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Success Case Study |
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Frank Fatino has never been drunk or stoned when he was of legal age. He spent one year in jail for drug related charges, but has turned his life around and now helps others to do the same. Frank is a Certified Substance and Alcohol Abuse Counselor (CSAC II).
The road to owning a successful counseling practice began when he was working part time for another counseling service. That firm merged with another and opted to hire full time counselors. Frank was out of a job and took on the opportunity to clean the building that had held his former employer. After about a month of work Frank asked Bill Venable, the landlord, if he could help him expand a cleaning business.
Bill served as a member of the research committee for The Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC), with Dr. Michael Porter of the Harvard Business School, and had been working with several minority and ex-offender businesses. He asked Frank if cleaning was his real desire. He challenged Frank to think about how he might develop a business based on the counseling credentials he had worked so hard to earn.
Frank had proven to parole officers that he was a good counselor. He had developed a client case management protocol, designed for parolees, which delivered a high success rate of keeping many ex-offenders from returning to alcohol or drugs. His methodology was based on personal experience and through the education required to complete the credentialing process. Frank credits a great deal of his success to the process of individualized counseling and education utilizing "Motivational Interviewing" techniques.
As an extension of his core services, Frank developed and initiated an Anger Management program especially designed for inmates and parolees. This program helps the client to address a wide range of issues with the goal of achieving personal relationship improvements.
He and Bill developed a business model that allowed Frank to focus on the delivery of service in an environment that was free from many of the “time-thieves” of daily business operations.
The original breakeven point was six clients per week at $13 per visit. Bill built out a small classroom and office and kept the “meter” running for rent, phone and internet services and the time to handle administration and bookkeeping for the business. Frank was responsible for client management and daily deposits at the bank. By the end of the first month total revenue was negative $1250, yet the business was in motion and the dollars have only increased over time.
In the summer of 2007 Frank opened a second location in North Kansas City which has generated a profit since day one. This fall Frank moved into a newly remodeled 1,500 square foot office and classroom facility that supports offices for himself and two contract counselors who help in case management and service delivery.
The business should generate close to $100,000 in revenue in its third year of operation – with no debt. The firm has also served as the test bed for a second company, owned by Frank’s brother, that has developed an online solution for client case management, Abriza.
Frank Fatino was the “beta” client that has tested the The Eighth Rung Foundation business model. His firm delivers affordable, critical services to the Kansas City economy. Frank had viable ideas and work ethic but lacked typical startup capital and management skills. Thus far we have helped Frank to focus on growing his business to sustainability. He has the desire to learn and has benefitted from our leadership, managerial support and financial investment.
Fatino Counseling Service is a business that fits within our purpose: to develop and increase the number of successful sustainable business entrepreneurs in the urban core. |
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The Eighth Rung Foundation, Inc. 616 East 63rd Street Kansas City, MO 64110 |
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To contact us: |
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F: 816-361-1786 |
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Advancing Sustainable Business in the Kansas City Urban Core |
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The Eighth Rung Foundation, Inc. |
