In The News

Small Business Person of the Year
TMC Orthopedic Supplies Inc. braces up for business
Houston Business Journal - by Angela Apte Houston Business Journal

June 5, 1998

When Joe Sansone was in his 20s he was on the way to earning the title of career student. Instead, Sansone says he transformed experiences from a dismal college tenure and disastrous first job into motivation. Today, the 36-year-old Sansone owns TMC Orthopedic Supplies Inc., a company that distributes a multitude of orthopedic related devices and orthotic and prosthetic products to physicians, patients and hospitals. Last year sales topped $6 million and Sansone has been named the Small Business Person of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration Houston District office.

Initially, it was medicine and not business that Sansone wanted to pursue. A desire to be a doctor is something he calls a high school "pipe dream." Showing a knack for science, Sansone says he created a successful fish breeding project that helped earn him a scholarship to Rhodes College in Tennessee where he intended to study biology. That didn't last long.

Plummeting grades his freshman year caused him to lose his scholarship. He stayed at the school another four years before transferring to Memphis State. It took yet another four years but he eventually graduated with a B.S. in Microbiology and a 2.16 grade point average.

YOUNG ENTREPRENEUR

Although his academic record was bleak, Sansone showed some signs of entrepreneurial savvy while at college when he "took notice of the guy who every week cleaned out hundreds of dollars worth of quarters from my fraternity's pinball machine." A short time later he had 10 pinball machines at several college campuses in the Memphis area. Later, seeing the business the photographer was getting from his fraternity's socials and dances, he taught himself photography and started shooting the social events himself.

After college Sansone landed what he described as a "dream job" selling chemicals to pulp and paper companies. Two months later he was abruptly fired and told by his supervisor that he "was the worst salesman they had ever had."

"I was fired from my dream job after two months, this coupled with my GPA, well, my life was in ruins," he says. Selling all his possessions, Sansone took off for California and took stock of his life. "I think the most devastating thing that could happen to me turned into a motivational force. All my life I had never succeeded and this motivated me to work hard and prove myself in sales," Sansone recalls. With his new outlook, Sansone says he took a job with Suzuki selling disposable hardtops for their jeeps. Later he was hired by a Dallas-based orthopedic supply company to sell their products in Houston. Believing he could do a better job than his employer, Sansone quit and started TMC Orthopedic Supply.

Start-up money came from a frugal bachelor's life. "All the time I was working in sales I was saving my money. I was living in a one-bedroom apartment and driving a heap," he says. When the fledg-ling company opened for business, Sansone was hit by a lawsuit from his former employer for violating a non-compete agreement. He fought the lawsuit for 18 months but the two parties eventually settled out of court. "It was just the classic case of the salesman doing better than his employer," he says.

Sansone's company has shown steady growth since his legal problems ended. Starting with two workers, Sansone now employs 42 employees; 39 are full time. In 1992, revenue was $377,900. Last year the company took in $6 million. Also last year, Sansone embarked on a new venture when he opened three locations of TMC Brace Place, an orthotic and prosthetic facility. Operating near the medical center, Sugar Land and Clear Lake areas, the company employs certified orthotists and fabricates bracing for patients.

Two years ago Sansone says he would never have dreamed of opening an "O & P facility" but legislation passed last year limited the types of bracing his sales technicians could fit. "Yes, I was extremely upset (by the legislation) but I realized I would be forced to give up the bracing business or join their ranks as a competitor. It was a case of if I can't beat them, join them," Sansone says. "You have to stay ahead and leave yourself open to change -- not deal with rigid corners. Adapting to change in the market place is really our secret."

Another way TMC is adapting is by taking small steps into the medical staffing arena. Currently the company is providing certified cast technicians and nurses to five Houston-area doctor's offices. "The medical industry is a changing market because of managed care and government regulation. We have to do niche marketing and develop product lines and services that others couldn't provide. These are normally areas where customer service makes a difference," he says. A married father of two young daughters, Sansone says he "used to wonder about employees who would run home to their families at five." He doesn't wonder anymore.

Sansone says the added responsibility of family life has forced him to delegate more responsibility to employees whose talents have helped grow the company.

All contents of this site © American City Business Journals Inc. All rights reserved.

Airborne Amputees