South of the Border
By Jeff Zbar - 6/1/2007

KJ Exports LLC, Tampa, Florida

Karolyn Johnson, 36, Owner

Product: Hard-to-find items for the Caribbean basin and Bermuda, including household appliances, furniture and construction materials

Markets: Barbados, the Bahamas, Bermuda and the Caribbean basin

How She Got Started: It was 2004 when a friend in Bermuda lamented to Johnson about the difficulty in finding construction materials for a home she was building. Johnson took off in search of products she could buy in the U.S. and ship to Bermuda -- and make a percentage for her efforts. Johnson took courses in exporting at the University of South Florida Small Business Development Center, and today procures and ships a variety of products throughout the Caribbean.

Working with her marketing partner in Chicago, Johnson sends e-mail solicitations to new business leads given to her by island governments, Enterprise Florida or Export.gov, the U.S. government's exporting site. Bermuda, for example, regularly sends Johnson names of people building or renovating their homes. She follows up on responses with a phone call. She cuts out the middleman, negotiates wholesale prices with suppliers stateside, drop-ships directly from the Port of Jacksonville -- and shaves upward of 15% off the customer's procurement costs, she says.

Sure, issues arise. After $150,000 in sales in 2005 (her first full year in business), sales fell 50% in 2006. She also got stiffed twice last year for a total of $13,000. Not a lot of money, she admits, but enough to "feel it." Now, she gets a signed contract and demands up to half up front by either a wire transfer or direct deposit to her accounts in the islands. "I don't pay for anything out of my own pocket," she explains. Still, Johnson is hardly buttoned-down. "I'm not just about doing business. I'm about building relationships."