Business

MEGAN SWOYER
Special to The Jewish News

T

here's no stopping
Linda Erlich. She
and her company
have faced every-
thing from her husband suffer-
ing a heart attack to embezzle-
ment by her right-hand woman
and even bankruptcy.
But she's still standing tall.
Smiling, in fact, as she explains
how she brought her Detroit-
based mailing services company
back to life. Put a cement wall
in front of this woman and
she'll find a way to plow
through it.
Erlich, the 56-year-old for-
mer president (her son, Craig
Erlich, recently has been pro-
moted to president) of Quality
Mailing & Fulfillment
Services, has done such a
splendid job with her
company that it recently
was named a "Blue Chip
Enterprise" by the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce,
Nation's Business maga-
zine and MassMutual
Life.
Two hundred compa-
nies nationwide received
the title, which honors
businesses that have
demonstrated exceptional
management of key
resources to meet chal-
lenges, overcome adversi-
ty and emerge stronger.
In Erlich's case, adver-
sity is putting it lightly.
"We've seen a lot and
gone through a lot this
year, but I'm happy to
report that our earnings
will top $4 million," Erlich says.
Her long road to success, which
led her both backward and forward,
started several years ago when she
and her husband, Joe Erlich, were
running a successful Madison
Heights-based printing business
called Eagle Enterprises. They had
decided to expand into a related and
complementary mailing business so
they purchased Quality Mailings
Services (QMS) and moved to a larg-
er facility.
Then Joe had a heart attack.
"I had to run two businesses, move
one of them to a new location and
take care of my recuperating hus-
band," recalls Erlich. Next, Eagle

5/22
1998

n8

Enterprises was forced into an invol-
untary Chapter 7 bankruptcy. QMS
also was drawn into the bankruptcy,
and to save the company, Erlich had
to reorganize under Chapter 11.
"I was overwhelmed," she recalls.
"What else could go wrong?"
When she thought the worst was
over, Erlich caught her trusted, long-
term administrative assistant embez-
–\
zling funds — a total of about
$100,000. "She was one of my best
friends. She worked extremely hard for
us and did all the running between
businesses, even to my house to feed
my dog," Erlich says. "She was like a
sister. In fact, she stayed at our home
when we were out of town."
Eagle Enterprises was liquidated,
QMS lost major accounts and sufferell_\
painful costs — both monetary and
emotional — but Erlich came out of
the storm ready to rebuild her busi-
ness and her life. Her hus-
band recuperated and after
the printing business was
liquidated, he ran the oper-
ations at the mailing com-
pany. "I took control of
sales, marketing and the
computer area," says Erlich.
And their son, Craig,
joined the company during
the summer of his father's
heart attack. No stranger to
family business, Craig,
now 30, had worked several
Saturdays a month at his
parents' company since theme
age of 6.
Erlich learned more
about the industry through a national
trade group, the Mail Advertising
Service Association. And through the
National Association of Women
Business Owners, she learned how to
work with a loan officer at a major
bank that resulted in a financial
restructuring. Erlich also converted
many temporary employees to full-
time staff. And she made a commit-
ment to stay in the city of Detroit
where many of her employees live.
Although there's a great deal of
competition in the metropolitan area,
Erlich says her company is somewhat
unique because it's family-owned and
clients get treated like they are part of
the family. Says Chuck Dyer, corpo---/
rate sales manager for the Detroit
Symphony Orchestra, "The Erlichs
are better than great. They must be
from some other planet." Dyer, who
hired Quality Mailing and
Fulfillment Services for fulfillment

,

Top: Craig, Linda and Joe Erlich.

Left: Linda Erlich checks with Renita
Williams at a press.

Right: Brian Anger and James Lacey let off
steam in the office.

Blue Chip
Enterprise

A woman and her family
overcome adversity to build
an award-winning company.

BLUE CHIP on page 120