When Lisa Smith established Republic Promos (asi/307316) nine years ago, with 15 years of industry experience under her belt, she wanted to offer quality customer service that would get people talking.

And talk they did. Just a few years into her new venture in Austin, TX – and alongside long-time colleagues Amber Friedeck and the late DeeDee Mann – the woman-owned distributorship was named to the Austin Fast 50 list of high-growth companies in Central Texas. Since then, they’ve increased their sales by an average of 15% annually over the past five years and expanded their team from three women to 12.

But all of this was far from Smith’s mind about 25 years ago, when, as a single mother, she happened upon a warehouse job with a supplier in Kansas. After moving on to a distributor and then a printer in the years following, she was ready to start her own business in 2013, which would also offer a flexible work environment.

“I wanted us to have a company where we could help the customers and do a really good job,” she says. “But the thing that brings me the most satisfaction is having women here who can work from home and be with their kids. I would have loved that when I first started.”

In this episode of Promo Insiders, Smith discusses her early days in the industry, appearing on business growth lists soon after establishing her distributorship and how she led her team through the uncertainty of COVID; she was able to make payroll for March and April 2020 and to brainstorm growth strategies with the staff in the midst of a rapidly changing sales landscape.

“We started doing a lot of fulfillment,” she says. “We went from 5,000 shipments a year to about 20,000 now. It just went crazy. I don’t see that changing at all.”