32906 Middlebelt Road at 14 Mile Road
business >>
248-855-0007
Delivery Available
Locally Owned and Operated by
Dan and Julie Sonenberg
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Ron Forman's Deli Nosh
Tail Gate Special
• 2 lbs
Local company
goes from
near-bankrupt
to Inc. 5000
fastest-growing
companies.
Any of our Fresh Deli,Meats
X
• Large Crispy Rye Bread
• Cole Slaw and Potato Salad
• Your Choice
• All
Ogrcezi,
dap Condiments
(5:08 regular mustard, thousand
island dressing
r
mayo)
•
Vladimir Gendelman
A
Nosh
.Carry
tarry Out
K
99
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38 October 8 • 2015
Dramatic
Recovery
eego Harbor-based Company
Folders Inc., an innovative
presentation folder printing
company that offers a large selection
of folders and styles, now ranks in the
Inc. 5000 as one of America's fastest-
growing private companies. Its revenue
increased by 128 percent from 2011 to
2014.
This meteoric rise in success came
on the heels of near disaster. Between
March 2012 and January 2013,
Company Folders was in a tailspin of
shrinking revenue, and founder and
CEO Vladimir Gendelman was facing
the very real possibility of closing the
business and filing for bankruptcy.
"We bet our entire marketing strat-
egy on traffic from Google's search
engine," said Gendelman, who lives in
West Bloomfield with his wife, Janet, a
teacher, and children Aaron and Noa.
The family belongs to Temple Israel.
Gendelman is on the board of Hebrew
Free Loan. His wife sits on the board
of Tamarack Camps.
"That Google traffic was the life-
blood of the company. And after get-
ting penalized for over-optimized links
by Google, our website traffic dropped
by two-thirds almost overnight. Our
revenue and profits quickly followed.
We had gambled all of our resources
on just one strategy — and we were at
risk of losing it all:"
Gendelman left his home in
Kharkov, Ukraine, when he was 15 in
1989. After stops in Austria and Italy,
he came to the U.S. in 1990 with a
few hundred dollars in his pocket. He
enrolled is high school to learn English
and took any job he could before
launching Company Folders in 2003.
On the brink of ruin, Gendelman
considered closing Company Folders,
but ultimately decided against it.
"After everything that my team and
I have dedicated to this company, I just
couldn't do it," he said. "Instead, I bor-
rowed the money that we desperately
required to keep the business afloat
and build the resources it needed to
succeed"
After downsizing, Company Folders
reinvested the new funds by offering
an exclusive 365-day quality guarantee
on all products sold, a brand new web-
site and a highly efficient online quote
process.
The business also hired customer
service representatives with exten-
sive backgrounds in graphic design
and provided those employees with
advanced educational resources.
The company also unveiled a new
marketing plan based around educat-
ing and inspiring their graphic artist
clients. That plan included a new blog,
providing helpful tips, tutorials and
other informative articles to graphic
designers. This was followed by the
debut of a folder design gallery, offer-
ing an easy-to-access pool of inspira-
tional resources and showcasing the
work of talented designers around the
world.
"Over time, as we educated, inspired
and helped our clients, they became
return customers" Gendelman said.
By May 2013, Company Folders' rev-
enue and profits were better than ever.
"It's been an arduous struggle said
Gendelman, "but our hard work has
paid off tenfold. Our staff is amazing;
every single person has been dedicated
and supportive throughout this pro-
cess"
Gendelman is confident that
Company Folders' dramatic growth
points to a promising future.
"I never thought we would be in
the Inc. 5000 list" he said. "I was just
hoping to survive, but now the future
looks very bright. And the Inc. 5000 is
yet another example of just how far we
have come" *
For information, visit www.companyfolders.com .