June 4, 2006
Section: BUSINESS
Edition: 1 STAR
Page: D1
Memo:CORPORATE PROFILE ** Also
see the sidebar - THE LEARNING SERVICE LTD. **
EVENTFUL DECADE AS THEIR OWN BOSS
TWO CANTON PARTNERS MARK FIRM'S 10 YEARS DOING WORKER TRAINING
Mike Rasor, Beacon Journal business
writer
Rose Sloat and Darryl Doane, managing partners of The Learning
Service Ltd., worked together in a large corporation for nine years,
training employees on customer service, sales and management skills.
They enjoyed their jobs, but thought it would be more exciting to
help other businesses with the same thing. |
| That was in 1996. This year, The Learning Service of Canton has
reached its 10th anniversary -- a serious milestone for small
businesses, Doane said.
1. What was the biggest driving factor in your decision to become
an entrepreneur?
Doane: Personally, the desire to make your own decisions, to be
independent and to have as much control over your destiny as
possible.
Sloat: And having a passion to help other people.
2. How did you determine whether there would be a market for your
service?
Doane: When we worked at Applied Industrial Technologies, we had
an opportunity to meet a lot of vendors from other companies,
probably 400 or 500.
We were able to bounce a lot of ideas off of them. Things like
customer service kept coming to the surface. There is a great need
for that. Also, leadership training and leadership effectiveness.
3. Did your family and friends support your decision to go out on
your own?
Sloat: I think they were a little skeptical at first, but pretty
supportive. I'm sure they were a little scared.
Doane: When you leave that cocoon of benefits and the paycheck, it
is scary. There are definitely risks involved, but our philosophy is
that risks must be taken to advance.
4. In the dark hours of the night, what worried you most about
your business in its early days?
Doane: My wife's piano teacher made a comment to me. She said even
though it is a small business, when you have your
own business, you think about it 24 hours a day
because you are the business. We write the
programs. We present the programs. We ship it out. If we don't do
it, nobody will. So it's constantly on our minds.
Sloat: We wanted to go in the right direction. It was basically
making sure we didn't spread ourselves too thin.
5. Is there anything you'd like to see in place in Northeast Ohio
to help small businesses?
Sloat: One area that might be lacking is that it is difficult for
small companies to afford benefits. That is one big area that could
have some improvement.
Doane: That is probably the biggest concern of small companies
today. How can they afford health-care? It is extremely expensive.
6. How much did you know about running a business
when you began?
Sloat: When we first knew we were going to do this, I took a class
at Kent State on how to start your own business.
That gave me a good foundation. It helped with the business
itself and with all the legal and state issues, like taxes and
different things the state requires you to follow.
Doane: We joined the Canton Chamber of Commerce. So we share a lot
of ideas with other small business owners. We
encourage each other to keep getting up and moving forward.
7. Over your career, what is the single most important thing you
have learned?
Doane: You never can let up. You have to constantly know and
understand what your focus of attention is. If things are going
fantastic now, but you're not reaching out to new clients, then six
months from now everything good can come to an end. You have to keep
reaching out to new clients.
Sloat: You have to stay up with the trends. We have really grown
in technology. We offer a lot of materials on the Web. You also have
to not forget about the customers you worked with in the past. If
you have a new product, that gives you an opportunity to offer that
new product to them.
8. What was the biggest mistake you made?
Doane: That's a good question. We have to be careful not to spread
ourselves too thin. There have been a couple of programs that we
spend a lot of time about, then realized that we were excited about
it, but companies weren't. We have to focus on the customer's
perception of reality.
Sloat: You constantly have to be asking the proper question to see
what the customer needs.
9. Did you have a mentor or adviser?
Sloat: There were two. When we were working at Applied Industrial
Technologies, I had a boss, Joe Breniser, who had retired when we
had started our company. He became a very good friend and our
mentor.
Doane: There was a second gentleman who was the president of an
advertising agency that was called Covey and Koons. Rod Covey Sr.
gave us a lot of good, sound advice. They picked our brains and gave
us a lot of guidance. We were so grateful for that that we dedicated
our second book to them.
10. A lot of your training articles are on your Web site. Does
that bother you to give away so much for free?
Doane: No, because it's only the tip of the iceberg. There is so
much more to delve into. You have to give away a lot to capture the
attention of your audience. We send individual courses to people for
free. The result is so positive that they normally want more.
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Illustration:PHOTO: Two ROBIN TINAY SALLIE /
Akron Beacon Journal
photos
1- Some of the publications put out by The Learning Service Ltd.
in Canton, marking its 10th anniversary, to help train workers in
customer service, sales and management skills. ** 2- Rose Sloat and
Darryl Doane with some of the publications put out by their company,
The Learning Service Ltd.
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Copyright (c) 2006 Akron Beacon Journal
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Darryl S. Doane and Rose D. Sloat,
Managing Partners • The Learning Service, 2800 Market Avenue
North, Suite 21, Canton, Ohio 44714 |
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