By Gerri Detweiler
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Shane and Melissa Nichols’ five-year-old business, Arkansas-based Medex Waste, is on track to bring in $1 million in revenue, thanks in large part to the free help they received from the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center. “I don’t think we could have made it without them,” says Shane. “Without them there to answer questions and to lead us in the right direction, it would have taken us a lot longer and cost us a lot more money.”
The idea for the Nichols’ business, a firm that transports medical waste for disposal, started percolating after Melissa lost her sales job with a large national medical waste disposal firm when her office closed. As a top salesperson, Melissa often found herself frustrated when some of her clients were unhappy with the services they received from the firm. Initially, she took the layoff as an opportunity to go back to school, but then decided to take a job with another firm in the same industry. When the new company tried to shortchange her on her commission, she decided with her husband to start their own business. (more…)
It started when Jeff and Jenny brewed two beers to give away as wedding favors at a brewery in San Luis Obispo, where they went to college. Homebrew projects and burst bottle explosions ensued in the years after. But a casual passion soon turned career as Jeff announced to Jenny that he had quit his job and had been accepted off a wait-list to brew school. You’d call them crazy, adventurous, unpredictable… a wildcard. Their story is one of the unexpected; a place where there are no limits, where perseverance and a free spirit will turn dreams into reality.
Manufactured in Michigan, Micro-LAM Technologies offers cutting edge technology that increases productivity and profitability for companies that make precision optical components such as lenses, telescopic mirrors, infrared imaging systems, laser components and smart gadget hardware. Micro-LAM’s product increases productivity by up to 500%, increases machine efficiency by up to 200%, improves part quality by an order of magnitude, and has an 8 to 10-month payback, making it a game changer in the precision manufacturing industry. Within a year of hitting the markets, Micro-LAM has sold systems in the US, Israel, the United Kingdom, Spain and Sweden.