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Everyday Heroes, Furniture Medic
Meet Our Everyday Hero: Lynette Vanderzee
Lynette Vanderzee has been an owner within the Furniture Medic® network for 19 years. She started her business, alongside her sister Nanette, while being a mother of two daughters and has now grown a sustainable and profitable business generating $1.6M in revenue as well as a team of 13 employees in an 8,200 square foot facility. Thanks to her entrepreneurial spirit and determination, Lynette has built a strong woman owned business.
For Women’s History Month, we asked Lynette for her perspective on being an entrepreneur, a leader and what’s next for her as a Furniture Medic® #EverydayHero.
What’s the best career advice you’ve been given?
This is my first business. Most of my advice has come from life experiences, family (my dad had a business), friends, and my husband. A few core values for me have been customer service and creating a great experience. If you do these two things really well, everything else will work. When you fail, be sure to excel at service recovery and you will have a customer for life. Take care of your employees – they will take care of your customers, and happy customers create stable revenue and great referrals.
What advice do you have for women looking to grow their own business?
Make sure you have a strong foundation and focus on the fundamentals: operating capital, a good operating system, invest in training, and have the best tools and products. Listen to your intuition. If you think you need another employee, van, or larger space then more than likely you do. Once you invest you will look back and wonder how you managed without it.
What do you wish more people knew about being a woman in business?
Being a women can set you a part. The cabinet and furniture restoration business is predominantly a male industry. Our customers are many times surprised when a female technician shows up for a service event, and they are excited and delighted to see us.
What’s an accomplishment that makes you especially proud?
My proudest accomplishment is having developed a great reputation with many nationally recognized home builders, high-end regional remodelers, and cabinet manufacturers/distributors. We have many long-standing residential customers as well. We exceeded $1M dollars in revenue in 2021, and last year we closed the books at $1.6M.
What is your big goal for your business?
My big goal is creating and maintaining a fundamentally strong business that supports our team members & their families and will survive and thrive even after we retire.
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