Double Take Twins who own businesses are seeing double--the productivity, that is.
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There's no shortage of them in the entertainment industry--Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen are perhaps the most famous--or in politics, from the Bush daughters to two 55-year-old brothers in Poland (this past fall, one ran for president of the country, and the other for prime minister). But twin entrepreneurs are also working double duty in the business world.
One of the most successful pairs of identical-twin entrepreneurs is Lisa and Debbie Ganz, 38, who have taken the concept of seeing double and turned it into a mini-empire. They own New York City-based Twins Talent, a talent agency that books only twin, triplet and quadruplet performers, and have placed their clients in films like Big Fish and TV series such as Fear Factor, Guiding Light and Sex and the City. They also have a twin calendar, a photo gift book called The Book of Twins, and the Twins Restaurant, which opened in 1994 but is currently closed with plans to relocate to Times Square. The eatery is famed for staffing only identical twins (meaning if one sibling quits, the other is automatically fired). As for when the restaurant will reopen, Debbie isn't entirely certain: "With all these various projects, we haven't been able to concentrate on opening the restaurant. Unfortunately, my mother had two of us, not four of us."
Perhaps Debbie should rethink that. Chad Baker has found it's confusing enough with just him and his twin brother, Andy. In Nashville, Tennessee, the 26-year-olds own Baker Twin Enterprises, which manufactures and sells the DrinkTower--a unique pitcher they market to bars and restaurants. They also have a customized sign business. Between Drink-Tower and sign sales, the brothers estimate they brought in nearly $1 million in 2005. They also dabble in real estate. "Some people must think we're the biggest jerks," says Chad. "Andy will talk to somebody for 30 minutes. [Later on], that person will make eye contact with me, expecting recognition and, of course, there isn't any."
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