News
"Fire in his Belly," By Frank Provenzano
Detroiter Magazine
To Mark Taylor, the phrase "the business went up in smoke" is more than a cliché — it resounds with meaning, memories and plenty of lessons. Back in 1976, Taylor's first business, which operated from his rented home, burned to the ground. He and his wife escaped without serious injury.
Ironically, at the time, Taylor's business was selling fire alarms. Fortunately, the alarm in his home came through. The same couldn't be said of his insurance. In fact, Taylor had just moved in and had yet to get renter's insurance.
He lost everything.
Barely 20 years old, married and unable to afford college tuition, he faced the proverbial crisis usually confronted at middle age — "Now, what do I do?"
The fire went to his belly.
Today, Taylor is CEO of TAYLOR Systems Engineering Corporation of Plymouth, a designer of computerized shipping/receiving systems and one of the fastest-growing businesses in Michigan. In five years, TAYLOR Systems Engineering Corporation has grown from $30,000 to $1.5 million in yearly revenue. Included in its list of 500 Metro Detroit clients are the "Who's Who" of retailing, manufacturing and distribution and, Taylor is quick to point out, a range of small and medium-size businesses.
"Ever since the fire, I thought of [my career] more as survival and playing catch-up, trying to keep up with the bills," says Taylor. "Now, I'm learning what ambition and vision are all about."
TAYLOR Systems Engineering Corporation started out as a two-person business — Taylor and his partner, his wife Vera Angelico.
Perhaps the best analogy of what TAYLOR Systems Engineering Corp. does is to think of what finding a map means to travelers in a new land. Through interfacing the functions of accounting, invoicing and inventory control, TAYLOR Systems Engineering Corp. offers its clients a computerized road map to expedite bar coding, labeling and shipping.
"We help businesses save money, that's the selling point," says Taylor, who claims that one client estimates a $2,000-a-day savings from utilizing TAYLOR System Engineering's computerized shipping system. "If we can't show our clients how they're going to save money over a year to pay for our services, then they don't have to pay us anything."
Five years ago, Taylor decided to leave his high position and good-paying job at Pitney Bowes to become his own boss at TAYLOR Systems Engineering Corporation.
"I had no more future at Pitney Bowes," he says. "There were seven layers of management ahead of me."
But this time, he wasn't 20 years old with a career ahead of him. He had a mortgage, three kids and two cars.
"My wife quit her job, and together we worked seven days a week, answered the phone, wrote proposals, did the invoicing, made collection calls," says Taylor, who initially focused on the sales and engineering side of the business.
Taylor notes that TAYLOR Systems Engineering Corp. remains a "complete partnership" although Angelico, who has an office a few feet away from Taylor's, is now focusing on her own business as an architect.
Behind Taylor's desk is a wall filled with plaques that recognize his outstanding sales achievements. In the middle of the wall is an award from Vulcan Fire Safety Club, dated 1976. Taylor received the award for convincing a family who lived in a trailer park that they needed a fire alarm. Several weeks after he sold them the alarm, their house trailer went up in flames; the alarm was credited for saving their lives.