MAKING IT! ENTREPRENEUR SUCCESS STORY WITH KARL KANI
Karl Kani got his start in the Brooklyn projects, peddling logo-emblazoned tees and baggy linen suits sewn by his fathers tailor. In 1999, he developed a business plan with his accountants to start his own urban sportswear company, Karl Kani, which currently has revenues of $65 million worldwide. He left the urban market to start a contemporary denim line, LIVE LIFE LOVE DENIM. He connected with Fame Church in Los Angeles, which has an investment fund to help local businesses. With the churchs help, he raised enough money to develop the contemporary denim line. He embraces the challenge of following trends and takes care to not saturate the market so that his jeans are always in demand. His jeans are made from Japanese denim and are produced entirely in California so that he can control the product quality. His celebrity clientele includes Mischa Barton, Jessica Simpson, and Ashlee Simpson. He hopes to triple his revenues as he distributes his denim line to major department stores.
LET THE CUSTOMER BE YOUR GUIDE WITH ROBERT ZAMARIPPA
Robert Zamarippa was working for a large electrical distribution company until he became unhappy with the new management and left the company. In 1983, he decided to start his own electrical distribution company, ONE SOURCE DISTRIBUTORS. He funded the company by himself with the help of his business partner, his father, and local bank. He initially began by supplying electrical parts, but at a customer's request, Robert began an assembly and manufacturing division. One Source Distributors became involved with Sempra Energy through the San Diego Gas and Electric division. He credits San Diego Gas and Electric for pushing the company out of its comfort zone so that it could develop further. The Southern California Gas Group (SCGG) is another part of Sempra Energy that has been strategically important for One Source Distributors because SCGG consumes a lot of the company's electrical products.
LIGHTS AND BYTES: TECHNOLOGY BUSINESS WITH MARK MCLAUGHLIN
Many people know very little about Computer Forensics. Mark McLaughlin (mjm@cf-intl.com) built an entire company around it. COMPUTER FORENSICS INTERNATIONAL provides litigation support, recovers digital evidence, and sometimes works for hire doing internal investigations for companies. Mark, a former policeman, has always envisioned himself as owning his own business. He learned a lot from doing private investigation work for many companies. He had also worked part time on cases that had IT elements to it, mostly exposing white-collar criminals. Using that background and his business education, he officially started his company in 2001. The billing costs were high enough that the start-up costs were done internally. The struggles he faces are unique to the cases he works. If computer information has been wiped clean, it takes a mix of computer knowledge and detective work to gather sufficient evidence. Also, many of their clients are not exactly sure what his business does – computer forensics is a fairly new industry. On the plus side, there's always plenty of work to be done. The company currently has 4 examiners in Los Angeles, 1 in Atlanta, 2 in Chicago, and 1 in New York. It also gets about 25-50 cases a year. With his company's strong reputation, Mark has also gained the right to be an Expert Witness.
HOME-BASED BUSINESS
Cynthia Tucker's passion for owning a business comes from a long line of family entrepreneurs. With all of this influence and experience among entrepreneurs in her family, it was only fitting she follow in her family's footsteps. Ladybug Productions (ladybugevents.com) is a company that specializes in the planning and coordination of social events. The company has a list of vendors it works with to help coordinate the functions. The name "ladybug" has special meaning to Cynthia because it was her nickname as a child. The idea to start a company that focuses on event coordinating came from her years at Walt disney. Since then, her idea has blossomed into a well-established company that is known for its credibility among the entertainment industry as well as the private sector. Today the business is moving along the path Cynthia envisioned for it. With last year's profits exceeding $50,000 she hopes to take the company along a five-year stretch that will guide it into an office space as well as a full-time assistant working alongside her.
SEIZING THE OPPORTUNITY
Sandy Delgadillo (www.nellies.com) was born in Uganda, but in her teenage years, she and her family were forced out the country because of political turmoil. She came to the United States eventually attending Hollywood High School. Sandy started her career in the banking industry, where she met two very important people: Her future husband (David Delgadillo), and the owner of Nellie's Exercise Equipment. The owner of Nellie's told Sandy that he wanted to get rid of his business and asked her if she was interested in purchasing it. Initially declining the offer, David coaxed Sandy into taking another look at the business. The store was in poor condition, but generated a fair amount of customers. Sandy and David purchased Nellie's Exercise Equipment because they saw the opportunities for improvement and expansion. Since purchasing the store, they have opened seven additional locations across Southern California and increased their staff from zero to 20 people. Today, their customers include healthcare and rehabilitation facilities as well as home-use clients. They also donate machines to local groups in need of fitness equipment. Nellie's grosses $2,000,000 in sales a year. Sandy counts many celebrities as her clients.
