Survival of the fittest.

"Making It" remains one of B.E.'s most enduring columns. The question is, how many of the small companies profiled really made it?

WE PROFILED ALMOST 250 SMALL BUSINESS IN OUR "MAKING IT" column during the 1980s. Ever wonder what those companies are doing today? Some, like Isler & Associates (January 1986), New Tech Games Inc. (March 19.85) and Cimarron Express (November 1985) are in business and doing fine.

In fact, Cimarron, a Genoa, Ohio-based trucking firm, achieved what all "Making It" companies hope for: In 1993, the firm entered the ranks of the BE 100s. With $26 million in sales, Cimarron currently occupies the No. 69 slot on the BE INDUSTRIAL/SERVICE 100. Other firms, of course, haven't fared as well and, for a variety of reasons, have shut their doors.

Then, there are all of those in the middle--those hundreds of companies that have done what every entrepreneur struggles to do day by day: Survive. On the following pages we briefly update the stories of three such companies. Les Heating & Air Conditioning (September 1982), Careerworks Inc. (November 1985) and the Clarkson Co. (March 1986) are doing just what the name of this popular column suggests--making it!

LES HEATING & AIR CONDITIONING

For 27 years, Les Heating & Air Conditioning has been a staple in South Central Los Angeles--the heart of that city's black community. In fact, after the 1992 riots, the nine-employee company installed $1 million worth of heaters and air conditioners for Payless, Taco Bell, Kmart, Vons Supermarket and Home Savings & Loans. "We got a chance to do a lot of jobs that we never would have done," says Vaughn Chapel, the company's manager.

Chapel laments, however, that once the smoke cleared, such lucrative opportunities dried up. "We thought those jobs would put us on another level," admits Chapel. Although the company's client roster is about 300 strong, its biggest single job since then was a $300,000 contract with Von's Supermarket to wire 10 retail stores. Notes Chapel, "The majority-owned companies are still getting top dollar contracts."

Started in 1968 by Les Chapel, Vaughn's father, on a $500 shoestring budget, Les Heating & Air Conditioning has installed and repaired heaters and air conditioners all across greater Los Angeles, including Beverly Hills and Hollywood.

The firm, however, hit hard times in 1989 after the then 65-year-old entrepreneur suffered a heart attack. Says Vaughn, who is 48: "It was tough. I used to get calls from people saying the company wouldn't be around too much tonger. They knew my dad built it from scratch."

There was some reason for concern. Before his father's heart attack, Vaughn Chapel focused almost solely on the billing work. "I didn't know anything about bidding and dealing with contractors," he remembers. "I was scared at first, but I did what I had to do." That meant relying heavily on his top technician, Abel Jiminez, and hiring an engineer to show him the contracting ropes.

It paid off. Net sales have been higher in the last three years than in the previous 23. Thanks in part to a more aggressive collections policy and a new pricing structure, the company posted 1994 sales of $500,000--all of which no doubt pleases the elder Chapel, who is now retired.

"I learned that we couldn't be a success in the '90s if we ran the company the way we did in the '70s and '80s," explains Chapel. "There's just too much competition now."

CAREERWORKS INC.

Life after the death of a CEO is never easy. Just ask Larry H. Williams. When Wilbert Blake, founder and president of Careerworks Inc., a 15-year-old Highland Park, Mich., job training and placement company, died last March at age 58, the firm was devastated.

"Wilbert's death had a tremendous impact on us," says a still shaken Williams, now Careerworks' president. "He was the person we looked to for leadership."

Now the 100 employees at the $5 million company look to Williams for that leadership. "The board of directors selected me to run the company because I've been here since its inception and I have the experience," explains the 52-year-old Williams.

Located in six cities (Detroit; Chicago; St. Louis; East St. Louis, Ill.; Newark and Jersey Ciry, N.J.), most of the firm's contracts come from the federal government as a result of the job Training Partnership Act. Careerworks' trainees are exposed to such areas as retail sales, cable TV installation, hotel hospitality, building maintenance and customer service. Courses run from six to 16 weeks, and the successful placement rate runs about 70%.

Williams is deeply proud of Careerworks' track record. In 1985, the firm found jobs for 1,000 displaced Stroh's Brewing Co. workers; in 1986, it managed a program that enabled welfare recipients to repair local neighborhood homes and parks; and in 1992, the group launched Wayne County, Mich.'s first program to rehabilitate and employ nonviolent criminals.

That track record may begin to falter, admits Williams, alluding to anticipated cuts in state funds that could seriously hamper Careerworks effectiveness. Such challenges, though, are not new.

"None of it has been easy," sighs Williams, "because of how the economy has been. But with the principles that Wilbert Blake established for this company, we should be able to do a whole lot more.

THE CLARKSON CO.

When Elaine Clarkson started her specialty advertising business in 1979, her biggest challenge was gaining industry-wide respect in an area where African Americans were almost nonexistent. "I remember my first trade show," recalls the feisty Columbia, S.C., native. "I went to a booth to get information, and they wouldn't even acknowledge my presence. It was like punching somebody in the mouth."

Now it's the 47-year-old Clarkson who comes out swinging. Thanks to round-the-clock networking (she joined several business organizations, including the Atlanta Business League) and a roll-up-your-sleeves entrepreneurial approach, the Clarkson Co. has at long last gained that respect. The Atlanta-based firm has distributed promotional mugs, T-shirts and lapel pins for such clients as IBM, Bellsouth Corp., Avon, the Small Business Administration and Citizens Trust.

"Elaine does quality work," says Mack Wilbourn, president of Mack 11, an Atlanta-based specialty advertising firm. e s efficient and extremely resourceful," says Wilbourn, who recently hired Clarkson.

While revenues have actually decreased for Clarkson because of the sluggishness of the late '80s-cum-'90s economy (sales fell from $700,000 in 1985 to $500,000 last year), the firm continues to hold its own in the $60 billion specialty advertising industry. Just this year, Clarkson landed a "seven-figure" job with Mack 11 to serve as a consultant for its promotional Olympic products. "We're designing a mug whose colors and picture changes when it's filled with hot liquid," Clarkson explains. "It's fabulous."

While things are looking up now, Clarkson has also weathered some downturns. In 1993, the former therapist was incapacitated by arthritis for eight months. "It was a difficult time," she recalls. "My main concern was keeping my doors open." Thanks to her operations manager, Ronnie Hudson, who took over during that time, staying open, didn't prove to be a problem.

"I learned I have a very stable business and a good reputation." Now Clarkson is investigating ways for her firm to diversify and move beyond Atlanta's borders. No longer worried about keeping her own doors open, she's looking to find opportunity behind new ones.