After more than 15 years of working for someone else, Lisa Smith was ready to call the shots.

In 2013, with experience on the supplier, distributor and print sides of the business, she founded Austin, TX-based Republic Promos (asi/307316), today a women-owned business with 13 employees, all female, that primarily serves the tech market in Austin.

Lisa Smith, Republic Promos

Republic started small – two long-time colleagues, Amber Friedeck and DeeDee Mann joined Smith in the new endeavor – but quickly saw rapid growth. In 2016, it was named to the Austin Fast 50 list of high-growth companies in Central Texas based on three-year sales (an honor Republic received again in 2020). The distributor also has appeared multiple times on the Austin Business Journal’s lists of top Advertising/Marketing Agencies and Women-Owned Businesses.

From 2020 to 2021, sales grew 21% and the firm hit company-record annual revenue of nearly $4 million at the end of last year, despite ongoing COVID challenges. Over the past five years, including a slight COVID dip, the firm has increased sales by an average of 15% annually.

Smith’s long track record of success began about 25 years ago, when she was simply looking for a job opportunity as a single mother in Kansas. She started as a warehouse temp at GEAR for Sports, now a part of HanesBrands (asi/59528), and after a couple years was promoted to inventory management for major accounts.

The 2022 Distributor Entrepreneur of the Year talks about founding her company, assembling an all-female team and growing the business.

Not long after, she relocated to Austin for her husband’s job and took a position in sales at a distributor. There she met Friedeck and Mann, and after five years the three began working at a nearby print shop. Soon after, Smith decided to start her own firm with Friedeck and Mann at her side and a vision to take customer service to a whole new level.

“My goal was to start a faith-based company that offered great customer service and flexibility for the moms who worked for us,” Smith says. “I remember when I started in the industry as a single mother – it was hard being away from my kids. We actually get more done working totally remote.”

Scott Leonard, director of Midwest sales at Top 40 supplier Hit Promotional Products (asi/61125), joined Smith, Friedeck and Mann at their first supplier dinner in 2013; it was the start of a relationship that continues to this day. “I could tell after our first meeting that they just did things right,” says Leonard. “They’ve lived up to that. Lisa conducts business in a way that suppliers can only dream of. She’s the definition of a true partner. Instead of me always being the first to thank them for their business, they always beat me to it and thank us for everything we do.”

Smith’s leadership was tested when COVID turned everything upside down. Thanks to her foresight and financial savvy, Smith had enough saved that she could continue to make payroll for her team for two months. “I told them to take a month-long break,” says Smith. “So about four weeks later, we came back, regrouped and developed new strategies.”

“Our biggest success, and why people come to us, is because of the service we provide.” Lisa Smith

Those included sourcing PPE for clients, along with taking a long look at supplier partners and making changes when needed in order to have consistent access to stock. Another was doubling down on Republic’s drop-shipping capabilities. Before COVID, Smith’s team was fulfilling about 5,000 kitted and drop-shipped pieces a year; today, it’s closer to 21,000. In fact, the company had its largest order ever this past January: 1,200 boxes, containing five promo products each, kitted and delivered to more than 40 countries for a tech company’s virtual event.

Friedeck still manages operations at Republic; sales rep Mann passed away in 2015 from cancer. Her daughter, Missy Haese, took over her mother’s accounts and is now the company’s top rep. Nearly a decade later, Smith’s initial mission hasn’t wavered: to provide unparalleled customer support for valued clients.

“Our biggest success, and why people come to us, is because of the service we provide,” says Smith. “We’re all about service. Clients say we’re fast and helpful, we go above and beyond, and we’re patient. We’re faith-based, so we serve God by serving other people.”

Cindy Lo, CEO of experiential marketing agency RED VELVET in Austin, cites that level of customer service as the primary reason why she continues to work with Smith today, 12 years following a chance referral and three years before Republic was founded. “With how fast business decisions are made and planning timelines have been cut, Lisa over-communicates, which works very well with what we do with corporate and live events,” says Lo. “Lisa always meets us more than halfway so all of us can win.”