DON’T TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER

—GABRIELLE BIENASZ

IN 2005, FOUR BANKS told Laura Spaulding (above, center) her business plan wasn’t good enough for a loan. So she told the fifth bank she needed a home equity loan to replace her windows—and used the $15,000 to start her business. “I never got windows,” Spaulding says. Instead, she’s spent the 15 years since renovating other people’s homes (sort of) in her role as founder and CEO of Tampa-based Spaulding Decon—her biohazard and crime scene cleanup business. As a patrol officer in Kansas City, Missouri, Spaulding got the idea for the business (which also cleans up meth labs and hoarder lairs) after learning that the families of homicide victims often had to take care of the mess themselves. From that original $15,000, Spaulding has grown the business to 37 franchises…

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Inc. (Digital) - 1 Issue, May/June 2021

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