STARTUP STORIES
Entrepreneurs Look Back on Their Early Inspiration
How do small business owners and operators get their start? Staff reporter Sherri Cruz asked some local entrepreneurs to talk about the inspiration for their startups and the challenges in the early years. Following is an edited version of their responses.
Ellen Clark
President
Control Corrective Skincare Inc.
Irvine
I always dreamed of having my own skincare line but other commitments got in the way.
After years in professional esthetics as an educator, salon owner, distributor and trainer, I finally had a little money saved up to try and realize my dream.
I worked from home and found a manufacturing lab that made small batches of skincare products for my specifications. With a newborn baby keeping me awake, I would work when my daughter slept, filling bottles and applying labels in my kitchen into the wee hours of the morning.
A converted 12-foot by 12-foot extra bedroom was the storage, shipping, receiving and sales hub of my small startup.
Now, seven years later, we are in a new, beautiful, 3,000-square-foot facility in the Irvine Spectrum, have national distribution, a wonderful small staff of four great women, and we just got our first export deal with Australia.
Hilary Kaye
President
Hilary Kaye Associates Inc.
Tustin
My public relations firm began two decades ago but I still remember the process that catapulted me into entrepreneurship.
My then-business partner, a similarly minded entrepreneur, and I decided to “just get started.” She was suddenly in transition, following a corporate management shakeup. I left behind a secure university post.
Perhaps because my parents had had their own businesses, it didn’t seem particularly illogical to strike out on my own. We were entirely self-funded, lacked a formal business plan and operated out of a spare bedroom in my house in Irvine.
I still recall the difficulty of explaining to my children why we couldn’t play with them when school let out.
I recently came across an ink-stained cocktail napkin from Chanteclair restaurant, covered with notes from our first excited conversation as we plotted our new business.
Fortunately the home-based era lasted only six months before we needed to get a “real” office, as it was more difficult in those years to operate a virtual business.
I’ve since leased several offices in Newport Beach before buying a 1921-vintage California bungalow for the business in Tustin in 1998.
Scott Lucas
Founder, chairman
Client Dynamics Inc.
Irvine
The idea for Client Dynamics Inc. came to me in 2000 while sitting at a park bench across from a Walgreens in Palm Desert.
I had enjoyed a prosperous career at Goldman Sachs. That day in 2000, an idea struck me: If I could find a way to automate the processes I had used to build strong relationships with my clients, leveraging software technology and the Internet, I’d have a winning product for sales professionals in all industries.
So I drew up a messy but elaborate plan for my new company, Client Dynamics, on seven pieces of poster board.
Within a matter of weeks, I was beginning to assemble a talented team of software developers, sales professionals and management experts. Initially we were self-funded.
We chose Orange County for our headquarters because I felt confident that I would find the best and brightest staff members and a host of potential clients.
Catherine Magnall
President
Medsearch Financial Inc.
Costa Mesa
We started Medsearch Financial two years ago after 25-plus years experience in the employment services industry.
Healthcare represented a great growth opportunity for employment firms and we noticed a niche within healthcare that was somewhat overlooked by the staffing industry.
Traditional medical staffing firms focus almost exclusively on nurse staffing. However, healthcare also depends on the business side, where specialized, non-clinical workers in medical records, front office, billing, claims and member services complete the cycle of patient care. We launched Medsearch Financial to support this business side of healthcare.
Our business plan was developed in the winter of 2002 and Medsearch Financial opened in June. To minimize the distractions of office space, furniture and telecommunications decisions, we started our business in an executive suite.
Financing came from personal savings. My partner,and husband,maintained his outside corporate job for cash flow while I began operations.
We now have a headquarters in Costa Mesa with two other recruiting hubs and a growing staff of healthcare professionals.
Holli Steinert-Dorr
President
Hollister Construction Co.
Anaheim
From the time I was seven, I wanted to have my own business.
Thirty years later, as a single parent of two teenagers, it didn’t occur to me that the dream would be realized. In 1992 I had finished liquidating a construction company and was actively looking for a new position.
With 14 years of construction industry experience, a bachelor of arts degree in business administration and an established network with other construction financial professionals, I received two offers for a chief financial officer position within a few weeks.
Prior to accepting either of the jobs, I received a call from a man who wanted tenant improvement work in his building.
I explained that the company he was looking for was out of business and that I could not help him. He said he did not want the company, but in fact wanted me to do the work. I insisted that I wasn’t a contractor but a chief financial officer. He insisted that I was the right person for his job and asked again that I consider doing the work. By the end of the day, Hollister Construction was up and running.
I began work the next week. Fortunately I knew great subcontractors who taught me field operations.
My advice to all: Never give up on your dream, listen intuitively for the direction you should go and don’t be afraid to walk through the door that opens.
Roberta R. Wieland
President
Wieland Associates Inc.
Laguna Hills
Even as a child, I hated loud noises.
Traffic noise, barking dogs, large crowds and fireworks made me very tense and irritable. Fast forward a few decades and it’s not surprising that I’m now president of an Orange County noise consulting company.
Wieland Associates, which my husband, Principal Consultant David Wieland, and I launched in February 1998, conducts noise and vibration studies for engineers, architects, planners, developers and local government agencies.
David and I had worked together at another acoustics company for years. When that business closed, setting up our own company was a no-brainer.
Using our savings, a client wish list and a lot of determination, we’ve built a reputation as professional and cost-effective problem solvers. We now have three employees.
I love my job,but I still hate fireworks.
