Where Are They Now? An update on entrepreneurs featured in past issues.

An update on entrepreneurs featured in past issues.

Esoteric Sports Tours Inc.

Carey Dean

THEN:1993 Sales: $2 million

Talk about true love. Back in 1993, Carey Dean and his staffwere working 12- to 15-hour days to get their rookie business,which organizes custom travel packages to classic U.S. sportingevents, off the ground. The team's efforts were paying off, butDean was running himself ragged establishing Duluth, Georgia-basedEsoteric Sports Tours as a player in the United States and, at thesame time, marketing the business' services to foreigncountries. In short, playing the game of business didn't leaveDean much time to watch the sporting events he's so passionateabout.

NOW: 1996 Sales: $3.5 million

Hiring a full-time staff of five and firmly establishingcontacts as the business matured has given Dean more time tohimself--exactly what this entrepreneur wants. "I didn'tget into this business to see how much money I could make,"explains the 36-year-old entrepreneur. "I fully intended tolive an easier life at some point in time, and that's still mygoal."

Dean attributes Esoteric's heavy-hitting sales to threethings: lots of repeat business, a strong economy, and just plaingetting his company's name out there. Dean has also scored onthe international front, with overseas contacts sellingEsoteric's tours to clients in Australia, England and SouthAfrica--proving that sports truly is the internationallanguage.

What's his winning strategy? "We've matured in alot of ways," muses Dean. "Our markets have become moredefined, our relationships with contacts have matured, andwe've learned how to say no instead of taking every piece ofbusiness that comes down the pike"--something only anexperienced, successful business owner has the luxury of doing.Guess change is the name of this game.

Super Vision International Inc.

Brett Kingstone

THEN: 1994 Sales: $2.4 million

Brett Kingstone doesn't take business lightly. In 1994, hisfiber-optic light and cable manufacturing company was doing $2.4million in sales--but Kingstone still didn't consider it ashining success. Why? He knew Orlando, Florida-based Super VisionInternational could do much more.

Fiber-optic lighting offers so many advantages over neon (forstarters, it uses less than one-third the electricity, and it'sunbreakable), Kingstone felt confident it would continue to stealmarket share from neon, eventually edging it out of the spotlight.Even though his company's fiber-optic Coke bottle sign in NewYork City's Times Square was the world's largest, theentrepreneur was sure he could take his business to even greaterheights.

NOW: 1996 Sales: $6.8 million

In March 1996, Super Vision broke its own record. The companydesigned the gargantuan AT&T sign, also in Times Square, whichis almost twice the size of the Coca-Cola sign. If you placed allthe fiber used in the AT&T sign end to end, it would reach morethan halfway from Times Square to Orlando. "We outdidourselves," Kingstone says proudly.

Meanwhile, the 37-year-old entrepreneur keeps setting his sightshigher. Although Super Vision's annual sales have more thantripled in just over two years, "we don't consider that amajor jump in sales," Kingstone says. "Approximately $30billion worth of neon is sold worldwide, so if we were to get 10percent of the world market, that's $3 billion insales!"

Not that Kingstone will view Super Vision as inferior untilthen. He simply has loftier goals for his company. "A lot ofpeople ask me, `When will you say you're a success?' "he says. "On the sales side, it's when our sales become acertain percentage of the overall neon market; on the earningsside, it's when every employee in this company--including thereceptionist and the people on the production line can pay offtheir mortgages and put their kids through college."

The Princeton Review

John Katzman

THEN: 1987 Sales: $15 million

Some people are born overachievers. Consider John Katzman: Bythe age of 27, he had already started a business and begunfranchising it--to the tune of $15 million in annual sales. HisScholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) preparation courses were helpingthousands of teenagers ace the dreaded test. And the PrincetonReview had begun to complement the classes with a line of SATpreparation books. Could it get any better than this?

NOW: 1996 Sales: $70 million

As a matter of fact, yes. The SAT books were just the beginningof what Katzman refers to as a "change in direction to across-media education company." The Princeton Review has addedbooks and software to help kids make the transition from highschool to college and from college to graduate school. And, ofcourse, it's still offering its staple--the SAT prep courses,now available year-round in 65 cities at 600 locations across thecountry. Also in the works: courses aimed at helping students passlicensing tests (for example, helping medical school students passboards) and classes for professionals looking to changecareers.

How does a 21-year-old start a business that, only 16 yearslater, boasts sales of $70 million? Katzman got invaluable helpfrom a Washington, DC, franchise attorney who taught him not onlythe legal side of franchising but the ethical side as well. As aresult, says Katzman proudly, "we're one of the fewfranchisors that have never been in court with afranchisee."

And while students may find cramming for exams a bit of a drag,boredom has never been a problem for Katzman. "Over the years,we've hit our plateaus, but we've managed to work our waythrough them," he says. "The business has changed enoughto keep me interested. There's always a next peak."There's only one way to describe both Katzman's personalityand his report-card history: Type A.

Foghorn Press Inc.

Vicki DeArmon

THEN: 1993 Sales: $1 million plus

The publishing world has a glamorous reputation, right? Well,Vicki DeArmon got her start in the industry in 1985 by printing ahistory of the San Francisco 49ers, paying for the whole thing withher credit cards. Glamorous? Hardly, considering she was deep indebt. But the success of that book led Petaluma, California,Foghorn Press to publish more sports-related books, as well as someregional recreational and travel guides. By 1993, the business hada staff of 10 and published 33 titles annually . . . but that'snot the end of the story.

NOW: 1996 Sales: $2 million

Here's the plot twist: Foghorn Press no longer publishessports books; in the past several years, DeArmon has whittled downher list of titles to outdoor recreation guidebooks. Among thebestsellers are California Camping and the DogLovers' Companion series, which gives canine aficionadosthe inside scoop on where they can frolic with their furryfriends.

Narrowing down Foghorn's title list did a lot to make thepublishing house a success. "There's a shakeout in thepublishing industry. You need a very focused publishing program tomake it," explains DeArmon, 38.

Another chapter in this success story was switching to a"virtual workplace." The company has one fewer employeethan in 1993, but with its CFO, editors and production people allworking from their homes in Northern California's Bay Area,DeArmon says productivity has actually improved.

To achieve her goal of being the country's leading outdoorrecreation guidebook publisher by the year 2000, DeArmon intends tocustomize the California Camping and Dog Lovers'formats to different parts of the country. Says DeArmon,"We're taking our show on the road."

Checkfree Corp.

Pete Kight

THEN: 1993 Sales: $30 million

A 50-square-foot basement in Worthington, Ohio, may not seemlike the most auspicious location for an electronic paymentprocessing service. Indeed, when former fitness club manager PeteKight started Checkfree Corp. in January 1981, nobody--family,friends and industry experts included--thought the business wouldsucceed.

But Kight proved them all wrong. By 1993, the business boasted1,200 corporate clients and handled $3 billion in paymentsannually. Better yet, Checkfree was at the forefront of an emergingmarket--what's now called financial electronic commerce--andwas fast becoming known as the industry leader. Kight's bigdream: "to offer people the power to manage their personalfinances electronically."

NOW: 1996 Sales: $120 million plus

Kight no longer has to dream. Today, finances are just one thingpeople are managing electronically--and Checkfree Corp. is thereason why. How did Kight's big dream come true? Going publicin September 1995 enabled Checkfree to acquire its number-twocompetitor, Norcross, Georgia-based Servantis Systems Inc. (SSI),the banking industry's leading provider of electronic fundstransfer software, in 1996. By the time electronic banking reallytook off and banks began seeking out electronic funds transfersoftware and hardware, Checkfree was the provider of choice.

Now Kight is cashing in. Checkfree's client roster has grownto 1.3 million customers, and the company, now in Norcross,Georgia, handles more than $25 billion in payments every year. Andthat's not all: Kight has a new dream--one that could forevereliminate the dreaded phrase "The check's in themail." The company is working on a product to deliver billsand statements to customers via e-mail, enabling them to pay onscreen and have the funds automatically deducted from theirchecking accounts. "There's no reason to write out paperchecks anymore," contends Kight, 40.

Believe it or not, even with partnerships with nine of thenation's top 10 banks--among them Chase Manhattan and WellsFargo--and 1,500 employees at seven regional offices nationwide,Kight says, "We still have people who look at us and thinkwe're too small to pull all this off." That's OK--thenaysayers keep Kight's ego in check--or balance, as the casemay be.