Vo lu m e 2 : : I s s u e 2 : : A p r il / M a y 2 014
The Hill Country’s Premier Business Publication
NEW BUSINESS PROFILES LEADERSHIP REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT AND MORE...
104 Stone Canyon $704,000
Custom home in Cordillera Ranch on a secluded cul-de-sac. Features include a pool, 5.23 Acres, and easy access to the golf course and clubs.
MLS # 1037642, $188,000
Immaculately kept 4 bedroom home located conveniently to Boerne schools and 1-10. Home is still under 10-year builder warranty. Features include an open floor plan, walk in closets in every bedroom, owned security system, covered patio, and mature landscaping.
CALL ME. PUT ME TO WORK FOR YOU. C: 210.912.8221 | P: 830.816.2288 | F: 830.816.5903 angela@smvtexas.com | www.boernetexashomes.com
Bluebonnet Realty
Treat yourself to true luxury.
Stephanie Tillis, GENT - Manager
SIGNATURE GENT ST YLING SESSION • Personal Consultation • Tailored Cut
• Energizing Shampoo & Conditioning • Scalp Massage
• Steamed Towel • Finishing Touch Styling
O N LY $ 3 2
$ 1 0
O F F
Y O U R
930 E. Blanco, Ste. 400
::
F I R S T 830.443.4500
E X P E R I E N C E . ::
w w w. c o m p l e t e g e n t . c o m
CONTENTS 8
FROM THE PUBLISHER
10 CALENDAR 14 REAL ESTATE 16 BUSINESS INSPIRATION
12
Mama’s Cafe
18 TECHNOLOGY 20 GREAT FAMILY
BUSINESS PROFILE
24 HILL COUNTRY DAILY
BREAD MINISTRIES
28 LEON SPRINGS HISTORY 36 BUSINESSES THEN & NOW
22
How good leaders choose new hires. It’s all about chemistry
30
Administration / Advertising Publisher Benjamin D. Schooley ben@thecompanymag.com ADVERTISING SALES 210-507-5250 sales@thecompanymag.com
FINELY TUNED PERFECTION
Vic & Shawn Vaughan have turned Toyota of Boerne into a well oiled machine.
ART
26
Inflation. Should you be worried?
Creative Director Ben Weber ben.weber@smvtexas.com thecompanymag.com
6 | COMPANY MAGAZINE
THE TERRELL TEAM Where personal service is still in style.
HOME LOAN PROGRAMS AVAILABLE: Conventional • VA/VA Jumbo • FHA • Jumbo • USDA TX Vet • Commercial • Refinance • Construction • Lot/Land
Donna Terrell Senior Loan Officer NMLS#219044 (830) 816-5399 Office 116 W. Blanco Rd., Ste. 100 • Boerne, TX 78006
Boerne Kitchens and Baths
The Luxuries of Life Brought to Your Home Call Mark Burns today at 830-446-1506 for a free consultation. Remodel – Renovate – Refresh Boerne, Texas thecompanymag.com | 7
WELCOME | a letter from the publisher Dearest COMPANY Reader, All of us know that owning and running a business is hard work. It’s late hours, stress, and the daily grind that you pray ultimately leads you to some amount of stability. For the Vaughan family, who purchased Toyota of Boerne and began operating it in the summer of 2008, they knew they had a lot of work laid out before them. However, what they did not know is that the United States economy was about to crater, and create the worst environment imaginable to be taking the reins of a new auto dealership. While the family struggled to maintain the dealership and to create an environment that would eventually set the standard for Toyota dealerships across the country, they learned all about hard work. They also learned how to weather the storm as a team, all the while finding ways to connect to their new community and be positive influences. For Vic Vaughan and his son Shawn, the challenges of running your own business has led them to high levels of leadership and devotion and ultimately is leading them to expanding the horizons of their business and allowing them to break into new markets.
From a community in Boerne that has embraced the business and its owners and helped them to truly become a flagship dealership, the Vaughans are now operating dealerships in New Braunfels and San Marcos, and is moving the family in different directions and presenting them with new challenges. But, through it all, the family remains diligently focused on the one thing at the core of their enterprises: each other. It’s their actual family, and their work family as they will quickly admit that their employees have become family, and is certainly one of the main reasons for their success. We hope that you find this issue of COMPANY compelling and present you with information you won’t find anywhere else. As always, we welcome your comments and suggestions and hope you’ll send them to me at ben@ smvtexas.com. Thank you for reading! Sincerely,
Benjamin D. Schooley Publisher
8 | COMPANY MAGAZINE
CALENDAR |
BUSINESS AND HILL COUNTRY EVENTS CALENDAR
April 1
Groundbreaking for Menger Springs Overlook and Cibolo House Expansion 10:30 AM - 11:00 AM Groundbreaking for the Overlook & Cibolo Expansion at Morningside Ministries at Menger Springs!
April 1
Ribbon Cutting for The Merced Group - featuring Leading Elements 11:30 AM - 12:00 PM Come and welcome this new member!
April 3
Business After Hours Mixer sponsor Old No. 9, Longhorn Cafe & Crow’s Nest 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM Come mix and mingle with your fellow Chamber Members for the Business After Hours Mixer sponsored by Old No.9 Depot - Longhorn Cafe & Crow’s Nest. 10 | COMPANY MAGAZINE
April 23
Social Media Workshop: Implementing Your Social Media Stragegy 8:00 AM - 9:30 AM Register Online This workshop, designed for intermediate Facebook users who already have a properly set up Facebook page, continues to share ways users can improve their Facebook content, increase their viability, engage with their followers, and grow “likes”.
April 23
Ribbon Cutting for YAMAHA Fun Zone 11:30 AM - 12:00 PM Come and welcome this new member!
May 1
Economic Development Forum featuring keynote speaker Jack Inselmann 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM Register Online Jack Inselmann, Vice President, US Central Division, is responsible for Metrostudy’s Austin, Chicago, Dallas/Ft. Worth and San Antonio markets. Over the past seventeen years, Mr. Inselmann has gained a reputation in the San Antonio and Austin housing industry for thorough analysis and thoughtful insight into the many factors that affect the outlook for the local housing and real estate markets in those cities. He regularly meets and consults with over 100 home builders, lenders, private investors and institutions concerning trends in the Austin and San Antonio economies and their effect on real estate values and the demand for housing in those markets.
May 15
Ribbon Cutting and Grand Opening Centennial Bank 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM Come and see this new BANK!
830-249-2321 www.ebensberger-fisher.com 111 Rosewood Ave. Boerne, TX 78006
The Fisher Family
• Full funeral service arrangements as well as cremations and memorial services. • Prearranged burial and cremation insurance policies • Cemetery & Monument Sales
TECHNOLOGY YOU EXPECT FROM A BIG BANK. SERVICE YOU DON’T. We’re here with online banking, mobile banking, 1,100+ ATMs and a banker that answers the phone when you call.
frostbank.com Boerne Financial Center 1300 South Main Street Boerne, Texas 78006 (830) 249-6633
MEMBER FDIC
thecompanymag.com | 11
BUSINESS PROFILE | Name Brian Campos Title General Manager Business Name Mama’s Cafe Why Boerne for your location? We had the fortune of knowing Mike Buie and he was looking to transition from Boo-Dawgs and wanted to bring in a San Antonio favorite. Mama’s fit what he was looking for and it has been a great. What were some of the challenges you faced? All new openings are a challenge. New staff and location present great opportunities. The folks working for us have come through with flying colors and done a great job. We have plans on increasing our social media presence and will be starting a concert series in the spring. How has the community response been? It’s been great. We have developed a great following. Our customers have appreciated keeping the “local feel” of the restaurant. What kind of community involvement do you have? We continue to reach out via local marketing with magazines like yours, Boerne Youth Athletic Association, YMCA Thanksgiving Run and other channels. Mama’s has always been involved at the local level in San Antonio and we plan on keeping that tradition alive in Boerne. What does the future hold? Continue to build on the Mama’s tradition of offering great food to our customers day in day out. We are going to be taking this location to Full Service which we believe will offer our guests a better experience. Also, our future will always be to do as much as possible in the local community. What is one thing you want people to know? We are an organization with a name that represents family. That is what we are looking for and supporting and being an active member of the community. We do fundraising events to help organizations in our community. Feel free to talk with management team for more info. 12 | COMPANY MAGAZINE
MAMA’S CAFE
Welcome to Boerne
Bluebonnet Realty Serving Boerne area since 1989 Sales Listings Leasing Property Management VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.BOERNETEXASHOMES.COM or scan our QR code (right) to go directly to our website. Be sure and check out our full page ad in Explore Magazine or call any of our agents for information on any properties in the Boerne or surrounding areas.
Judy Filingeri
830-816-2288
Angela Schooley
210-912-8221
Scan Code With Your Smart Phone
Sandra Canavan
830-370-2011 thecompanymag.com | 13
REAL ESTATE |
14 | COMPANY MAGAZINE
DOES REAL ESTATE MAKE SENSE FOR YOUR INVESTMENT PORTFOLIO By Kevin Manner
Let me start by saying I am not a Certified Financial Planner but I do know a few things from personal and professional experience about Investing in Real Estate as a portfolio asset. Are you fed up with the returns you are get from bonds, the pathetic interest rates paid by banks and the uncertainty of the stock market? Do you prefer conservative investments you can understand, see and touch? Well, owning and leasing real estate may be the perfect investment alternative that can generate extra income for you while you are still working and when retired. If you are willing to learn, invest some time and effort you can generate a predictable, steady stream of monthly income. You, too, can put some real money into your Investment Portfolio by a methodical approach to Investing in Real Estate. This method of investing is also a great way to build Legacy Wealth that can be passed on to your family members. But please understand Investing in Real Estate is not for everyone. Here are some keys to think about before you invest. What is Your Commitment Level? Buying and flipping properties in today’s market is a very risky business. But Rental Real Estate for the long term hold can provide a steady, long-term income with some effort. Are you prepared to do research to learn the processes, find a property in a good location and make sure it will be attractive to people in the rental market? Are you ready to study the numbers to figure out if a property will work financially? Are you willing to manage the property yourself to maximize your Investment early on by fix the plumbing, cleaning the carpets and applying a fresh coat of paint for new tenants or would you prefer to be hands off and hire someone else to do it for you? Get to Know the Market Area BEFORE You Buy. Before you buy any Real Estate you need to know about the location, location, location. Not only is it important to know about the property you are buying but you MUST know about the area the property is located in as well. Is there something special about the property such as a great view, proximity to waterfront, good road frontage and visibility or access to public transportation? Is there a new retail center being built nearby, or a property that will compete for tenants or a new highway? You will never know everything going
on in the area, but you can find out if it is a solid rental market. Hire an Experienced Real Estate Professional such as myself and get out and about to actually talk to people about the area. You will never be able to accurately predict what the property will be worth in five years (Always Question Motives of Those Who Claim to Know), but you should know if you can rent it next week or month, and what rental rates can be achieved. Buy in Your Local Area When Getting Started. The farther away you are from your property, the harder it is to monitor and maintain the property. If your Investment property is too far away you will have to hire a property manager and this will eat into your profit margins. So start local, reduce management fees and maximize profits while you are gaining more experience and comfort Investing in Real Estate. Start by Investing in Real Estate You Understand. It can be as simple as a little self reflection about what you know about Real Estate to steer you in the correct direction for your first investment. If your market and Real Estate knowledge is limited start with a simple condo, single family home or duplex. But if you have some experience working in a retail business, industrial sector or office arena then by all means evaluate your market and go for it. But I would recommend to everyone regardless of there experience to start small and build the portfolio over time. Buy at the Right Price. One measure of a good deal is if you can buy a property for 12 times the amount of its annual rental income, then you’re getting a good deal. But in today’s market depending where you are buying you may even do better, perhaps 10 times the annual rental income. There are always variations, depending on the location, market conditions and type of property. Remember if the deal doesn’t make financial sense and feel right to you don’t buy. Emotions can be powerful especially in your first purchase so work with an Experience Real Estate Professional to help guide you through the process to make sure you are making a sound long term investment. Make Sure You Plan for Surprises. If you already own a home, then you know unexpected expenses and repairs will arise that will need to be dealt with immediately. It is imperative for you to have a cash reserve for each property to address those surprises that will occur, including the possibility that the property may be unoccupied for a period of time. You will also want to build occasional expenses into your financial equation to help you evaluate if the property is the right Real Estate Investment for Your Portfolio. Contact an Experienced Real Estate Professional to Help You with Getting Started! Don’t be afraid to diversify your Investment Portfolio with Real Estate but as with any new investment you may make - become educated, start slow and don’t expect to get rich quick!
Kevin Manner, Broker Associate, Kuper Sotheby’s International Kevin@MannerPropertyGroup.com, 210-722-5822 thecompanymag.com | 15
BUSINESS LIFE |
N O I T A R I P S N I E C I F OF
For maximum attention, nothing beats a good mistake.
A cubicle is just a padded cell without a door.
I can’t be fired. Slaves are sold!
Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings-they did it by killing all those who opposed them.
I have a degree in liberal arts. Do you want fries with that? I think, therefore I am overqualified. The less you bother me, the sooner we’ll get results. People who do the world’s real work don’t usually wear ties. I owe, I owe, so it’s off to work I go.
I cna ytpe 300 wrods pre mniuet!
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A meeting is an event at which the minutes are kept and the hours are lost. When the bosses talk about improving productivity they are never talking about themselves. There’s no job too simple for me to complicate.
Nothing makes me more productive than the last minute.
TECHNOLOGY |
iStick Multifunction Desktop Organizer
Working from home -- and making a decent living doing it – demands discipline, focus and follow-through. Decking your workspace out with some of the latest, greatest office tech doesn’t hurt either. Having the right gear just might boost your productivity, that is if you don’t let it drive you to distraction. Here are four of our favorite tech tools to spruce up your home office – and your workflow, too.
Studies show that a neat, clean desk can lead to more productivity. No surprise there. Clean up yours in a flash (drive) with the iStick Multifunction Desktop Organizer. Place the iStick over your computer keyboard (it’s not really for laptops, unfortunately) and load its compartments up with pens, pencils, sticky notes and other office clutter culprits. Then plug in your USB-friendly devices, charge them and channel your inner Martha Stewart. Price: $39.99
Epson WorkForce WF-3540 All-in-One Color Inkjet Printer CubeSensor
Being physically comfortable in your home work environment is as important as having an organized dedicated workspace. CubeSensors can help you keep yours from getting too hot or too cold or too bright or too dark, and a lot more. The sensor-stacked wireless connected cubes are designed to improve your health, comfort and productivity. They attempt to do just that by continuously analyzing and educating you about your immediate air quality, temperature, atmospheric pressure, humidity, light and noise levels. Oh, the internet of things. All you have to do is place a CubeSensor on your desk – or couch or wherever you’re working – and occasionally shake it to gauge your conditions. If it glows blue, everything’s kosher. If it glows red, something’s amiss and it’s time to check the companion iPhone app for friendly, environment-enhancing nudges. (“Open a window!” “Too dark to work!” “Lower humidity would be healthier.”) Price: $299 for two cubes, USB and ethernet cables, power adapter and base station
Yes, we know. Printers aren’t exactly sexy, but for most of us they’re still a much-needed home office staple. If you’re in the market for a new one, consider upgrading to a wireless Energy Star workhorse, like that Epson WorkForce WF-3540 All-in-One Printer. This high-capacity, multi-tray machine packs a decent batch of bells and whistles for the price, including touchscreen gesture navigation, double-sided printing, scanning, faxing and copying. Our favorite perk is the ability to print wirelessly from a tablet, smartphone or laptop. You can also use it to scan, save and move critical documents and pics to the cloud via Apple AirPrint and Google Air Print. Price: $199
Pure Jongo T4 Wireless Streaming Speaker
Cue your favorite workflow playlist and get to work. Research shows that listening to music makes us more productive and creative on the job. And what better to help you keep your tunes – and output and creativity – pumping all the work day (or night) than a sweet wireless speaker, like the new Jongo T4 from Pure? Because you toil from the comfort of your own home, you can go ahead and crank the shoebox-sized 50-watt Bluetooth room-filler up as loud as you like. The companion app turns your smartphone or tablet into a remote that you can cue tracks and stream Spotify, Rdio, Pandora and Deezer music from. Match the speaker grille to your workspace decor. They come in standard black, plus three rich tropical colors – burnt orange, lime green, and mango. Price: $299
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TEXAS INVESTORS TITLE Performance is ourPriority
Commercial, Ranch and Residential Title Transactions
Steve Vallone President
116 Blanco Rd. Ste 101
Becky Edmiston
100 Highland Park Village, Ste 200
steve@texasinvestorstitle.com
Vice President/Escrow Officer becky@texasinvestorstitle.com
Boerne, TX 78006 Dallas, TX 75205
p. (830) 816-5888 f. (830) 816-5889 p. (214) 295-3279 f. (214) 295-3001
BUSINESS PROFILE |
GREAT FAMILY BUSINESSES LLC
Ryan Leininger Nate Barber Name & Title Nate Barber, Co-Founder Kevin McManus, Co-Founder Ryan Leininger, Co-Founder Business Name Great Family Businesses LLC 20 | COMPANY MAGAZINE
Years in Operation 2-years, since January 2012 What makes your business so unique? It’s 7:52 PM. Your real work was done two-hours ago, yet you find yourself sitting amidst a gargantuan pile of receipts only half done compiling the expense reports you need be-
fore you can cut and ship three invoices to two customers. You run a family business, so when your daughter walks in and asks what you’re up to, you regretfully tell her that you’re sorry but you have more work you need to get done tonight. As your daughter leaves the room, you look despondently at the wearisome accounting software on your computer and wonder if going into business on your own was really worth it. We’ve been there. It is worth it. You don’t have to do it alone. Working alone is draining and frustrating. You can spend hours upon hours trying to figure out how to do something and in the end still question if you did everything correctly. Personally, we don’t care to work that way ever again and we created Great Family Businesses to be an incubation community for professionals like us, like you, to work together to get things done faster, better, cheaper and more joyfully. Great Family provides best-practice corporate services to your small or family business so that your organization can have the same type of efficient staffing and enterprise-class technology found at large corporations, but without the large corporate price tag. Kevin McManus Think of us as the team that handles the business of running your business. From office suites to virtual assistants; from front office to back office; from HR to IT; you do what you do best, we’ll handle the rest. We can often do in 15 minutes what might take you 4-8 hours, and therein lies our value. What would 4-8 additional billable hours be worth to you? What are 4-8 additional hours with your family or friends worth to you? What
would it be worth to you to know that everything you needed to support you in business was done right the first time, on-time, every time? Our primary mission is to make the services you use this year faster, better or cheaper next year. We can do this because we are a membership organization that leverages the same economies of scale that the big companies enjoy. We’re like the warehouse membership club stores, except instead of buying bulk cereal and box wine at members-only prices, you’re using efficient services and reliable technology at members-only prices. Ours is a two-pronged approach, the first of which is best-practices. Large corporations have the time and money to evaluate several options when it comes to processes and technology. Most small businesses have to just pick one and run with it. At Great family, we continually work to ensure that the services we provide are as efficient and effective as possible for our member companies. Our members can move forward confidently knowing the services and technology we provide through Great Family have been extensively evaluated and vetted to establish them as bestin-class. The second prong is partnership with our member companies. We truly believe that we can achieve more by working together. We’ve created a family of organizations, or a business commons if you will, in which we as Great Family thrive because our member companies thrive, and in response our member companies thrive because we are thriving. This kind of collaboration is the root of every prosperous community since the dawn of time and it made sense to us that business communities built on the same kind of teamwork should be just as prosperous. As it turns out, they are. There are plenty of companies out there that provide the services and technology we provide, and frankly, there is nothing particularly unique about any of the individual pieces of our puzzle. Our differentiation is in how we bring it all together.
to strive for perfection, to work diligently and to apply wisdom. We therefore believe that growing too large, too quickly would not put our members first, would make us out to be something we’re not, would hinder our ability to provide great services and make us run around like headless chickens. To us, that is foolishness. We’re not in this to become millionaires through Great Family. We’re in this so the owners of our member companies can be great in business and in life. It just so happens that each of our founders is also the owner of a member company. The incentives align naturally.
How has business been since opening? Business growth has been slow, consistent and great because we’ve chosen to make it slow, consistent and great. Our core values are to put others first, to be genuine,
What challenges are you currently working through? Our single biggest challenge is to develop best practice services and technology infrastructure that are identical for everyone but also flexible enough to meet everyone’s
Why Boerne for your location? Nate, one of our co-founders, was looking for office space in the Hill Country to implement his shared officeservices business model. Kevin, another of our co-founders, was looking for tenets for his shared office-space business model at his then partially filled building in Boerne. Ryan, our third co-founder, was looking a supportive community atmosphere in Boerne to build his family businesses. The three of us came together and realized that this was the time and place to launch this combined vision, and Boerne is where we all wanted to be. Future expansion plans? We’re already out of room at our current location and we’re currently looking at our options to expand to other locations. Two or three member companies need one to three additional offices each, so we’re looking at several spaces that will accommodate 6-12 offices in the same office suite arrangement. A couple companies will then move to the new suites with room to expand, thus giving the companies in our current building room to expand. This will also provide additional space for new member companies to colocate with us at affordable prices. For those not currently needing or looking for a dedicated office, we’ll then have two options for virtual offices with access to day-use space, conference rooms, virtual assistants and internet access.
needs. We gain our efficiencies by doing the same thing for everyone the same way, but not everyone wants every part of every service we provide. To overcome this challenge, we provide a number of options within an unvarying framework. If you want to use VOIP telephones thorough Great Family, we have a couple of telephone hardware options, but only one method for leasing those phones. If you want us to handle your books and payroll, we offer a few different levels of service but only one bookkeeping and payroll procedure. Maintaining this balance can be quite complex, especially as member needs and available technologies change. It’s for this reason that our best-practices need to be continually improving and adapting to our members and the market. Are these unique to your business? Enterprise-class companies around the world struggle with these same issues within their organizations. The difference for us is that instead of providing best practices and best-in-class technology to departments, our customers are individual member companies looking to improve their own profit margins. Just as departments work together for the benefit of the whole company, we help our member companies work together for the benefit of the whole community. The whole benefits because of its many parts and the parts benefit because they are part of the whole. What separates you from your competition? We firmly believe that business is just an excuse to work with the people you like. Clearly businesses must be and should be profitable, especially yours. But what if both can be true? What if you could be more profitable and like coming to work every day? What if you could be a sole-proprietor who has a team with you every step of the way? That’s our difference, that’s what sets us apart. Nowhere else will you find a team as committed as we are to helping you Be Great both in business and in life.
www.gr8fam.com thecompanymag.com | 21
LEADERSHIP |
22 | COMPANY MAGAZINE
MAKING GREAT HIRES
(part 3)
By Paul Wilson
Every employer who is serious about success understands the importance of building a great team. However, it’s not always easy to find the ideal employee. In today’s job market there are plenty of people looking for work, but weeding out the people who are not going to work out is the challenge. How does one do that? Throughout this series of articles, I have suggested that having a plan for identifying a great hire can help make a challenging exercise easier. The approach I have found to be the most useful is a grid of criteria often called “The Three C’s.” They are: CHARACTER – moral compass COMPETENCY – professional aptitude CHEMISTRY – personal compatibility In the first article of this series, we looked at the importance of Character. The moral compass of an employee has a profound influence on their professional performance. A person’s character will either help or hurt the corporate culture and public reputation of your company. You owe it to yourself, to your company and to your customers to hire people of admirable character. In the second article we considered Competency. While most employers typically look at the education and employment history outlined on a prospective employee’s resume, there is a whole lot more to competency than smarts and skills. Ignore this fact when hiring and you will end up with more work on your plate rather than less. In our final article of this series, let’s take a look at what I have discovered to be the single most important qualification of a
good hire - Chemistry. If you ask me, chemistry is king. Yes, character is vital. Yes, competency is important. But chemistry can make or break either of the other two. If you have an immensely qualified individual looking to work for your company, the temptation to hire them on the spot is alluring. However, if they are not a good “fit” for the culture of your company or the current personnel on your team, it won’t matter how talented they are professionally. Neglect the importance of the proper chemistry and the entire arrangement could blow up in your face. Chemistry is about how well a person fits in with the personality of your organization. All organizations have personalities. Some are serious. Others are playful. Some are fast moving. Others are more laid-back. There are as many personalities to companies as there are to people. Each one is unique. It is imperative that a leader understands his organization’s personality. One of the mistakes I made along the way was endeavoring to hire people with the right chemistry without understanding what our chemistry actually looked like. So a few years ago I set out to put our organization’s personality into words we could use to guide our consideration of prospective hires. The words we chose to describe our personality are not “scientific” terms. They are just words that readily come to mind when thinking about how we want to relate to one another as a team. We also chose some words that embody what we want our organization to be like when people experience it.
We chose words like warm (relational), creative, industrious, flexible and positive. Another important part of our chemistry is a sense of humor. It was such an integral part of who we are as an organization that we declared it as one of the important criteria for measuring a person’s “fit” with our team. If somebody lacks the ability to joke around and cut up, they are probably not going to thrive around our place. We share a lot of good-natured playfulness on our team. If you can’t roll with the punches when joking around with teammates – both on the giving and the receiving end of humor – we’ll probably annoy, more than enjoy, each other. Let me recommend a helpful exercise. Pull together a small circle of the key influencers in your organization and make a list of words that best describe your corporate personality. Discuss the merits of each of the words before deciding on a handful of them as the best expression of “who you are” as an organization. I’d suggest no more than a half-dozen words. Name them, define them, illustrate them and then incorporate them into the process you use for evaluating the strength of a potential hire’s addition to your team. Trust me, you’ll be glad you did…a hundred times over… a year down the road when you recognize how much you really enjoy working with another great addition to your team. You can thank me later.
Paul Wilson is the Senior Pastor of Cibolo Creek Community Church in Fair Oaks Ranch, Texas. Launched in 1996, Cibolo Creek is committed to the challenging mission of creating a church unchurched people love to attend. A Masters degree in Theology and thirty years of leadership experience in non-profit organizations have granted Paul a unique perspective on what it takes to lead people effectively. Paul and his wife, Charlotte, and their two teenage sons make their home in Fair Oaks Ranch, Texas.
thecompanymag.com | 23
UNDER THE RADAR |
HILL COUNTRY DAILY BREAD By Jenny Breuer
“One day several years ago I walked through the doors of Hill Country Daily Bread Ministries (HCDBM) after 2 hours of prayer and tears because my children needed food. I was humiliated I had allowed my life to come to this.” Beth had no idea how her life would change as a result of that decision to seek an extra layer of support. She was broken and desperate. HCDBM welcomed her in with compassion and the grace of God. We are a Christian non-profit organization dedicated to helping individuals and families living in poverty throughout eight counties in the Texas Hill
24 | COMPANY MAGAZINE
Country. We offer intake and support services to people like Beth. We listened, counseled, and prayed with her. “When I came to HCDBM I was treated with dignity and respect and I was given angels to lean on in the form of family mentors,” Beth explains about her experience. Hill Country Daily Bread partners with over 150 area churches and agencies to serve 13,000 people each year. We match families in crisis with families from who can encourage them through the difficult times. Beth’s mentor family gave her the courage to free herself and her daughters from a toxic environment of abuse. HCDBM works in the background providing food and resources to the families we serve but the true heroes are the mentors from our community who do God’s work. They volunteer from churches in the area to be there for these families
to show them a way out. “We grow with them in order to walk out of the crisis together” says Agnes Hubbard, Executive Director. She and husband David started the ministry 13 years ago from a borrowed garage. Today they have grown into a 16,000-squarefoot warehouse with plans for further expansion to meet the growing needs of families in crisis. “Our goal is to break the cycle of poverty and impact these families so they can move out of their situation. “ Both of Beth’s children were also matched with student mentors in our Stand By Me program for teens; one graduated from high school and is now in college and the other is thriving in middle school. And Beth puts it best; “My daughter doesn’t even qualify for the subsidized meals at school anymore.” Beth has successfully put back the pieces in her life. The participation of the community is vital to our organization and to neighbors like Beth. There are several ways to help; by volunteering your time in our warehouse or through many other key areas of the ministry; becoming a mentor to a family or a teen, through hosting food/needs drives or through contributions to our ministry.
Your Local Professional Employer Organization Experts Payroll Worker’s Compensation Employee Benefits Human Resources Time & Attendance
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FINANCIAL |
ARE YOUR FEARS OF INFLATION JUSTIFIED? By Karl Eggers
The fear of rampant inflation has been profound ever since the Fed began their unprecedented money printing campaign, which started during the financial crisis in 2008. Surprising to many, that fear hasn’t materialized yet. So, when will inflation heat up? Two important factors provide clues to answer the question everyone keeps asking. During the financial crisis, government finances went awry when recession caused tax revenues to plummet at the same time spending was increased through stimulus programs like the Trouble Assets Relief Program (TARP) and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve Bank (“The Fed”) was printing money to stabilize and even stimulate markets and the economy. In fact, the printing of new dollars has led the U.S. monetary base (total U.S. dollars outstanding) to quadruple from approximately $1 to $4 trillion since 2008. Observers of world history recognize that budget deficits as well as ballooning debt burden & money supply have been a recipe for hyperinflation and currency crises in many countries. It is understandable why many have feared inflation. To most people’s surprise, the rate of inflation (CPI) in the U.S. has been well below the long term average of 3.9% since WWII. In fact, the CPI has been declining over the past couple of years and is near 55 year lows. As a result, in 2013 gold plummeted while other inflation-sensitive assets such Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), Treasury InflationProtected Securities (TIPS), and commodities also fell. 26 | COMPANY MAGAZINE
Perhaps the biggest reason inflation has not become a problem yet is that much of the money printed by the Fed has not made its way out of the banking system and into the broader economy. Take a look at the chart below, which shows the total amount of U.S. dollars in circulation versus the overall total:
The difference between the two lines is the amount of money deposited back into the Federal Reserve by banks, as opposed to being lent out to consumers and businesses. Banks have a choice with their reserves: lend it out or deposit it at the Federal Reserve and earn 0.25%. So far, earn-
ing 0.25% has trumped their appetite for taking on risk by lending out the excess reserves. Perhaps it’s hard to blame banks for not being more aggressive with lending, considering many were on the brink of bankruptcy for not having enough reserves just a few years ago. Also, to be fair, there has been a lack of demand for bank loans by consumers and businesses looking to reduce their debt/leverage since the financial crisis. The bottom line is that the total U.S. dollars in circulation are what matter for inflation, not just the amount of money the Federal Reserve has created. Another key component to inflation is called the velocity of money. The velocity of money is essentially how fast $1 travels through the economy. Currently, the velocity of money is very low and hence, the reason inflation has been muted. It is not uncommon for the velocity of money to continue falling several years after a recession ends. If lending activity begins to increase or even spending by consumers and businesses increases, money in the economy will likely start to turnover more quickly. With the
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economy now entering its 5th year of expansion since the financial crisis, the turning point for velocity might be around the corner. When inflation does start to increase, it will not likely be at levels that are dangerous to the economy anytime soon. However, the reaction of capital markets is where the opportunity resides for investors. The very assets that have suffered because of a low inflation rate are the ones that are starting to perk up so far in 2014, despite any clear evidence that the overall inflation rate has moved higher. Financial markets are like a game of chess, where you always need to be thinking about the next move. If you intend to benefit from this potential inflection point, you must invest before the trend is obvious. By the time inflation is evident, much of the gains in these assets will likely be missed.
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HISTORY |
DOCUMENTING HISTORICAL LEON SPRINGS
Marlene Richardson and Jeanne Dixon didn’t know what they were starting when they began collecting oral histories of Leon Springs families back in 1983, and they had no idea it would take a quarter of a century to complete the project. Nor were they exactly young; Richardson was 48 and Dixon 64; although they didn’t think of themselves as old. Now, 25 years later, they are well aware of the passing of time, and that was why Dixon said to Richardson a couple of years ago, “I want to see this in print while I still can. We’ve got to stop researching and start writing.” So they did, although to Richardson, research was the fun part and writing was work. The result is “Passing Memories”, a history of the families of Leon Springs, selfpublished in 2009. The ladies are now 78 and Dixon passed away in 2011 at the age of 90, and Richardson said with typical Hill Country understatement, “This is our first.” She added that the two did not work steadily for 25 years but “pecked away at it.” One might think that a history of an unincorporated non-town that started as little more than a stagecoach stop 28 | COMPANY MAGAZINE
between San Antonio and Boerne (hence the Boerne Stage Road) could produce much history, but the book is packed with familiar family names connected to Helotes, Camp Bullis, Boerne, Comfort, Kerrville, and Fredericksburg. Most of the families were German or Polish, but many Hispanic families also helped settle and build the area. “Many families described as German,” said Richardson, “were actually Prussian.” In the back of the book is a list of 50 people who submitted their memories and family tales going back to the times when Apache and Comanche war parties roamed the hills. Of these 50 named contributors, only 20 are still alive. This was one reason Dixon believed the book should be published as soon as possible. She wanted some of those who contributed to read it. Also, she mentioned the honor of recording the stories of people nobody had ever interviewed. “It’s a good thing we started when we did,” she said, “or some of these stories would have been lost forever.” There were even Persian and Arab families in Leon Springs. At one time, an Islamic sect settled on a hilltop right behind the present location of HEB. One of them was even an Iranian Prince. One intriguing clue nagged at the authors for years. There was a published tale about John Meusebach of Fredericksburg fame having built his first Texas home at “Comanche Springs”. “It drove us crazy,” said Richardson. “Where was Comanche Springs?” Finally, they came across an old reference to Comanche Springs in what is now Camp Bullis. Later, Meusebach became well known for affecting the only treaty with an Indian nation that was never broken. About this time every year representatives of the Comanche Nation travel to Fredericksburg to commemorate the accomplishment and honor the descendants of Meusebach.
One of the problems in researching Leon Springs, said Richardson, was that people thought they meant Leon Valley. “Our children went to the three-room schoolhouse in Leon Springs. There were no frills. Any time we went to the school district to get help, they always thought we were doing just find. That’s because they thought we were Leon Valley!” This sort of thing was repeated when they sought historical information about Leon Springs. “No,” Dixon would say, “We’re in Leon Springs – not Leon Valley.” The identity confusion notwithstanding, the two friends pressed on and accumulated a massive collection of documents and stories. Such as: the stage stop in Leon Springs was built by Max Aue, and when the horse transportation was replaced by the iron horse, the train station was named for Aue. No, this was not in Leon valley. A photo of the train station adorns the cover of the book. The book is full of such stories and many ancient photographs. Dixon said that some people who thought they knew their family histories have read the book and exclaimed over some fact or anecdote; “I didn’t know that!”
To purchase your copy go to www.leonsprings.tx/resources.asp
30 | COMPANY MAGAZINE
FINELY TUNED
PERFECTION By Ben Schooley :: Photography By Ben Weber
When Vic Vaughan took over Boerne’s Toyota dealership in 2008, he had a lot on the line. Obviously, his financial obligations were massive, but he had also uprooted his entire family and moved them to Boerne from Houston; a town they had never been. Additionally, as the keys of the business were handed to Vic and his family, the United States entered into the second worst economy in US history, and by far the worst economy in automotive history. From there, Vic has led Toyota of Boerne to new heights, and is transitioning son Shawn into a larger role as their horizons continue to expand. Vic begins, “When we started in the pits of ’08, it was seriously tough. We had a good August of ’08, and then the bottom completely fell out. We dropped to under 100 new Toyotas a month, and maybe 35 pre-owned cars a month. To give you some comparison, we now average about 450 new and used each month. On a good month we’ll go into over 500 cars, so as you can see, those early days were tough.” While sales numbers was part of this issue at the new Toyota of Boerne, there was much more to it. Vic continues, “We opened with 65 strangers as employees. We
thecompanymag.com | 31
brought quite a few people from Houston with us, but for the most part, we hired people locally that we didn’t know. We entered on August 1 at 7am and it was a group of people with no processes, no policies, no relationships. We were just a bunch of strangers, and that was difficult, and then you mix in the climate at the time, and it was pretty much a disaster.” Shawn adds, “We took over on a Friday, and after our first Saturday I was sitting with Dad at his house while he poured a glass of wine. I asked him if it was as bad as it looked. He said, ‘No, it’s worse.’ This was very intense for me, because there was no indication that things were going to level off. Every day was the worst day. It was a void. The previous owner’s business was very good here, and it was good when we got hold of this. But after Labor Day, the economy simply killed us. This environment is like a sports team. You can throw a lot of talent in the room, but without leadership and some amount of teamwork, it’s a mess. After that winter, and during the spring, we started to see the light at the end of the tunnel. In March of ’09, we were finally able to stop the bleeding.” As the team tried to navigate the dicey waters of late ’08 and early ’09, Shawn focused intently on learning everything he could about this business. Shawn began as the marketing director, but quickly saw needs elsewhere. “I was working the phones and started to work the floor. I was helping customers, and just doing anything I could to assist. Everything was very delicate, but I learned extremely quick. Soon after, I was able to move to finance and I worked as Assistant Finance Manager. It was one of the hardest jobs I have had. It’s a lot of long hours and you must be good at both sides of the brain – good with people and good with numbers. Before it was all said and done, I was the #1 Finance guy. From there, I went to Assistant Used Car manager, then Used Car Director, then I began to put some of the same policies in place that I had put in Used Cars into the New Car section. I became General Sales Manager and did that until October of 2012, and then moved in as the General Manager.” 32 | COMPANY MAGAZINE
While Shawn’s ascension might seem fluid and linear, it was anything but. Vic explains, “I was grasping to put him somewhere he could make a living when we first got started. Our business was so bad, and I just wanted him to be somewhere he could survive until we stabilized. When the plane is going down, you don’t have time to serve wine; you’re just trying to get a seatbelt around yourself.” And as Shawn moved around the building in differing roles, he took valuable knowledge from each area. “I really enjoyed working in used cars. I’m a car junkie, and for me, going to the auctions, buying the cars, hand-picking them, that was really, really fun for me. As the GM, I’m really enjoying the fixed operations, service and parts side of the business. It’s the one part of the business that can directly affect our reten-
tion and our growth moving forward. We see them once to buy a car, but we’ll see them 6 to 12 times in the service department, and making that experience as consistently good as possible has been fun for me.” For the Vaughan family, that “fun” has translated into extraordinary success. Toyota of Boerne has grown to become one of the most successful dealerships in the country, and the Vaughans have worked hard to solidify their reputation nationally, as well as locally. Vic says, “One of the things we did when we opened was to have family at as many touch points as possible. This community is big on family, and this is certainly more than a job for us. We have work and we have family. We’re not big socializers. We work hard, and as a family, we’re very close. It’s a very simple life.” To assist with the commu-
nity involvement, the dealership focuses heavily on charity involvement. Vic continues, “We work very hard in the community to add worth and add value to the community via charities, donations, and other ways. We work closely with Transplants for Children, and we do our annual Turkeys for the Troops. This group is a lot of fun, and this year we gave away almost 2600 turkeys, as well as a new home! We also adopt 60 women and their children from the Medina Children’s Home every year and we get a list of specific wishes for Christmas, and we go get it for them. These things are very important to me, and they’re also very important to my family, and my employees. Everyone enjoys getting involved. When we were laying in bed one night and I knew I got the Boerne store, my wife asked me what I wanted to do. I said that I wanted the people in this community to say that my family really made a difference. I hope we’ve done that.”
NEW DIRECTIONS
In 2012, Nissan announced plans for a new Boerne location, and Vic and his team jumped at the opportunity. “We made a presentation for Nissan of Boerne. We didn’t get it. Everything happens for a reason, and for now, I’m happy we didn’t get it, even though I think we could have done a great job with it. We wish them well, and we think they’ll make a great business here in town. But as fate would have it, In January of ‘13, I got a phone call from a broker that told me the Nissan store in San Marcos was for sale. They had the worst Customer Service Index in Texas, and they were 65 out of 66 in sales efficiency. I bought it in May of 2013. Today, we’re up to 4th in that same index, we’ve tripled the volume, and we just won the Owner First Award, which is the highest award Nissan gives.” But their growth wasn’t stopping with the San Marcos store. Vic continues, “San Marcos is between Austin and San Antonio and there’s a lot more traffic, but the city is different. It’s a smaller store than ours here, we spent almost $500k upgrading the facility to our standard, thecompanymag.com | 33
and working to instill our processes over there. 90 days after we opened, Nissan saw the numbers we were doing, and rewarded our hard work with a companion point in New Braunfels. We have now purchased 8 acres of property right across from Buccee’s, and we’ll start construction in late summer. It’s going to be a big, beautiful store with a completion date of 3rd quarter of ’15. The opening will coincide with the new Maxima and Titan coming out, so the timing is wonderful. New Braunfels is exploding with their growth and the new infusions of people that are coming up the 35 corridor. We’ll move some of our top staff from San Marcos to New Braunfels, and we’ll continue to focus on their growth and direction. I’ll bounce from store to store to manage the growth.” As for Shawn, he’s continuing to focus on his own growing family and business. “In 5 years, it’s going to be 2019. My children will be 12 and 8, and if I were to list out in no particular order where I think we’d be in 5 years, I’d say I want to be an example for Gulf States Toyota of how a dealership in the outskirts of a major metro area can be a top 10 dealer. And I want to do it the right way. That’s what I think I learned from dad – there’s a lot of things you can do to mask getting your way to the top. Doing it the right way through honest hard work is tough, but it’s the only way I know how to do it. We have people driving in, flying in once a month to view our processes to mimic elsewhere. It’s amazing. I think I would also want to continue to protect this store because it’s the steam engine of our organization. What we’ve done here can be replicated at other stores, and it’s on me to ensure that the standard of service we provide here maintains its impeccable level. Being car guys we’re extremely competitive, and when you get to the level we’re at, we’re not just competing with other local dealerships, we’re competing with massive dealerships in enormous metropolitan areas, and that is so much fun to be on par with them.” As for Vic, it continues to be all about family for him. “When we started this conversation, I mentioned that we started Toyota of Boerne with 65 strangers. While that was true, it’s not true anymore. We have a serious nucleus of family here, and I’m related to some and others I’m not. But they’re still my family, and always will be.” 34 | COMPANY MAGAZINE
thecompanymag.com | 35
BOERNE THEN
NOW
The hadcr afted Max Be housed in the Antler seler Bar Restauran t.
The Antler Restaurant circa 1975.
on Main Billy Vanderstratten Saloon in 1908 fire by yed tro Des . eet Str
added hletic wing Saloon & at . 78 in 18 Philip Manor
to the
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COMPANY magazine is published by Schooley Media Ventures in Boerne, TX. COMPANY Magazine and Schooley Media Ventures are not responsible for any inaccuracies, erroneous information, or typographical errors contained in this publication submitted by advertisers. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the opinions of COMPANY and/or Schooley Media Ventures. Copyright 2013 Schooley Media Ventures, 930 E. Blanco, Boerne, TX 78006
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Need someone that speaks fluent insurance? I’m your agent for that.
No one wants to pay for unnecessary extras and with my help, you won’t have to. I’ll help make sure you understand your options, and that you have the best coverage at the best price. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. CALL ME TODAY. ®
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INSURANCE |
HEALTH INSURANCE: WHAT TO CHOOSE AND WHY By Ron Cisneros You just walked into Luby’s. Spread out ahead of you is a dizzying array of food choices. For those of us with little or no self-control, a man-made disaster is in the making. For those blessed with a greater constitution, there still exists confusion and agony over choosing which sides will accompany your turkey or grilled fish. And whether you pile on the calories or make your mom proud with healthy, green choices, there still exists the matter of payment. After all, Luby’s is not free. Thus a trip to Luby’s requires the skill of balancing the needs of your body, the desires of your mind, and the ability of your pocketbook to pay for it all. Purchasing your employee benefits is like the cafeteria line; in more ways than you might think. Like your plethora of choices in the Luby’s line, you could have a dizzying array of benefit choices ahead of you. Some of those choices, like the gooey mac-n-cheese at Luby’s, are going to have a lot of appeal but offer very little benefit in the long run. Other choices may cost a little more and seem a little less appetizing but will be critical to your well being in the long run. In addition to health insurance, your employee benefit specialist could offer you cancer insurance, accident insurance, dental insurance, short term disability insurance, long term disability insurance, critical illness insurance, hospital gap insurance, life insurance, and vision insurance. There could be other non-insurance options as well – Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs), and Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs). Now you have to decide between that which you really need, that which you want, and what you can afford. Health insurance tends to be the most agreed upon benefit and usually the most expensive. If it were a food item at Luby’s, it would probably be something green. You know you need it and it is good for you but it is not the tasty mac-n-cheese. Still, most people recognize that they need it, although in over twenty years of selling it, I have yet to meet someone who really wants to pay for it. After all, when it comes to buying employee benefits, health insur-
44 | COMPANY MAGAZINE
ance can quickly eat up your budget. There are a variety of reasons for its high cost including but not limited to government mandates and regulations. Another factor is poor consumer selection. A common complaint about health insurance, aside from cost, is that it is seldom used; at least by those who have the good fortune of being healthy. That is, however, the rub with all manner of insurance policies. For those of us with good driving records, the monthly bank draft for our auto insurance is an annoying monthly reminder that we are paying for a benefit we are not using. And yet we still carry our auto insurance policy because we know that one day our good luck will run out. So it is with health insurance. We may not be using it today or tomorrow but most of us will have the good fortune to grow older and as we age, we will most certainly use our health insurance. With that in mind, it is important to consider how we use our health insurance and what we really need. Too often consumers - the very same consumers who complain about not using their health insurance – are preoccupied with low deductibles and copayments when they should be considering higher deductibles and plans without copayments. High deductibles and simplified plans translate to lower premiums. Premium savings can be set aside in HSAs to be used against the higher cost of healthcare in the future. Like health insurance, life insurance can seem like a waste of money; particularly for the young. But before you make a decision to pass on the life insurance, consider this: You could go your whole life without a disability or the need for a long term care facility but you are guaranteed a death and you have no certainty of when it may occur. You could make a stronger case for life insurance if you are in your forties, married and have two kids at home than you could if you were in your twenties and single. Still, the circumstances of your life could change and you may not be able to purchase guaranteed life insurance in the future.
In some cases, the ability to purchase group life insurance on a guaranteed issue basis is only available at the time you are first eligible for benefits. Choosing not to take life insurance at that time could unnecessarily put you at risk. In group plans, life insurance is a safe, inexpensive option. In some cases, it is usually paired with accidental death and dismemberment coverage, which offers you additional risk aversion for pennies on the dollar. Think of it as a side dish of broccoli or green beans. Your mom will be happy and it will not bust the bank. Another must have is disability insurance. If you were unable to work for several months due to disability or illness, how would you make ends meet? Disability insurance is not sexy. It will not help you get a pair of new frames for your glasses. It will not help you get your teeth cleaned and pearly white. You may never use it at all though there does exist a great statistical likelihood that you will. According to the Council for Disability Awareness, over 1 in 4 of today’s 20 year-olds will become disabled before they retire! Even more surprising is the cause of long term absences, which are more commonly related to illnesses like heart attacks and cancer rather than accidents. What disability insurance will do is help you make your car payment, your mortgage payment, your utility payments, and keep food on the table. Disability insurance protects your income, without which, your ability to enjoy
life would be greatly diminished. When you are twenty and invincible, mac-n-cheese may seem like a necessity. It is cheap and goes a long way to filling your belly. By the time you reach you middle age, you may not need any more help filling your belly and you might even be willing to spend a bit more for something that better suits your needs. Insurance can be the same way. There are, however, some types of insurance which should most always be on your plate. The next time you are faced with an array of benefit choices, remember your veggies‌ life, health, and disability. thecompanymag.com | 45
PRACTICE FEATURE |
Th e START Center for Cancer Care i n Boerne By Karen Adams
It was early winter of 2013 and Bobbie Winn thought she had a bad chest cold. Her chest felt heavy and her cough was rough, so she decided to see her family practice physician. After a few tests, it was determined that Ms. Winn had a cancerous tumor in the right part of her chest and needed immediate treatment to kill the cancer cells, which were inoperable. Ms. Winn, 75, had just moved to Bandera from
46 | COMPANY MAGAZINE
Midland and did not have a local family practice doctor, let alone an oncologist. But her daughter, a hill country resident, recommended a visit to the team at The START Center for Cancer Care (The START Center) in Boerne. “The doctors and nurses at The START Center were exceptional on all levels, especially Dr. Kalter, my doctor and advocate,” said Ms. Winn.
Many residents in Boerne and the surrounding areas do not realize that The START Center facility located at the Methodist Boerne Medical Center on Menger Springs Road offers cutting-edge, customized cancer treatment with groundbreaking, accelerated drug development efforts. “It is a part of our mission to provide cancer patients living in and around Boerne the same quality of care that they would find in our San Antonio facilities,” said Steven Kalter, M.D., an oncologist and specialist with The START Center. “Our patients, just as Ms. Winn, are being treated with some of the most advanced treatments and technologies available today.” Ms. Winn started her treatments, which consisted of both chemo and radiation, on November 8, 2013 and finished February 25, 2014. “All the signs are pointing to remission,” said Winn. “What a blessing it has been to have these wonderful doctors and advanced treatments available in Boerne,” said Winn. “My commute from Bandera was quick, and the convenience of having a location that was close and accessible made it much easier for me and my family, especially as we tackled a draining disease,” she said. The physicians of the START Center aim to usher in a new era in cancer treatment, one that combines customized, streamlined cancer treatment with groundbreaking, accelerated drug development efforts. The center houses a full spectrum of clinical care for cancer patients, including chemotherapy, state-of- the-art radiation therapy, hormonal therapy and wellness programs. The START Center in Boerne is located at 134 Menger Springs Road; phone 210593-5900. More at www.thestartcenter.com.
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A SHARED VISION Dave and LeDona Claflin, founders of FasTest, are taking their business acumen and are rapidly expanding to new markets. By Ben Schooley Dave and LeDona Claflin have truly done it all. From the earliest days of the marriage, they both knew that their career paths would probably involve breaking out of the corporate race and instead, striking out on their own. From a house cleaning company to an overnight shipping company, and ultimately to the medical testing company Fas-Tes, the Claflins have sought to not only better their own lives, but are also seeking to better the lives of those around them. Dave begins, “I grew up in the Beaumont area, and was certain I would go into computer robotics because that’s what was supposed to be the next big thing. I made it through one semester in that major, and by the end of my 2nd semester, my professor showed me that he was a genius and I was not.” Perhaps a bit discouraged, Dave dropped out of school and worked selling cars, selling insurance, and even selling MLM deals. With none of it engaging him, he eventually went back to college at Lamar University and received a 4.0 in Real Estate Investment. While Dave moved on to work for Prudential in the commercial real estate division, his wife LeDona was expecting their first baby while her own graduation from college loomed. She continues, “I always knew that Dave would be successful, and one day I was just watching him work like crazy for Prudential and I told him that if he was going to work so hard at something, it should be his own. Why only get a fraction of the profit when you’re doing so much work?” And with that, the young family opened a Merry Maids franchise. Dave explains, “It was phenomenal. We ran that for 13 years, and just loved it. However, we did see that there was a ceiling for it. It was never going to be any bigger than what we had established, and so with that, we were able to sell it.” Upon the sale, the family went to
Hawaii for a celebratory trip, and while away on the trip, Hurricane Rita hit the Gulf Coast in 2005. Shortly before the sale of Merry Maids, they had bought into a franchise for Worldwide Express, which was a web-based shipping service. So, from his hotel room in Hawaii, Dave and the family began to think about what other options were out there for them to live. “We were sick of hurricanes,” Dave explains. “We had a friend that had come to Boerne to help establish a new church, 1910 (previously Watermark). So we came over to visit and help her get the youth ministry set up, and ready for the first service.. On launch day, we looked at the hills, and the skyline, and the water, and the cool little snow cone lady that is over by the river. We know now that it only happens where you get one day per year that has absolutely perfect weather, but we were here for that day, and we fell in love.” Shortly before the hurricanes, LeDona had lost her mom to cancer, and shortly after the hurricane, Dave’s mother passed, also from cancer. “We started talking about how the kids didn’t have grandmas, and we thought ‘Why do people wait to retire to move to a place they love and then only know strangers when they get there?’ All of our vacations were in the Hill Country, and so we figured we’d always retire here. After helping our friend with her ministry, we kicked around the idea and decided to move here.” And with that, they became Boerne’s newest residents in 2007. As they worked to lay down roots in their new town, Dave was still required to cold call in his territory for his shipping franchise, which required him to head back to Beaumont frequently. “I was cold calling one day and I walked into a company that did drug testing, and they had packages all over the place, which made them a good prosthecompanymag.com | 49
pect for me. He told me about his business, and we sat there for 2 hours, and he explained the entire concept. Every time I went back I would go see him and learn more about it. I asked him if he would pray about teaching me his business, and I promised to help him organize his business better so that he could franchise it. So he trained us both, and he said he prayed about it, and said that someone else taught him the business, and he owed someone else the same gift, and that was us.” And with that, Fas-Tes was founded and opened in 2008 on I-10. As everyone remembers, 2008 was a pretty tough year, and opening a new business during this time was pretty risky. However, at the same time, the Claflins saw how lucky they actually were. Dave explains, “Our Worldwide Express business was cut in half literally overnight. DHL (the main supplier) stopped domestic deliveries and that wiped us out. Literally overnight we were at 50% capacity. It made Fas-Tes all the more important for us and even more of our focus.” From that first day, Fas-Tes has been growing. “In an economy when most people were laying off staff, we kept growing. It was because the Lord had His hand on our business, and we were offering a service that was different than our competitors. We serve people within 5 minutes. It’s all we do, and we’re able to specialize. We give results immediately, there’s no 3-5 day wait and people see real value in that.” Eventually investing in the Ten Oak Storage Center on Old San Antonio Road (by Kendall Elementary School), the Claflins continued to look for ways to involve themselves locally, and invariably, they have been led back to 1910 Church. “We are very heavily involved in youth Ministry at 1910. I’m a youth counselor and I’ve gotten to watch the kids grow from kid’s church up through the youth programs, and it’s been wonderful. Our life tends to be our work and our church. Our church and our work. Day in and day out.” 50 | COMPANY MAGAZINE
Fas-Tes has quickly grown to having 10 franchisees now, and there is no end in sight. Fas-Tes is providing a superior opportunity for those looking to break into the market. “You have to have certifications to do this business, and finding someone to get you the certifications is a challenge, and we do a lot to assist our franchisees. Relationships with the national labs is necessary, too, and we provide that as well. As we grew, more labs want to use you because they see your volume. So we have national agreements where these franchisees get our pricing which saves them considerably. They also have the pricing structure set, the agreements are in place, and the legal avenues are all prepared. The policies are prepared, and the entire structure as well as the understanding of ongoing law changes. Vendor relationships are key, and our insurance relationships help them, also.” While the business of Fas-Tes is focused on growth, the Claflins are also focused beyond the business world toward areas of growth. “Our main goal is to fund missionaries right now. Instead of being a missionary in the field, we’d like to ensure that we can provide them the resources they need to fund their mission. We want to do this so we can fund missions for kingdom-building activities. What drives us is that we want to grow this to where we can privately fund missions where people will never know about our support, but it will be a legacy that will continue on for generations and will always be a secret. That’s what’s in our heart. More so than anything else, that’s what’s in our heart.” thecompanymag.com | 51
Locally owned & operated
Home Care
Hospice Care
Skilled Nursing Therapy Services Medical Social Worker Specialty Programs Home Health Aides
Nursing Care Pain and Symptom Management Emotional and Spiritual Support Hospice Aides Trained Volunteers
37131 IH-10 W., Ste. 400 • Boerne, TX 78006 • 830.331.1291 Visit us on the web at www.allcountyhomecareandhospice.com 52 | COMPANY MAGAZINE
OVER 30 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE • Creating a healthy mind • Improving the functionality of the nervous system • Achieving optimal nutrition • Building personalized exercise regimens • Minimizing the intake of toxins • Message therapy: - Deep tissue - Sciatica relaxation - Pre natal - Therapeutic - Reflexology - Lomi lomi • Community Support
Doctors:
Dr. Chad Carpenter Dr. Jesus Castaneda
830.816.4357 Fax: 830.331.8718
1510 S. Main St. • Boerne, Texas 78006 www.thecarpenterstouch.com
MASSAGE |
WHAT IS MEDICAL MASSAGE... AND DO YOU NEED IT? By Nancy Frazier, LMT, CCT, MMT
Do you have pain that doesn’t seem to go away? Are you contemplating pain shots, taking anti-inflammatory meds continuously or even considering surgery? Does your pain return when the medicine/shots wear off? Did your Physician or Physical Therapist recommend massage but when you tried that, it still didn’t work? In any of these scenarios, Medical Massage may be just the help you were looking for. Medical Massage is a results based massage. This type of massage is primarily the application of specific treatments that are targeted to specific problems. The individual presents a diagnosis from the Physician, Chiropractor or Physical Therapist to the MMT (Medical Massage Therapist) and treatment begins after a thorough assessment/evaluation by the MMT. People may also independently seek the services of a MMT without a prescription. The MMT will customize the session for each client based on a person’s current medical or orthopedic condition. The goal is to normalize the soft tissues of the body and to achieve balance. Some of those outcomes are reduction in pain, increased range of motion, stability and increased functionality. One thing that is also a benefit of this type of massage is that the therapist will usually explain in laymen’s terms, what it is that they are doing and why they are doing it. This explanation also assists in the client’s confidence and healing if they know what is going on and why! Medical Massage therapy focuses on treating painful medical conditions which affect the soft tissues of the body. It is not as harsh as deep tissue massage. Advanced techniques such as structural integration, neuromuscular re-education, cupping, myofascial techniques and PNF (proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation) techniques are some of the common techniques used during a treatment session to treat painful or traumatized tissues. Treatments focus on problems involving an individual’s musculoskeletal system which also may include releasing tight muscles, stretching shortened muscles and tendons, and decompressing joints. 54 | COMPANY MAGAZINE
Acute Pain: Acute pain for the most part, results from disease, inflammation, or injury to tissues. It is immediate and usually of a short duration. Acute pain is a normal response to injury and may be accompanied by anxiety or emotional distress. Chronic Pain: Chronic pain is a continuous pain that persists for more than 3 months, beyond the time of normal healing. It ranges from mild to severe and can lasts weeks, months, or years even up to a lifetime. Chronic pain can often interfere with a person’s quality of life, sleep, and productivity. Back Pain Injuries: Spine injuries such as sprains and fractures can cause chronic pain. Sprains are tears in the ligaments that support the spine, and they can occur from twisting or lifting improperly. Less commonly, back pain may be caused by more severe injuries that result from accidents and falls. MMT’s commonly rely on the direction and diagnosis of Physicians and Chiropractors for treatment plans and evaluations. Sports Injuries: The term sports injury, in the broadest sense, refers to the kinds of injuries that most commonly occur during sports or exercise. Fortunately, most sports injuries can be treated effectively, and most people who suffer injuries can return to a satisfying level of physical activity after an injury. Medical massage is useful in addressing conditions such as: Carpal tunnel syndrome Sciatica Piriformis syndrome Rotator cuff injuries Pain associated with bulged or injured spinal disks (medical massage cannot ‘fix’ the disk, but can help alleviate much of the pain associated with the injury).
Migraines/headaches Pain associated with pregnancy Constipation Range of motion issues Fibromyalgia Back and Neck pain Plantar fasciitis (involving pain in the foot) Repetitive use injuries such as those listed and tennis elbow, Golfer’s elbow Pain associated with restricted fascia Pain associated with postural imbalances Muscle cramps Restless Legs Syndrome Sports/Exercise injuries Work Injuries Auto Injuries Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Edema (swelling) Injuries sustained in traumas such as falls or automobile accidents Thoracic Outlet Syndrome (numbness/tingling in hands/arms There is also a growing demand for pre and post-operative care, CAM (Complementary Alternative Medicine), treatments after Physical Therapy and those who are seeking additional therapies alongside their Physician directed treatments. Any massage therapist can claim to be a medical massage therapist. Massage customers should evaluate the training that their therapist has received to make sure the therapist is qualified to treat specific conditions.
Nancy Frazier, LMT, CCT, MMT Owner of Massage Matters in Boerne, Texas Nancy moved to Boerne in 2008 and started Massage Matters in 2009. One of her goals is to be the foremost therapeutic Massage Therapy clinic in the county. Focusing on helping others is her greatest thrill and she is grateful for that opportunity. Always improving, she is currently increasing her skills by becoming a Clinical Aromatherapist by the end of 2014. On her days off she loves to walk her Beagle, fine art painting and laughing with her husband.
thecompanymag.com | 55
HEALTHY LIVING |
56 | COMPANY MAGAZINE
TRYING TO LOSE WEIGHT? CHECK YOUR HORMONES. By Leigh Ann Grasso, Pharm.D., R.Ph.
Many people have started a diet and exercise regimen to attain their “beach body” for the summer. We are taught that eating right and exercise alone, will allow us to achieve our desired weight. Not true! Yes, a well-balanced diet and a regular exercise routine are an essential component to losing and maintaining body weight. Balanced hormones also play a vital role in weight management among other functions. These hormones include thyroid, estrogens, progesterone, testosterone, and cortisol. The thyroid produces hormones that are primarily responsible for regulating the rate of metabolism. When your thyroid does not produce enough of these hormones, you can get symptoms such as weight gain, fluid retention (bloating), dry skin and hair, constipation, cold and heat intolerance, low blood pressure, aching muscles and joints, depression, swollen neck, infertility, high cholesterol, and memory impairment. Yet, more than half of all people with thyroid disease are unaware of their condition. Doctors typically perform a screening test of thyroid hormone production called TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) which is actually produced by the anterior pituitary gland. TSH is an indirect measurement of how much thyroid hormone the body requires and should only be used as a screening tool for thyroid disorders. The reference range for this test is often too broad to trigger the doctor to address it as an underactive thyroid disorder. When the TSH lab is greater than 2, I recommend testing the actual hormones made by the thyroid. This test would include free T4 (levothyroxine) and free T3 (liothyronine) measurements as these are the actual hormones that interact with receptors to produce a response and are used in thyroid replacement. Estrogen dominance can hamper the conversion or activation of thyroid hormone T4 toT3. Levothyroxine is reserve or inactive thyroid which is converted to T3 making it biologically active thyroid that interacts with our receptors to produce a response. About 80% of circulating T3 is derived from secreted T4; therefore, excess estrogen can cause low thyroid symptoms which include impaired weight management.
Estrogen dominance can occur when you have more estrogen than progesterone creating an imbalance. Symptoms of estrogen dominance may include weight gain, fluid retention, low sex drive, pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS), headaches, blood sugar problems, nervousness, irritability, fibroids, heavy menstruation, endometriosis, sleep disturbances, sugar/carb cravings, and mood swings. These symptoms can occur when a woman has a hysterectomy or when she begins the process of menopause, often as early as her mid-thirties. Many women in this age category who experience “menopausal” symptoms are told they are “too young” for menopause, but in fact there is no age minimum for hormone imbalance. Menopause is defined as not having a menstrual cycle for 12 consecutive months. Pre-menopause defines a period of time leading up to menopause when hormones begin declining and becoming out of balance when compared to our most fertile years. Premenopause can last 10-15 years depending upon when the progesterone begins to decline. Many women have symptoms such as anxiety, depression, mood swings, and sleep disturbances that can be attributed to hormonal imbalance, but instead they are given drugs to treat the symptom and not the cause. With the abundance of estrogen-like compounds in our environment, estrogen dominance is very common among women. These compounds are often referred to as “xenoestrogens”. Xenoestrogens are found in plastics, fertilizers, pesticides, and food. By balancing your hormones, many of these symptoms will often disappear. This balancing act can be achieved through hormone replacement with compounds that are identical to the hormones your body naturally makes and by minimizing xenoextrogen exposure. Cortisol is a hormone made by your adrenal glands in response to a stressor. Small increases in cortisol help the body by giving short bursts of energy, immunity, heightened memory, and increased pain tolerance. Chronic stressors, including inflammation and exercise, keep cortisol levels elevated for extended periods of time. Too much cortisol
is actually bad for the body resulting in abdominal weight gain, decreased bone density and muscle mass, blood sugar imbalance, high blood pressure, decreased thyroid function, and lowered immune function. With our busy lifestyles, it is important to get adequate rest. Relaxation and meditation gives the body downtime to expunge mental stress to achieve a decline in cortisol to a normal baseline. Herbal supplements, called adaptogenic herbs, can also assist in cortisol augmentation. The source of chronic inflammation should be addressed as well to prevent cortisol elevation. If any of the symptoms above sound like the way you have been feeling, Annie’s Apothecary has the ability to measure your hormones non-invasively and offers personal consultations to get you back to feeling ‘normal’.
Dr Leigh Ann Grasso, University of Texas alumnus, is the compounding pharmacist and owner of Annie’s Apothecary in Boerne. Her passion is educating people to improve their health by replacing hormonal and nutrient deficiencies. She lives in Fair Oaks Ranch with her husband and three children. thecompanymag.com | 57
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58 | COMPANY MAGAZINE
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“Doing whatever it takes, when it matters most”
What is hospice?
Hospice is not a place, but rather a philosophy of care focused on providing comfort to individuals with life limiting illness. Alamo Hospice focuses on physical, mental, social, and spiritual well-being for patients, their families, and their support network. We provide care to patients in their own homes, assisted living facilities, and other community-based care settings.
What makes us different?
Hometown delivery of service • Mission-driven, Active community resource, Local decisions, Local leadership and staff. • Local Medical Director Ben Stahl MD National reach • Recognized “model program” for quality care, Boerne “Best of the Best” • National recognized accredited prepared program. Team approach to care • Access to 24 hr. care by the hospice team to include; Physician, Registered Nurses, Social Workers, Spiritual care coordinators, Bereavement counselors, Dieticians, Pharmacists, Hospice aides, Various therapists (massage, pet, PT, OT, ST), and Volunteers.
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830-816-5024 Fax: 830-331-9058
118 West Bandera Rd , Boerne Texas 78006 thecompanymag.com | 59
GET MORE VALUE WITH G.J. GARDNER HOMES. N O M AT T E R W H AT Y O U R B U D G E T.
CALL US TODAY FOR YOUR FREE CONSULTATION.
Kyle V. Cox, Architect/Owner/Builder :: 830.249.4952 :: kyle.cox@gjgardner.com :: www.gjgardnerboerne.com