From old school to automated online e-commerce Entrepreneur takes his skid-resistant paint business to new heights

Jake Ickowicz had a hunch that the paint-on, no-slip coating manufactured in South Africa would sell. He just wasn’t sure to whom.

That was 25 years ago, and Jake did what entrepreneurs did before online e-commerce. He schlepped around with paint chips to prospects – big paint dealers, architectural firms, even the maintenance team at Denver’s Mile High Stadium. Everyone was impressed by the unique properties of the product, Durabak (link), which comes in many colors and can be rolled or sprayed onto just about any surface, protecting it and giving it a no-slip coating.

“We spent the first five years trying to figure out where the product fit in,” Jake said. “Then we found that off-road Jeep clubs loved to use the stuff to protect their vehicles – inside, outside, even underneath.”

Jake started advertising in off-road magazines and the business took off. Orders came in by phone and mail, and he filled them from his warehouse, the only factory-direct distributor in the U.S.

An even bigger spike in business came eight years ago, when Jake upgraded to a round-the-clock, easy-to-use-and-maintain online e-commerce system built by Profitable SEO (link).

“I invested a bit extra in the system at first, because I wanted it to grow as fast as I thought the company was going to grow. I’m glad I did.”

While companies typically churn through three or four e-commerce solutions in their early years, Jake’s is still bringing in business eight years later. He can easily look into his system’s data – built on the 1AutomationWiz platform (link) – and see that there were five months of sales in 2016 that were higher than the best month in 2015 – and that he had month-over-month increases in all but two months in 2016.

Not that he necessarily keeps that close an eye on the data. He relies a lot on Profitable SEO to keep his website and e-commerce system humming at peak performance.

“Jake has meticulous books going back to when he launched online sales,” said Craig Griffiths, CEO of Profitable SEO. “I have seen peak monthly site visits go from 5,881 six years ago to 19,896 today.” (ADD A CHART AND/OR A SCREEN SHOT OF A REPORT)

That growth came even as competitors started creeping into the market. Profitable SEO’s solution ensured that Jake’s business stayed on top of online search results.

Craig says the key is to develop content on the website that expands with the growing uses of the Durabak product. New ingenious applications get added to the site, so that today a visitor can see how it keeps kids from slipping on carnival ride decks (insert photo), or how it improves safety on ADA ramps. They learn about the earth-friendly features of the product, such as the use of recycled tires. (ADD SIDEBAR ON PRINCIPLES OF CONTENT MARKETING)

Order automation allowed Jake to maintain quick response to ever-more-complex orders. Profitable SEO replaced the original email-based ordering system with one that allows the online shopper to fill a shopping cart, send a multi-piece order, and have it automatically filled and tracked through the warehouse and on to shipping. (ADD A ‘HOW IT WORKS’ SIDEBAR)

“It’s amazing what he has accomplished with a limited marketing budget,” Craig said. “It has been a pleasure watching him go from a place where he would measure the health of his business by how thick his orders folder was to one that is tracked and optimized daily.”

Jake returns the compliment. “Craig not only built a cool website, he has been as concerned about the site’s performance as I am. He has responded 24/7 to any server issues we’ve had.”

Jake believes the business can double in the next couple of years. It won’t be because of him, though. He has sold the company to his nephew, a CPA who was looking for a more independent career. “He lives in Israel, but with the business all web-based, he can easily run it and expand it worldwide.”

And that’s a far cry from the days of schlepping paint chips around.