Source: Standard-Examiner, Ogden, UtahDec.迷你倉 29--BRIGHAM CITY -- Bill and Barbara Chrisman have found success in being themselves.The owners of Storm Products Inc., makers of perhaps the most popular competitive bowling balls in the country, say good business ethics and listening to themselves has led not only to their company's growth but also to their ability to help some of those in most need -- clients of Your Community Connection in Ogden.Bill Chrisman's background in cleaning and chemicals, mixed with his love for bowling, led him to establish the company in 1985, which at the time sold the first spray-on bowling ball cleaner available."I knew it because I bowled," he said of the industry.And now, the company has grown to include a host of other products, and to the point that its charitable arm, Chrisman Foundation, was able to give a $400,000 donation to the YCC.Barbara Chrisman said the large donation, by far the largest the company has afforded to give in the last half-dozen years since the charitable arm was organized, represents something special to her because she came from an abusive relationship before she met Bill. And she wanted to make a difference to others in that situation."I understand very well what it's like to believe that it's your fault that you are being beat," she said. "It's easy to go back unless you have some way of breaking the cycle. ... One person who believes in you, that's all you need."The two met when Barbara was turning her life around and getting a degree in the medical field. Barbara now serves on the board of directors at YCC.Bill came from a career in making cleaners from chemicals and he mixed this background with the passion he had for bowling."To come from nothing to where we are at is truly the American dream," Barbara said.Barbara remembers when the company had first started in her home. A customer called in a large order for the cleaner and she held the phone down to her leg while she pretended to go to a warehouse to see if she could fill his order.After telling the man she could ship his order by the next day, Barbara said she went and got her two boys out of school and the family worked all night in their home to make the deadline.It was in 1991 that the couple added bowling ball manufacturing to their company's offerings with a $25,000 investment."A friend had lost his job and he asked me if we could start making bowling balls," Bill said.And the first bowling balls they manufactured where mixed in a Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket, Barbara said.Barbara gave credit to Bill's marketing acumen for much of the company's growth to what it is today.A marketing pitch about a brilliant yellow ball said the least radical thing about the ball was the color. She said it was this type of marketing that helped the company to take off.In both 1996 and 1998, Storm Products was named one of the top 100 growing companies in Utah.mini storageill said in 2001, the company got a lot of exposure as late-night talk show monologue writers got word of their efforts to add fragrance to the balls."We were watching Animal Planet," Barbara said, talking about where the idea came from to add the fragrance to the bowling balls. "They said the first developed sense you have is smell.""We'd already done it in cleaners," Bill said.In 2004, the company received publicity when it was recognized as having the most innovative container of the year in this country. The container, which holds the cleaner that started the company, is in the shape of a bowling pin.The company also got some marketing mileage a few years ago when it was asked by a man with terminal cancer to create a bowling ball burial urn.Workers there have since built a few more such urns.Barbara said Bill and other company workers spend a lot of time at tournaments throughout the country not only using the bowling balls but in finding what bowlers want and need in equipment.Such efforts have even led both Barbara and Bill to service in the bowling industry such as working in volunteer positions in bowling associations.Because of these efforts, the couple soon will be honored with an Industry Service Award from the Bowling and Billiards Institute of America.But the award is not the first the couple has received. Bill is in both the Ogden and the Utah State Halls of Fame for Superior Performance and Meritorious Service.Bill and Barbara fund and sponsor hundreds of tournaments and bowling groups.They said they continually sponsor the Professional Bowlers Association to ensure professionals have a place to showcase their talents.The couple has given thousands of dollars to support the International Bowling Hall of Fame, where Bill currently serves on the board.But with all their recognition, growth and ability to help the industry and their community, the couple said what they appreciate most is how they have treated others, specifically their employees."What I'm most proud of is how we've treated people along the way," Barbara said. "People don't show up and work for us for six months or one year and leave us. ... I don't think you will ever go to a manufacturing place where people are working this hard and still smiling."Bill said the couple tries to provide opportunities for everyone.He said he's paid for nine employees to receive college degrees while working there.They sign a letter saying they will stay working there for one year after they graduate, Bill said."We pay for college," he said. "It doesn't have to be related to what we do. We feel educated people make better employees."Contact reporter JaNae Francis at 801-625-4228 or jfrancis@standard.net. Follow her on Twitter at @jfrancis.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 the Standard-Examiner (Ogden, Utah) Visit the Standard-Examiner (Ogden, Utah) at .standard.net Distributed by MCT Information Services儲存
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