Two Brothers and a Mother Hope to Tap Local Markets

Bio-Waste Disposal Services LLC

Owners: Jeff and Richard Clifton

Address: 125 Kelley Dr., Rogers

Phone: 479-202-5277

E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]

Hours: 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday; pickups before/after hours as needed

Web site: www.biowastedisposalservices.com

Startup date: May 1

Jeff and Richard Clifton are hoping to get a small slice of the billion-dollar pie that is the medical waste-disposal industry.

After taking almost six months to get the proper licensing, meet insurance requirements, etc., the Cliftons have opened Bio-Waste Disposal Services LLC. The mechanics of the operation are relatively simple.

“We collect medical waste and transport it to a disposal processing facility,” Jeff Clifton said.

Such waste could come from a variety of sources, ranging from doctors’ offices and hospitals to animal processing plants and tattoo parlors. Fees are quantity-based, and the Cliftons are aiming to combine superior customer service with lower charges than the international firm that dominates the market.

“If we do our job correctly, we’ll save people a fair amount of money and they’ll barely know we’re there,” Clifton said.

The Cliftons currently are offering six-month trial agreements that roll into 12-month terms if the customer is satisfied.

“Ninety-nine percent of the time, they’ve been receptive,” Richard Clifton said of prospective clients.

The brothers are handling all of the work in an effort to keep both overhead and rates low. Still, they’ve receive inquiries from as far away as Conway and are willing to service parts of Oklahoma and Missouri.

Erica Erck Photography

Owner: Erica Erck

Address: 3500 Hearthstone Dr., Fayetteville

Phone: 615-772-5528

E-mail: [email protected]

Website: EricaErckPhotography.com

Hours: Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, or by appointment

Startup date: July 1

Little Rock native Erica Erck developed a love for photography while living in Chapel Hill, N.C.

“I started working with (a friend) with no intention of becoming a photographer,” Erck said. “She threw a camera in my hands one weekend, because her second shooter at a wedding cancelled on her, and she said, ‘Just shoot whatever you want.'”

Erck’s friend later asked her to sign on as a photographer. Erck worked in North Carolina and Nashville, Tenn., where she opened Erica Erck Photography, before re-opening the business in Fayetteville after another move.

“I work primarily with families, babies and preschoolers because that’s what I’m around and what I know the most,” Erck said.

Erck also offers customizable frames, coffee-table books, canvases, holiday cards and birth announcements. She estimated startup costs at $25,000, and hopes to eventually add studio space.

(Liz Sendejo of Arkansas Business contributed to this report.)