Burin SS
From The Bottom Up
Sy Freilich's new business didn't develop the way he planned.
GEORGE DILA
Special to the Jewish News
F
ive years ago, when Sy Freilich decided to start a business testing well
water in Oakland County, he had a hunch people would be eager to
have the quality of their drinking water checked out.
"The danger of arsenic in well water was getting a lot of news coverage,"
Freilich re - Ills. "But there are also possible problems of well water contamina-
tion by coliform bacteria like E. coli from septic tanks and agricultural runoff,
and from nitrates and sodium.
"And there are lots of wells in Oakland County, so we thought we were start-
ing AquaTest Labs at the ideal time." Freilich, a big man with a soft, precise
manner of speech, motions around his
facility in White Lake Township, indi-
VA'
cating the equipment and paraphernalia
of the water-testing trade. " This is the
result," he says.
He's made a success of AquaTest Labs,
and although he had a good feeling
about his prospects starting out, he did-
n't start the business without doing his
homework. No neophyte when it comes
to starting up and running a small busi-
ness, he knew his hunches weren't
enough to justify a big monetary invest-
ment. So he paid for a study.
"We did it the right way. We consult-
ed professionals in the research business,
we came up with a good questionnaire,
then had a meaningful sampling of peo-
ple taken. "Overwhelmingly, the
response we got back was that people
with wells were concerned about their
drinking water and they were willing to
Staff phow by Krista Husa
pay a modest cost — between 50 and a
100 bucks — to get it tested. Based on
the results of the surveys, we went ahead and started the business."
Freilich gets a wide grin on his face as he gets ready to deliver the punch line:
"They must have all been lying," he says. "Our company fell flat on its face."
Freilich shakes his head as if still trying to understand it.
"And we made it so easy. All our homeowners had to do was put water in the
bottles we provided, then send them back to us in the postage-paid box we pro-
vided. When the tests were completed, they received the results by phone and by
mail. It was so easy."
He also wanted customers to have complete faith in their test results, so
AquaTest Labs didn't sell or even recommend water treatment equipment or
supplies.
But evidently, people were not willing to pay to have their water tested. They
only paid lip service to the idea.
"Oh, yes, they said they were concerned about the health of their families,"
Freilich says, "but they wouldn't pay 45 bucks for an arsenic test.
Freilich learned a hard lesson: Don't always believe the research.
"We were shocked," he says. "But we weren't ready to give up."
Persistence has always been one of Freilich's strengths.
The oldest child of Holocaust survivors Joseph and Nina Freilich, Sy spent the
first three years of his life in a displaced persons camp in Germany. In 1950, the
family received their long-awaited permission to immigrate to America, finally
settling in Detroit.
Freilich grew up in the Linwood-Dexter area, attending Yeshiva Beth Yehudah
II
a
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2001
82
through the seventh grade. When the family moved to Oak Park, he began
attending public school. After graduation from high school, he enrolled at the
Detroit Institute of Technology.
His first professional job, in the collection department of a sales finance com-
pany, led to a career in finance, commercial credit and collections. Over the
years, he worked for Inmont Corporation, ITT and Occidental Petroleum, cul-
minating in nearly 10 years as director of corporate credit and legal administra-
tor with New York Carpet World.
But Freilich had entrepreneurial experience, too. In college, he formed a com-
pany that bought closeouts and auction goods and resold them to drug and
parry stores. And in the 1970s, he developed a successful business selling a full
line of police equipment — everything a department uses except uniforms and
shoes — to local municipalities.
So when New York Carpet World was
sold to Shaw Industries and most of the
corporate functions were moved to
Georgia, Freilich decided it was time to
start his own business again. AquaTest
Labs was the result. But success took
time.
"When it became clear that we
weren't going to get the business we
needed directly from homeowners, I
decided to go after the other side of the
coin — the wholesale side of the busi-
ness. We started contacting builders,
well-drillers, home inspectors, real
estate agents and others who deal with
homeowners regarding their water, as
well as businesses like restaurants,
which, for business and regulatory rea-
sons, must have their water tested."
Sy Freilich tests a water sample
He developed new marketing materi-
als aimed at his new customer base and
began personally contacting potential
customers in the development and cor-
porate community.
"There are certain times when well water must be tested," Freilich says:
"When a new well is going in. When a home is being sold. And community
wells must, by law, be tested on a certain schedule. These are the opportunities
we started to tap into."
Now, the bulk of his business is on the wholesale side ... testing water for
other companies that offer the service to residential and corporate customers.
Freilich is still committed to the idea that testing water and selling equipment
don't mix. Because of this policy, many water treatment companies use
AquaTest Labs, and they're called in on many problem jobs.
"We also do a lot of work testing public water supplies and writing the annual
Consumer Confidence Reports required by the State of Michigan," Freilich
said. "And, after a great deal of training, we are now certified HUD-approved
well and septic inspectors, which allows us to service FHA, VA and convention-
al mortgage property sales throughout southeast Michigan."
This year, AquaTest will check more than 5,000 wells, and do septic inspec-
tions at 1,000 homes. The company now has five employees and two contract
people who do field work.
Business is brisk. Freilich is thankful for that. But it sure isn't the business that
he envisioned five years ago.
"The public is unpredictable," he says. "Fulfilling a need with a good product
or service isn't always enough to guarantee success."
What's also needed, as is evident from Freilich's example, is persistence, flexi-
bility, determination — and another plan up your sleeve. ❑