Tightrope: Entrepreneur's story shows how to build a business

— -- A couple of weeks ago I listed a few things entrepreneurs can do improve their business in the New Year. It's always a pleasure to meet someone whose personal story shows the value of working hard toward such success. Robb McMahan is that someone.

In 2002 Robb's wife Lisa, an enthusiastic cook, prepared one of her signature Thanksgiving Day dinners. Like many kitchen floors, the McMahans' floor was beautiful to look at but uncomfortable to stand on for any length of time. By the time dinner was ready, Lisa's legs and lower back hurt so much she hardly enjoyed the meal. They agreed that a solution had to be found.

Robb and Lisa went in search of a kitchen mat she could stand on while preparing meals to help her avoid fatigue or discomfort. Much to their surprise they found many floor mats, but none that would really address Lisa's needs.

Robb, whose professional life as an engineer had seen him through the development of many things from notebook computers to wheelchairs, decided he could solve the problem himself. Thinking of Lisa and their kitchen as a model he felt that the ideal anti-fatigue kitchen mat had to be comfortable, durable and attractive. After many late nights and hundreds of prototypes Robb finally hit paydirt, which led him into the anti-fatigue mat business. His first mats went on sale in 2005. He had addressed an important ingredient for entrepreneurial success: Create meaningful solutions to improve the lives of others.

He knew that if his wife had needed an anti-fatigue mat, there had to be many folks out there who suffered while standing in the kitchen for long periods of time. Thus GelPro.com was born

With limited financial resources to work with, Robb turned to the Internet to help him build an infrastructure to reach his market. Once he built his website he started reaching out in every possible direction to build his company. To reach his market he used Search Engine Optimization, Google paper clicks, and blogs.

The thing that really pushed Robb's business into the mainstream was the relationship he developed with a media buying agency that let him buy advertisements in major magazines at a low price. This arrangement increased traffic and sales to his website.