Ryla Teleservices: Know When to Make the Call
The second of eight ways entrepreneurs, investors and savers have made a million. Find out how they did it and read all eight.
From Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine, June 2008
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Millionaire Lesson No. 2
Don’t be afraid to go out on your own if you possess the competence and know people who can help you reach your goal.
Mark Wilson had been managing Dun & Bradstreet’s call centers for 15 years when the company decided to outsource the business in 2001. Sensing an opportunity, Wilson immediately asked to be considered. There was only one catch: Wilson didn’t actually own a call-center business at the time. "I didn’t think I had that good a shot," he says. "But I did have my reputation." Wilson won the contract.
To get up and running quickly, he partnered with an established call center in Houston. At the same time, Mark and his wife, Shelly, worked on a business plan and recruited two former D&B colleagues, a technology expert and a training expert, to help launch the business.
Then Wilson knocked on doors to get help with funding. "Everybody was conservative about investing in a company with little or no revenue yet," he says. But he did attract the attention of a community-development venture-capital fund, which invested $700,000.
Ryla Teleservices opened in June 2002 and rapidly accumulated big-money contracts. Revenues topped $3 million in the first full year of business, more than doubled the next and were up to $17 million in 2007. After another round of financing, the company is going through another growth spurt and projects more than $30 million in revenues this year.
Why is Ryla so successful? As a domestic call center based in Kennesaw, Ga., the company attracts clients that have had bad experiences with call centers offshore. And some government clients, such as the Veterans Administration and the State Department, can’t send their call centers out of the U.S. Plus, being an early adopter of voice-over-Internet-protocol, or VoIP, technology has helped Ryla lower costs.
But the biggest edge, says Wilson, comes from the company’s workers. "We want this to be the best job they’ve ever had," he says. Turnover in the call-center industry generally runs from 60% to 70% per year. But Ryla’s turnover is just 30%, and many of the company’s original employees remain.
Ryla pays at least 60% of the cost of health insurance for the company’s 400 regular employees, and it sponsors budgeting and personal-development seminars. Wilson keeps morale high with his regular "huddles," where he stands in the middle of a circle of workers and gives them an update on the state of the company. "The key asset of any business is its people, and we’ve never lost sight of that," he says.
EIGHT MILLIONAIRE PROFILES
1. The Video That Took on a Life of Its Own
3. Pounce When the Time Is Right
5. A Thirty-Year Plan to Make a Mil
6. Breaking With Family Tradition
Reader Comments (14)
Posted by: Rose at 05/20/2008 12:42:32 PM
While I can believe the revenue that has been taken in by RYLA, the question that should be asked is how that revenue is derived. I worked for RYLA Teleservice for a almost a year...It was the worst working enviroment that I have ever been in...Their is no one in the organiztion that is on the side of the employee or laborer.
Posted by: Eric Wilson at 05/29/2008 01:58:46 PM
Great story and quite inspiring to those who may have ambitions to turn experiences they have gained from the workplace into their own product or service offering.
Posted by: Anonymous at 06/26/2008 02:56:19 PM
I, too, was an employee at Ryla for 4 years, from the early days to the first big revenue year. It was a very demanding and, oftentimes, demeaning working environment...
Posted by: Nita at 07/01/2008 10:51:44 AM
I am a current employee at Ryla and it is the " Best Job that I have ever had" I have been an employee for over 3 years and the thing that I love the most about the job is the open door. policy. If you feel that your working enviorment and surroundings are not up to the standard that they should be, it is nothing to walk into Shelly or Mark's office and voice your concern. So many companies don't even give their employees that opportunity and though the outcome may not be what you feel it should, more often than not, something is done. The reason people write bad things about Ryla is because of the negitive attitude that was displayed in their comments and or actions at Ryla. As any employee with any company things are not going to be perfect but, if you trust the company you work for and also believe that you can do what you were called to do, you will be sucessful. I should hope that what ever company that you choose to work for upon your leaving Ryla that you take all the good with you and learn from the not so good.
Posted by: Contrina at 10/14/2008 09:10:45 AM
I am now an employee of Ryla and I do feel this is the best job I've ever had.There is definitely opportunity to grow within company and most of all a great open door policy.
Posted by: Sue at 11/21/2008 06:29:56 PM
I'm working here at Ryla and it is a very up to date and professional company. The growth alone speaks volumes to the success they are enjoying and sharing with the employees here. I feel like I am a part of something up and coming in these otherwise dismal economic times.
Posted by: dee at 02/16/2009 09:28:28 PM
first i'm glad that (Mark and Shelly Wilson) are doing great things however, this is not the best job I've ever had....to have (to) wait 15+mins for a shuttle to come take me to my car when I've been working all day makes me livid, not to mention having to arrive 30 mins early to get the shuttle to take me to work on time...I havent seen the owners as of yet but i feel if they re-evaluate some of their longtime employees things would be a lot better....
Posted by: Valerie at 04/04/2009 05:12:15 PM
Ryla is certainly not the best job that I ever had...
Posted by: current employee at 04/15/2009 10:49:12 PM
...I drive 75 miles a day to get paid $10 an hour. If you add up the gas I spend and the wear and tear on my auto daily, I actually make about $7.25 an hour.
Posted by: niki at 07/14/2009 08:07:38 PM
Wow the best job I havent had!! I have to admit that mark and shelly have made millions for themselves, however,they havent quite managed that best job youv'e ever had thing yet....There are lots of improvements to be made...this company would rather place plasma tv's up then give ppl a raise!...
Posted by: Quniona at 07/31/2009 07:59:20 PM
This NOT the best job I have ever had, the company spends more money on plasma tv's that dont work than to give raises, they are always coming up with excuses about why your money is not right or on time...
Posted by: anonymous at 09/18/2009 03:04:16 PM
Oh come on people, be glad you have a job. I have seen the shuttles run very frequently. I am sure it better than catching public transportation and walking from the bus stop. If you drive 75 miles a day thats your problem not Ryla's. Try finding a job closer to your home or move closer to your job but just be glad that you have a job !
Posted by: Former employee at 09/20/2009 12:58:09 AM
I think it was the best job I ever had for less than $12 an hour. In that salary range to have the perks of a low cost cafeteria on site, shuttle and healthcare...please! It was a great call center job; I had to finish college to find better.
Posted by: D\'Erick Johnson at 10/01/2009 07:08:55 PM
I have to say that I am very dissapointed that Mark Wilson is on here talking about his wealth and success...There are NO RAISES! No possibility of a raise regardless of performance. People have worked there 3 years and are still getting $10/hr....