DEL.ICIO.USUpdated: 9:52 a.m. March 04, 2009
MY OPINION: THOMAS OLIVER
Debt-free business still possible
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
In the hunt for good news amid the horror, you can find businessmen and women who have one thing in common: an uncommon but healthy appreciation of debt.
As the world constricts in fits from too much credit and too little cash, Merry McCleary says her audio-visual firm is debt-free.
• Norcross-based AVYVE designs and installs A-V systems. McCleary says down economies in the past have translated into some of her best years. Companies cut travel, for example, but are still interested in video and Web-based conferencing.
With 29 employees, AVYVE has added staff since the first of the year and opened a research center in Midtown.
The chief executive said her firm will complete a record first quarter and projects a 20 percent increase in revenues this year.
Small businesses are often accused of being short on benefits. AVYVE offers health insurance and a 401(k) plan for employees.
When she started the firm 11 years ago and was signing all the papers, she realized she was putting her house and personal savings on the line. It was then she understood that she couldn’t go into debt.
“We fund our capital needs with cash. We hold profits in the company,” she says. Plus: “Being the biggest was never our goal.”
Had more people and businesses followed those principles we wouldn’t have to hunt to find good news.
Likewise, Greg O’Brien says his new startup, Sustainable Options, is debt-free.
Timing isn’t everything, but it helps. For O’Brien and Tom Boeck, it certainly hasn’t hurt their business model that businesses want to be green now more than ever. Or at least greener.
The two set out on their own the first of this year to advise companies how to make their office and commercial buildings more energy-efficient.
In addition to its private company clients, Sustainable Options hopes to tap into the $4.5 billion in the stimulus plan to make federal buildings more energy-efficient.
The young Atlanta firm has already hired six employees.
O’Brien said he and Boeck self-funded the startup and have already achieved positive cash flow.
“We’re debt-free,” O’Brien said.
At In-Zone Brands, Jim Scott isn’t debt-free but feels pretty good about getting his debt restructured 18 months ago — before the world imploded. “The secret to debt is having a positive cash flow,” Scott says.
The secret to a successful business in any economy is finding a niche and innovating.
The 10-year-old company that employs 50 tapped the children’s “interactive” beverage niche with Bellywashers and Tummyticklers.
In-Zone brands are found in Wal-Mart, perhaps the best barometer of who’s likely to prosper in an economic downturn.
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