SMALL-BUSINESS OWNERS, you deserve a moment in the spotlight. In this regular column, we highlight entrepreneurs from all over the U.S. who can answer the question: "What makes you stand out from the crowd?" We know you're proud of your accomplishments — now you can tell the world about them, too.

Robert E. Mechem, co-founder of leak detection company American Efficiency Services, answers our questions:

What are you doing to stand out from the crowd?

Our small business has been credited with “saving the outage” or “the day” on many occasions for Fortune 500 companies — by allowing them to continue generating electricity for their customers. Our inspection crews are on call 24 hours a day to the power industry world-wide. Roughly 40% of the time, we perform routine inspections — that is, we identify sources of vacuum and pressure leaks that can sap a plant’s energy efficiency and cost big bucks. The rest of the time, we answer emergency calls.

Name: Robert E. Mechem
Business: American Efficiency Services, an inspection, maintenance and consulting services provider to the power industry.
Industry: Efficiency Inspections
Location: Woodbine, Md.
Year founded: 2001
Number of employees: 20
Web site: AmericanEfficiency.com

What's the best part about owning your own business?

Most of the inspectors we've hired are military veterans who didn’t graduate from college and have worked insecure, contractual jobs for years. In short, they’ve never had jobs that offer long-term growth potential. That is, until us. We provide them with a 40-hour work week, 100% health-care coverage and matching 401(k) plans. Hearing that employees are buying houses, stocks, mutual funds and retiring at 60, is by far the most rewarding aspect of running this business.

What's the biggest challenge of owning your own business?

Managing growth, cash flow and ensuring personnel benefit packages remain intact have all been monumental tasks. But perhaps the hardest part is getting all three of the company’s founders to agree. While having multiple points of view helps to limit errors and contributes to more well-developed plans, coming to a final decision on any issue is neither easy nor straightforward.

What's the biggest hurdle you've overcome?

Early on, it was trying to maintain an equal partnership even though each of the three partners had varying degrees of investment power. As a compromise, we limited each partner’s investment to an amount that equaled what the lowest contributor could afford. That left us scrambling for a bank loan, which being a start-up company with no history was extremely difficult to find. Even though we were approved for a line of credit up to $175,000, that amount was hardly enough to establish a professional program, contact potential customers nationwide, fund two crews that traveled throughout the country on a weekly basis and finance 45 days of projected receivables.

What's the biggest mistake you've made?

During the first half of our second year in business, sales were outstanding. And unfortunately, we spent accordingly. We gave a midyear bonus and made a couple of pricey purchases only to find out that the second half of the year was dismal. We allowed our focus to become blurred and did not protect our life-line as well as we should have.

What's the best business advice you can offer?

Work hard, conduct business properly and ethically and the money will come.

 

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