A Woman Owned Business / June 2007
Polymer Pair
 Billie McClelland and Shari Brown
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By Pat Lawrence
Shari Brown and Billie McClelland didn’t like how they were doing business when they worked for someone else. So, they went into business themselves. Shari says, “We wanted to have a company that treated its employees differently and treated customers differently.” The company they built is Polymer Services of Ohio.
The two former stay-at-home moms might seem like unlikely entrepreneurs. Shari is from Marietta. Her father worked in polymers and she remembers going to work with him on career days. She worked at a construction warehouse before marrying and staying home to raise her daughter. Billie is from Athens County and stayed home to raise her children until 1991. The two met when they took a job with the same company.
They learned the business on the job, Billie worked mostly in the plant, Shari handled the office and talked with customers.
Most unhappy employees just move on. Shari and Billie just wanted to do things right. They contacted the Small Business development Center for help. They needed to prepare a three year business plan. Shari quit her job to begin the research. She says, “It took a year and a half to prepare.” Billie kept working, helping when and where she could. She says, “The business plan had to cover everything - how much money we would need, how much we would spend, how much we would take in, garbage pickup, advertising, insurance – everything!”
Funding was essential, and they were able to arrange half of their financing from Buckeye Hocking Hills and half through banks. Billie quit her job when their loan was approved.
They opened Polymer Services of Ohio in December of 1998. Shari says, “We are a toll processing company. When manufacturers make a virgin material that isn’t 100% perfect, they can send it to us and we make it right. If a material is discolored or mis-cut, we lighten it or screen it. If material has moisture, we use a large dryer to remove it. If there’s been a machinery malfunction, we have a metal detector to locate a stray bolt. Customers provide the packing material and we repackage the pellets however they need them. Sometimes packaging is all a customer wants.”
Since she was more familiar with operations, Billie works as production supervisor. Shari was familiar with administration and handles accounting and payroll. They have five other employees. They started with the dryer and bagging line, then added a hand-picking line, “a real person with a vacuum sitting on a stool,” according to Billie, and finally the screener and metal detector. They have added on twice to the warehouse they rent and the facility is about 20,000 square feet now. The office is open from 7:30 to 4, but the plant runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Billie says, “We’re very hands-on. We like to be totally involved and we don’t have any patience for things being not-quite right. It all has to be accurate, from the log sheets to the labels.”
Polymer Services of Ohio is well established now and Shari and Billie no longer lay awake at night wondering what tomorrow will bring, but there were days that were nearly overwhelming. Shari says, “The first three years, we didn’t draw a salary. We lived on credit cards, it was very hard. But, it had to work Everything we had was invested in this. It just had to work.”
According to Billie, “Getting to the right person to talk to was the most important thing. In the beginning, no one would talk to us, because we were just two women.” Shari says, “People would just try to run over us. That’s when I learned to get tough!”
But, they’re doing business the way they think it should be done. Shari says, “It’s gratifying to see employees and customers happy. Even though we’re always on call, it’s a lot less stress than making $5.15 an hour running someone else’s business. Everyone said it would take 5-7 years to establish the business, so we had seven year loans. But, we paid them off in three years. After that it was a lot more comfortable.”
Billie says, “These are warm, genuine relationships that are important to us. It’s so much better when there is open, honest dialog with customers and employees. That’s how we do it and that’s the best part of all.”
Their children are grown. Shari’s daughter is in pharmacy school, Billie's kids are both married. Shari likes to go fishing for relaxation. Billie does stamping and paper crafts and, according to Shari,“has a craft room you wouldn’t believe!”
They look forward to work instead of dreading it. And, there are other benefits to owning their own business. “We get two weeks of vacation now instead of one!”
For more information, contact Polymer Services of Ohio, 740-373-1177 or polymerservices@hughes.net.
Copyright © 2007 A Woman's View. All rights reserved.
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