From crumbs to a nice slice.

• Author: Bailey, David
• Position: RUNNER - UP - Wendy Banks of Carolina Management Team LLC

In 2008, Wendy Banks won the Small Business Administration's N.C. Small Business Person of the Year. With her younger brother, David Van Zee, she owns and operates Carolina Management Team, which specializes in painting and repairing water- and sewage-treatment plants. "I said jokingly, 'If we're not careful, we'll have won the award this year and be out of business the next.'" Her words proved prophetic After CMT paid $10,000 in bonuses to its workers for a great '08, "February hit and we literally didn't have anything to do," Van Zee says. The business almost went down the drain. How does a company go from roses to the toilet overnight? "We kind of had all our eggs in the municipal basket," Banks says.

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Their dad had a similar business in Florida, and when Van Zee, after 15 years in manufacturing engineering, decided to go out on his own, he phoned his sister, an event planner. He knew she wasn't happy in her new job at Universal Orlando Resort. "I went from my ivory tower in Orlando, wining and dining in New York on expense account, to painting sewers," says Banks, whose 51% ownership qualifies CMT for SBA set-asides for minority-and women-owned businesses.

Because most companies shun the red tape that municipal work requires, CMT targeted water and sewage plants. Clark Fields, a counselor with the N.C. Small Business and Technology Development Center in Asheville, says Van Zee's expertise in concrete corrosion gave it an edge. Plus, he adds, "they really are a good match because one has the technical background and the other has fantastic customer-service and people skills." The jobs came in, and revenue went from about $200,000 in each of the first two years to $600,000 the third year. "For each of the past three years, we have completed just under $1 million in revenue," Banks says.

After CMT's best January ever in 2009, water-conservation efforts resulting from the drought that plagued North Carolina and surrounding states in 2007 and 2008 closed the tap on revenue from water and sewer plants, around 90% of CMT's revenue. "Maintenance projects were put on the back burner," Banks recalls. With zero work, CMT laid...