Business: DDM Metering Systems, Inc.

Location: Ventura

Established: 1996

What prompted you to open DDM Metering Systems?

Desperation and opportunity collided! In 1993 I moved from New York City to Los Angeles...without a job. I got a short term contract with an electrical engineer to build a historical database on electrical usage for a major Los Angeles hospital. It was a great assignment: a demanding puzzle to be solved and an enormous amount of data to be organized. After the project was completed, the engineer kindly got me a job with an electrical contractor who had a small submetering division for commercial and residential properties. I read the meters; calculated the electrical or water usage and the charges; and sent bills to tenants. In those days we barely had cell phones or email. Most meters were read remotely by data transfer via modem.

When it was clear that my exhausting 70-hour weeks would never be suitably rewarded, I became desperate to leave. The management of one of the properties we metered—a large office complex in Santa Monica—offered me a service contract if I was my own business. So in 1996, my renegade sole proprietorship was created: DDM Metering Systems! One of the things I am most proud of in my professional career is the fact that that Santa Monica facility is still a client fifteen years, and two different owners, later.

What role did WEV play in the development of DDM Metering Systems?

DDM was a small sole proprietorship happily snuggled in a cozy home office when suddenly the business began to go through rapid growth. Overnight, I needed office space and staff. My job as chief worker bee metamorphosed into manager and trainer. I realized I was totally unprepared for building the infrastructure of a business. Tea Silvestre—who had helped DDM tremendously with marketing, graphic design and writing services—strongly recommended WEV’s Business Plan Intensive (BPI) course so that I could plan the trajectory of my growing business, rather than continue to be reactive. Tea was the WEV instructor for my BPI course, and she was a great teacher. The class turned out to be one of the best learning experiences I’ve ever had. Six intense, information-packed Saturdays with five intense, ambitious classmates—all women entrepreneurs at different stages of their business development—rocked my world. I am grateful for the suggestions that bubbled up during classroom Master Mind sessions that have made a tremendous impact on my business. The diversity and caliber of guest speakers that WEV corralled for our Saturday sessions was a graduate education in itself.

What advice do you offer other women who might want to start their own business?

Never give up. Persist. Just keep at it. Breathe. There were times when I thought the business wouldn’t make it, but I’m still here 15 years later. Starting a business is the best antidote for unemployment.

Get as much help as you can as soon as you can. If I had known about WEV when I started, I would be retired by now! DDM has also received significant assistance from SCORE and from the Small Business Development Center.

If you need to hire staff, get the best people you can find and fit the jobs to them.

Develop a good inner thermostat for pricing. Many years ago, an engineer (male, of course) took me to task about my rates, which he thought were too low. When I’m setting a price and my stomach is churning and I feel a fever coming on...I know I still need to go 20 to 30 percent higher to reach the right range. Do your homework and make sure you know what other businesses are charging.

Relationships are not only the most important thing, they are the only thing. My business has grown almost entirely through referrals by building engineers and property managers.