Campaign Idea Gives Man Own ‘Cabinet’ Post : Laguna Hills resident was inspired by Clinton’s health care plans to begin customizing medical offices for the future.

As the 1992 presidential campaign raged on, Craig La Croix found inspiration where others heard only rhetoric.

La Croix, 33, had been looking to increase sales for his custom cabinetmaking business. He was experiencing a modicum of success with van conversion work, turning empty metal shells into luxurious, mobile dens by adding cabinets and carpeting to the vehicles.

Still, he wanted more.

That’s when La Croix, a former middle manager at defense and telecommunications companies, began listening to then-candidate Bill Clinton hammer away on the necessity for health care reform. Where some saw political posturing, La Croix saw potential profit.

From there came the birth of SMP La Croix Inc., a maker of customized dental and medical office cabinetry and furniture. The Laguna Hills resident accurately predicted that all the talk about health care reform would fuel an industry boom.

Doctors and dentists receiving more patients would need to expand and improve their offices, he figured, and could use his expertise in creating and building ergonomically correct and efficient office environments, from desks and shelves to countertops and laboratory work stations.

“This was a niche that was not really being fulfilled,” La Croix said, adding that the majority of medical offices are equipped with prefabricated cabinetry and furniture. “And with all the talk about health care, I thought it was the time to make a move on it.”

Through word of mouth, La Croix has steadily built up his small business over the past 18 months, bringing in $165,000 in 1993--that’s up from $140,000 in revenue last year, which then included van conversion revenue.

Samira Rami, an office manager for Westminster dentist Samuel Marcus, said her boss decided in February to revamp his front office and add much-needed storage space. He called La Croix, who worked after office hours to measure and install new gray-faced cabinets, a desk and a front counter. The job was completed within a week, she said.

“He was really a hard-working guy. He did a great job,” said Rami, adding that Marcus was so impressed that he referred La Croix to several colleagues, which led to additional jobs.

Starting a business during one of Southern California’s most crushing recessions may not be an ideal strategy for a budding entrepreneur--especially for those who are minorities such as La Croix, who is black.

“Access to markets and capital are two major problems for small business owners,” said Aaron Lovejoy, a board member of the Orange County Black Chamber of Commerce. “It’s particularly acute for minorities.”

Starting on a shoestring, even in the best of economic times, is tenuous at best, said Lovejoy, who owns UltraTech Resources Inc., a Santa Ana computer products distributor.

But La Croix is undaunted by the challenges. “It started with vanity, but I knew I could do it,” he said.

Once an inventory manager for a subsidiary of Canadian telecommunications giant Northern Telecom Ltd., La Croix decided to abandon big business three years ago for the satisfaction of owning and managing his own business--no matter how small.

Using the talents of local cabinetmakers on a per-job basis, La Croix started his van conversion business. He contracted with cabinetmakers at woodworking shops in Placentia, Santa Ana, Huntington Beach and Long Beach and began cranking out walnut, rosewood and teak cabinets for vans.

His idea of moving into dental and medical cabinets began when he did a series of storage cabinets for his ex-wife’s dentist.

Today, La Croix said he averages about two contracts a month, valued from several hundred to several thousand dollars. He said that’s busy enough for a one-man operation. La Croix finds the clients, subcontracts the actual construction, then helps install the furniture.

In time, La Croix said he should have enough orders to hire full-time workers, and begin giving something back to the community in the form of wages.

Lovejoy suggested that La Croix soon must expand if he has any hope of survival. “The only way he is ever going to grow is to bite the bullet and get somebody to either work the projects or do the marketing for him.”

Lovejoy also advised La Croix to aggressively seek out subcontracting agreements with contractors who work on hospital projects and large clinics.

After having a solid job with a corporate employer, La Croix is only just getting used to living hand-to-mouth, trading security for independence.

“I didn’t grow up poor,” said the La Puente native, “but I wasn’t rich either. So I know I can survive.”