Best business contest winners - Home Office Computing's annual contest - Cover Story

Home Office Computing, July, 1993 by Rosalind Resnick

Dr. Slick Instruments for Anglers, located in an office down the hall from Dr. High's medical practice, sells more than 60 varieties of fly-tying scissors and fishing clamps for serious fishermen. The clamps (called hemostats) and scissors come in a stainlesssteel or gold-looped finish and sell for $8 to $14 apiece.

Dr. High, now 60, started the business from home in 1989 after noticing that the nurses in the emergency room would throw clamps and scissors away after every surgical procedure. But where the hospital saw garbage, Dr. High spotted opportunity: "I gave several to my friends on the river, and they raved!" he recalls.

It wasn't until August 1992, however, when Dr. High, his wife, Jennifer, and two associates flew to Denver to display their instruments at the International Fly Tackle Dealer Show that the business really began to take off. Now his part-time business employs two fulltime workers and one part-timer.

"October and November's combined gross sales skyrocketed to a whopping $58,000," he says. But despite his sudden success, Dr. High says lie still puts in 40 to 50 hours a week as a practicing physician. He spends another 30 hours or more running the business. Rather than blocking out certain hours or days for his business, Dr. High juggles both simultaneously-examining a patient one minute, chatting with a mail-order customer the next. Although he still loves being a doctor, he's planning to retire from active practice within five years to focus solely on his part-time venture.

"I'm having a lot of fun with the business. I love the challenge."

SNAPSHOT

DR. KENNETH HIGH

RESIDENCE: Dillon, Montana

BUSINESS: Dr. Slick instruments for Anglers, sells fly-fishing instruments to stores and through mail order

1992 REVENUES: $160,000

EQUIPMENT: CompuAdd Ex-press 486DX computer; Intel SatisFaxtion fax/modem

SOFTWARE: FoxPro, Page-Maker, Quicken, and Word- Perfect

Rx FOR SUCCESS: "Fulfilling a need with a high-quality and reliable product."

The House That Diem Built

An architect who specializes in designing and renovating custom homes as well as small commercial buildings, Andrew H. Diem's house is his business card.

Diem, 43, lives and works in an airy, three-story "dream house" that permits natural light to stream in. Ten-foot ceilings on the house's main floor give it a sense of spaciousness. A dining room that doubles as a conference room is laid out as a perfect double cube, 10 feet wide by 10 feet high by 20 feet long, with ceiling moldings painted in bright yellow, red, and blue to echo the six architectural silk-screen prints on the walls.

"The house is very well known in the Washington area," Diem says. "It blends technical efficiency with aesthetic beauty and serves as a major marketing tool in seeking clients."

Diem built the house with the dual purpose of providing a comfortable living space for his family and an impeccable, functional office for himself.

In the living room/office, for example, his desk protrudes at right angles from one wall of bookshelves, housing architectural books and related materials. His drafting table is adjacent to the bookshelves, and the storage cabinets conceal file folders for various projects he's working on.