‘We make it easy’ Fast-growing company finds niche in customer service

Ryan Dienst, GMI co-founder

By Austin Light

CHARLOTTE — The folks at Global Medical Imaging, an ultrasound service and repair business in South End, aren’t doing anything new, according to President Todd Ezrine. Their products aren’t unique and their services — repairing and refurbishing machines used by doctors to check fetuses, detect prostate cancer and perform other procedures — aren’t, either. So how did they become a $20 million company in just seven years?

Physician John Manely thinks he knows. Manely, owner of Mountain Kidney Associates in Asheville, has been a GMI customer almost since the company opened in 2002.

“I think it’s simply because they have competitive prices and really good service,” Manely said. “We’re probably a small account for them, but we’re not treated like that.”

Ezrine said it really is that simple — good prices and service mean more business — but he attributes those qualities to a strong business plan and strict adherence to efficiency.

“Our founders [Scott Ray and Ryan Dienst] have invested every penny back into the company,” Ezrine said. “That’s how we continue to grow and continue to stay ahead of the competition.”

And GMI has plenty of competitors. First are the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) of ultrasound equipment, global giants like General Electric, Siemens and Phillips.

A spokesperson for Siemens said company policy prevented him from commenting on other vendors. Representatives from Phillips and General Electric were not available by press time.

The OEMs make the ultrasound machines, sell them to hospitals and private practices in pricey bundles that include service charges and insurance policies, and maintain them for additional fees. GMI and its competitors, on other hand, repair the machines for a significantly lower price than manufacturers, according to Ezrine and Manely.

A (logical) leap of faith: One success, one failure later, entrepreneur finds himself back on top

By Sam Boykin

CHARLOTTE — Miles Busby was struggling with a failing paper company back in 2007 when he was struck by a bit of entrepreneurial inspiration.

He had started the company about a year earlier inside a former chemical engineering plant. The industry, he said, was declining fast. But gathering dust in a corner of the plant was a sample bottle of alcohol-free hand sanitizer — a product the chemical firm had developed years ago but never pursued. When Busby saw it, he said, a “light bulb went off over my head.”

“I immediately shut down everything to do with paper,” he said. “I walked into the office and said, ‘If you’ve got nothing but a paper background, you’re gone, unfortunately.’ I turned the thing around 180 degrees.”

Seemingly contrary to good sense, Busby launched LifeLogic, which makes several lines of health care products — an industry that’s not only saturated but one he knew nothing about.

Today, LifeLogic has products in more than 4,000 stores and last week landed a deal with Matthews-based Harris Teeter. The company has nine employees and Busby said he expects it to generate $3 million to $4 million over the next year.

Busby credits the products’ simplicity and relatively low price point (most are around $3.99) for much of the company’s success.

“We’re all-natural, which is nothing new. But we’re not one of these granola-eating, tree-hugging, Ben-and-Jerry-kind of companies,” he said. “But we are trying to make safe, effective natural products that you don’t have to pay a premium for.”

The company is headquartered in Charlotte, with research and development operations in the Research Triangle.

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New Queens center offers innovation seminar

By Sam Boykin

CHARLOTTE — There’s nothing like a recession to kick-start the economy. It might sound counter-intuitive, but folks like Chuck Bamford at Queens University of Charlotte point out that lean times have given birth to some of the country’s most successful businesses, from Procter & Gamble to CNN. During an economic slump, companies and entrepreneurs are forced to come up with creative ways to streamline operations and better satisfy frugal customers.

Bamford and two other Queens professors will explore the importance of such creativity with a new seminar next year called “Building Your Innovation Capacity.” The two-day seminars will be offered through the university’s Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership, which opened in September.

Discussions and exercises will focus on innovation for start-ups and established businesses, Bamford said. The goal is for participants to examine innovation practices from the individual, team and organizational level.

“These will be practical lessons about how they can take what they’ve got and become more creative and innovative within the infrastructure of their business,” said Linda Christopherson, director of the Executive Leadership Institute.

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Against the Odds

By Sam Boykin
Reporter’s Notebook

I

n this week’s story about Queens University’s Building Your Innovation Capacity seminar, Chuck Bamford talks about how many of the country’s biggest companies were born during recessions. While it might seem foolhardy to launch a new company when the economy is down, it’s been proven many times over that there’s often untapped potential during a slump. And companies that are bold enough to enter the market often reap big rewards. Consider:

Procter & Gamble

Procter & Gamble was founded during “The Panic of 1837.” Brought on by speculative fever, the bubble burst in May of that year, followed by a five-year depression and record-high unemployment. But the small Chicago-based consumer goods company persevered, going on to score lucrative contracts with the Union Army during the Civil War. Today, P&G is home to many of the world’s most recognizable brands, including Tide, Pampers, Duracell and Pringles, and brought in $83.5 billion in revenue in 2008.

IBM

Three startups got together and formed what would become IBM in 1896, while the country was still in the midst of “The Long Depression,” a 23-year economic crisis felt throughout Western Europe and North America. IBM benefited from the country’s growing industrialization, introducing products like the time clock for recording workers’ hours and a tabulating machine to tally the growing population of immigrants.

Over the years, IBM has had its ups and downs, but the company has rebounded and had record revenue of $103.6 billion last year.

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Auctioned Off: As business owners struggle, auction blocks get busier

Robert Nesbit, owner of Consolidated Steel Services in Monroe, at the auction on Tuesday

By Sam Boykin

MONROE — Gary Boyd’s deep, booming voice resonates in the air as he leads a cluster of men through the dusty, cluttered warehouse. Standing a few feet away is Bill O’Neal, who keeps the auction moving at a fast clip with his rapid-fire chant. The two men have worked together for years, and it shows in their finely tuned, back-and-forth rhythm. Today they’re at Consolidated Steel Services in Monroe, selling the last of the bankrupt company’s assets.

Across the country, auctions like this have been happening with greater frequency as more companies succumb to the faltering economy. According to the National Auctioneers Association, $268 billion worth of equipment and goods was sold at auctions last year, compared to $217 billion in 2004.

“We’re one of the few industries that are actually closing deals and completing transactions,” Deputy Executive Director Chris Longly said.

Business liquidation auctions like the one held at Consolidated Steel Services on Nov. 17 is one of the industry’s fastest growing sectors. Auctioneers saw a 19.7 percent increase in gross revenue sales from auctioned-off commercial and industrial machinery from 2003 to 2008.

New course serves second-stage entrepreneurs

By Austin Light

CHARLOTTE — Central Piedmont Community College’s Institute for Entrepreneurship and the City of Charlotte will begin a program for second-stage businesses in January called the Strategic Development Program.

The 17-week class, limited to an enrollment of 25, will serve owners who have been in business for at least a year and are interested in growing their operations.

The program will cover infrastructure-building, tech and Web 2.0 information, strategic planning, project management, financial management, forecasting, team development and other topics.

Sherese Duncan, president of business education and consulting company Efficio, has been developing a curriculum for second-stage owners for the last several years. She brought it to CPCC’s Institute for Entrepreneurship, where she has been an instructor since 2006.

“I knew they were looking for a second-stage program because there are a lot of entrepreneurs out there right now that have been in business a year or more and they don’t know what to do next,” Duncan said.

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Social Fresh Conference goes on sail

By Austin Light

CHARLOTTE — Less than three months after the first Social Fresh, a conference in Charlotte started by social media strategist Jason Keath, and the Social Fresh brand has gone on sail. Last week, the first Social Fresh Cruise returned from its maiden voyage, and though there are a few kinks to straighten out, organizers Rich Tucker and Lyell Petersen of Charlotte said it went swimmingly.

Tucker and Petersen work together at Cruisedeals.com, and Tucker runs a cruise blog at CruiseSource.us. In 2004 when Cruisedeals.com started, Tucker said, few people in the cruise industry were utilizing social media. He and Petersen dove in, taking an active part in the community — Tucker helped plan local Tweet-ups and Petersen spoke at conferences like Barcamp, an on-the-fly conference with sessions pitched and led by participants, all the while promoting cruising.

“I wanted to position our brand as being the leader in social media in the industry,” Tucker said.

In order to do that, he started pulling together a cruise ship conference, using his cruise business and social media contacts.

Photo business incubates to big sale in Ben Craig Center: A Q&A with Steve Montgomery

By Sam Boykin

CHARLOTTE — Steve Montgomery went from running his photography business out of his garage to selling the company for seven figures. Montgomery was able to pull off such a lucrative deal, he said, thanks in large part to the Ben Craig Center.

In partnership with the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, the non-profit corporation provides incubation, education and advisory services to thousands of regional companies.

The center’s president, Paul Wetenhall, said it provides entrepreneurs with a strong foundation from which to grow their companies. The incubator program, which serves about 20 companies at a time on average, includes office space in the 50,000-square-foot facility and access to both leading executives around the region and a network of other small business owners.

Since 1986, about 125 companies have participated in the incubator program, Wetenhall said, staying at the center anywhere from 18 months to five years. Typical clients are innovation or technology-based and serve a national market.

“This is important to us because companies serving national markets are the ones that bring economic growth to Charlotte,” Wetenhall said.

In 2000, Montgomery formed Commencement Specialists Inc. (CSI), which specialized in college graduation and commencement photos. He moved the company to the Ben Craig Center in 2007. While there he took advantage of the full range of services: coaching, accounting advice and participation in the mentor program.

In early 2009, Montgomery sold the business to Event Photography Group, which photographs in more than 3,000 schools nationwide.

The Mecklenburg Times talked to Montgomery about his experiences at the Ben Craig Center.

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Growing pains, Business owners change roles as operations grow

By Austin Light

CHARLOTTE — The day Ilan Paltrow realized his business had grown too big for his comfort was the day he walked into one of his four bike shops and an employee asked if she could help him.

“It was very frustrating because I was expanding, doing more work, but making less money,” said Paltrow, who now runs just one shop, Bicycle Sport in Myers Park. “And I wasn’t doing the things in my business that I wanted to do.”

Paltrow’s growing pains are common for small businesses, he said, as the addition of employees, functions or locations triggers changes to an owner’s role. Several local business owners cited the addition of employees as a threshold that carries particular ramifications.

“When you get to about 20 employees, you get to the point where there is a hierarchy, and the leader can be disconnected from the employees,” said Mary Tribble, owner of event planning company Tribble Creative Group. “You start spending more time working on your business and less time working in it.”

Tribble now has eight employees, down from a high of 17.

Michelle Menard is president of Choice Translating, which has 15 employees in Charlotte and in Lima, Peru. She said the topic of employee growth is an important one among business owners and often comes up at entrepreneurs’ groups.

“Growing can be difficult because it’s about more than bringing on people, it’s about changing habits,” Menard said.

Hydrolley could be next step in streetcar solution, Engineers study hydrogen power for mass transit

By Sam Boykin

CHARLOTTE — As the City of Charlotte weighs mass-transit options, an emerging new technology could become a prominent part of the mix. According to some sources, Charlotte could become the first city in the country to launch streetcars powered by hydrogen.

While funding remains a challenge, proponents say hydrogen is a clean, cost-effective form of transportation that’s also good for economic development.

In September, the Charlotte City Council — overriding Mayor Pat McCrory’s veto — voted to pay San Francisco-based URS Corp. $4.5 million to begin design work on a 10-mile streetcar line, which would run from Beatties Ford Road to Eastland Mall via Uptown.

The engineering and construction firm, which has an office in Charlotte, is evaluating several streetcar propulsion systems, including hydrogen.

“(Hydrogen) gives us extra ammunition to go after federal funding,” said Charlotte City Council Member Nancy Carter. “It’s environmentally beneficial, provides a solution to move people effectively, and helps spur economic development. It really puts Charlotte in a favorable light.”

Carter points to Portland, Ore., as an example of how streetcars can boost the local economy. Unlike light rail, which stops every mile or so, streetcars stop more frequently, encouraging more concentrated development.

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