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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

United Chambers Honors Innovation, Impact on Area

If there’s a thread among the winners of the United Chambers of Commerce 2008 Small Business Awards, it’s that they have managed to be innovative while making a positive impact on the community. This year’s 16 awardees, honored by the San Fernando Valley region of the UCC on June 6 at the Beverly Garland Holiday Inn, include organizations that collect electronic waste; provide horseback riding and therapy for the disabled; offer alternative financial advice to middle-class families; and develop wind energy. For honoree John Nakama, who started his own franchise of Vancouver-based 1-800-GOT-JUNK in March 2005, the venture into the “junk” removal trade began after he’d already entered retirement. “I researched all kinds of business opportunities,from Laundromats to gas stations,” he said. “I used to be an accountant. Finally after a year of searching, I came down with a couple of parameters.” The parameters,that the company not carry inventory, have low upfront capital and ease of operations,were met when the opportunity to found a junk removal franchise came across his desk, Nakama recalled. Formerly a figure in Tokyo’s jewelry industry, Nakama likes to joke, “I went from diamonds to junk.” Thus far junk has proved profitable for Nakama, who opened the 95th 1-800-GOT-JUNK franchise in Woodland Hills. Today, there are more than 300. In 2005, Nakama’s franchise had just under $200,000 in revenues. By 2006, revenues had nearly doubled at $390,000, and in 2007, they reached just over $600,000. As revenues have grown so has the number of employees: going from Nakama and his father in 2005 to a dozen today. The franchise, nominated by the Woodland Hills/Tarzana Chamber for the small business award, serves both residential and commercial customers and also contracts with the government. “The typical commercial customer would be someone who’s moving offices and has a bunch of furniture and e-waste monitors and printers they don’t want to move to new offices,” Nakama said. For residential customers, the company aims to recycle about 60 percent of the items collected. All metal and paper goods are recycled, and items that can be donated are distributed at charities. About four times a year, the franchise provides free e-waste pickups for the community. With an ever increasing pool of computers, cell phones and the like, “e-waste is becoming such an issue that’s pretty important,” Nakama said. As for marketing, the company advertises on bus benches as well as in the print and radio markets. It is also featured on Angie’s List, a website for homeowners looking for contractors. But the franchise also manages to land much business due to word-of-mouth. According to Nakama, 26 percent of the business the company does is repeat business. “That’s quite high,” Nakama said. “Do people need our services over and over again? Apparently, they do. Granted, much of it is commercial storeroom. They don’t want stuff piling up in the aisles. The nature of business, and households, too, is that we generate junk all the time.” Horses as Therapists It’s been 14 years since honoree Bryan McQueeney co-founded Ride On Therapeutic Horsemanship with Gloria Hamblin. Now, the organization has given an estimated 43,000 lessons to juvenile and adult riders with disabilities that include autism, cerebral palsy, mental retardation, traumatic brain injury and developmental delays. “We deliberately try to serve the broadest range of individuals as possible,” said McQueeney, Ride On’s executive director. “We work with children as young as two years of age in our therapy program and with riders over 80.” At Ride On, individuals with disabilities learn how to trot, stop and steer, not to mention reap the benefits of forming a physical connection with a horse. For children with autism, for example, horseback riding is said to have improved the symptoms of the disorder. There’s also the factor of psychological empowerment, McQueeney pointed out. On a horse, individuals with disabilities literally experience life at a new height, whereas in a wheelchair, their viewpoint is limited. Moreover, riders who are immobile are able to experience movement on a horse. Getting clients has never been a problem for Ride On, according to McQueeney. Also, the organization never turns away those who can’t afford program services. “The problem is building the support system with the staff, getting the facility, getting the volunteers and finally getting the funding,” he said. On the facility front there is good news for Ride On, though. “We just closed escrow on a permanent site,” McQueeney said. “We bought a three-acre ranch in Chatsworth.” When discussing why the Chatsworth/ Porter Ranch Chamber nominated Ride On for the 2008 Small Business Award, McQueeney made reference to the community. “We can’t do what we do without the support of our community,” he said. “We are really kind of the product, the spirit of volunteerism in the San Fernando Valley. The other part,I think we run an extremely clean and transparent business, very focused on our bottom line.” Saving and Investing Nick Krall, who along with his wife, Anne, was nominated by the Universal City/North Hollywood Chamber for their work with Primerica Financial Services, has long tried to provide an alternative to the financial counseling middle-class families typically receive. “Regular people should be saving and investing, and it’s a real challenge to try,” Krall said. “I’m helping a lot of people get back into positive learning. Five years ago, the Kralls opened the Eagle Rock office of Primerica, a part of Citigroup’s sales force, after helping to establish the company’s Burbank office. Krall said that there are approximately 5,000 such offices nationwide. “Primerica provides financial planning to middle-class families to help them get out of debt,” he explained of the business’ mission. The Kralls specialize in life insurance and securities and, as a securities principal, offer mutual fund investment options. Krall also instructs courses about how to properly educate youth about financial issues. “We’re seeing a lot of businesses not just lending financial services,” he said. “They have a choice of profit and stock value rather than servicing and we can make a very good living doing that, but we haven’t had to do that. We’re still lending. We’re still helping people get out of debt. We haven’t had to compromise or change our offices.” Riding the Wind Wind is the energy source of the future, or so hopes Tony Strickland, vice president of GreenWave Energy Solutions, nominated by the Agoura/Oak Park/Conjejo Valley Chamber for the small business award. “I think this is going to be one of the growth industries in business in the next 10, 15, 20 years,” Strickland said of wind. “Oil is a diminishing commodity, like coal.” Established a year-and-a-half ago with five business partners, GreenWave’s aim is to develop wind energy to jumpstart hundreds of jobs and relieve dependence on foreign oil. In the GreenWave model, energy from wind would be obtained from the surface of the ocean where the air blows with consistent force, Strickland explained. “We need a sound energy policy,” he said. Wind energy has been used “in England, Scotland, Australia, Spain. It’s something we need in California.” The company is still in need of two permits to begin harvesting wind energy here. Once that process is completed, they hope to begin operations by 2012. While the company has just taken off, Strickland believes it was awarded because of its unique vision. “I think people are looking for a company who’s innovative, who’s forward thinking,” he said. “Our company is happy to be part of the solution.”

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