Today we’d like to introduce you to Tara Dawn.
Tara, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Voytek Opalski and I started Opal Enterprises in 2003, out of necessity and ingenuity. Fresh out of college with a bachelor’s in Marketing and Voytek somewhat freshly immigrated from Poland and residing in a very large city that was still reeling from the 9-11-2001 terrorist event. We were a young couple trying to make it! For me it was nearly impossible to get hired on with an advertising agency that I had dreamt about, as so many organizations were downsizing and cutting back. I hunted for my career for nearly a solid year while I worked as a waitress to keep money coming in. Voytek was keeping employed during this time as a construction worker, mostly a day labor. Polish men who had not found solid employment literally stood at local gas stations and waited for construction foremen to come and pick them out of the crowd for a solid’s day, manual labor. Voytek did this sort of work for nearly 6-months until his work ethic was recognized by a strong business man who owned a restorations company and offered Voytek a position as a crew leader. Meanwhile, my story in the construction world started with me sitting on the stoop of our rental home in Harlem Irving Park; crying my eyes out. We lived in a very Polish neighborhood and I felt disconnected and unwanted in the working world. A very nice Polish man, by the name of Piotr Kwior walked by me and asked me in Polish why I was crying. I understood enough of what he was asking and I bore my soul to him about no one hiring me. Piotr was an employee at a siding and windows manufacturing company that sold building materials to contractors. He invited me to come to work with him the next day to meet his manger Maria Komorowska. Piotr even picked me up in his truck and drove me in. I was hired on the spot and for the next 3-years, would learn about siding, windows and roofing from the manufactures point of view. I also met literally every contractor in the city of Chicago during this tenure. An outside sales rep for this company, by the name of Casey Wojslaw, began taking me on site visits to jobs and to contractor’s offices. I am a quick learner and a people person so I built relationships quickly. I also provided my organization with all the marketing and promotional skills that I could, pro-bono. I created newsletters and helped with contractor events to keep the two audiences connected.
Voytek continued to climb ladders in his construction world and very quickly moved up in rank until he was asked to start his own subcontracting company with his own tools and crew members. His leadership skills and craftsmanship knowledge became highly sought after. I became pregnant with our 2nd child. It was a shock. One that seemed to crush my dreams of working for a big-time ad agency. My measly salary at the siding and window manufacturing company would not support me having to pay for day care for 2 little ones.
So, we put our heads together and Opal Enterprises was born. Voytek utilized Opal Enterprises as a subcontracting company for larger commercial contractors until I was able to fully join and begin to market the company straight to the consumer. From the beginning and still to today, I handled all administrative work, accounting, legal and marketing for Opal. Voytek met with potential clients, educated them on our services and products offered and he managed the crews and work completed. Now though, I am the head of the admin team and marketing manager. Voytek is the head of the production team and supervises our sales manager.
Voytek and I experienced discrimination for being young and having a foreign accent. We canvassed neighborhoods with fliers about our business, put ads in local subdivision newsletters and earned clients 1 at a time. The neighborhood we lived in gave us our “leg up” that we needed and they trusted us with their homes. We knew that we would never (and still do not) compete on “length of time in business” -A favorite question from leary consumers. We KNEW we would compete with certifications and customer approvals in the form of reviews! Vendors and manufacturers vied for our business and we chose carefully who to do business with. Who would validate us the most? Who would help us with marketing the best? We were savvy online and I got to work on our website, SEO and got to dust off my marketing books and put into practice SWOT analysis’s. Voytek is a risk taker and is not afraid to spend marketing money. I got to put into place the strategies that would propel us into the spotlight…so to speak.
In 2009, we were so successful with treating homeowners well, proving excellent work and partnering with manufactures. But we were having growing pains. I happened to come across a fellow woman in construction business owner, Kristen Stammen…I came to know her because I was researching an advertising firm that wanted to provide SEO work for our website. I called her and asked her opinion of the company…and the conversation took the direction of her inviting me to join the CCN. The certified contractors network. The fees to join were high and we were scared to make the investment. But 8-years later…we are still active members. The CCN is a collection of highly successful contractors that have best practices and profitable businesses. This organization has taught us how to hire the right people, treat customers even better than we already were, how to understand the financials of remodeling projects so we do not price ourselves out of business, where to find the best business partners and on and on and on. This group is invaluable to our success! Being able to learn from those that are bigger and smarter than us!!!
Since we started Opal Enterprises and began offering exterior remodeling services to our communities, we have become a leader in our industry. We have the highest certifications by the manufactures we represent, we are so highly rated online by Google, Houzz, Guild Quality ( a 3rd party surveying company) Best Picks Contractors, Remodeling Magazine has chosen Opal as a BIG 50 contractor (Top 50 in the country) we currently are listed as the 93 biggest company in the county. We have slews of awards given by leaders in our industry. We donated thousands of dollars to our communities by ways of charitable organizations.
Voytek and I run a solid team of remodeling minded individuals. We ensure the remodeling process is one that is headache free for customers. The company’s backbone started with The Golden Rule and treating people the way we want to be treated. The mission statement: Have a Wonderful Remodeling experience! We knew then and we still know now, that when a homeowner is ready to replace windows, siding or their roofing system; it is usually a once in a lifetime project and we want the homeowner to feel proud of their buying choices!
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Voytek and I were so focused on the business that we forgot to take care of each other. We talked business 24-hours a day and it consumed us. For him, he worked hard to validate his immigration to America. For me, I have the hardest work ethic of anyone in my circle, and I threw myself 100% in to the success of the company. We divorced in 2013 and remain solid business partners and parents of our 2 children. Voytek and I were personality profiled in 2009 by the CCN and that is when I 100% knew…we were meant to find each other for beautiful babies and for financial success…romantic love was too much to ask for. The personality profile demonstrated that he carried very high dominance trails, 99% out of 100% in fact—I also scored very high for Dominance traits, 91% and we were told by the profiler “You and Voytek will move mountains, if you get out of each other’s way”
We were discriminated against many times for one reason or another: too young, too Polish and a woman in the roofing industry was not common.
Finding the right people to join our team and share our work ethics and mission in the company!
Having homeowners make contractor “fight for the bottom”. Homeowners want the very lowest price-and the very best work.
Homeowner often feel contractors are “beneath them” and do not treat workers and employees with up most respect while we work on their homes.
Opal Enterprises Windows, Siding, Roofing – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Opal Enterprises specializes in the education and replacement of windows, siding and roofing. We are a value-infused service provider, coming back to our mission statement: Have a Wonderful Remodeling Experience–we know this is a once in a lifetime purchase (unless a homeowner is aggressive and moves and remodels the new home as well) Opal Enterprises knew well going into this industry what our Threats were…and they included homeowners being scared of contractors “ripping them off” by stealing their remodeling deposits, doing shoddy work or not completing the work! Remodeling companies, Roofers specifically…are consistently the 3rd most complained about industry in the state of IL (according to Lisa Madigan’s website). Knowing those threats sets us apart because we have taken the time to understand the negative connotations that come with being a contractor. You can quickly be seen as a “used car salesman or a dirty lawyer” if you are not sensitive to how the consumer feels! Remodeling is stressful! So, we better have processes and procedures in place to combat how consumers might be feeling or reacting. I very often secret shop our competitors…Never to be like them…but only to feel what a homeowner is feeling. To understand the array of info they are fed and how they are treated….this helps Opal be empathetic to consumer stresses and to always be thankful for the business we do earn.
I am most proud to have attracted the winning team mates that make Opal great! This great team works hard to attract great remodeling customers!
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
I have SO many moments to be so very proud of. So many ME moments!! But to pick one…A proudest moment was when the Make a Wish Foundation reached out to MY organization and asked for a sponsorship partnership. It made me feel…visible and quality enough of a company to be reached out to! We were a main sponsor for 2-years in a row!
Contact Info:
- Address: 127 Ambassador Drive
Suite 159 - Website: https://www.opalexteriors.com/
- Phone: 630.355.6557
- Email: info@opalenterprises.net
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/opalenterprises/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/opalenterprises
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/opalenterprises
- Yelp: https://www.youtube.com/user/opalenterprises
- Other: https://www.houzz.com/pro/opalhouses/
Image Credit:
Opal Enterprises, Inc
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