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STEVE BANKO
Age: 32
Profession: Owner
Signs By Tomorrow
Allentown
Steve Banko admits it took some convincing for him to get into the sign business.
After all, "What do you think of a guy who makes signs?" he says. But having started the franchise, Signs By Tomorrow, in Allentown in April, and already exceeding his projections, Banko's convinced he made the right career move.
Recruited on the campus of Shippensburg University, where he majored in business, Banko worked for 10 years for Sherwin-Williams Co., which is based in Malvern, in various capacities, including managing stores.
For some reason, he was assigned to stores that weren't doing well. "As soon as I got one up and running, they'd move me to another."
Banko liked what he was doing, but wanted to be his own boss. Investigating franchises, he was told that with his background he would do well in the sign business.
He investigated and discovered the sign business was more than he initially thought--it involves everything from lettering corporate lobbies and windows to banners and trade show displays.
Seeing a future in it, he opened the only Signs by Tomorrow franchise in the Lehigh Valley, which is headed by a native of Wilson Borough, Joe McGuinness.
Based in Columbia, Md., Signs By Tomorrow has 53 franchisees and is growing, says Banko, who employs two--one full time and one part time.
Banko and his wife, Carole, a kindergarten teacher in the East Penn School District, have no children. But their dog, Max, a Maltese, is not only the family pet, he's the store mascot.
Banko on success: "I get out as much as I can. We're doing very well because of all my hard work."
ELLEN BECHTLOFF
Age: 25
Profession: Co-founder, Task Pro, Allentown
Ellen Bechtloff's timing couldn't have been better. Looking to move to the Lehigh Valley to be closer to family and friends, she called Lyons Pruitt International, an executive search firm in Allentown, to learn about the job market.
Bechtloff had been managing a temporary employment agency in Philadelphia. Coincidentally, Jim Pruitt, 54, and Scott Lyons, 35, were interested in starting a temporary employment branch of their business. They asked her to send a resume. "The rest is history, as they say,"...