I AM Modern Magazine for Moms

becoming an entrepreneur

The Loudoun Chamber of Commerce’s first choice Award Winners for BestRetail Business of the Year, Flintstone Marble and Granite share a few secrets about their success. Entrepreneurs listen up

1. How did you get involved in the marble and granite business?

My husband, Mustafa Inetas has been involved in the granite business for over 6 years. He was also assisting new fabrication companies in how to set up their fabrication shops. At the time I was working as a Retail Vice President for SunTrust bank and had several granite companies as my clients. In order to meet their financial needs to the fullest extent I had to have a thorough understanding of the industry. One day I told Mustafa, “You’re helping these other companies out, why don’t you open your own shop!” Adil Konya, his partner, had also been working in the industry for numerous years and wanted to have the opportunity to run a business. He heard that Mustafa was looking for a partner and from their initial meetings Flintstone Marble & Granite LLC was born.

2. Has being from another country been a challenge or an advantage in Loudoun?

It has been an advantage in Loudoun County since our area has a wide array of cultural diversity. Clients take the language difficulties in stride and are actually curious about Turkey and its culture. Of course, many people have either visited Turkey or have been stationed in Turkey through the U.S. military. Clients that have familiarity with Turkey always comment on the beauty of the country and the good heartedness of the Turkish people.

It has been a challenge from a business perspective as well. I believe both partners would have opened the business prior to when they did if it had not been for their fear of the language barrier. It takes a lot of courage to open a business when you are not comfortable with the language. You worry that clients will become impatient or frustrated if the communication isn’t clear. Also, a good business model for Turkey may not be a good business model in the United States and vice versa.

In retrospect, this worry has helped us really define our business processes. It has helped us in how we organized the business structure. For example, making sure our sales and office staff are fluent in English. Cross training our employees in all facets of the granite business, no matter what nationality or position. It has also pushed both owners to face their fear and improve on their language skills. Both Mustafa and his partner Adil personally do the measurements. During the measurement phase, clients have a lot of questions, so they have to be able to interpret and answer those questions.

3. How has your business model evolved since inception?

Our business model has expanded and evolved as our organization grows. Initially our business model was to give great service and offer a great product at a fair price. Now it has evolved into the 3 C’s:

CARE:

• Care for our customers by giving top quality service: any interaction with a client whether in person or by phone you have your SMILE on; sending 10-day thank you notes after completion of a job; educating the client about the total process they will experience; fix fixes immediately.
• Care for our employees by having ongoing training and development; having all employees share in successes and failures, learning from both; all employees are aware of the companies missions statement and that they represent Flintstone.

COMMITMENT:

• Flintstone is committed to having quality products and workmanship at a fair market price; Mustafa and Adil hand pick marble and granite from a variety of distributors.
• Flintstone makes a commitment to keep informed on new breakthroughs pertaining to products, methodology, and technology in the industry.
• We commit our time and resources to educating our clients and the Loudoun County community.

COMMUNITY:

• It is important to give back to the community that gave to you!
• We always look to educate our clients, teach them something new about the stone industry, and mentor other businesses.
• Supporting various local and national causes, through volunteer efforts, stone donations, and contributions.

4. What inspires you?

I believe we all have different inspirations and those inspirations can grow and change as well.

For Mustafa, it is finding out if he can be a successful businessman. In Turkey, Mustafa had to turn away educational and business opportunities in order to help his Mom take care of his partially paralyzed Dad, who suffered a stroke.

Adil, is a “big picture” person; a global thinker. His inspiration comes from seeing his visions turn into reality. He is the one that pushes all of us to try new strategies, to keep us moving out of our comfort zone. My inspiration is taking my 35 years of business expertise and molding it into a business model I can call my own; a business model that meets success for the partners, is of benefit to our employees, and our community. My other inspiration is coming up with strategies that make us different from the other 645 + granite companies in Northern Virginia…beating them to the punch. For example, our 10-day thank you cards, our remnant sales, our simple pricing structure, our new innovations for next year, such as “rocks in a box”.

5. You won the Chamber’s award for Best Retail Business of the Year. Why did you win and how has it affected your business?

We talked about inspiration in the prior question. What more inspiration can you have then when your business peers in your community vote you’re the best! To me it’s a testimonial that we are on the right track with our business model.

I believe we won, because we really stick to our mission statement, each and every day. We are passionate about our business and don’t sit on our laurels when times are good. We don’t make promises we can’t keep and we own up immediately to our mistakes. We continuously strive to be a role model for our industry and show our community that in home improvement you can find businesses with integrity.

It has affected our business in several ways. Even though Loudoun County is a large county, it still preserves its hometown community spirit. For small businesses the Loudoun Chamber of Commerce is the core to the community. If you have recognition from the Chamber, it gives you a big boost in credibility to your clients and vendors. They look at you as a very viable business entity even if you are relatively new. It draws attention to your business and you get a lot of free press exposure. It also gives us a recognition factor we can apply to our ads and talk to our clients about. It provides validation to our clients we have done business with. We have had some of our former clients come in, congratulate us, and tell us how they’ve recommended us to others. We have also received offers to buy our name. This award has definitely boosted our business as well!

6. What is your best advice for someone who aspires to be a successful entrepreneur? Here is our recipe for success:

A. Be organized, have a good business plan that sets goals, has budgets, lists new strategies. You want your prior weaknesses to be your next time period’s strengths. Revisit your plan and analyze where you are to plan. Write down any extenuating circumstances that could throw you off of plan.

B. Always know the status of your finances no matter what your accountant, office manager, banker, financial consultant or your partner says. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and demand answers. You need to audit your business daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly. Check your accounting software to your actual bank balances. Check your invoices and your client files. How organized is your filing system? Can you find what you need quickly? Has all of your licensing been renewed? Make sure you set up budgets for payroll, advertising, capital expenses, inventory, office supplies, taxes, insurance, rent/mortgage, vehicles, travel, dining, and training. If you are over budget you need to know why and have a plan to be back in line. You need to manage your cash flow. If you are a seasonal business, you need to have cash reserves in your down times. Pay your bills on time; this can serve you well, if you have an emergency situation. You get better service and extended credit. Also, how you pay your bills are peoples’ assessment of how organized and credible your business is. A lot of times people perceive we are busier than we may be in reality based on how quickly we pay. One tip I can share is that eating out for lunch or running to Home Depot/Office Depot for items that can be ordered wholesale can add up and eat your profits very quickly. Avoid using company credit cards/debit cards if at all possible. If you can’t buy it with a check, don’t buy it! It holds you more accountable. Service and maintenance your equipment and vehicles. Your investment will last longer.

C. Make sure you have very specific procedures and job descriptions in place for each division of your business and keep them updated as you grow or add new job areas. Create a procedure manual, so in an emergency you can have someone come in at a moments notice and run a specified area of your business. If it is all in your head how you operate your business, what happens to your business if something happens to you? I can’t emphasize enough to continuously revisit and revise your policies, procedures, and mission statement. Your employees need to know them without exception. Remember, your customers and vendors judge you by your actions. Don’t fool yourself, they do talk to each other and compare notes. Consistency equals credibility.

D. The way you work to build relationships with you clients, you should put the same effort into building relationships with your employees. Your employees are a reflection of you and your business. They are a testimonial to your leadership abilities. Build a team, cross train your associates; build a developmental plan for them and offer continuous training; share your successes and failures with them. Show them you are fallible too. Instill in them and reward them for the pride they take in their work. We promote our employees in our advertising scheme. We brag about them to our clients and vendors. We let them know we do these things. We celebrate their successes whether work or personally related. When we won the Chamber Award we let them know they were the main reason we received the award. You need to be in tune if you see any behavioral changes and acknowledge you notice to them. You need to say hello to your people in the morning and goodbye at the end of the day. Do you know how many children they have, where they were originally from, their likes and dislikes? When I was in banking and working late at night I would take the time to talk to the cleaning people. That brought me a lot of referrals and new bank clients.

E. Know your competitors. Incorporate their best practices to your best practices. Make their weaknesses your strengths. Develop innovative ideas that your competitors don’t do. It’s all about standing out from the pack. At least monthly Mustafa and Adil visit other fabricators or stop in on stone distributors. They note how many employees are working, how full their schedules are. Gain insight to new competitors in the industry, uncover new business strategies. Build relationships. We know if we need to get a stone in a pinch our competitors will help us out and we will do the same.

F. It goes without saying that excellent service to your clients brings in more business. What is excellent service for your business? Is it clearly defined? Do all of your employees embrace your definition of excellent service? I believe part of your definition of excellent service, is determining what people fear the most in your industry and make it part of your service decree not to do. In our industry clients are very afraid if there is a problem, we will vanish into thin air. They will be left to their own devices of getting the problem resolved. We make sure to contact a customer immediately if there is a problem, and try to resolve it within 24-48 hours. This is probably the best practice we have that sets us apart from our competitors. Clear concise communication throughout the entire business transaction should also be a part of your service mantra besides your thank you when the job is completed. Encourage your clients to ask questions and give you feedback. They are your judge and jury. Be open to criticism; see if you see a pattern. You can quickly bring service levels back into line by analyzing feedback.

G. Be aware of new innovations that pertain to your business. Join trade organizations in your industry; develop a continuing education program for yourself. We attend twice a year the Stone Show Expos. They have over 30,000 professionals dealing with design, machinery, tile, stone, measurement, etc.

H. Find ways to keep your name in front of the public. You can achieve this in alternative ways besides advertising. In Loudoun County, many of our local papers love for business to write educational articles pertaining to their business. It’s free press; you are looked upon as an authority…a go to person. It broadens your education by the research you do. Participate in networking or community events. Volunteer your time; be a sponsor. If your business has a service you can donate for charity auctions, it’s a great contribution. Mustafa and I had a neighbor across the street whose home burned down. They lost everything. We just sent them a Holiday card offering them a free kitchen installation. Besides feeling good to help someone in our neighborhood, you can bet they will tell many people about our generosity. People love to tell a story, create stories for people to tell about your business.

7. What is your plan of expansion?

Since we’ve been open for over a year and a half our primary focus has been our residential clients. They are Flintstone’s foundation and will always be Flintstone’s foundation. We are beginning to develop a commercial division. We have started with smaller contractors, and custom home builders. Ultimately, we will work with larger commercial developers and home builders. It’s critical to not bite off more than you can chew. We want to make sure we expand in increments having a well oiled machine running before entering into the next phase and the financial power to do it.

On our residential side we plan to bring in a line of exotic stones in 2008. So someone can have a translucent bar, or put their creativity to the test. We want to find more ways to be green friendly; we hope to initiate in 2008 our, “rocks in a box”. This is where you can purchase a box of granite landscaping stones. We will continue to ramp up our partnerships with realtors, designers, flooring and tile companies.

As for the company, we are looking within the next year or two at franchising Flintstone. We have had offers to buy our name, but we would rather see if we can be successful having multiple locations and managing our business model. Also, franchising provides additional cash revenue to Flintstone.

We will also need to expand our facility due to outgrowing our space. We hope the timing will be conducive to purchasing space and creating an investment for ourselves than leasing.

8. Your favorite stone and edge.

Mustafa, Adil, and I prefer the Brazilian stones. They have a more crystallize look with bold color schemes. They actually come from the deepest parts of the quarry and their hardening process the quickest due to the temperature of the lava. To me, it’s like having a counter made up of a painting. They are harder to fabricate and edging is even harder. We have in our home Golden Persian which has actually gold ore running through the stone. I find when I have guests they are fascinated with locating the gold ore veins. It’s like a mining expedition. I love when the granite has fossilized material, such as Red or Green Marinace or Wild West Green with their rocks and pebbles. And who doesn’t love a beautiful black stone from India? Black Galaxy, Absolute Black.

When it comes to edging, it has to fit the look of the room. My kitchen in my current home is more modern, so I have ½ Bullnose. Ogee is great if you have a more formal kitchen. For fireplace mantels, I love Triple Pencil. It creates a look from the Victorian era. In bathrooms, if you use marble or Trevertine a ¼ to ½ beveled edge is a nice touch.

All in all the type of stone and edging you select as your favorite has to pull at your heartstrings. Respectfully submitted by, Sharon Inetas

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