A Daughter Rescues the Family Security Business

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Nakia has upgraded the quality of workers, both in the office and on site Bill Cramer

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Shortly after, her dad held a meeting with the remaining office staff and several field supervisors and laid down the law: They had to stop calling him and begin treating Nakia as the boss. And he handed the check stamp over to Nakia.

Nakia needed to do more than just clean house. Top of the Clock was losing money and had to grow to become profitable. Her father had relied almost entirely on word of mouth to land business, but she set her sights higher. In 2002 she submitted a proposal to provide security services for an all-star weekend hosted by the National Basketball Assn. in Philadelphia. After a thorough grilling by NBA officials, Nakia won the contract. "That made me feel like, 'Yes! We can get business,' " she says. "That was really big." In recent years she has been submitting about 20 bids for new business each year. She credits the sales boost—to $3.7 million from $2 million in two years—in large part to those bids. And her focus on customer service has allowed her to raise prices on some older contracts by 3% to 12%. Unlike her dad, Nakia is vigilant about shedding money-losing contracts, and she walks away from bidding if it drops too low. In 2005, Top of the Clock turned a profit.

Nakia's professionalism and the "good, quality people she surrounded herself with," says Marc Bognar, regional vice-president at Philadelphia's Day & Zimmerman Group, led to a partnership with his company, which also provides security services. While the two won't disclose the names of clients they serve, the partnership is giving Top of the Clock experience in providing security for large industrial locations. It's also the first time Top of the Clock has been a subcontractor, which could serve as another door to larger contracts.

And after a four-year hunt, Nakia finally landed a $250,000 line of credit in 2005 from United Bank of Philadelphia, which was instrumental in solving her payroll tax problem and reaching an agreement with the Internal Revenue Service in 2008. By then, she had outsourced payroll to Paychex.

She's currently taking part in a Small Business Administration program aimed at providing coaching and training to entrepreneurs in inner cities. "Nakia is tenacious," says Elizabeth Hechtman, a leadership coach and an instructor with the SBA program. "No matter what she is faced with, she doesn't fall back and give up. She sticks with it and figures it out." The rigorous six-month program includes twice-a-month sessions on topics such as finance and marketing. But Nakia says it's the support of fellow entrepreneurs that has been invaluable. While she was trying to turn the business around, she says, "All my friends were working for somebody else. Nobody understood when I talked about having to make payroll. They didn't have to worry about those things." Now that she gets to meet with other entrepreneurs, she says, "Whatever your problem, with 20 people in a room, someone else has been through it."

"THE BUCK STOPS HERE"

Gregory's new kidney failed nine

months after the transplant, forcing him back on dialysis. In June 2008, Nakia got a call from her 17-year-old sister, Taahirah, that her father was unconscious. She drove the 10 minutes from the office to her parents' house in time to see her father taken away in an ambulance. He was rushed to a nearby hospital but could not be revived.

For Nakia, the death of her father has been disorienting. She says seeing her mother now as a single parent to her sister and 14-year-old brother, Haneef Muhammad, is "heartbreaking." Says Nakia: "That had never been our reality." She knows the financial security of the family now rests on her shoulders, but she does not seem daunted by it all. "I say my prayers, and then I come here [to the office] and say, 'Let's make this work.' "

In other ways, being alone has brought a sort of liberation. The name on the check stamp is now hers. "My dad had been such a big anchor in the business," Nakia says. "But I'm slowly getting [my bearings] back." She adds: "With him not here, there is more motivation to see it through. And there is a freedom now that didn't exist before. Not because he didn't allow it. But because people are very clear that the buck stops here. It is scary and exciting at the same time."

Back to BWSmallBiz December 2008/January 2009 Table of Contents

Barrett is a senior correspondent for BusinessWeek SmallBiz.