Passion and persistence a common trait for eight emerging companies.

• Author: Peterson, Eric
• Position: Companies - Company overview

Similar to our Gen XYZ profiles of young professionals making their mark in Colorado business, we set out to unearth companies that project a certain youthful exuberance, entrepreneurial, zeal, and a forecaster's sense of what goods or services will be of value in the marketplace.

The range of what these eight companies offer should serve I as an indication that as long as the passion and persistence is there the enterprise stands a good chance of enduring, and thriving. Among the companies profiled, you'll find:

* A sculptor-turned-custom cake maker;

* An online seller of discounted medical equipment;

* The creator of an app for restaurant reviews that's won the following of some award-winning restaurateurs;

* The creator of a fast-growing business contact-management solution;

* A globe-trotting, philanthropy-minded importer of fashion accessories;

* A maker of robot-building kits for kids;

* A luxury sports-suite-sharing enterprise inspired by the fractional-jet business;

* A corporate temporary housing business that has become the largest provider of temporary housing for the U.S. health-care industry.

These companies, different in many ways, share the common trait of vision and determination manifesting itself in the form of products and services that improve the lives of others.

AVA SWEET CAKES

MANDE GABELSON IS THE 35-YEAR-OLD force of nature behind Ava Sweet Cakes. The Grand Junction-based custom cake-maker went into business in 2009 and hasn't looked back for a second. "It is crazy," she says, laughing. "The phone rings all of the time. It's hard to keep up with everything, being just one person."

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Gabelson is now making hundreds of' custom cakes and thousands of cupcakes a. year. Her specialty, thanks in part to her background in sculpting and ceramics, is three-dimensional custom cakes. She's done cakes shaped like everything from an octopus ("the first wedding cake of its kind") to a classic car that typically costs $1,000 and up.

Something of' a newbie dessert artist, Gabelson actually started taking cake-decorating classes the same year she went pro. "I was pretty terrible at it when I was younger," she says. "This is something I never thought I'd do." Her art background "really helped a lot," she sdds. "That really helped me develop style and technique. The baking just came together. I do a lot of experimenting." Experimentation often comes in the form of original cake flavors like sweet corn and lavender raspberry that she introduces to customers via six-cupcake samplers.

Named Int. Gabelson's 3-year-old daughter, Ava Sweet Cakes uses its Facebook page as its storefront, Gabelson says. "My whole business is on Facebook," she says. "That's my storefront." Ava Sweet Cakes has nearly 2,000 Likes, enabling Gabelson to market to existing customers via a post or picture. "I've got one of those products that's really visual and people just eat that up on Facebook."

Gabelson mounted a push last year for House Bill 12-1027 to allow people to use their home kitchens for commercial businesses. She wanted to move her business borne to save money--renting a commercial kitchen by the hour at the Business Innovation Center in Grand Junction was cutting too deeply into her profits. "I was always in the red," Gabelson says. HB 12-1027 didn't come to a vote, but a similar bill that originated in the Colorado State Senate passed and was signed into law in March 2012, enabling Gabelson to move into her home. Not that she doesn't envision having a stand-alone bakery to get some "separation" between career and home life. "Right now, it congeals together into one big mess," Gabelson says. "There is a lot of frosting."

Gabelson thinks her age is a big part of her entrepreneurial spirit. "I think my generation is really out there trying to do the best they can to provide for themselves," she explains. "I never try to borrow money. I always try to stand on my own two feet."

www.avasweetcakes.com

EMED STORES

FOUNDED IN 2009 BY E-COMMERCE veterans (and brothers) Rick, Rob and Tom DeZengrenel, Emed Stores is an Englewood-based company that sells all kinds of medical products, from wheelchairs to beds to fitness gear. The eight-employee firm has a family of related websites including Emedstores.com, Emedscooters.com, and Emedwhcelchairs.com.

"We utilize the Internet to provide discounted medical equipment to the general public," says Sales Manager Gianna Luszko, M.D., 40. "We don't take insurance. We are a very small niche." Luszko says buying discounted products through Emed Stores is typically more affordable than paying the corresponding...