FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 15, 2001

WIZARD INDUSTRIES TURNS ONE

Drawing on past experiences to grow a business in tough times

Van Nuys, California: Long-time and respected San Fernando Valley entrepreneur Billy Carmen has a difficult problem ahead. His most recent endeavor, Wizard Industries, has grown so quickly that the company has had trouble keeping up with its own growth.

Billy's entrepreneurial spirit has been behind a number of San Fernando Valley businesses since he moved here from Texas in the mid-eighties. He opened a children's toy store on Ventura Boulevard in Studio City in 1990. Child Dreams served a high-profile clientele, with custom made wooden toys, an extensive children's bookstore, and educational toys. It's first years were very successful.

Then in 1994, Child Dreams was decimated by the Northridge Earthquake, and never recovered financially from the losses incurred. Billy, determined not to let that happen again, designed a system of easily installed steel harnesses to secure furniture to walls, and help minimize costly earthquake damage. He secured his home and business, and the homes of several friends. Soon, others heard what he was doing, and requested his services. Quake Secure grew to a team of 10 people, securing furniture in thousands of homes and businesses over next few years.

But the efficiency with which his team could work was being hindered. In order to attach furniture to walls securely, it is necessary to locate the studs in a wall. At the time, he found the stud-finders on the market were not consistently reliable or accurate enough to be used in such a safety-critical business. Billy came up with the idea of using a metal detector to find the drywall screws, and thereby locate the studs. There wasn't a suitable metal detector available in the U.S., but he found one in Europe, and tracked down the manufacturer in China to order more.

Later, in 1995, a long-time time friend of Billy's built a web site for Quake Secure. This was long before the internet was considered "mainstream," or even essential to business. Friends and businesses heard about his web site, and asked if they could have web sites built as well. Billy and his friend went into business forming EiNetCo Internet Services, which flourished as a high-end internet consulting company for several years. With a talented team of designers and programmers, they built sites for Sony Pictures, LA411, and other high-profile corporate and industrial customers.

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WIZARD INDUSTRIES TURNS ONE Page Two

But the lack of an effective stud-finder continued to haunt Billy. He took some of the profit out of Einetco to introduce the Wall Wizard metal detector to the U.S. market. Eventually, the demand for the metal detectors became too big to sell them as a "side" business. EiNetCo was sold to a group of investors in October 2000, so that Billy could refocus his attention on the metal detector trade. As history bears witness, it was an ideal time to get out of the internet business.

Since starting Wizard Distribution in October 2000 with a single product and a $75,000 investment, no less than 12 metal detector products have been put on national retail shelves. These include the Wall Wizard, Little Wizard, Lumber Wizard, Walk N Seek Wizard, Wood Scan Wizard, Mail and Package Scanning Wizard, Security Wizard, and others.

By partnering with the same Chinese manufacturer Billy had tracked down years earlier, and utilizing his team's extensive internet know-how, Wizard has been able to bring these products to market far more inexpensively and quickly than most companies would be imagine possible.

All the Wizard products fill niche markets and needs that other, larger metal detector manufacturers had overlooked. After the initial success of the Wall Wizard, it became apparent that Woodworkers across the country did not have an economical metal detector available to help them protect their saw and planer blades from damage by nails and screws hidden inside wood. Wizard stepped up to the plate with the Lumber Wizard, Wood Scan Wizard, and Little Wizard, filling a void in the woodworking industry.

Drawing upon his toy-store days, the potential of metal detectors as educational toys became apparent. Wizard shortly thereafter introduced the Experiment Wizard and Walk 'N Seek Wizard--a metal detector you attach to your feet--which children just love.

And not to leave anything out of his past, the furniture securing expertise he garnered after the Northridge Quake led to another line of products. Wizard has now modified the system slightly from its original designs, but the premise is still there: to supply the strongest furniture securing system possible. Wizard's do-it-yourself furniture harnesses are now available at ACE hardware stores across the country under the Secure Quick brand name.

Recent events have spurred further growth, and focused national attention on the small, five-person operation. The demand for metal detectors has been incredible. Wizard had launched the Security Wizard back in May, after the disheartening spate of school violence that ravaged the country. There was a great need for an economical, effective Security Metal Detector that schools could afford to buy. Wizard was able to launch the Security Wizard at half the cost of comparable detectors, making it ideal for cash-strapped schools and municipalities. Now, of course, security is on everyone's mind. Wizard's Security line of metal detectors is unequalled in price, and users have reported great satisfaction with their performance.

Drawing upon all his prior business experiences, Billy has pulled Wizard Industries to where it is now as if by it's bootstraps. It hasn't all been easy though. From an initial $75K investment, Wizard expects to top 1.5 million in sales for their first year in business. The tremendous pace of growth has left little in the way of income for the Wizard partners, but slowly, the company is catching up with itself, and future prospects look good for Wizard Industries.

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