Deb Niles (Niles & Associates, Inc. ) – Battle Creek, MI

NASE Member Deb Niles remembers the day she initiated the first sales call of her business – August 23, 1999. As with many self-employed, Deb operated the business out of a small space in her ranch-style home. When the company started growing, she built a new house with a designated area for the daily operations of the business. At that time, the Battle Creek, Michigan, entrepreneur could not predict that her product would grow to sell in 21 states, and that soon Niles & Associates, Inc. would be in a downtown high-rise office.

The real story of Deb’s success is her interest in finding a fundraising product to present to schools and non-profit organizations that had significant value and that could be used wider than the geographic region of one school district.

“I started looking for a product that was easy to handle and would offer a real value to the customer,” she said. “With our mobile society, it seemed to make sense that a customer would best benefit from a discount card that was universally accepted and not at just one specific location.”

With that idea, America’s ValuCard, a coupon book in a wallet-sized card, was launched through Niles & Associates, Inc. Each card is personalized to the group selling them, and offers discounts at 15 area businesses of their choosing. What makes America’s ValuCard unique is that it is accepted at over 8,000 participating merchants that provide discounts, not just the 15 shown on the card back. A card-holder can redeem a discount at any participating America’s ValuCard merchant within the nation.

Niles & Associates, Inc. handles producing the cards and securing the discount contracts with businesses, and the group collects money with each America’s ValuCard sold. To date, America’s ValuCard has generated over $3 million in revenue to schools and non-profits across the country.

One of the things Deb loves about her business is that she can still spend time with her teenage daughter Jessie, who already shows an entrepreneurial drive and expects to take an active role in managing the company.

To this point, Deb has been able to handle the growth of the business, and stays involved in the day-to-day decisions and activities. Niles & Associates, Inc. has recently begun negotiating nationwide contracts with recognized retailers and restaurant chains. With the growing potential to be in all 50 states Deb feels she is at a crossroads of how best to take the next expansion step. She knows she has a product that is appealing nationally. But she does not know if the best way to promote the growth of the America’s ValuCards is through pursuing more distributorship/franchises or to hire sales people nationwide.

The first option sets up others under their own authority and could allow greater growth for the America’s ValuCard brand since she would not be involved in everyday decisions. The second option allows tight control over the product, its reputation and how it is sold.

We posed Deb’s dilemma of growth strategy to NASE Shop Talk consultant Gene Fairbrother for guidance. Read his response, and then submit your own question to Gene through the Women’s Resource Center interactive “Voice of Experience.” If you would like to be featured in “Real Life Self-Employed,” email WomensResourceCenter@NASE.org.