By most measures, Gail Adinamis' start-up company is experiencing the kind of growth that almost any entrepreneur would envy.

Clinical Resource Network Inc., which provides in-home care to facilitate clinical trials for biopharmaceutical companies, has doubled in size during each of the past two years. The Vernon Hills-based company has sales of several million dollars, generates a profit and likely will double in size again this year, said Adinamis, a former clinical researcher in the pharmaceutical industry.

Still, Adinamis knows that the company's future success depends on how well it evolves from start-up to the next level.

"I realized I was running out of hours in the day to do what needed to be done," she said. "I needed to develop the infrastructure to continue to grow."

It's a situation that many start-ups face, though not all entrepreneurs recognize what is missing, experts say. How effectively they bridge the gap often determines the success of the business, said Mark Rittmanic, founder of Northbrook-based ForteCEO, a specialty consulting firm for privately held companies.

"They want to get from where they are to somewhere else and need a bridge to get there," Rittmanic said.

From her previous experience, Adinamis understood what her clients needed. But she was accustomed to having support in place, from an accounting department to human resources, she said. She started Clinical Resource Network as a wholly owned subsidiary of a home infusion company, but it foundered in the "bureaucracy maze" and wasn't profitable, she said. So she bought it in 2004 and spun it off.

She started with two employees and had four by the end of the first year, when the company outgrew its initial office space. By the end of 2006, it had nine employees and a new headquarters in Vernon Hills, she said. But Adinamis feared the company was growing too rapidly. She didn't want to turn away business but needed help to expand.

"As a business owner just starting out, you do everything," she said. "Then you reach a size where you can't continue to do everything, and you need to bring in people. I didn't have the experience in knowing how to do that."

It takes courage for an entrepreneur to step back, size up the situation and look for ways to supplement their weaknesses, experts say. Often they feel overwhelmed and isolated, said Guy Arvia, a ForteCEO consultant working with Adinamis.

"Over and over, I see this," agreed Michael Gerber, author of "The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It." Entrepreneurs get so busy building and keeping up with demand that they often don't get around to putting systems in place, he said.

Although Adinamis appears to be off to a better start than many entrepreneurs, Gerber said, "now what she needs to do is separate herself from that business and think of it as though she were going to franchise it."

She needs to develop a turnkey system, then hire people to carry it out, he said.

"She has a brand in the making that will self-destruct unless she does this," Gerber said.

With no formal business education, Adinamis turned to ForteCEO for help.

"The idea of having a mentor is something most business owners can't conceive to be available. When they find it, it changes their life," said Rittmanic, who launched ForteCEO in 2000 after building and running several companies himself.



An outsider's view

ForteCEO has a network of about 240 seasoned executives with first-hand experience in running a company, he said.

Often, it takes an outsider's perspective to help an entrepreneur identify what the company needs to manage its growth, keep up with changing times or allow for the current ownership to exit the business, Rittmanic said. Leadership skills are critical at all three stages, he noted.

"Ninety percent of the time we are working alongside the business owner in a hands-on capacity to help them through these issues," Rittmanic said.

ForteCEO's Arvia is helping Adinamis hire a management team.

"As the leader, you've got to get the right people, put them in the right places and manage them correctly," said Arvia, who founded Comtech Group and Computer Technologies Leasing, later selling the companies to Meridian Group.

Besides helping Adinamis put in place an infrastructure for growth, Arvia helped her identify her personal goals, which include eventually exiting through a sale of the business.

For now, Adinamis said, "The main thing is laying out what the organization will look like. I'm now at the point where I'm going to start building this ideal organization. I have the confidence to make decisions in the business that I didn't have before."



A hand to get back on track

Experienced mentors also can help established businesses overcome the challenges of a changing environment, Rittmanic said. When his manufacturing operation was struggling due to inefficiencies and higher material costs a few years ago, Paul Mills, president of family-owned Tote Cart, a family-owned Rockford manufacturer of shopping carts, needed help returning the business to profitability.

"I said to myself, there's got to be more we can do than what I'm able to identify," Mills said.

Working with several different consultants from ForteCEO, Mills refocused his management team.

"We made changes within all ranks of the organization," he said.

Tote Cart, which has annual revenue of about $19 million and 150 employees, also improved its manufacturing processes with help from a ForteCEO executive with a background in industrial engineering, who has since joined Tote Cart full time.

With new management and new procedures in place, production climbed from 600 units a day to 995 units a day the first week, Mills said.

Now the company consistently produces 1,100 units a day and can go up to 1,600 if necessary, he said. The company is profitable again, and morale has improved.

"By all means, there's good enthusiasm," he said. "We've made some good strides."

Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune

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