In 1991, 47-year-old Linda Reimer walked into one of the country’s largest home plan design companies, Design Basics, Inc., looking for a low-stress, part-time summer job. She was offered a position photocopying blueprints. Today, she runs the Omaha-based company, which generates $5 – $7 million in annual sales and employs 50 people.
Reimer had spent the two-and-a-half decades before 1991 raising children and directing a preschool. She
Linda Reimer,
President, Design Basics, Inc. |
loved teaching young children and the preschool she had built was very popular. With her own children getting older, however, she was looking for something to fill up some time during the school’s summer break.
The type of person who throws herself into whatever she does, Reimer was hooked by the end of the summer and continued working at the home plan design company part-time throughout the school year.
Reimer has always had a natural love for home building. Her father built homes for 35 years; her mother drew many of his designs. Reimer also has a never-ending drive to learn and grow – something Design Basics’ owner Dennis Brozak noticed early on. She often made suggestions of ways things could be done better, and it wasn’t long before she volunteered to provide mini seminars on leadership, finance and business marketing for the company’s employees.
In 1994 Brozak asked Reimer to accept a full-time position as Director of Human Resources. Not wanting to leave her beloved preschool or its families in the lurch, she gave a year’s notice and worked both jobs during that time. After she moved the department’s focus from advocating employee rights to developing their personal growth, Brozak offered another challenge – heading up a catalog. When the catalog’s home designs sold well, he decided to test her financial judgment by making her Operations Director. Soon Reimer was put in control of all the company’s publishing and named Vice President for New Product Development.
By 1996, after 13 years at the helm of his company, Brozak began handing day-to-day operations over to Reimer. In 1997 she was officially named President of the company.
Despite her rapid advancement, it wasn’t all smooth sailing along the way. Because the majority of the firm’s customers were builders, she had to prove herself in a male-dominated field. Reimer visited builders across the country, asking for their input and learning about their challenges. Today, she is a popular speaker at national builder conventions with a keen insight into market trends.
Maintaining Design Basics’ momentum was a daunting challenge. During the early 1990’s, it had experienced tremendous growth – with sales increasing 700%. The company was named to INC Magazine’s top 500 list as one of America’s fastest growing companies two consecutive years. Its designs won prestigious national awards.
By 1997 when Linda took the reigns of the company, the housing industry was no longer booming and the home design market had become saturated and highly competitive. “We needed better cost controls. I had to make many difficult budgeting decisions and place restrictions on spending,” Reimer recalls.
“It was a time of strategic planning and refocusing,” Reimer continues. “We had to figure out how to get our plans everywhere – to build a huge, broad customer base, not only builders.”
Despite a fluctuating economy, the company is still growing at a steady rate, according to Reimer. “Today, many of our clients are consumers. Design Basics’ plans are marketed in 98% of the national home publications and in lumber yards and are featured in newspapers across the country every week. Our own publications are sold at Barnes and Noble and Borders. Maximizing opportunities on the Internet has allowed us to sell our plans throughout the world.”
Onlookers say Reimer’s management style is one of the keys to her success. She often creates positions based on individuals’ strengths and interests, rather than asking an employee to fit into a position. She encourages personal growth and responsibility; many departments within the firm are self-directed. Employees are encouraged to contribute ideas which may not be related to their own departments. A recent employee contest focusing on new marketing ideas resulted in a web store that markets regional artwork.
One employee comments, “Linda leads with her head and her heart. She has created a positive environment where people enjoy coming to work and a close-knit staff that celebrates one another’s birthdays, gathers for potlucks and gets together for a Thanksgiving smorgasbord.”
Looking back, Reimer is pleased with the turn her life has taken. “I thought nothing could beat raising children and being a teacher, knowing I was making a difference in children’s lives. Today, I’m still trying to make a difference for my employees, our builders and thousands of home buyers. So, in the second half of my life…I’m having the greatest time.”
|
