The Memphis Business Journal Small Business of the Year Awards Banquet

A sampling of the Redeemers Group team gathered to learn who the Small Business of the Year in Memphis would be at the Memphis Business Journal's annual award banquet. The lucky winner was Philip Ashley Chocolates in the small business category. 

Back in April, the Memphis Business Journal announced the finalists in the small, medium, and large size company categories, and Redeemers Group was beyond honored to be a finalist in the small business category. The MBJ announcement article about the finalists can be found here.

A panel of independent judges took painstaking steps to evaluate the finalists fully including multiple in-person interviews with owner, Clint Cooper, an office inspection, a financial evaluation by an independent CPA firm to evaluate financial health, and a few more. In a writTen interview, the Memphis Business Journal asked Clint Cooper the following questions:

VITALS

Leadership: Clint Cooper, owner

MBJ: What the company does? (CC:) Residential and commercial foundation repair, basement waterproofing, crawl space repair and encapsulation, mold prevention and concrete leveling. 

MBJ: Current number of employees? (CC:) 24 (as of time of application)

MBJ: Year founded? (CC:) 2007

BUSINESS MOVES

MBJ: Motivation to start the company? (CC:) My parents experienced contractor fraud when I was in high school. They paid a contractor a $10,000 deposit to begin a house remodel, and six weeks later, he had stopped showing up and had done very little work. They were demoralized by the whole process. I wanted to contribute to breaking that cycle of experiences for customers.

MBJ: Source of Idea? (CC:) I left the financial industry in 2006 to work with my father-in-law in his business. Not long after, I decided to form my own company. 

MBJ: Original number of employees?(CC:) 3

MBJ: Source of start-up financing? (CC:) My wife and I personally borrowed $40,000 from a local bank against equity in a building I owned. 

BIG PICTURE

MBJ: Current state of growth? (CC:) Our business doubled from 2013 to 2014,and we saw a 50% growth rate from 2014 to 2015. Current year projections include a 50% growth rate, as well. 

MBJ: Most challenging obstacles? (CC:) Maintaining fast-faced growth while continuing to deliver excellent results.

MBJ: Innovations? (CC:) We use interactive presentation software at the tie of customer's inspections to allow them to fully understand what is going on with their home/building and why we are proposing a particular solution. 

Recent accomplishments? (CC:) Redeemers Group was awarded the contract to stabilize The Pyramid during the Bass Pro Shops build-out. We used our solutions to prepare the structure to hold the amount of weight that their design required to keep the building stabilized for years to come. 

MBJ: Future plans? (CC:) Because of the volume of business we do in the state of Arkansas, we will open a second location, in Little Rock in 2016. Looking farther down the road, we are exploring the possibility of opening a third location, in Jackson, MS.

MBJ: Secret of success? (CC:) Our ability to deliver on our promises and attract, hire, and retain competent people entrusted to carry out their specialized skills. We are independently owned and operated but reap many of the benefits of a franchise, as we are part of a dealer network.