Sisters' Company Hits Growth Spurt Virtually Overnight

SEDRO-WOOLLEY - It was barely 9 a.m., and for most residents of this Skagit County mill community, the day was just beginning.

But in the green stucco building near the North Cascade Highway where Seven Sisters operates, work already was in full swing.

A bid for a wastewater-treatment project, books of cost estimates and other documents were spread on president Nancy Williams' desk.

Two workers stood near the desk, scrutinizing the documents, while Williams talked feverishly on the phone. Two other callers were on hold; a third worker hovered near the door.

Between pauses, Williams issued orders. Hanging up the phone, she ushered a visitor into an office chair as she quickly scanned a letter.

``We have a job bidding out this morning,'' she said. Later, with the bid complete, Williams relaxed and smiled.

The morning's frenzy was nothing, she said, compared to the pace last July when Seven Sisters, an electrical contracting firm owned by her and her six sisters, bought a telecommunications division from their father.

The acquisition not only transformed the character of Seven Sisters but also seemed to cast it in a different role in Skagit County and Western Washington.

Almost overnight, the company's work force rose from 35 to 75. Sales grew from $2 million in 1988 to $4.05 million last year.

The growth had a price. More workers meant buying more equipment, which shrunk the firm's working capital. The new equipment had to be maintained, and doing the payroll suddenly stretched from a half-day's work to a full-time job.

``I got here at 6:30 this morning,'' Williams said. ``I probably won't leave until 7:30 tonight. That's typical.''

The firm's ability to handle the added work attracted interest from economic development authorities here as well as from corporate leaders in Seattle who see Seven Sisters as a source of new jobs and economic life.

That potential led Seafirst Bank, the accounting firm of Ernst & Young and the law firm of Davis Wright Tremaine to name Seven Sisters the first candidate for a new ``Adopt an Emerging Business Project'' under which the corporations will provide Seven Sisters free legal, accounting and finance consulting.

Seven Sisters installs electrical systems for heavy commercial and industrial buildings such as bus garages, sewage-treatment plants and marinas. It also upgrades computerized electrical processes, and lays underground and overhead telephone cable lines.

A recent project for Metro involved upgrading a system to help engineers at a central location monitor operations and potential problems at outlying sewage-treatment plants.

Greg Adams, a partner with Davis Wright Tremaine and chairman of the project's selection committee, says the firm's key needs are employee management, more sophisticated accounting and bank-management services.

``They're not a startup, they've already got a niche within their community, a proven track record,'' Adams said.

``In the next few years, they should see their gross sales go up,'' he added. ``We think they can become a significant employer and economic contributor.''

A longtime friend, Mike Crawford, manager of Concrete NorWest in nearby Burlington, a division of Miles Sand and Gravel Co., added that he sees Seven Sisters at a crossroads.

Before, it was a small family firm, showing gradual growth in revenues. Now, he says, it's a business that could help diversify a farm- and timber-dependent economy.

``I think they finally figured out two or three years ago that they could make a go of this,'' Crawford said. ``Now, if they can get some real hands-on, expert help and get to know the systems that others have used successfully, well, they can be a strong, viable employer for our region.''

As the number of logging and other timber-related jobs shrinks, Seven Sisters could help the area's economy by providing jobs in electrical and telecommunications work, said Don Wick, executive director of the Economic Development Association of Skagit County.

In the early 1980s, Skagit County faced annual unemployment rates as high as 26 percent when farming, fishing and timber industries declined.

Now, with 1989 unemployment estimated at 8.5 percent, the economic picture is improving. Still, more jobs are needed, Wick said.

Many of Seven Sisters' employees are trained through company apprentice programs. And even though Williams has been too busy to complete more than a few college courses, she visits area community colleges to discuss career possibilities.

The firm started when Williams and her sisters bought a small electrical division from their father, Bill Snelson, with 10 employees and first-year sales of $750,000.

Williams, certified by the state office of Minority and Women Business Owners' Enterprise, began to channel much of the firm's energies into winning public projects.

Today about 40 percent of the company's work is in the public sector. The rest of their business involves projects with oil refineries, aluminum-production companies and the pulp-and-paper industry.

For Chris Thompson, one of Williams' sisters and the only other sibling who works full-time at the company, that mix of work is crucial. ``We don't want to be like some contractors where we have to rely on one company or one industry.''

Seven Sisters' sales goal is $5 million in 1990. From there, the firm hopes to increase its sales by 10 percent to 15 percent each year through 1995.

If the sales goals are realized, the firm probably would hire 8 to 10 workers each year.

Between preparing bids and completing construction jobs, Williams and Thompson have been putting together a ``wish list'' for the year, which includes help with taxes, writing business plans, cash flow management, equipment management and a look at some of their internal controls.

``Up to now, we've been small enough so that either Nancy or I was able to look at and sign every invoice and bill,'' Thompson said.

``As we grow, we don't want to lose control of our day-to-day operations,'' she added. ``We need to determine our comfort level.''

For Williams, many of the firm's needs became especially clear when it bought the telecommunications division.

``Oh, we'd do things like make a business plan because our banker liked to know we had one,'' she said. ``We never followed it.

``For me, going from managing more than just 6 to 7 employees was the biggest difference. The workload increased so much. It made me realize how important long-term planning is.''

Bill Snelson, owner of Snelson Inc. construction firm and Williams' father, is like a parent to his daughters' business. The two are independent entities, but Seven Sisters operates out of Snelson's offices and it's not unusual for one to refer the other to different projects.

The relationship began when Williams finished high school. Her father hired her in his mechanical division, where she pumped gas, fixed cars and ran errands.

Williams, 36, stayed with the firm 10 years, and eventually became the division's equipment manager.

Construction work was in her veins, she says. Working for someone else, even her father, was not.

By 1981, Snelson was trying to phase out an underused electrical division. Williams, looking for independence, saw possibilities and, with her sisters, bought the division from her father.

Thompson, 38, began working full time with the company after about six months. As vice president, she oversees accounting and finances.

Each of the seven sisters - Williams, Thompson, Linda Stidman, Susan Spiegel, Julie Snelson, Barbara Snelson and Mary Richards - owns one-seventh of the firm, and in the early days the other siblings contributed by helping Williams and Thompson catch up on bookkeeping and other work when needed.

Today, though, they're involved in ventures of their own: Stidman and her husband owns a resort business, Spiegel owns a printing business, Julie Snelson runs a general store near Blaine, Barbara Snelson is a locator for her father's company and Richards works for the Wright Runstad accounting firm in Seattle.

Strategies appears weekly in the Business Monday section of The Seattle Times.

Seven Sisters

-- Employees: 75

-- Headquarters: Sedro-Woolley

-- Business: electrical and telecommunications contractor

Chief Executive Officer: Nancy Williams

-- 1989 sales: $4.05 million

-- Major customers: Metro, Scott Paper Co., Intalco Aluminum, Texaco Refinery

-- Major competitors: Mills Electric, Cascade Electric

-- Strategy: Develop a business plan that will enable it to achieve a 10 to 15 percent rate of annual growth in sales and personnel without losing control of daily operations.