Alex Lepe
Hillary Strasner originally wanted to go into dance, going as far as attending Texas Tech University on a dance scholarship. But she ended up switching to a business major - quickly.
“I loved dancing and was blessed to attend Arts Magnet High School in Dallas for it,” she says. “I graduated with scholarship offers from multiple colleges, and I was confident I would be doing what I love for the rest of my life,” Strasner, who grew up in Allen, said. But after starting college, “I knew dance was not going to be my long term profession; I needed a career to support myself and possibly a family down the road.”
After graduating, Strasner went to work for a major consulting company in human resources. After a few years, she phoned her former boss at the medical lab that she worked for in college and asked him if he’d consider going into business with her in the DFW area. She resigned her HR job, and the two wrote up a basic business plan and agreement on a restaurant napkin. And in 1999, they founded ProLab in Fort Worth.
Today, ProLab, a specialist in geriatric testing, does about $20 million in annual sales, working with 500 nursing facilities in five states, employing about 300, and promising quick, reliable turnarounds. Within the first year of business, Strasner, 41, added partner Holly Shields shortly before her original partner died unexpectedly. Sales peaked at $28 million and declined with the instability of Medicare, the company’s primary source of revenue. Today, the two are diversifying, growing and expanding into new markets.
Company culture It’s a balance between being caring for our patients and each other, while being rigorous and accurate in our labs.
Lessons learned Always expect the unexpected. In our attempt to expand into Mississippi, our goal was to have 30 clients in a year. We open the Mississippi location and within the first few months had 30 clients, and 60 prior to year’s end. We completely outstripped the budget and savings we had. As a self-funded company, we were not prepared and didn’t have the financial backing needed for such a fast-paced growth. It’s a great problem to have, but during the time, we were scrambling to make ends meet. We stuck through it, but it was very difficult to recover and get back on our feet after depleting all our financial resources.
Taking a line of credit after Mississippi Our next state, Alabama, we said, this time, we’re going to get a large line of credit to fund the growth. We’re growing; we’re starting to drain the line of credit. It was too easy to take our hand off the pulse and focus on the growth number versus profit. As an entrepreneur, it’s exciting and energizing to watch the revenue increase and hit all-time high numbers. All that said, we ended up blowing through the line of credit really fast and experienced the consequences of what it was like to owe a bank large sums of money with no profits. With future expansions, we went back to self-funding focusing primarily on profit versus just the increased revenue number.
Diversifying the business We’re going to be diversifying and expanding into new testing markets, opening doors to new possibilities and opportunities.
Strengths Our business model is focused on fast-turnaround, same-day results for all patients. This separates us from the large national labs. One personal strength is my love to problem-solve.
Weaknesses The people side of it. I love, love, love our employees. I want our employees to be successful in their jobs and give everyone a chance to win. All that said, our patience and the overall business must come first, resulting in difficult decisions at times.
Downtime I have three very energetic and active kids 14, 12 and 10. I try to be as organized, efficient and rigorous as possible to be all I can be as a mom, wife and business owner. I schedule one hour a day, at the same time every day, for “me” time. During this time I find exercising gives me the energy to take on my fast-paced, nonstop and at times high-stress life.
Off the clock The only time I’m am truly off the clock from work and family commitments is when I’m on vacation. Our best vacations are at the beach where I find it so easy to let go, truly relax and just enjoy the moment.