 41, is a certified sanitarian. With such clean credentials, no wonder Bucaro boasts a client list 100 strong-and growing.

This article was originally published in the January 1996 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Anything Goes.