(Since Jim Morris has been recently (March) selected as the CEO for Habitat for Humanity of Greater Indianapolis, Indy Smallbiz thought it would be a good idea for its readers to become familiar with him and his aspirations for the local Habitat for Humanity. Jim Morris will tell his own story of the formative experiences that have led him to his current job as CEO and contributed to his preparation for his current role. In a subsequent article the specific activities of Habitat for Humanity will be discussed and how persons can become involved.)

My roots are in Indiana. I grew up in Michigan City, Indiana in a working class city neighborhood, and we lived in a two-bedroom, 1100sq ft. home built by my grandfather. In high school I played sports, both baseball and football. I also wrote for the school newspaper, eventually becoming the editor my senior year, and was in the honor society, so I was involved in two worlds that usually don’t overlap, sports and writing and scholarship.

With this overlap of interests, it was natural that I might go in the direction of sports journalism. Maybe I would be another Bob Costas. So I attended Ball State University, majoring in Journalism, thinking that I was going to be a sports journalist or working in some field related to media relations or sports writing. I also participated in a social fraternity, Delta Tau Delta and became the president of the Order of Omega Greek Honor and continued my love for sports by playing intramural leagues in basketball, softball and football.

With the internship that I served while at Ball State came some perks (about those later in the paragraph). The internship was given to those who were excelling in the sports information, media relations department at the school. For one semester I worked as an intern for the Indiana Pacers in the media relations department under then Media Relations Director and eventual marketing chief, Dale Ratermann. My main role was to be the liaison for the visiting locker room during the games, interviewing the players and helping to find the players for the media when needed. This was during the Golden Age of the NBA, so I was helping to facilitate interviews for Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, and Magic Johnson. Balancing out my duties on the more pedestrian side, I would also help with the statistics and writing for the program.

I graduated with a journalism degree, but began to pursue the public relations end and did not find much in the way of work in that area in 1990, so I began in sales for Davis Homes, which set off a career in residential building and development. I also worked as a manufacturer’s rep for Velux Skylights. My territory was the state of Indiana. The early training in the residential industry and sales and marketing helped teach me a lot about business and sales in particular. I learned that I was pretty good at sales, but loved teaching first-time home buyers how to buy their first home. I was selling our homes, but I found that the teaching aspect and guiding people through the process was the most fulfilling. I also gravitated toward marketing more than sales as I continued in the residential building industry (note applicability of construction experience for my current position).

Off to Florida

From Indiana I left for Florida. It happened this way. My wife graduated from Ball State in architecture and she landed an opportunity to work on designing the new Universal Studios City Walk expansion. It was a great opportunity. I felt confident that I could find work as my experience was transferrable. We thought the time there would be short, but we ended up living there for 12 years.

When asked in team-building events the question: what is something that few people know about you, I usually respond that I have actually acted in several plays, produced and acted in the Orlando Fringe Festival and have acted in commercials. I love the producing role.

So as my wife and I were acclimating to the Florida culture, we acted in some community theatre for just the joy of doing it. It was an avocational exercise for us. I met some people that shared similar values in our faith and we wanted to form a production company that told stories from that shared place. We started Trilemma on the side and turned it into a company. We provided revenue for the company through outsourcing our talent at tradeshows and through event production. We also produced theatre in the area. I eventually quit my job as the VP of Marketing for a custom home builder and decided to run the production company full time, which produced live theatrical productions and events and produced convention acts and touring shows.

While running Trilemma, I was asked to join the board of the Central Florida Theatre Alliance. This was the transition point that moved me toward management in the nonprofit sector. The founding Executive Director said that he needed a full time person to help with operations. I joined the team in this area and also continued to run Trilemma. The founding executive director of the Alliance took another position and the board asked if I would step in as the Executive Director. I had learned a lot about running an organization through Trilemma and that helped me in my new role as the Alliance director. We eventually expanded the organization to include all the arts and eventually served seven counties in the Orlando area.

I love working with and around artists. I don’t consider myself an artist at all even though I am a published writer, having written several articles for various publications. I just enjoyed providing the artist the freedom to exhibit their abilities to the highest level. Most of the artists were not as skilled in marketing or the business side, so we did a lot of training at this level. We also realized that if nobody was participating in the art, the artist would never really see the appreciation they may have deserved. I used my interest and experience in marketing to help create the largest branding and awareness campaign for the region concentrating on increasing participation in the arts. I helped build the collaboration amongst the arts organizations and then we led the effort to raise money for the campaign and we also managed the effort. We also worked with the city of Orlando to build the economic development of the downtown using the arts as a catalyst.

Home to Indiana

After 12 years in Florida, my wife and I moved back to Indiana because we wanted our kids to be raised around family. My wife’s two sisters and their kids live in Indianapolis as does her mom and dad. She grew up in Noblesville. My family still lives in northern Indiana in Laporte.

My first role upon returning to Indiana was with the Central Indiana Community Foundation. It was an invaluable experience as I was able to quickly learn about the various nonprofit organizations and the people running them. I also met many others with a penchant for improving the quality of life in Indiana. That experience also launched me into a role consulting with many local nonprofits. I think my underlying passion for teaching surfaced as I enjoyed helping organizations increase their capacity, particularly around strategic planning.
I learned though that consulting is fairly isolated and I enjoy working with teams. I also like being directly involved in making a difference, so when the Habitat role surfaced, it seemed like the perfect role where I could blend my work experience within the construction area and my education and passion for improving the community.

My career path is not a straight line and I am really grateful for that journey when I reflect back on my various roles. I think that sales training is invaluable to helping you learn how to appreciate what others need when working with them in solving their challenges. My marketing experience provided me the opportunity to exercise my writing and creative side. Marketing is essentially telling your story to your targeted audience, using various tools. A full understanding of marketing is also invaluable as I hope to tell our local story of our impact in Indianapolis in a new way, while also showing how we are connected to an International story that serves in over 100 countries.

Working in the arts also taught me a lot about serving a sector that isn’t looked upon as serving basic needs, so you needed to understand what role the arts play in building the quality of life for people. I believe in having sound metrics to measure outcomes, but the arts also teach us that being human and what provides for quality of life isn’t always measurable in exact objective metrics.

I also learned that I enjoy working collaboratively and working across various nonprofit sectors to help drive the change needed. I work from a theory of abundance in an “industry” that is always facing a scarcity of resources. I believe we have enough resources, so the challenge is access. I think that working together, no matter the sector, to achieve desired outcomes is the most efficient and effective way to achieving results. I have had the ability to work in the arts, economic development, cultural tourism and community development through my experiences.

My vision for Habitat for Humanity is continually stretching our ability to serve those in need of affordable homes and I see us expanding our ability to serve in helping to transform neighborhoods. Our focus is on the individual and family and helping them break either a cycle of poverty and leveraging resources that help provide freedom to a better quality of life. Homeownership is the means for how we serve our mission. We are going to move toward also rehabbing homes and providing repairs to existing homes. The long-term success of those we serve will greatly depend on how strong their neighborhoods are, so we will play a more vital role in helping to transform those neighborhoods on a comprehensive level.

People can connect with Habitat for Humanity by volunteering to be on build sites, work in our ReStore or mentor an individual or family participating in our program for homeownership. People can provide resources by giving donations to our ReStore and by giving financially to Habitat. People can also connect us to their company to learn how their company can get involved in building hope through homeownership. They can also help connect us to families that are in need. People might not know of any one directly, but they may work where there are service workers that could learn about our services in the community. You can reach me at (317) 921-2121 or email me at jmorris@indyhabitat.org.

Jim Morris
CEO
Habitat for Humanity of Greater Indianapolis

http://www.indyhabitat.org/

Indianapolis Small Business – Tell Your Own Story

Got2Know is a national video production & social media company based in Carmel (Indiana, not California). Our mission says it all –”Helping you succeed in life, via video” — we see it as our job to connect the 217 MILLION people that are online everyday to the 8 million+ businesses that have great products and services that these people want to know about. And we do so through VIDEO.

Our local clients range from the Indiana State Police (for example, http://www.igot2know.com/action/viewvideo/416/Underwater_Search__amp__Rescue/) to Meyer Najem to Commonwealth Engineering to The Children’s Museum. Nationally, we have provided services to well known authors, motivational speakers, global companies, non-profits, etc. We have been fortunate to “shoot” and “edit” videos from Bill Clinton to Margaret Spellings to Tony Dungy to Drew Barrymore. We have produced over 1,800 videos in the past year and half.

Getting to where we are now has been a complicated journey. It is almost impossible for us to believe that the journey began 3 ½ years ago. At times it seems like 1 year but to be honest, most of time, it seems like 5 years! Shortly after choosing a name and while on my way to a conference, I heard a stranger say “So, what is it that I “got2know?” as he sat beside me on a short flight to NYC from D.C. The fact that he thought the name was catchy was a good sign, right?
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That poor stranger. For the next 20 minutes, I passionately explained Got2Know, our services and our value to companies and professionals and non-profits of all sizes – as if we were already a large, successful company instead of a start-up based in Noblesville, Indiana. We didn’t even have a website and had not made our first sale. Oh, those were the days (ones that I would not ever want to relive).

We were confident that Got2Know would become one of the first marketing companies that could offer high quality, 100% professionally produced short informational videos in the U.S. We believed we could differentiate ourselves because we would have both a full video portal for the general public to view all the information they wanted (i.e. how to find the right college, how to buy a car, how to choose the right doctor, lawyer, etc.), combined with an online community so we could deliver the “knowledge” they were wanting but ALL IN VIDEO – not just writing.

Looking back over these past years, I think our team would say without any doubt, we have learned many valuable lessons. Personally, I learned more in 3 years than in my 15+ years of working in Management roles at Large Corporations. While my husband, Craig, and I had been fortunate to be sole proprietors in the past, we knew that Got2Know was going to be different, very, very different from the start.

Craig and I have always had the philosophy that failure is not an option. If Got2Know didn’t attain a milestone, then, we just learned another lesson. Some of the lessons were learned after the fact, some before we knew we needed to learn them (thanks to great mentors) and some just in time. The very first lesson we learned and now would pass on to anyone who is thinking of starting any type of business is try never to underestimate the capital you will need. When you think you are asking for enough money, when you think to yourself, it would be a dream come true to secure XYZ amount then, dream bigger! When we started, we planned and planned. We estimated and readily secured $30,000.00 in trade for equity in our company. While this amount did “start” the company, within months, it was evident that it would not sustain us for any period of time.

Our strategy called for sales in 2007 to sustain our growth. We now know, we did not plan enough. While it would be hard for anyone to plan for the direction the economy was about to go, if we had more capital, life would have been easier. We were able to secure a Small Business Loan to get us through. The Second Lesson we learned: Build the right team – get the right partners on board early on. Having people who each bring something different to the table. At least we got this lesson right. It is one of the best moves we were fortunate enough to make.

The third lesson: Never give up. There were several times when it just seemed that the economy was going to take us down and just then, we would make another sale. By early 2008, Got2Know was rapidly growing. We had become an internet marketing and video production company but as we struggled to better understand the national market, the world of video and social media had shifted into high gear. Everybody seemed to be wanting to take advantage of leveraging technology. 2008 was particularly challenging because “online marketing and social media experts” were popping up everywhere while our nation’s economy was facing tough times. Credit tightened just as we were needing more capital to grow. We were convinced we were in the right space at the right time because:

• The number of individuals going online to “find information” and “make purchases of goods and services” had grown from 177 million people in 2006 to 200 million by end of 2008. Today, more than 217 million are online every day.
• The number of videos being watched online had exploded – from 15 billion a month by early 2007 to an estimated 25 billion per month through 2008. In May 2010, over 33B videos were watched online.
• Advertising dollars were following the masses and going online.

Armed with this information and our desire to catapult our little Got2Know to the next level, we would require more capital (sound familiar?). While we raised some money and kept our company going – thanks to local angel investors, we knew that we would need more to get to the next level We had to find a partner with a very high level of expertise in Technology & Social Media, therefore, bringing in house the ability to manage our website and the programming behind G2K, and help us to achieve our goals. So, we started to search – from New York to San Francisco and back to Boston.

Now comes the most important lesson of all: Network constantly. You will never know who can be helping you even right in your own backyard! Networking (not the 25+ business start up and/or angel investing books we were reading) led us to our next partners and they were right here in Hamilton County.

From Start Up to Success

It all happened kind of like a real life Linked In when we received a call in November 2008 to meet with several individuals who had a tremendous amount of experience in IT – specifically, website design, development, SEO, SEM, data solutions, and more. They had been successful for more than 17 years. Today, I can say, beyond any lessons – luck also had some part in the deal.

Megachip Technology, a less known high tech firm in Carmel, IN was just what we needed. Sanjay Shukla and his team was our game changer. Within hours, the Megachip Team quickly understood G2K’s vision, our technology needs, our financial and capital requirements and at the end of 1 meeting, we had an investment offer from the Megachip Team. So, you think, this only happens in movies? Well, we are here to say, this was reality. By partnering with Megachip, we knew we were well-equipped with a powerful team and the right technology. All our hard work had paid off. With a new website, revised go to market strategy, and the expertise of the bigger team, we began growing more rapidly and nationally.

We implemented new robust IT and marketing solutions and now offer customers exceptional value not only in video production, but complete video distribution and analytics. While raising capital is always helpful, doing so from the right team who brings more value to your company to guide it and grow it beyond what money alone can do was hitting a jackpot.

Today, G2K is one of the largest national video production companies in the U.S and we continue to grow explosively quarter over quarter.

A Look Back

Whether it was turning down the chance of pursuing Venture Capital money, since many experts said we would not likely succeed in Indiana; or deciding to sell more equity or to partner or not to partner with Megachip, decisions are not always easy to make – but we needed to make them. Risk taking is always part of the entrepreneur’s life. Megachip Technology made our decision easy.

We were fortunate that our decision was truly a “game changer” for Got2Know. Today, Got2Know is NOT just one of probably a hundred companies that can produce professional videos. We are happy that we chose to stay in Indiana. We had a goal to become a successful Indiana based company who would compete on a national level. Now, as one of the premier video production companies in the U.S. with a full video portal, we are very excited about our future.

So, if you are thinking about starting a company in our community but are concerned because your competition is based on the East or West Coast and is even likely to be ventured backed, we would say Go For It! We are going head to head with similar companies and we are able to win.

Crucial to our competitive success are:

1) We not only offer professional video production services but we help our clients “deploy” their videos to many other mediums so as to leverage their “video” assets – doing so helps to get more traffic to their site. We help our clients with additional services from digital magazines to email campaigns, blogging, social media widgets and more.

2) We have services that meet almost any budget. While many national and local video production companies are charging the “going” rate for the full production and delivery of 1(typically 1 – 3 min in length) video at $1,200 or more, we are able to produce the same or better quality for 30 – 50% lower!

3) We have www.igot2know.com – a portal on which we can serve up our
professionally shot videos for all of our clients – FREE (think of us as the
positive, informational, YouTube!)

We now know that yet another valuable lesson to learn is that not only can you build a successful company here in Indiana but it is very likely it can be done for a lot less money than on one of the coasts. We hope the lessons we learned help you and your team. We know that through networking and hard work, you can make your dream come true. And remember, if you “Got2Know”, you got to go to www.igot2know.com.

Craig and Lisa Feeley are Noblesville residents of almost 11 years. Got2Know was founded in Noblesville and recently re-located their offices in with Megachip Technology in Carmel. For more information about G2K and Megachip, visit www.g2k.igot2know.com and www.megachiptech.com.

Contact Lisa Feeley Managing Partner of Got2Know, at: lisa@igot2know.com

Indianapolis Small Business Owner Gives Away Free Dog Washes – Cleans Up

I had been selling dog food for 12 years before I realized that dirty dogs eat. What a silly idea – of course they do.

Let me explain. After opening my first pet food & supply store in 1992, I was now planning to open our fifth store. We were looking for a unique feature to set this store apart. This was to be a 6400 square foot store – 80 feet wide by 80 feet deep. I had recently heard about a store in Birmingham Alabama that was having success with a Do-It-Yourself Dog Wash. After making a few phone calls I spoke with the owner of the store in Birmingham. He sent me photos and a drawing of his dog wash.

After reviewing the information sent from Birmingham, we laid out a 12’ x 12’ space to be the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Dog Wash for our soon to open Greenwood, IN store. Four years later we had installed a DIY Dog Wash in our new Noblesville and Avon stores. We also remodeled our Broad Ripple store to include a Dog Wash in that store as well. We knew that dirty dogs all over town do indeed eat.

Once all four of our Indy area stores had the DIY Dog Wash we were able to promote it in a big way. We went out on a limb and printed up 10,000 coupons for a free wash. I was inspired by the story of Wall Drug in Wall, South Dakota. In their case, they offered to give a glass of ice water to drivers on their way to the Badlands. They started with simple signs along the road to draw traffic into their store. That simple gesture was the backbone of an incredible retail success story that has gone on for over 60 years. Instead of ice water, we would give away a $10 dog wash. We had expenses with each wash – our staff time and utility costs. But similar to Wall Drugs, our free offer drew prospective customers into our store.

At first we mainly gave out the coupons at off-site events to entice people to check out this new service. Then we stepped out to build a network in the animal welfare community. We wanted to offer a FREE dog wash to anyone who opened their home to an animal in need. There were many people fostering pets and we felt they deserved a FREE dog wash for their efforts. We now use a variety of network events to invite pet lovers to our stores, using the dog wash as the main draw. It is our most distinctive offering and because our costs are in line we can use the dog wash to encourage prospects to check us out.

Are we giving a lot away? Yes, but by using the DIY Dog Wash as a draw we have substantially grown our overall store volume. Remember, dirty dogs eat. On the way to the dog wash customers walk by our best selling assortment of food, treats and toys. In five years we’ve gone from zero to over 15,000 paid dog washes per year, roughly $150,000 in revenue. We have expanded our overall sales in those four stores by nearly $1,000,000 since installing the dog wash. In January we raised the dog wash price from $10 to $11 and our numbers continue to go up. We just received our 3rd printing of 10,000 FREE dog wash coupons and can’t wait to get them into the hands of pet lovers in our area.

I challenge other business owners to find something of value to give away. By giving prospects a taste of how you do business you greatly increase your chances of picking up profitable new customers.

Nick Milano
www.pspindy.com

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Why did you become a small business owner?
I was an outside sales representative for an Indianapolis chemical company and joined Rainmakers to start networking. I realized I did not care for the outside sales job, but loved Rainmakers and all the entrepreneurs I met. They were so full of energy and ideas, and I knew they would support me in my venture to own my own business.

What did you do before?
Before the outside sales position, I had spent the last twelve years as a social worker and advocate in the world of public health.

What prepared you for owning and running a small business earlier in life?
I grew up having to be pretty intuitive, and I realized pretty fast that if I were to succeed, it would be all up to me.

What do you like about owning your own business?
The freedom and flexibility – making my own decisions and setting my own destiny.

What is difficult about owning your own business?
Two things – the lack of a steady paycheck and not having week-ends like I used to.

How did you get the specific idea for your business?
As a social worker, I worked with many pharmaceutical companies through their community liaison programs. I saw their need to have someone behind the scenes making everything come together, so they could concentrate on their programs. I did not know there was such a thing and began to do research – and figured out it was virtual assistance. I did not have the courage to venture out on my own, though, until my involvement with Rainmakers.

Why do you believe you will succeed?
I am a very competitive person with lots of compassion to help others succeed. I also have a tremendous support system – starting with my incredible husband and family and then some key business people who not only support me, but promote me often when they meet people.

What is the next step in your business?
I just relaunched my business. We are now a relationship management company helping businesses grow their business by leveraging and elevating their customer relationships. I am working on making this business a true business, which means playing more of an executive role and having my sub-contractors work on the projects.

What is your ultimate goal for your business?
When it all boils down, my business is a means to an end for me in the sense of helping me concentrate on what really matters in my life, which is my family. My goal is to have a successful business that one day I can walk away set for life and know that I helped make a difference in the world – be it helping other businesses succeed, so they can achieve their goals or starting a charitable foundation to help children become who they are destined to be.

Serina Kelly
Relevate
www.getrelevate.com
317-203-7740