THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, September 26, 1994 TAG: 9409240161
SECTION: BUSINESS WEEKLY PAGE: 9 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY JANET DUNPHY, SPECIAL TO BUSINESS WEEKLY
LENGTH: Long : 110 lines
There he was, standing in a minefield in northern Iraq, when the strap let go on his backpack, spilling 100 pounds of food, ammunition and radio to the ground.
``I had no idea it was going to break,'' said Mike Noell. ``At that point I told myself that if I got out of this one, I was going to make my own gear.''
Noell did get out of Iraq with ambition and an idea.
Today the former Navy SEAL makes backpacks with . . . that's right, sturdy straps.
Noell owns Blackhawk Industries Inc., a producer of outdoor gear and clothes for hikers and bikers, special police and military teams.
With the armed forces shrinking, thousands of military personnel are thinking about starting their own businesses. Many wonder about using the knowledge gained in the military to craft a product or service needed by the government.
In fact, the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Hampton is doing or has done contract work with 91 veteran-owned businesses in Hampton Roads.
While start-up businesses would help create jobs and boost the region's economy, veterans have learned that turning out services and products for the government demands its own discipline. Take the case of Mike Noell.
The Desert Storm incident helped change Noell's career. Operating his own company changed his view of the business world.
``It's a very eye-opening experience,'' he said. ``It's very competitive. It takes a lot of hard work to get things accomplished.''
There are some advantages to self-employment. During a recent interview, Noell sported one: casual office garb consisting of shorts, T-shirt and beach sandals.
The office, off London Bridge Road in a Virginia Beach industrial park, has its own casual touch. There's no fine furniture or art. But piled on the floor around the sewing machines in the back shop is the stuff of adventure.
There are backpacks and vests, camouflage jumpsuits and straps used to dangle people out of helicopters. Customers include police SWAT teams, Navy SEALS and the makers of the movie ``Clear and Present Danger.''
Blackhawk is also entering the biking and hiking market. Its backpack is compatible with a new type of canteen system, called Camelback, made by a Texas company.
Noell bought Blackhawk in 1993 when the company was less than a year old. After using similar gear for six years in the Navy, Noell believed he could improve it.
``We've made leaps and bounds since that time,'' he said, adding that Blackhawk products now carry lifetime guarantees. ``I believe in it. We're in it for a reason. I have personal feelings about this. I'm not in it just for the business.''
Blackhawk marketed itself chiefly by word of mouth. It's worked. Now it employs about 15 and has opened a store, Blackhawk Adventure Outfitters, near Gate 5 of Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base. It's also bidding on military contracts.
George Gabris did it his own way, too.
A former Navy SEAL, he resigned in 1992 after nine years in the service. Then he completed a 17-hour business course at Tidewater Community College, and with his wife, Mary, a medical saleswoman, opened Gabris Surgical.
They expect to make a profit next year.
Gabris Surgical makes intricate endoscopy and laboroscopy medical tools used in operating rooms. A New Jersey manufacturing plant employs 11, and the sales office in Virginia Beach employs four. VA hospitals are customers.
``It's hard to get yourself known at first,'' Gabris said. ``People think, here's another small business. How long will they be around?''
He figures the staying power is real. Gabris Surgical is a small business. And it's owned by a woman and a veteran. Those are advantages.
The new firm can bid on contracts that must be filled by a certain percentage of minorities. He said the government has begun to request bids on surgical orders.
Jim Nichols had confidence.
``I had sales records in every store I ever worked in,'' he said. ``I knew I could sell.''
An enlistee for six years, Nichols learned to fix computer printers in the Navy.
Then he decided to leave. ``They don't have a mechanism to reward people very fast,'' he said.
Today, he draws his own rewards as president of Hampton Roads Computer Co., a computer repair firm in Newport News.
``Was I scared? Oh yeah, I was scared,'' Nichols remembered about the decision to venture out alone.
But he called on his experience - during his Navy years, he had worked in sales part time for Kinney shoe stores. And he called on relatives for cash.
He opened the business with his own $1,000 savings. His father co-signed a loan for another $10,000.
Once the loan was available, 90 days later, Nichols had his first service contract for $12,000 in hand.
He figures one smart move was enrolling in a Zenith training program. As a Zenith affiliate, business came his way when Zenith won a large military contract.
``Every military door that has opened is due to Zenith,'' Nichols said.
The doors opened when he began repairing Zenith equipment at Langley Air Force Base. He began by meeting Langley's small-business coordinator, who put Nichols in touch with the base's purchasing coordinator.
Now he has three salespeople and a technician in a small Richmond office.
``The Navy is very much responsible for my success now because it did teach me discipline,'' Nichols said. ``It prepared me for the outside world, without a doubt.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by Ian Martin
Violetta McCash has been working at Blackhawk Industries for almost
a year. The business, started by ex-Navy SEAL Mike Noell, makes
outdoor gear and clothes for hikers and bikers, special police and
military teams.
by CNB