Co-founder, Jeriko House
www.jerikohouse.com

Angelina Burst and her husband, Shawn, had just finished building their dream home, when Hurricane Katrina hit. Several feet of water flooded the home and forced the Bursts, like so many people, to leave for higher ground.

The experience inspired the Bursts, who already enjoyed entrepreneurial success as the founders of Sales360, to start an entirely different kind of company - Jeriko House.

Jeriko House builds upscale pre-fab homes that look different from those you often see lining suburban streets. Its homes are constructed with an aerospace-grade aluminum framing system, along with interior materials like exotic woods, marble and granite. According to the company, a Jeriko House can withstand hurricanes, floods and earthquakes, and can be built, start-to-finish, in four to six months.

Starting Out by Selling Cars

Angelina: “About six years ago, my husband and I came up with the idea for Sales360. I had worked in the car sales business for seven years, and my husband had worked in it for a little over 10 years. We wanted to get out of the day-to-day of the business working 14 hours or so every day.

“Sales360 is a concept of advertising and marketing for car dealerships. We have sales promotions all over the U.S. and do advertising for new and pre-owned car dealerships. We teach salespeople all over the U.S. about customer service and how to sell cars. That has been our company and business for the last six years. We went from about $1.5 million in sales (the year we started) to $33 million in 2006.”

Get In, Grab What You Need, Get Out

“In August of 2005 (when Katrina hit), we had to relocate Sales360 to Baton Rouge. We were not even able to get into New Orleans to get our personal belongings for about two weeks. They would only let you come in and grab what you needed and get out. Our office was on the top floor - the roof had caved in.

“We got into the city two days after the storm by negotiating several military checkpoints, got our server and recreated our entire infrastructure without missing a beat. We were very fortunate and blessed. We had a wonderful crew of people who were able to start backing up the company in our Baton Rouge location. They worked countless hours to do this. We supplied housing for our staff, but thanks to them, we were able to continue being the business we started being.”

Wanting a Better Way to Build a Home

“We stayed there five months while trying to renovate our home to get back down here.
We had just built our dream home prior to the storm and lived in it for six months. We had gone through two years of legwork. By the time you get your plans, permits and everything else and then going through the contractors not showing up…
we realized the whole situation didn’t work. There had to be an easier way (to build a home).”

Making Homes from Metal

“My husband was researching the Internet and came across a patented building system that originated and was developed by a German entrepreneur. It’s earthquake-proof and hurricane-proof up to 200 mile-an-hour winds. It’s an incredible system. It takes about four months to build a house for the entire construction process. The cost is anywhere from $175 per square foot and up. After several trips to Europe and Asia we secured the exclusive licensing rights to the patented building system for the United States.

“One big perk… in the aluminum framing is all the electrical, plumbing, and wiring. It literally snaps together, yet will withstand the extremes of Mother Nature. All you do is get the plumber and electrician to come in for permit purposes. On the inside you have your limestone, marble, bamboo floors and many other beautiful finishes. That’s another thing we’ll be working on next, is having a furniture line for it. I’m working on getting fabrics together.”

See the Showhouse, Play on the Web Site

“We’ve been working on getting our show house built on Canal Boulevard by late May or early June. The Web site soon will be very user-friendly. Users will be able to play around (with the design of their house). The site will be finished within 30 days.”

Want More Room? Just Add Panels

“A lot of times when you move into your first home, that’s what you can afford at that time. Maybe you start to make more money, and now you say, ‘I want a playroom for my kids or a theatre room.’ Because the house is modular, you simply call and order the pieces that you need and you add it on to your house. Instead of going through construction and sheet rock on your house, you add panels to it and there you go, your house is expanded.”

Switching Gears, Changing Directions

“I don’t think anybody is one-dimensional. Many people have different talents. We’re great in advertising, and that relates to any business. I learned so much about building a house by doing it myself… realizing what is great about the construction business and what isn’t great. If you’re interested (in a certain industry), dive right in, find a product that’s worth selling and put your name behind it.”

Discovering Early Knack for Sales

“I went through high school and right after that… when I was 18, I lived on my own and supported myself… I would do maybe two jobs at a time just to kind of make it.
I started working in sales and did really great with sales. I did great in the car industry, and met my husband… we would work sales together. From there we funded Sales360 from the beginning.”

Greatest Business Challenge

“I would guess the biggest challenge is finding people who work as hard as we do and as honest as we do. It’s trying to look and find people who have really good qualities that you have in yourself. Finding great workers and great associates to be around, and trustworthy people.”

Working Hard, Giving Back

“I woke up every day of my life knowing I was going to do great because I was a hard worker and had desire… but great in my mind then, and great in my mind now, are two different things. I believe we are all created for great things. Whether it’s to be the best mom, wife, employee or employer. It is all about taking pride in what you do.

“We are called to make things better than the last idea, not doing things to get by.
My husband and I are firm believers in the idea of if you do the right thing every day you’re going to be blessed. Our biggest reward is not what we can receive, but what we are able to give.”

Balancing Work and Family

“Me and my husband are a great team. Because we work together, he knows what I’m going through and I know what he’s going through. We balance between us the kids’ functions. Our family gives us even more of a desire to do greater things in life. It is very rewarding to spend quiet time reading, talking, having conversations on the way to school or making them belly laugh. It’s also great having my best friend (my husband) working beside me. He knows me better than anyone else.”

Words of Advice

“Women have a great gut feeling. There’s something that’s in women that says, no, this is not right, or it is. When you feel it’s good, jump on it. Don’t let something stop you because you’re scared. That’s you trusting yourself.”