Scraping Together The American Dream
by Jeremy Nulik
Any entrepreneurs who want to bemoan their limited access to startup financing in this recession need to sit down for a little heart-to-heart with Kelli Camp, owner of CDKWeb, a St. Charles-based website design and application development firm.
Eight years ago, the then-27-year-old Camp suffered a massive heart attack due to a rare birth defect—an artery was missing off her heart. After surgery and 15 months of bed rest, Camp, a former Gateway Country computer trainer, and her two partners decided to start up a new business with all the seed capital they had: $400. They scrapped together desks out of plywood (Corey Schaaf, one of the original partners, claims to have splinters in his arms to this day) in Camp’s basement and began building websites for friends and family.
Today, CDKWeb has 10 employees and annual revenue of $1 million. It recently graduated out of the Economic Development Center of St. Charles County’s business incubator and is in its own 2,000-square-foot office space. How did the business go from $400 to $1 million? The old-fashioned way.
“Blood, sweat and tears,” says Camp, who used her time on bed rest to take online business classes. “We worked full-time jobs during the day and then would go into the office in the evening. We would be up until sometimes 1 or 2 in the morning. For three years we did not draw a salary from the company.”
Even though it was a stressful time, Camp does not regret a single step along her path to success.
“We all came from working-class families,” she says. “It was rewarding to see that when you work that hard, it pays off. … It was the American dream. We have poured everything into the business, and it is working. We are in the toughest economic times we’ve known, and we had one of our best quarters. So we are doing something right. That helps me sleep at night.”
As the company has grown, Camp has recognized the need to find and hire expert-level employees who are as dedicated to the success of the company as the founders. There is no room for a jack-of-all-trades at CDKWeb.
“Everybody at CDK is an expert in their field,” says Camp. “If you only have little knowledge, then I can’t lean on you. We are surrounded by our experts: our employees.”
Camp’s search for experts does not end with her hiring employees. Expert mentors have also been so necessary for her success that Camp feels it is crucial for any entrepreneur to make use of them as part of a business growth plan.
“You don’t know everything yourself,” says Camp. “You have to listen to people more knowledgeable than yourself. You know your product, but you don’t know how to market. Find someone who knows.
We find experts—employees—and grow using other experts—mentors.”
Running her business with this much dedication and humility has had benefits beyond just financial gain. Camp also has a deep feeling of satisfaction. “When I get up, I don’t dread going to work,” she says. “That makes a happy life. A lot of people will never find that. Being able to foster an atmosphere where I can bring that to other people is my greatest reward.”