This weekend my family and I had dinner with my brother and his kids. He has embarked on a new chapter in his life and has gone back to College. A very big undertaking with 4 kids and a thriving career. I could not be more excited for him. His business class assignment was to interview and Entrepreneur so he picked my husband and I. I want to share the paper with you to give you an insight on who Crack Master Chicago, Inc is.
Enjoy and Thank you Eric.
An Interview with Entrepreneurs
Eric Shurts
On a summer
Saturday evening in June, amidst a torrential downpour and loud emergency warning
sirens, my kids and I arrived at their aunt and uncle’s house for a visit. We had been invited there for a BBQ and so I
could interview them for my college assignment.
After shedding all the water accumulated in the dash from the car to the
garage, we began the visit with the usual cordial welcomes. The weather that evening would eventually
pass and the BBQ would finally commence outside. In this casual and slightly wet setting, I
would begin my interview with the couple about the business they started a few
years back called Crack Master Chicago,
Inc. Between brats, burgers, and
drinks, I would learn a great deal of the successes, struggles, and experiences
they both had in relation to starting and maintaining their business. I will attempt to share some of what I
learned that evening here in this paper.
Mike and
Sarah Christ of Mundelein, IL had worked in various business situations in
their past. Some of their work experiences
involved sales, restaurant management, health care billing, as well as working
in a family business. During this time,
Mike realized that he didn't really care for the fact of working for someone
else. While at a job site, where he was
working for his brother in the mold removal business, he noticed some cracks in
the basement walls and asked who took care of those for the homeowner. After looking into it, he found there was a
niche to be filled locally. Mike felt
that this could be something he could teach himself how to do and be successful
at it. After discussing it with his wife
Sarah, they both agreed to start the business since they had also recently decided
they wanted to start a family. A week
later and no formal business plan to speak of, they filed the paperwork, paid
the $600 to become a business and Crack
Master Chicago was born.
In that
first year, they went about their business practices very carefully,
self-funded themselves for the materials needed to do the jobs, and established
a good line of credit. They eventually
were able to obtain a company credit card and prided themselves in paying the
balance off every month. Things weren't always sunshine and rainbows. Mike and
Sarah shared with me that it was tough to keep their personal lives separate
from their business lives. Since Mike
was doing the labor portion and Sarah was doing the financial and paper work
part, it was tough keeping family and business separate. There were many long hours, physically tough
working conditions and a new baby to care for.
About a year
later and with some success under their belt, they decided that it was smart to
actually upgrade their business and add the “Inc.” onto the name. With the assistance of some family members who
had legal experience, they formed an S type corporation to insure they would
protect themselves against liability.
After all, they had a new baby in their lives and needed to protect
themselves and their future. Looking
back at that time, Mike reflected that they could have done better work on
their sales prep, marketing, and business presence. His advice to me was to get all of the non-core
business function items figured out early.
The core part of the business was the easy part. It was the marketing, inventory, finances and
bookkeeping skills that needed development early to insure success.
Mike and
Sarah both agreed that their college experiences had no bearing on their
business. For them, it was not much
help. Sarah had a four year degree and
Mike had spent two years in college and both found none of what they learned in
school had any bearing on the success or failure of their business. It was what was learned by work experiences
that truly taught them what they needed to be successful. As time went on, similar businesses started
to appear and make things more competitive.
They also had to compete with the big chain companies like Perma-Seal. They felt they could succeed with their
quality and customer service. Because
they were both motivated, self-starters, energetic and knowledgeable they felt
these personal characteristics were their keys to success. They indicated that the final item to be
successful was to make and keep good business contacts that also had good
business skills.
So as the
evening BBQ concluded, the group moved back into the house and cleaned up after
dinner. Various job stories were shared,
each with a unique experience. It was
obvious that they had found their calling.
It was also clear lessons had been learned along the way and fine tuning
of day to day functions were made. As
the conversation regarding their business faded, future thoughts were shared of
where they could take the business in relation to additional services for
basements and crawl spaces. It was
obvious that a seed had been planted, nurtured and fed. This business was going to succeed and they
would work their hardest to make it so.
The evening eventually came to a close after lots of great conversation. As we left, I was glad to have shared the
visit with my children so they too could benefit from the knowledge shared by
their aunt and uncle. Having such good
role models will aid in preparing them for their lives in the business world.
