"Gotcha Covered" Got Awarded Wichita Entrepreneur Receives SBA's Home Based Business Award

Sometimes budding entrepreneurs have a hard time deciding what type of business they want to go into, but not Denise Bandemer, Managing Partner of "Gotcha Covered" Window Fashions. When she was surfing the Internet to find blinds and shades for her own home, she saw a Franchising opportunity that caught her eye. Obviously a woman of good taste and astute business expertise, the Home Based business she began in December 2001 has earned her recognition from the Wichita Office of the U.S. Small Business Administration as the Home Based Business of the Year Award recipient for 2004. She was nominated by Erica Taylor, President of the NAWBO Wichita Chapter.

A native Wichitan, Bandemer drove to the "Gotcha Covered" corporate office in Dallas to meet the founder and learn more about the company. Buying into the company's Franchise has kept her on the go ever since. The business sells and installs window fashions for residential as well as commercial buildings. Based out of her home in Wichita, Kansas, her franchise territory covers Sedgwick and Butler counties.

She has installed window treatments in over 455 homes and among her many commercial contracts she has either installed or is under contract to install blinds at the Wichita Airport, the Chisholm Life Skills Center, Pleasant Valley Elementary and Middle Schools, Lawrence Elementary School, Faith Mennonite Church in Newton and Mr. Goodscents on Tyler Road.

Bandemer takes her product right to the customer in her mobile window fashion gallery, enabling her to show color and fabric samples from top national name brand window fashion companies including Hunter Douglas, Graber, Kirsch, Aluma-Craft, Carole Fabrics and Kasmir Fabrics. Clients can then choose their custom blinds, shades and draperies. In addition to selling indoor window treatments, her product line includes shutters, retractable awnings and removable solar screens.

Business sales have almost doubled in the second year. Attributing the fast growth rate to being knowledgeable about her products, the high quality of the product and competitive pricing, Denise hired three part-time employees to keep up with the demand. The Bandemer family takes part in the business requirements also. Husband Troy, uses his weekends off from his full time job to install blinds and 13-year old son Dustin helps out by keeping boxes and packing materials picked up.

Somehow Bandemer finds the time to be active in several local organizations, which include the Wichita Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), the Wichita Area Chamber of Commerce, the Wichita Area Builders Association, Junior League, East Wichita Rotary and the East Wichita Business Association.