A FIRST PERSON ACCOUNT OF RUNNING A SMALL BUSINESS.A new bicycle never topped Steven Klar's birthday wish list while he was growing up in Sherman Oaks. Each year he asked for new accessories to create an aquatic paradise for the 20 fish residing in the aquarium in his bedroom. When his adult dream of becoming a movie director didn't materialize ma·te·ri·al·ize v. ma·te·ri·al·ized, ma·te·ri·al·iz·ing, ma·te·ri·al·iz·es v.tr. 1. To cause to become real or actual: By building the house, we materialized a dream. , Klar, 38, turned his hobby of designing and maintaining high-end aquariums into a Santa Monica Santa Monica (săn`tə mŏn`ĭkə), city (1990 pop. 86,905), Los Angeles co., S Calif., on Santa Monica Bay; inc. 1886. Tourism and retailing are important, and the city has motion-picture, biotechnology, and software industries. business called Got Fish? "I graduated from Cal State Northridge in 1989, where I majored in business and took some theater, film and script-writing classes. I started as a production assistant and worked my way up. I was an assistant director doing mostly commercials the last three years. "But there was a lack of work due to strikes and film jobs leaving town for cheaper labor abroad. It forced me to look into this hobby that I loved so much. I started to (maintain aquariums) for friends and acquaintances. They liked my work so much that they started to pay me. "In 1994, after the earthquake, I moved from Hollywood to Malibu and installed a couple of tanks in restaurants around that area and my business started to grow. I am a scuba diver diver, general term used to refer to many diving birds, e.g., the loon, the grebe, and some ducks, auks, and penguins. so it helps me get the true picture of the oceanscapes. I give a slice of the bottom of the ocean in every aquarium. "Today, we design custom tanks and have a vendor put them together, from acrylic acrylic, artificial fiber made from a special group of vinyl compounds, primarily acrylonitrile. Acrylic fibers are thermoplastic (i.e., soften when heated, reharden upon cooling), have low moisture regain, are low in density, and can be made into bulky fabrics. and glass. I actually go on site to find out what the person's needs are and what type of interior design they have so the aquarium can blend in Verb 1. blend in - blend or harmonize; "This flavor will blend with those in your dish"; "This sofa won't go with the chairs" blend, go fit, go - be the right size or shape; fit correctly or as desired; "This piece won't fit into the puzzle" with the environment of the house or office. We install them, provide fish, stones, plants, live corals and the maintenance. "Our tanks range from $4,000 to $40,000 each and generally hold anywhere from 100 gallons to 2,000 gallons. But we'll make any size. I sell an average of 15 new tanks a year and have a (three-employee) servicing department that has 75 clients a month. "My clients include five or six movie and rock stars. I've got a lot of doctors, attorneys financiers, dentists -- anybody who's in a high-powered, stressful work environment who wants something that helps them relax and quiet their mind. Fish bring a calming effect for most of my clients. "To fill the aquarium, I get requests from a 99-cent guppy to a $1,000 white tip reef shark Several species of reef-associated sharks are known as reef sharks:
-- David Greenberg The creator of this article, or someone who has substantially contributed to it, may have a conflict of interest regarding its subject matter. It may require cleanup to comply with Wikipedia's content policies, particularly neutral point of view. * Have a Story To Tell? Please write to Editor, The Weekly Briefing, 5700 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 170 Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. , CA 90036 |
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