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Special Carolyn Wilson to Herald Courier
aBindon, Va.—Stephen Harris is a self-made success story.
More than 20 years ago, from southwest Virginia, he was an uneducated country boy working as a two-shift welder.
As a teenager, Harris probably didn’t love being a coal miner.
However, the decline of the coal industry discouraged Richlands High School alumni from following in their family’s footsteps.
Instead, the 18-year-old went into the steel industry, working as a helper at a local manufacturing plant. On his way up the ladder, this decision eventually made him one of the country’s leading draftsmen.
Harris is an inspirational entrepreneur with dizzying business results.
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Of course, he is quick to tell everyone that “the Lord made everything” for his success. “I was just riding,” he said.
His story began in 2016 when he founded Appalachian Drafting, LLC, an Abingdon-based structural and other steel detailing firm that provides 3D models and shop drawings.
That same year, Harris won the Washington County Business Challenge for Best Existing Business, awarding him $5,000 to implement his business strategy and half the rent for a year at the Virginia Highlands Small Business Incubator in Abingdon. received.
The Washington County Business Challenge is a business plan competition designed to attract entrepreneurs to start and expand their businesses in Washington County.
In addition to cash and services, business challenge winners will receive a series of classes to help them start and grow their businesses. Participants said creating a business plan was probably one of the most helpful pieces of advice they received.
“It was a good experience,” Harris said. “At first, I had no idea what a business plan was. I met a mentor who gave me the confidence to grow and sustain my business.”
At the time of the 2016 Business Challenge, Harris was running his own business. Six years later, he is now able to employ five more of his employees and accept work from clients across the country.
Harris said he only had four or five clients when he started.
Kathy Lowe, Executive Director of Virginia Highlands Small Business Incubator, said:
Since his company was founded, Appalachian Drafting’s business has grown exponentially.
The company has a reputation for specializing in unique structures and using coal, high-end glass railing feature stairs, spiral stairs, and spiral ramps.
“We blueprint steel buildings, but we don’t design or engineer them,” Harris said. With his employees, Harris has completed work for big names such as Apple, Google and Facebook, as well as for his new cyber truck factory in Texas. .
“For each bolt hole and cut, you have to make a drawing and tell people how to build it. But there will be 2 million.”
He also drew the blueprints for the NFL football team’s new driving range staircase package.
“Our largest project to date was 5,000 tons and over 1.4 million square feet,” says Harris.
“We also built Capitol Police’s new stables on the National Mall, adjacent to the reflecting pool between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument. It was pretty cool to work on,” he said.
His current work also includes building plans for the Hudson 66 Spiral in Manhattan and the South Station Transit Hub in Boston. Near home, Harris prepares blueprints for a new science building at Virginia Tech.
Other business challenge winners have achieved similar professional successes.
Abingdon owner of Spot of Color, Hana Echin, won first place in the New Business category at the 2020 Washington County Business Challenge. Spot of Color is an art supply store with classrooms and community hangouts.
Eichin said the classes offered to the winners were useful resources for starting a business, especially learning how to create a business plan.
A business plan is like a road map that helped her navigate her new business during the pandemic.
“Business planning is something I would never have been able to do without attending your class. “It helped me get my body in order,” said Eichin.
“I think business challenges are really great. In class you get a lot of information that you might not have thought of before. You get to connect with other business owners in the community where you can do it, and of course the prizes are great.”
Matt Justus, a local Physician Assistant (PA), won first place in the Startup Business category of the 2021 Washington County Business Challenge.
The Physician’s Assistant used his winnings to help prepare the building in Glade Springs for his clinic, Town Square Medical.
With 17 years of mixed experience in the medical field, Justus says he’s answering calls from more and more people to return to traditional medicine. This is a drug characterized by doctors who are information technology agnostic and focused on connecting with patients, he said.
Justus says the business challenge is a powerful tool for validating his business plan.
“It also helped me network with other companies,” says Justus.
“We are confident of our long-term success and are pleased to announce the recent opening of our Lebanese office.”
Carolyn R. Wilson is a freelance writer living in Glade Springs, Virginia.contact her citydesk@bristolnews.com.
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