Keeping A 3-Decade-Old Business Relevant
Kathy Conley-Jones, The Conley Financial Group
Kathy Conley-Jones’ mother always led by example. She showed Conley-Jones how to work on herself to become a person of character and how to be good at what she chose to do. So as Conley-Jones began her career as an educator in the St. Louis Public Schools, she did what she thought were ordinary things – going in early to help her students or staying late to give them the extra support they needed. But these things set her apart from others.
However, when Conley-Jones saw the paycheck of another teacher who worked much less and made more, she began to re-evaluate her path. “I thought the harder someone works, the more reward they should see,” she says. “No one should just show up and receive the pay because they’re breathing.”
With her drive to work hard and be rewarded accordingly, Conley-Jones found the insurance industry through the suggestion of a past co-worker. “I went to work for Lincoln National,” she says. “I was single, divorced with one son, and I needed a flexible schedule.”
Conley-Jones carried her mantra of hard work with her, making Rookie of the Year regularly. Over time, with the advice of a mentor, Conley-Jones broadened her industry knowledge. “I met S. Lee Kling at a fundraiser,” she says. “He challenged me to think beyond the benefit side of the insurance business. He taught me how to broaden my scope. He showed me how to remain relevant by staying updated.”
After following Kling’s advice, Conley-Jones founded The Conley Financial Group, which is in its 30th year in business today. While providing insurance protections ranging from personal and business lines to employee benefits and community coverage, Conley-Jones stays focused on developing solutions to insurance-based challenges for clients. She does so by remaining relevant, and she suggests that others do the same. “When things change, keep up,” she says. “Collaborate. Someone may be better at something than I am and vice versa. Share your strengths by working together, and everyone will grow stronger. Lastly, I think of advice from a book S. Lee wrote called “The Harder I Work, the Luckier I Get.” It teaches you that what may appear to be luck on the outside is actually preparation. The harder I have prepared in life, the luckier I get.”
Generations of Customer Service
Rob Patel, The Conley Financial Group
In 1925 Rob Patel’s great-uncle set a foundation for business in his family when he moved to Zambia and was given the opportunity to start a business. “Zambia was then a British colony,” says Patel. “He had a small retail store selling to a small local, indigenous black community. Since then my family members have been involved with business all their lives.”
In 1945 Patel’s father followed his uncle to Zambia, where Patel was raised. After attending university in India and receiving a bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 1971, Patel followed in the footsteps of family members before him, first starting garment manufacturing company and then a chemical and pharmaceutical import/export business.
So it was no surprise that when Patel decided to move to the United States in 1989, he instinctively began to look for business ownership opportunities. “When I came here I immediately bought into a liquor business, but I wanted to find an established, stable nonretail business,” he says. “That’s when I found out about Presto Color Printing. It owned by three brothers. None of them had children to pass it on to.”
Patel bought the business from the brothers in 1989 and kept one of them on board with him for the first two years. “When I bought the business, I knew nothing about the printing business,” he says.
Today Presto, which was founded in 1951, is a commercial offset and digital printing company. The company also offers a wide variety of other services including graphic design, mailing and wide format printing. “We deal with a wide variety of clientele from corporations, nonprofits and universities,” says Patel.
Patel credits his ability to earn his clientele to the customer service mind-set ingrained in him by his family. “We as a family are all customer-service-oriented,” he says. “It means treating people the way we would expect to be treated. I have two brothers in St. Louis who both own businesses too.”
Another of Patel’s keys to serving customers and finding success in business has been honesty. “Be honest to everyone, whether it’s a customer or business partner,” he says. “Be straightforward and be committed to what you’re discussing.”
Strengthened In Business By Those Around Her
Dawn Berry, Provident Insurance Agency
Although Dawn Berry has been licensed to sell insurance since 2002, when her husband left for a tour of duty in Iraq, it became too difficult for her to sell life insurance on a daily basis. So Berry went back to school, finished her degree and became a commodity trader for a local utility company. “My role was buying and selling gas for the company,” she says. “I managed a system for an end user. They had no idea who I was.”
Berry began to realize how much she missed interacting with her customers, particularly seeing how she could impact their lives, like providing the right homeowners insurance to first-time homebuyers. “I enjoyed taking part in that,” she says.
Then, when the utility company Berry was working for had to downsize, she took it as an opportunity to make a change in her career. “I stepped out on faith and decided to start my agency in 2009,” she says.
Today Berry not only is back in touch with customers, providing personal and commercial lines of insurance through her company, Provident Insurance Agency LLC, but also has fulfilled a goal to create a team and environment that feel like family and positively impact the community.
Berry’s inspiration to strive for more in her career and for others comes from the people who are closest to her – her parents, husband and four children. “My dad always said that I could do anything I wanted if I put my mind to it,” she says. “My mom was more religious but sent a similar message. She had me and my sister read the Scripture, particularly Philippians 4:13 – ‘I can do all things through him who strengthens me.’ Both of my parents taught me to be fearless in business and to take risks. I didn’t have to be afraid because failure was something to learn from.”
Berry is further strengthened by her husband, who suffered a life-changing injury seven years ago. “He lost his right arm while on the job,” she says. “But what he told me about it was, ‘I hate to lose more than I love to win, so I know this won’t beat me.’” It’s hard to share a life with someone so strong and not draw inspiration from them.”
Finding Fulfillment in Entrepreneurship
Saeed Akbani, Data Dynamics Inc.
Since watching his father and brothers throughout their careers, Saeed Akbani has had the dream of owning a business. “My dad was recognized for his business acumen by his employers, but he had for the most part of his life worked for others,” says Akbani. “My brothers had started and owned their own businesses, so the desire for my own business was in my blood.”
In 1989, Akbani joined the IT industry when he was hired by Electronic Data System in Detroit. “Throughout my career, I have consulted for various Fortune 1000 clients, including General Motors, Baxter Diagnostics, Xerox, Nestlé Purina, etc.,” he says.
While he was successfully developing his own business skills and learning the corporate sector, Akbani felt that his growth remained stunted and that there was so much more to learn if he could build his own business. “I left my last employer in late 2009 and spent the next year doing due diligence and laying the foundation for my business,” says Akbani. “I went live in 2011 and started generating revenues in the spring of 2011.”
Today Akbani is the senior vice president and COO of Data Dynamics Inc., which provides an integrated, industry-leading storage management software platform. Although Akbani had spent years developing his business acumen before founding Data Dynamics, he continues to learn from the expertise of others as a member of organizations like MVF and the Association for Corporate Growth. “I have learned a lot from speakers at these networking events who have provided me with great insights into how they overcame their challenges and built very successful businesses,” he says.
Some of the important business lessons Akbani has learned are:
•Know your strengths and weaknesses and look to hire people with complementary skill sets.
•Be careful in hiring people. Hire people not just for what they know but for who they are.
•Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, and learn to persevere.
•Maintain customer focus.
•Manage cash flow closely.
Last, Akbani makes sure to treat everyone in his ecosystem – from partners to suppliers to employees – fairly. “If they are happy, your customers will be happy also,” he says.
Build Your Network Before Your Business
Joe Wiley, Wiley Management Consultants
After getting an athletic scholarship to play basketball at Saint Louis University and having a successful career as a college athlete, Joe Wiley went on to earn his master’s degree and begin a long, successful professional career in human resources. Wiley began in Pfizer’s human resources department, then moved to General Dynamics and finally to Monsanto, where he stayed for 22 years.
Along the way, while still working at Monsanto, Wiley became a TV sports analyst, working with local sports directors and even earning a contract with Fox Sports. “It was a second career for me while I was still with Monsanto,” he says.
While Wiley had found success in two professional avenues, he eventually felt it was time to transition in his career. When contemplating which direction to take, he sought out advice. The consensus of his friends and colleagues was that the strong network Wiley had built made him a perfect fit for a new career as a consultant. “I went to work for a smaller consulting firm doing career transitions, executive searches and HR consulting,” he says. “A friend of mine from Monsanto, Howard Curtis, said, ‘Wiley, why would you join that firm when you could be doing it on your own?’”
After listening to the advice of Curtis and other friends, Wiley realized he had the network to start his own firm, Wiley Management Consultants, which he did in 2003. “Because of my network and the connections I had that believed in me, I had business immediately from Maritz, Nestle Purina and others,” says Wiley.
Just six months into founding his firm, Wiley received another important vote of confidence when Curtis, his mentor, called him saying he wanted to work at Wiley Management. “He not only has great HR knowledge but business acumen,” Wiley says. “He was really helpful in getting the firm up and running and is a major component to our continued success.”
Wiley suggests that others who are just starting out make sure they have built a strong network first. “Use all your contacts to generate business,” he says. “Most of all, maintain a good reputation by treating clients fairly, providing quality service that’s cost-effective and being up front.”
Submitted 9 years 270 days ago