Jan Harper, Employment Research Services	Lee Ann Packard, Marfield Corp. Stationery
Marsha Davidson, Telecopy, Inc.	Jackie Schwitter, Texas Treats, Inc.

Deanne Becker

Owner, Peak Promotions

Peak Promotions was in great need, as a result of its growth and the geographical diversity of its work force, for upgrades in its technology infrastructure and communication systems.

Small businesses often just do what is absolutely necessary to make the sales numbers and serve their customers. As a result, we were behind in the back office systems so necessary to accommodate the next stage of growth, and also to make the existing employees more efficient in their sales efforts. We currently have 8 sales people, 2 accounting people, and two customer support people, all of whom work out of virtual offices.

With the receipt of the award, we set out on a project to upgrade much needed systems. This included full back-ups of all data, access to all data by the sales people, including orders, status of orders, and cost of goods sold, etc. Now sales people can access all data necessary to calculate prices, place orders, follow up on orders, and see when orders are shipped to customers. And all this is done remotely.

On the accounting side, we have moved the accounting system and data base to a dedicated server, accessed remotely by those authorized to do so, so our accounting is now real time, including all the functions necessary for accounts payable, accounts receivable, invoicing and reporting. This has allowed real time status of the business, allowing more informed decisions and management.

We are now in the final stage of the use of this grant for the upgrading of our website for customer interaction, and presentation of the services and products we offer. This should be completed within the next few months.

Thanks to the Council for this award. Our employees and our customers are appreciative of the progress made and the extra ease with which they can conduct business. Our internal mission statement calls for us to be excellent in our response to customers. These new systems have made it possible to further accomplish this.

Sue Murray

President, EduCorp Training & Consulting, Inc.

EduCorp was in dire need of a facelift. Its logo and website were over a decade old. It was time to move into the 21st century! So, it was quite fortuitous that the Lillie Knox award could make a new look a reality. Small businesses seldom have big marketing budgets but we did not want a “homegrown” website again – we wanted something professional that would reflect the quality of the services we provide.

When we received the award, we started our planning. Along with the new website, maybe it was also time for a new logo. Through my network of business associates, a lady in Houston, Kim Friddle, who specializes in the marketing of education and training was recommended to me. We contacted her and she flew to Dallas to meet with us and talk about what we needed.

We discussed our budget and what we hoped to accomplish. We explained to Kimberly that there was a problem getting potential clients to understand that a company with a name like EduCorp did IT consulting, too. We had secured www.educorp.com for the new website. Kimberly agreed that our old logo needed some updating. She created a number of new looks that still had their roots in the original logo. We selected one and then started looking at mock ups of the new website. To solve the branding issue with our IT consulting side, we created a separate brand – ETC Solutions. It would have its own URL, but also be accessible from the main website and share the new logo. The look of both websites would be similar with a color scheme that tied the two together. We introduced the new sites and logo at the recent ITECH convention in Dallas. All were well received.

Thanks to the Council for this award. We are getting lots of positive comments on the new site and we are no longer embarrassed to send people to our site. The site traffic is up. More site visits equates to more business opportunities.

Ann Travis

When Ann Travis, Chairman/CEO of ACT TOO Food Service, Inc. applied for the Lillie Knox award, her plans were to use the award monies towards the purchase of a vehicle for a newly created operations manager position.

When business conditions changed, Ann was required to scale back on staff. The new operations manager position was no longer needed since there were fewer locations and staff to manage.

Then adversity hit her business. The vehicle used to transfer products, (from bulk purchases) and bakery goods, quit running. The vehicle needed approximately $3,000.00 in repairs. Faced with shrinking revenues, fewer overall staff, and a major unplanned expense, Ann used the award money to repair the delivery vehicle.

The repair of the vehicle allowed ACT TOO Food Service to:

• Keep food costs low, by making bulk purchases and distributing to each location
• Continue to offer competitive quality products to our clients
• Maintain one vehicle on opposite ends of the metroplex for on premise and off premise catering deliveries
• Maintain bakery inventories by making deliveries from a centralized location

Without the award, Ann’s expenses would have soared even more, at a time when revenues were at their lowest. Chances of survival would have been very slim. The Lillie Knox award allowed Ann to continue business operations while working extremely hard to increase revenues in their core market (mainly-off premise catering) and maintaining aggressive expense goals.

Karen Thompson

Upon winning the $5000 award, Karen Thompson began an immediate search for just the right person to assist with creating the best business plan to take Accent Transportation, Inc. to the next level. Marilyn Bushey owner of Power Performance Communication (also a WBE) was selected in the winter of 2005 and immediately conducted our first strategic planning session with staff participation from all departments. Marilyn brought together a very diverse group of transportation professionals and taught us to think strategically to grow in a new and challenging direction. Together we developed a strategy tree and an action plan. Key goals and objectives were written to be measured monthly. Individual staff members were chosen to be "champions" of the specific goals. As a direct result, Accent has completed most of the first and second quarter objectives. We are grateful to the WBCS and to the family of Lillie Knox for their commitment to investing in women business owners.