Philadelphia Small Business Story: Smith Flooring
After working for years in the flooring industry, husband and wife duo Kristin and James Smith set out to establish their own commercial flooring company, Smith Flooring, Inc. in 2006 in Philadelphia. Four years later, however, like many small business owners in the United States, the Smiths were caught in a difficult economic climate and struggled to increase sales. The Clinton Foundation’s Entrepreneur Mentoring Program matched the Smiths with industry veteran Catherine Leidersdorff, president of Architectural Flooring Resource. Together they mapped a plan to increase sales and improve financial infrastructure and management by hiring new sales personnel and streamlining business operations. As a result, Smith Flooring increased 2010 revenue by 27 percent over 2009 and is poised for continued growth.