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Come in and Ask About MASTER PLAN -
Entrepreneur
a New & Exciting Way to Drive a Cadillac!
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'92 Touring Sedan
$53392.
36 Month Lease
'92 Seville $581 ? 6
S*tk #680
36 Month Lease
'92 Eldorado
$
5 4721
Stk. #D0677
36 Month Lease
*36 mo. closed end lease. 15,000 miles per year. 10 , per mile over. First payment, security deposit and 4% use tax
due at inception. MSRP of Touring Sedan is 535,790. MSRP of Seville is 536,996, MSRP of Eldorado is 536,491. To get
total payments, multiply by 36. Customer can, but has no obligation to purchase vehicle at lease end.
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else, everything was kind of
in place. When you work for
someone, you do your job and
you can do it well. But you
don't know about finance,
store design, the bags, the
safe, everything that goes in-
to it."
He got into it "slowly, but
surely. I asked a lot of ques-
tions" with one goal in mind:
to develop a high quality, ser-
vice oriented retail operation
that offered a consistently
good product and selection at
a reasonable price — a warm,
inviting environment that
makes buying a pleasant
experience.
But he attributes his
business success to his un-
wavering service-oriented
philosophy. The jewelry
business is based largely on
trust, Mr. Tapper says. It took
time to build that trust with
the customers and vendors.
"Anybody can sell merchan-
dise at a lower price. And I
tried to establish a very fair
pricing system. But I gave
personalized service. I tried to
make each customer a
friend," he says.
Evolving to this point
wasn't easy. It required hard
work, extra hours and com-
munity service to get his good
name before the jewelry buy-
ing public.
He has weathered slow
times, but luckily says he
hasn't had any terrible set-
backs. That's due in part to
careful planning. Mr. Tapper
tries not to overextend the
business by taking a conser-
vative approach to inventory
and growth. That approach
seems to have worked. Tap-
per's has increased square
footage sixfold, expanded four
times and has grown to 50
employees.
Mr. Tapper describes
himself as a driven, goal-
oriented perfectionist, with
good intuition and people
skills.
"For me, its not only mak-
ing the sale, it's having rela-
tionships. I truly try to
establish relationships in this
business, not just sell mer-
chandise."
As more women enter the
workforce, the number of self-
made female entrepreneurs is
growing. The U.S. Small Bus-
iness Administration esti-
mates that by the year 2,000,
58 percent to 63 percent of all
small businesses will be
owned by women. P.R. consul-
tant Sandra Hermanoff is
part of that trend. Like Mr.
Tapper, she also translated
skills learned working for
someone else into her own
company.
She worked her way up
through the corporate public
relations ranks until she
reached a professional pin-
nacle as vice president of
public relations for W.B.
Doner. But she felt she had
reached a plateau. So, where
could she go from there?
"There were some things I
wanted to do that they were
not quite ready for in the
public relations area. So, I
decided in 1985 to open Her-
manoff and Associates."
Ms. Hermanoff, 48, admits
it was a gamble to leave a
secure job. She started with
"an office with four walls, a
telephone and a typewriter.
Just me, myself and I."
Only one client from her
previous job agreed to make
the leap with her. But it
didn't take long for Ms. Her-
manoff's business to take
root.
"Within six months of open-
ing this agency, we started
growing like topsy," says Ms.
Hermanoff, who now employs
17 people.
Managing growth is very
important — to know when to
expand, when to pull back.
Experts say a fledgling
business can collapse under
the weight of its own success.
Ms. Hermanoff says she add-
ed a half dozen employees in
the first 18 months, just stay-
ing within what she could af-
ford, making conservative
hiring decisions. "I made sure
I was in a profit mode, so the
agency would stay healthy
and viable. And we work very
hard for our clients. We still
do."
Ms. Hermanoff is always
thinking about her business,
sometimes waking up in the
middle of the night to jot
down an idea. She derives
great satisfaction out of mak-
ing those ideas work for her
clients.
"I set certain challenges for
myself and work toward
them. I feel my clients are
very near and dear to me. I
want them to be the best they
can be. I try to give them an
opportunity to shine."
She feels she is filling a
public relations niche with an
agency that in part is geared
toward smaller companies,
though Hermanoff and
Associates does service large
corporations like McDonalds
and Southwest Airlines. She
says one important drawing
card is the agency's creative
ability, but she adds the most
important factor is how the
customer gets treated.
"I think the key is servic-
ing, really being committed.
In public relations, you can't
be in your office only part of
the time and go golfing or
traveling. You have to be com-
mitted, almost 24 hours a
day."
Ms. Hermanoff adds that