Sunday, August 22, 1999
Talent, luck drive hazardous-materials abatement firm
BY HANG NGUYEN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Armed with ambition and a dream, Jim McCarthy seven years ago launched a business in the basement of his then Villa Hills, Ky. home to remove asbestos and other hazardous materials from clients' companies and homes.
His equipment? A folding table, fax machine and telephone.
American Environmental Control Inc. (AEC) in Cleves has come a long way. Last year, sales jumped to $5.6 million, and the basement operation has grown to 55 employees and 600 clients.
In May, Mr. McCarthy, the firm's founder, chief executive and president, opened an office in Tampa, Fla. He anticipates opening another in Los Angeles and a sales office in Baton Rouge, La., in the next month.
Mr. McCarthy is just 34.
“I personally think it becomes harder when you get older,” he said. “Experience is a positive thing. But as you get older, families get larger and older kids are more expensive. When you have more to lose, it's harder to make that decision” to start a business.
That may be good advice, but data say coming of age doesn't stop most entrepreneurs. The most prevalent age group for business owners is 35-44, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration. The next most common range is 45-54. Mr. McCarthy's age group, 25-34, ranks third.
The CEO attributes part of his success to luck. He's been fortunate in selecting staff members who helped fuel the company's growth.
But Christopher Case, AEC's estimator and project manager, argues that more of the company's success had to do with Mr. McCarthy's talent.
That was the reason Mr. Case left a comfortable job to risk his career when he stepped onboard a company that was only a month old.
Mr. Case, who was a co-worker at Mr. McCarthy's former asbestos employer, said he trusted him. “Within two years, he had developed quite a bit of fresh customers that the employer couldn't have recruited without him.”
Being a small business itself, Mr. McCarthy's former asbestos employer taught him much about small businesses. Throughout his stay in the administration department there, Mr. McCarthy made plans to start a business of his own — a dream he had since he was a child.
With that dream not too far in the back of his mind, he was antsy during college. When he was attending the University of Cincinnati part time for a degree in business and working full time for a mortgage company, he wanted to devote more time to the firm.
So at 22, he dropped out of college and devoted all of his time to the mortgage firm. From there, he went to work at the asbestos business for four years.
In 1992, he felt it was time. He quit his job at the asbestos company. Then the father of a baby girl and a husband of four years, he started his first business venture. He was confident and determined his business would succeed.
The company's efficiency is why 80 percent of its volume is repeat business.
John Jenkins, heating, ventilation and air-conditioning compliance technician for Cincinnati Public Schools, is one of those repeat clients.
CPS has had a few asbestos emergencies this summer, Mr. Jenkins said.
“When I call and tell them I have an emergency, they jump right on it,” he said. “One time, they had a man meet me in 20 minutes. That's pretty fast. That's why I like to use them.”
But early success doesn't mean an early retirement for Mr. McCarthy. “I enjoy doing this,” he said. “We'll be around for quite some time.”
When he launched the firm, he was working as much as 70 hours weekly. Today, the father of three works as much as 60 hours weekly.
All that time is invested in expanding his business, which is growing at an average of more than 50 percent annually in revenue.
For the year 2000, he projects generating $12 million in sales while employing 130 people to work for 1,300 clients.
He anticipates expanding his Florida office from its current four employees to 30 in a year. He hopes to do the same for the soon-to-be opened California office.
Mr. McCarthy wants to build his company's services to include construction-related businesses.
The question he's always asking: “How else can we service our customer base?”
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