Steven A. Maxim didn’t wait long to satisfy his entrepreneurial
thirst. As soon as he graduated from Hiram College, the school’s
athlete-of-the-year award recipient transferred his love of soccer
into his own retail store, Soccer 2000 Inc.
That foray would be short-lived, however. It’s not that Maxim lacked
the acumen to support the endeavor. He was simply enticed to join
another start-up founded by an entrepreneur near and dear to his
heart: his father.
In 1998, Maxim’s father founded Maxim Enterprises, which provides
property-preservation services to several of the nation’s top mortgage
field-service companies. It began with headquarters based in the family garage and three employees. By 2005, with Maxim serving as COO,
the company became one of the fastest-growing privately held companies in the nation, with nine full-time and four part-time employees
supporting a network of 20 contractors serving clients in Ohio,
Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Following the death of his father, Maxim took over as president, and
the company continued to expand. It now has approximately 45
employees in a 6,500-square-foot building.
While the subprime mortgage crisis provided a number of opportunities for the expansion, it was Maxim’s ability to distinguish the company within the industry that has contributed to most of its success.
For example, the CEO has equipped his on-site workers with mobile
PCs to streamline documentation of their work. Whereas clients
would typically wait days to receive work orders, reports and photos
from contractors, they can now transfer the information within a few
hours.
Such practices have given Maxim Enterprises a considerable presence in the numerous states in which it operates, but that’s not enough
to satisfy Maxim’s entrepreneurial itch. Since assuming leadership of
his father’s company, he has also founded Bargainlocks, a seller of
locks, locksmith equipment and other supplies, as well as Preservation
for Contractors (P4C), which trains independent contractors interested in learning the property preservation side of the default-loan servicing business.
HOW TO REACH: Maxim Enterprises, www.maximent.com or (330) 499-9289