PEDAL TO THE METAL

Woman Boss in
Man’s World grinds fledgling biz into
$5+ million a year!

Darlene Miller is an accidental entrepreneur. She became a company partner and eventually took over the business. Darlene built the business into a multi-million dollar enterprise by setting new goals and objectives and keeping to a focused plan. Being a woman in a machine shop often helped build sales as Darlene was a curiosity in the industry.

Darlene Miller never figured she’d be an entrepreneur.

In fact, Miller started in sales but came inside to do systems at Permac Industries, which specializes in precision machine products, because there were none in place there. “I really never dreamed of becoming an entrepreneur. I didn’t have that vision until it reached the point where the company wasn’t going well.” That’s when she invested money to enter into a partnership with the owner, who eventually decided to leave the firm.

“I knew it was a great opportunity and I was excited. But I knew it would be a challenge. It was like jumping into a canoe; you keep paddling. I never believed it was going to fail.”

Maybe, but in terms of financially, learning the business, “being a woman in a guy’s business and getting people to believe in you, it all was really tough.

At the same time, Miller said she had no reservations about asking any and all questions, even if they weren’t the most profound. “I asked a lot of stupid questions and got a lot of help from a lot of people. It’s amazing how much people are willing to do that.” From there, she said she started to network and learned of other people and other ways to meet more people. “That really helped me grow the business.” And with it, her own sense of self-determination.

Still, she said it can get kind of lonesome at the top. “Being the final word, it does get lonely. One night I was working on financials until 11 at night and went to bed and thought, ‘you are kind of alone.’ That doesn’t go away. Whether you’re doing well or not, even though you can communicate with other business owners—and I do a lot of that—you’re still the final decision maker. You have to learn to not question yourself so much when you make a decision.”

Miller, whose company had revenues of more than $5 million last year, acknowledged that, due to her gender, it was difficult for some employees to believe she could be effective as a leader in that particular industry. “When I first bought the business, one of them didn’t believe a girl could run the shop, so he left. That was difficult.” But her inclusive style of management helped ease the process among those who remained. “There were only seven of us at the time, but they believed very fast that we could do it together because I’d huddle with them and get their advice.

“It wasn’t a strategy. I needed them and had no clue what I was getting into. I’d always say ‘this is probably a stupid question’, but they’d laugh with me and help get the answers. I’m sure part of it was survival, because there were things I had to know. But I never felt embarrassed. It was a matter of we’re going to do this and do it together. And it worked.”

On the other hand, working with clients wasn’t much of an adjustment, largely because, as a woman in her position, she was considered somewhat of an oddity, which tended to pique the curiosity. “Because I think I was so unusual being a woman in that business, they would let me come see them. I got in doors easier that way. I was a curiosity and leveraged that.” Furthermore, she never hesitated to say, “I don’t know and will get you the answer.”

All the while, Miller also had to focus on getting her internal house in order. “Nothing was documented. We didn’t have any software system and no procedures. It was just toss it out there and get it done. Forget that you don’t have the tooling to do a job until the moment before. I knew I had to raise the level and make it a functional business.”

The fact she didn’t get a lot of static from her staff helped, she said. After all, she saw to it that they knew the score. “No one complained because I shared the numbers with them. I shared with them that we were going under and gave them everything to show them it wasn’t going well. They knew that we were on the edge because I told them.”•

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