Company 119. What kind of a business name is that?For Christian Klein and Nate Winne, the name of their Chardon-based website design and Internet marketing…
Company 119. What kind of a business name is that?
For Christian Klein and Nate Winne, the name of their Chardon-based website design and Internet marketing firm was easy to explain Friday to a crowd of more than 50 people attending the Geauga Growth Partnership meeting.
Klein’s original web-building and troubleshooting start-up was located at 119 Main Street, he said.
The “company” name is also appropos, as Klein is a volunteer firefighter along with his father and brother, Winne said.
Addressing problems quickly, anticipating problems in websites and knowing the tools and strategies needed to solve them, working as a team and being prepared to handle computer emergencies are all good things when dealing with fires or computer crises, Winne said.
He was recruited to the business in 2007 at the tender age of 17 because Winne knew about technology and could fix computers, Klein said.
Klein bought Main Street Comput-ers, changed the name and they proceeded to double the company’s business.
“Within a year, I knew we were going to be building a lot of projects together,” Klein said.
GGP President Tracy Jemison prompted the partners to speak to some of their mistakes, and Klein said they have debunked one age-old rule.
“It’s the customer always right? No,” he said. “We learned that the hard way.”
Company 119 strives to make its customers happy, he said, adding he is confident the staff can fix technical problems, but there will be days when customers will be upset.
Another lesson Winne said he learned is to communicate early and clearly with customers in order to understand their ideas and/or problems.
Also, he has had to learn to take some risks and be up front with people, Winney said.
Taking advantage of the wealth of business knowledge in SCORE and joining various groups in the community have been a big plus, Klein said.
After he sold Main Street Computers, he moved their operation to 115 Wilson Mills, still in Geauga County.
“You can build a web company anywhere. I chose Geauga County,” Klein said. “There are a lot of opportunities here.”
The biggest issue they have is recruiting employees with advanced tech knowledge and find themselves going outside the county when hiring at certain levels.
“It’s a geographic problem,” Winne said.
Like many employers, they need to find talented, responsible, dependable problem-solvers who have good soft skills for dealing with customers.
Then it is up to the partners to imbue the employees with the Company 119 culture, he said.
They plan to add three more people for development and sales in 2015, Klein said.
The home-grown business was recognized at the Lake Communicators 2014 APEX awards with nine separate wins for “Best in Show Digital” and five gold medals for overall website redesign, business to business website redesign, website redesign for a non-profit, interactive media for a video based online scheduler and email blast design. Silver medals were won in business to business website redesign, business to consumer website redesign, and non-broadcast film.
Meanwhile, the business has expanded beyond Geauga’s borders and, in the spirit of the Internet, the sky seems to be the limit, now.
The future is promising for Company 119, with Internet marketing a growing field, e-commerce coming into its own and the expanding need for advanced website construction, security and updates, Klein said.
Winne advised the audience not to depend on search engine magic to draw people to the business.
“Focus on making your website stand out and talk to real people,” he said.
Klein attributed a large part of the success of Company 119 to having chosen the right business partner.
“Nate and I are close,” he said, but they have different strengths, which he sees as a benefit.
It has led him to advise, “Choose a partner who doesn’t have the same problems you have.”
