Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Nextel Dealer Goes Chapter 13 -Customer support and service fell by the way side.

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Date: Thu, 05 Dec 2002 06:19:53 -0500

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December 5, 2002
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13.01

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The Business Press, Ontario, Calif., Inland Empire Focus Column

Dec 02, 2002 (The Business Press - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News via
COMTEX) -- Armed with the lessons of bitter experience, entrepreneur Johnathon
Rodriguez is stepping back into the business world.

A one-time cell phone salesman from Whittier, Rodriguez had savored the sweet
taste of success with a business the grew too fast to control. He had no plan.
He failed, filed bankruptcy and closed his doors. He watched his employees start
their own businesses and succeed while he asked a competitor to give him a job
to pay bills.

"It was a slap on top of a slap in the face," Rodriguez said.

Early in 2002, Rodriguez discussed with a high school classmate and confidante
about making a business out of his interest in closed circuit television.
Rodriguez had a talent for sales but lacked business sense, Terry Gonzales said.

"You know how to do this; you don't know how to do it right," Gonzales said.

If they were going to be partners in a new venture, she insisted Rodriguez
obtain assistance from the Inland Empire Small Business Development Center in
Riverside, where an acquaintance, Paula Bahamon, was a new- business consultant.

Operated by the Inland Empire Economic Partnership, and funded by the California
Technology, Trade & Commerce Agency and the U.S. Small Business Administration,
the center offers free and low-cost courses to entrepreneurs. The frequently
offered Business 101 introduction is followed by Developing Your Plan For
Success workshops, which cover business plans, marketing and financial
statements.

"I took a lot out of the classes," Rodriguez said. He soon found how much he
didn't know about business.

"I didn't realize how much it meant to have a business plan," he said. "This is
the way I should have done it in the first place."

On the rebound Rodriguez, 32, began selling Nextel cellular phones in 1996 when
cellular technology was still fairly new to the marketplace. After watching his
boss make what Rodriguez felt were marketing mistakes, he opened his own store,
Intelecom, in Montebello in 1997.

He managed 12 sales representatives, trained with an emphasis on selling.
Customer support and service fell by the wayside.

"If you can't keep your promises [to a customer] your relationship with that
client is ruined," Rodriguez said.

Although Intelecom brought in $250,000 in its final year, debt had piled as
high. In April 2001, he filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy protection. The case was
later dismissed when Rodriguez managed to pay off all the creditors, but
Intelecom was finished.

"I did it my way, but it didn't work," Rodriguez said. "It was an expensive
lesson."

Rodriguez and Gonzales were classmates at Garfield High School in East Los
Angeles. A chance phone call in April 2001 got them reacquainted.

"I was at a low point where I didn't even believe in myself," Rodriguez said.
Gonzales suggested Rodriguez go back into business.

"I'd always wanted to do CCTV -- closed circuit television surveillance," he
said. In early 2002, a new business idea was born.

"The more we talked about it, the more real it became," he said. "I have my
bruises. She has a fresh new look," Rodriguez said. Gonzales, who works in
customer service for a Covina finance company, also counters his impulsive
nature.

Bahamon, who consults the pair, said the two complement each other.

"Johnathon has been working for years as an informal businessman. He is very
good at selling. Terry is more structured, an educated, well-organized office
person," she said.

In June, Rodriguez registered his chosen fictitious business name: Global
Technologies. The cost in Los Angeles County is $12; Riverside County charges
$35 and San Bernardino County charges $29 for the same service to businesses in
their jurisdictions.

"Global sounds like a big company. It gives a bigger image and greater
credibility," Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez opened a business bank account at a branch of Quaker City Bank in
Whittier.

"I just walked into a small neighborhood bank. I wanted someone who will get to
know me" and be flexible enough to meet his needs, Rodriguez said. His
experience with large commercial banks was hampered by rigid policy constraints
and constant front line turnover, he said.

Rodriguez continued to sell phones but he told customers about his new venture.
With no inventory, he promoted service. Calls came in for small service
assignments. Gonzales insisted Rodriguez write and follow a proper business
plan.

Rodriguez reluctantly attended the Small Business Development Center classes
Bahamon suggested.

"I had pride and arrogance," he said. "I thought, "I don't need to go there.'"

They attended Business 101 in September and took the three-part business plan
workshop in October. They continue to write their business plan.

"This takes time. You need to gather information about market conditions from
vendors," Bahamon said.

In business Rodriguez and Gonzales believe that closed circuit surveillance is
the wave of the future for both residential and business customers.

"Unfortunately, we're coming to that kind of society," Rodriguez said.

His first significant client agrees.

"A lot of companies have, or need to have, this kind of system" for security,
surveillance and remote monitoring, said Patrick Tynan, network administrator
for Carson-based K.V. Mart Co., an independent 20-store grocery chain.

The company, operates Top Valu and Valu Plus markets primarily in Los Angeles
County. Rodriguez fixed balky old cameras at two locations a larger camera
company couldn't find time to service. "Now we call him for all our problems,"
Tynan said.

Service calls provided the means to move forward, Rodriguez said.

"I pretty much started service [for] a lot of customers who already [have] a
system," he said. "All I invested was my time."

Rodriguez promoted his venture to his former Nextel customers, asking for leads.
In July, a one-time Nextel customer who owned a shop asked Rodriguez to fix a
malfunctioning camera system. The business owner recommended Rodriguez to
others.

By November, Rodriguez realized he was already "in business" without a location
or even business cards.

A logo and card design and 2,500 cards will cost $400, Rodriguez said.

Digital EFX will help with Global's early marketing efforts, designing flyers
for targeted mass mailings to independent mid-size companies in Riverside, San
Bernardino and Los Angeles counties.

Scouting for a storefront location, Rodriguez is impressed with Ontario and
Diamond Bar.

"It's such a fruitful area," he said.

By Steven Frasher

To see more of The Business Press, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to

http://www.thebizpress.com

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