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Moving Forward
By Jennifer McGuiggan, Communications Coordinator
The idea for Momentum, Inc. (www.m-inc.com) began as a casual conversation between three co-workers who wondered, "If we weren't doing this, what would we be doing?" Their musings led the three, Steve Clay, Lori Daniels, and Karen Sarabok, to form Momentum when they realized that they shared "a desire to start out and a willingness to take the risk," says Daniels.
Despite the risk factor, Daniels asserts, "There was no doubt in my mind that I could do this. I tend to be a very positive person. I didn't want it to be a 'woulda-shoulda-coulda.'" So, she says, "We jumped off the cliff together."
Not without a safety net, though. Right from the start, Daniels explains, the new business owners "set some very solid ground rules" regarding their expectations of each other. They agreed to try the business for six months, during which time they would collect no salaries. After that time, anyone who wanted to would be allowed to back out graciously.
Ten weeks into the venture, Momentum landed a half million-dollar customer that provided both the seed money and confidence the principals needed to continue. Now, five years later, the company has 14 employees and boasts big name customers in the private, academic, and government sectors such as Hershey Medical Center, the Pennsylvania Department of Education, and the Defense Contract Management Agency, US Federal Government.
Within just three weeks of Momentum's start, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of General Services, Bureau of Contract Administration and Business Development certified Momentum as a Woman Business Enterprise (WBE). "That has definitely opened doors for us," says Daniels. "I attribute a lot of our success to that certification." Momentum is also certified as a Socially Economically Restricted Business (SERB). As their website explains, these certifications position Momentum as an important "value added" resource on Pennsylvania state initiatives due to the breadth of certified professional services for which it has received Commonwealth endorsement.
The Camp Hill, PA-based business possesses a comprehensive and integrated combination of knowledge, experience, and expertise in the following disciplines: Strategic Planning, Project Management, Customized Documentation and Training, and Business Transformation.
But what does Momentum do?
They get that question a lot, says Daniels. To illustrate, she often draws a straight line to represent a business system implementation project. Too many people, she says, "jump into the center without enough planning. They don't do enough work on the left side of the continuum."
To help businesses establish a strategic plan, Momentum helps them answer the question, "How does my business function today and how do I want it to function tomorrow?" says Daniels, noting, "A lot of people can solve the wrong problem right."
Momentum first helps a business define the correct question and answer and then aids with the project management implementation by using capabilities that range from training, consulting, and education to helping an organization develop a formalized Program Management Office (PMO).
One of the things that make Momentum successful, says Daniels, is their ability to listen to clients and understand what they're saying. She explains that this goes beyond verbal communication to include gauging body language and interpreting written communication. They have the ability, says Daniels, to "read a document and intuit out of it what's being said and kind of turn it around and ask, 'Is this really what you're saying?'"
Clay, Daniels, and Sarabok knew each other for three years before starting Momentum. "We interact well and compliment each other," says Dainels. "We all have certain strengths and we all have weaknesses … and we can identify our own and each others'." Plus, she adds, "We know how to fill the gaps."
Both Daniels and Sarabok were recognized in 2000 as one of Pennsylvania's Best 50 Women in Business. Momentum has been a finalist for Technology Company of the Year and Start Up Company of the Year through the Technology Council of Central Pennsylvania.
While larger companies are experiencing a downward trend and laying off employees, Momentum stays true to it's name and continues to move forward, recruiting new employees. One of the ways the company promotes growth and success is by ensuring that its employees are happy. "If you give people enough motivation, the cream will rise to the top. And we have an overabundance of cream," says Daniels.
"We work hard to get good people and then we work hard to keep good people," Daniels explains. Quarterly "Team Days," in which employees choose a fun activity and Momentum management foots the bill, help to build positive morale. In the past, employees have played games, had picnics, gone hiking, and even spent the day with co-workers, family, and friends at Hershey Park. Momentum employees also reap the benefits of a varied compensation package, including a base salary with a heavy incentive piece, along with a quarterly bonus that can be awarded for helping to develop a product or process or even for professionally developing themselves.
With women as two of the three principals, Momentum is attuned to the subject of gender in the workplace, but certainly don't make it an issue or give it center stage. "There are certain areas in which I realize that a man, rather than a woman, sitting across the table will be more effective," says Daniels. "Is that right or wrong? I don't know. It is what it is." Conversely, sometimes it's better for a woman to lead a project, she says. "The mantra is, how do we get the business, and how do we do it in a way that the customer is going to be happy?"
Although, as Daniels says, Momentum likes "the fact that we are small and nimble," they do have plans for continued growth. According to Daniels, the vision for Momentum's future includes a larger workforce, perhaps with 40 - 50 employees. The principals have also recently started another company called RSP Management.
In the end, says Daniels, "As long as your goal is to be happy and have self-respect, that can come in a variety of ways."
August 2003 |
