Texas Microfiber

Alisa O’Banion signed up with Pacific Community Ventures on a whim, despite previous negative experiences with business mentors both paid and free alike. Her expectations were tempered, but she gave it a shot. Alisa owns Texas Microfiber, a certified Woman-owned Business Enterprise (WBE) that manufactures hygienic textiles for medical, automotive and janitorial use. She had recently launched a new online store hoping it would exponentially increase her sales, and she wasn’t quite sure which direction she should take her marketing efforts. 

Alisa was paired with advisor Steven Spector, Worldwide Learning Strategy Manager at Xerox, as part of an effort to develop a strategy to ramp up her sales and refine her branding. Since beginning her work with Steven, Facebook page has grown to over 4,000 likes. While her branding strategy has been successful, working with Steven allowed Alisa to realize that she needed to diversify her customer base, so she began to look at her business-to-business options, and she currently has a few great prospects, one of which resulted in a feature in the leading auto-care publication highlighting her as a successful and serendipitous WBE in a male-dominated industry.

Signing up with BusinessAdvising.org was the kind of spark Texas Microfiber needed, Texas Microfiber has never been better, and is on the verge of exponential growth. Steven’s support has guided her to make better business decisions, and she recently shared that his contributions have been invaluable to her: “Each time I speak to Steven he opens up new thoughts I had not considered and gives me plenty to ponder. He makes me feel like I can achieve anything and that I can do it.” 

We are excited to share that Alisa and Texas Microfiber are on their way to great success.

Update 4/28/2017

Alisa shared some news with us!

“Steven and I met today in person! It was so cool! I told him that so many things he has said to me have come home to roost. I told him about how I’ve been searching for the one thing that would be the money-maker and now I realize it is not “the one thing,” it is all of the things, all the seeds I’ve planted and fertilized. The strategic steps I have taken to plan my success are my “one thing”.

 What I mean, is that while you are doing all of the day-to-day efforts to stand out among your competition and hacking through the business analyst’s criticism of how much money you have spent on advertising and you feel every drop of your creative spirit leaving your body — and three days later you are still rattled from your business analyst’s analysis of how you spent your money last year. And then you just say – so? I believe what I am doing is going to work and you get that spirit fire back and say to yourself — I can do this. And then you set your goals and you get that motivation that you can’t be stopped because you are planning this so carefully and then, it happens!

You exhibit in a show for the 2nd year and people seek you out. Your phone does not stop ringing. You start getting deposits in advance. CBD payments. A reputation! The people who wouldn’t give you the time of day are willing to give you all of their business because you give them some thing that no one else did. Something they want. I really, really did not know this is what it is all about. And it is happening. And it is real. And you get to meet your business advisor in person and you both know where you’ve been and you both relish the experience because you are both so passionate about the art of the sale.

I am so glad I received that email that day and signed up for Pacific Community Ventures. Thank you! Thank you so, so much!

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