A Hidden Treasure: The Tampa Bay Buttoneer

Terry Abrahams hasn't needed to make a lot of money to make a life out of button making.

The 74-year old dancer, national champion fencer and ex-wife to Joseph Abrahams, a former Director of Recreation for the City of Tampa, wears many hats. She is a mother of four daughters, international traveler, songwriter, an active member of the Democratic party and a dog groomer on the side, but throughout all her endeavors over the past 20 years, her Tampa Bay Buttoneers business has been at the center of what she does.

"I keep myself busy," Abrahams said. "I enjoy it all. I can't fence much anymore because it's too expensive to go on the trips and I can't travel as much as I'd like, but I've got my daughter living next door with muscular sclerosis and I groom pets, make buttons, go dancing. I've got buttons I make for any occasion so it keeps me busy."

It was just over 20 years ago that she started to make buttons when Joe had his 60th birthday. She needed name tags for the party, but had the idea to make buttons instead. A patron at the party asked her to make some for another party and just like that she was on her way to making buttons her business.

"After that party, a gal that was in charge of the Convention Center opening asked me if I wanted to go into business," Abrahams said. "I went to the library to use a computer and look up where to buy a button maker. I made her 10,000 buttons with the help of my four daughters, but I didn't make any money on that deal. I just kept doing it though and now my accountant calls it a hobby."

The button business hasn't been a financially rewarding venture for Abrahams, nettting her a total of $384 thus far in 2012. But for Abrahams, a resident of Seminole Heights, operating her business from her home and sharing her creativity through buttons has been both fulfilling and a release from the stresses of life as they've come.

A survivor of breast cancer twice, Abrahams has seen her share of hard times. She sold the house where she once lived in Hyde Park, moving to Seminole Heights after her divorce from Joe. Real estate provided her funds to travel, the ability to enjoy her work from home business and the funds to help out her kids when they've needed it, but eventually the money dried up.

"I'm in trouble now, my financial advisor says I'll only be able to go on like this a few more years," Abrahams said. "I guess I'll have to try harder to make money from my buttons now."

Abrahams doesn't advertise much, but her website showcases many of her button concepts. She has found a niche in different audiences, particularly with fellow dancers who enjoy the use of the buttons in place of name tags.

Her current line of dancing button options has more than 600 comical phrases for dancers to pin to their shirts, such as "You again?", "Dancers do it on the floor" and "Dance-my drug of choice". The buttons are a hit at dance events Abrahams attends, something she is always thrilled to see.

"Watching people pick through the buttons and laugh has been great over the years," Abrahams said. "One time I sold 150 buttons at a dancing event and it's funny because I'll go dance and people either leave a dollar at my table or will come up to me months later and say I owe you a dollar for this button. It makes my day, the interactions you have with people."

Dancing isn't the only niche she has found, however. Button categories on her website include fencing, liberal, cancer and dog and cat. She has made a variety of buttons for different occasions and continues to find business in places she never imagined.

"I get business from high school reunions, family reunions, stuff like that," Abrahams said. "I even get people who just want one button made because if you go to a company, there is a minimum, but my minimum is one. I never know what to charge either, I'm terrible at that."

Still using the old button maker she purchased twenty years ago, Abrahams is limited to pumping out around 100 buttons per hour, but her technique is flawless, her natural enthusiasm shining through in each button.

"I'm not even known as a business," Abrahams said. "They stopped sending me tax information as a business so I stopped worrying about it. I don't charge tax either. If they're going to fine me for my $350 of income, then fine."

For more information about Abraham's business, Tampa Bay Buttoneers, visit www.noveltybuttons.net or call (813) 234-1231.