This case study shows that careful business decisions, based on strategic conversations can result in a synergy, if you will.

A blending of complementary companies with diverse strengths, into a dynamic, rapidly growing organization.

Not only surviving the dot.com crash in 2000-2001 but thriving in spite of it, principals of FurnitureFind Corporation, Steve Antisdel, Jeffrey Antisdel and Alan Rosehagen, sold their interests in the company (www.furniturefind.com), to a venture capital group in 2003.

In FurnitureFind.com, not only had the principals developed a successful online business, their company was an eCommerce trail blazer of sorts, working with search engine optimization, national fulfillment and service systems as well as consumer financing.

While embracing cyberspace, they never lost the human touch with salespeople you could talk with at any time, if you just picked up your telephone and dialed.

They expanded their Main Street presence to regional and national furniture buyers, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

The human touch, coupled with the right technology and products, brought these partners to a successful conclusion when they sold out in 2003. Their sale allowed them to open their new business, North Main Ventures.

North Main Venture became an investment company that also had some extraordinary technological expertise in the eCommerce space.

From its inception, North Main Ventures positioned itself as both a consultancy and investment organization, to partner with companies in need of the financial resources and technological assistance to maximize their total potential.

North Main Ventures helps companies develop a totally integrated eCommerce component to complement their existing storefront business.

The Story of Working Person

Antisdel explains, "I go down and meet with Eric, look at the store and do the analysis. It's got this de ja vu quality to it, like furniture was in 1997.

In other words - looking at it as a category, I don't see a big box player.

So I go back to Jeff and say we may have stumbled on to something that looks like an opportunity to apply what we know about building an online business."

Here's a little historical background about The Working Person Store. The store started as a small shoe repair business that sold work shoes and boots out of a shop in Lakeville, Indiana.

Next, owner, Dennis Deniger, decided to drive to the factory locations where the workers, who were also Working Person customers, spent their time.

Talk about customer service - they could buy shoes and boots right out of the back of Deniger's Plymouth Horizon while they were on break or coming off their work shift.

In 2000, Dennis Deniger's son, Eric, took over the business and added clothing that met the needs of Working Person's core customers - construction and factory workers, welders, plumbers, etc.

The company became the largest dealer of Carhartt clothing in Indiana by 2001 from a town of 400 people. And by 2002, Deniger started a small web site. The web site helped to expand the business even more.

"By 2005, they had 10 years of unbroken growth with an average of about 20 percent annually," explains Antisdel. "In the meantime, the store had become a destination - a store in a town of about 400 people, over 1 million dollars in annual sales with market share from about 50 miles around them."

Antisdel was brought into the picture as the web site started to gain some serious attention in 2004 from buyers outside the local area. "I saw a comprehensive approach to work gear - one that takes you from the top of your head to the soles of your feet with clothing, protective gear, eyewear and kneepads," says Antisdel.

And probably even more important, Antisdel saw what he had in Eric Deniger, "He has a granular, almost molecular knowledge of the space. He, as CEO, is the fearless leader with a very committed team - people who absolutely understand that the mission is to serve working people."

With a reputation for superb customer service and customer satisfaction, Working Person's strengths mesh well with the resources and technological expertise that North Main Ventures brings to the table.

The Joint Venture

North Main Ventures entered into an equity investment with Working Person, explains Antisdel. "We're building the national visibility of WorkingPerson.com because that's the expertise we had from FurnitureFind.com.

The WorkingPerson.com site underwent a significant makeover to bring it to where it is now in terms of visibility and we re-engineered the infrastructure so that the site has the tooling it needs to serve the customer properly."

With North Main Venture's participation in the venture, the web site development has been moved into a technology campus previously the technology center for FurnitureFind.com 20 miles north of Lakeville in Buchanan, Michigan.

So, now that they are up and racing along, how does their joint venture work on a day-to-day basis?

There are regular face-to-face management meetings in a conference room at North Main Venture for strategic planning purposes and major decision making, but Antisdel notes, "On a daily basis, we get together via e-mail, constantly sharing. We are on the speed dial on one another's cell phones - we're about five seconds apart when we need to get in touch. It's essential to have that kind of communication regarding the nuts and bolts."

Antisdel and Deniger illustrate how important communication is, particularly in cultivating a successful organizational synergy such as the one they have developed.

They have brought their individual strengths to the table to become a much stronger collective venture that satisfies customer needs on both a local and national level.