The tagline at King Business Interiors is “Love where you work!” Darla King firmly believes that. Darla is President and CEO of King Business Interiors, Inc., a commercial office furniture and flooring company that serves the Greater Central Ohio area. Darla has grown the company from a 5-person start-up to a business that now has more than 49 employees and serves hundreds of clients. “My job is to make sure everyone is happy at King! I am the hostess for our employees, the guide to our customers, and the coach to our two children who will eventually own this business in the future.”
In 2004 as a way to support nonprofit and charitable organizations in central Ohio, Darla started a program called Connecting the Dots. This program collects reusable furniture from clients purchasing new furnishings and gives it to organizations in need. “This was not easy to start … but it is now a great part of our culture at King. It is not the giving as much as it is the return to us from so many people that the furniture has helped over the years. When you visit these non-profit organizations and see what they are working in for their offices…it is amazing how much they achieve. They need to spend their money on services, staff and their clients – not office furniture. So, when we started having an abundance of excess new furniture and some lightly used items it was obvious that we knew who needed it.”
Darla enjoys working to help children and women improve their lives and she also enjoys helping others through the business path. Her interests and volunteer time is spent at non-profits that relate to women, children and small business owners. Darla is also currently on the boards of Recreation Unlimited, City Year Columbus, Columbus Chamber Small Business Council, Columbus Chamber Board, COSI Community Board, and NAWBO (National Association of Women Business Owners). To find time to balance all of these things, Darla schedules time. “I once had my daughter ask if she could schedule a meeting with me to discuss something we had been putting off! I am not really that rigid, but they say if you want something done give it to someone who is busy and they will get it done….well, sometimes that is how it works.”
The biggest obstacle that Darla has had to overcome is learning how to be a boss of a company. When Darla and her husband, Dave, formed King Business Interiors, neither of them had formal business training or ever worked in a management position. “We learned to treat others by the way we would want to be treated. I did break a lot of rules that were in the books! I just did not feel some ways were right in handling business issues. Especially when it came to employees and their families, we feel family comes first and don’t miss a ball game…they will not replay it. So, if you have to leave at 3pm – do so! The work will get done and all will be happier for it.”
For more information about Connecting the Dots, please visit www.kbiinc.com