Pro-Safe Professional Linens
Pro-Safe Professional Linens
aura Bradford saw a need and set about developing a product to meet it.
While working as a dental technician, she began designing and sewing contamination control
coverings for dental equipment that was difficult to sterilize. She sewed the covers at
her dining room table at night, after her children had gone to bed.
Laura Bradford saw a need and set about developing a product to meet it.
Bradford knew from the beginning that she wanted to have her own business, but without the support of the Western Colorado Business Development Corporation, she thinks she probably wouldn't have made it. Like many enterprising new business owners, she had the ideas and talent and initiative to start her business. What she didn't have was the financial, legal and marketing expertise needed to keep it going.
"They made me develop a business plan, analyze the numbers and develop cash flow projections . . . I hated every minute of it--and if I hadn't done it, my business wouldn't have survived."
As the first tenant in the new Western Colorado Business Development Corporation incubator program in 1986, she was required to participate in training. "They made me develop a business plan, analyze the numbers and develop cash flow projections," she said. "I hated every minute of it--and if I hadn't done it, my business wouldn't have survived."
Bradford's business has evolved to fill market niches.
Along with the expertise she developed, an unexpected benefit when
she moved into the incubator was being contacted by an investment "angel." After
seeing a small article about her new business, a retired oil and gas producer volunteered
to invest in her business, and he has remained a financial partner ever since.
Bradford's business has evolved to fill market niches through its ten
years of existence. "The competition began offering disposable products and we needed
to also," she said, "but the younger, more environmentally aware doctors and
dentists who expect to remain in their current offices still want cloth covers that they
can sterilize and use over and over again."
"I was discouraged by NAFTA originally . . . but it's worked out all right. And I've gotten back some of the business that went to Mexico."
When the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was implemented
in 1994, a major part of Bradford's business was supplying disposable medical scrub gowns,
primarily for providers of medical services in prisons. She lost that business to
factories in Mexico, where labor was cheaper, and she responded by finding "niches
within niches."
Today, she sells a large volume of extra-large and small sizes of
disposable medical gowns, which are not available from many of her competitors. "I
was discouraged by NAFTA originally," she said, "but it's worked out all right.
And I've gotten back some of the business that went to Mexico. I'm dependable about
meeting production deadlines, and shipping costs are lower from Grand Junction."
Pro-Safe Professional Linens also participates in the global
marketplace as a buyer and a seller. Their products are sold in Singapore, Canada and
Puerto Rico. For some of the garments she sells, she's found it's cheaper to buy them
overseas and modify them for redistribution. For example, she buys disposable medical
gowns made in China and adds collars and extends cuffs on them before selling them in the
United States.
Another innovative aspect . . . is time sharing of employees.
Bradford continues to see opportunities that others might miss, such
as hiring employees who are former prison inmates. "This man had never done sewing
before," she said, indicating the person working at a nearby sewing machine,
"and he never thought he would or could sew. But he's one of my most dependable
workers, and has gone from producing 30 pieces an hour to producing 45 pieces an hour in
less than a month."
Another innovative aspect --which Bradford seemed to take for
granted--is time sharing of employees. When Pro-Safe is especially busy, she
"borrows" employees from the other tenant in her building, who is also in the
garment business. The other company borrows from Pro-Safe when they have a large order,
and each pays a portion of the paycheck for employees' time they have borrowed.
The business has continued to grow in productivity and profitability,
expanding steadily through word of mouth, catalogue sales, and direct contacts. When she
started the business, Bradford used the professional association directory of the dentist
she worked for to get addresses, and mailed postcards to members describing her products.
She approached buyers at the Mesa county jail and offered to provide clothing and personal
possession bags for inmates at a cost of 2 percent less than what they were then paying,
and they have been customers ever since.
(photo)Laura Bradford checking work on a garment at Pro-Safe Professional Linens.
Bradford has just purchased another company, which will be merged
with Pro-Safe Professional Linens. "The company we bought produces disposable
products for the dental field that are complementary to what we already make," she
said. "We're moving equipment and three additional staff people to Grand
Junction--and we'll see what happens and what we need to do next." Bradford currently
employs three full time staff and three part time people who do piece work at home.
Bradford's other plans for the future include increasing the volume of
business she does with medical and dental schools and hygienist and technical training
facilities. She's found that graduating students who have used her products remain
customers as they move into professional careers. She is considering selling her business
in another three years, and she attended the WCBDC luncheon program featuring a business
broker who told his audience that the key to selling a business was to keep careful
records of income and expenses.
Back when Bradford moved her four-month old business from her dining
room table to the Western Colorado Business Development Corporation incubator space, she
was a single parent struggling to balance the demands of a new business with the
responsibilities of raising her children. She became friends with another small business
owner at the incubator, and now Bradford and Bob Elliott, owner of Cactus Coatings, have
been married for five years. With two entrepreneurs sharing a household, Bradford said
life can be hectic.
"I got help when I needed it . . . and now it's my turn to support other entrepreneurs."
In addition to time spent with her family and in her
business, however, she makes time to volunteer her time and knowledge to help others get
started in business. She serves on the board of the Colorado Women's Economic Development
Council, which promotes economic development opportunities for women statewide and
initiated a mentoring program designed to find unique ways to expose young women to
entrepreneurship.
"I got help when I needed it," said Bradford, "and now
it's my turn to support other entrepreneurs."