Leave ‘The Island'- become an entrepreneur

DINGMAN - Dingman resident, Charlie Bodenburg, became a doctor in just three weeks. Well, not a medical doctor - Bodenburg became a “furniture doctor.” Bodenburg quit his job on Long Island in July of 2004. He and his wife Betsy made a complete change in their lifestyle, moving to Dingman Township and the slower pace of life in Pike County. Bodenburg had been an alarm installation company supervisor on Long Island. His daughter and her family moved to Dingman which gave him the inspiration to leave his current job to be closer to his grandkids. “With great apprehension I walked into the boss’ office and gave notice that I was quitting,” Bodenburg said, recalling the moment with a sound of apprehension still in his voice. After moving he searched out area jobs and found the hourly pay rate was considerably less than what he had expected. With this in mind, he decided to seek greener pastures. Furniture Medic, said to be the largest nationally known furniture repair and restoration company, is offering franchise opportunities for start-up entrepreneurs. Bodenburg had been watching this company’s growth since the early 90’s. Bodenburg has a background as a professional woodworker, once owning a cabinet and refinishing business. After investigating similar businesses and flying down to a “discovery session” at the company headquarters in Memphis, Tenn., he saw a golden opportunity. Buying in as one of some 500 franchisers involved an investment of almost $70,000 included a three-week intensive training course, all the tools, equipment, and supplies necessary, as well as continuing technical support. The franchise gives him access to many national accounts such as J.C. Penny Catalog Sales, Pottery Barn, and a large number of furniture moving companies. “ I get a lot of work from these accounts to repair damaged items delivered to their customers. Furniture Medic gets the call and then funnels the repair work down to their franchisees,” Bodenburg told the Courier. “I also get plenty of local commercial and residential work through word of mouth and advertising.” He gets a lot of “last resort” work. A few weeks ago, Bodenburg was contacted by a woman who recently had a small church gathering at her home. During the function, some pool balls were thrown against her billiard table, damaging it. The woman had gotten a repair estimate from the table manufacturer in the neighborhood of $2,000. Bodenburg came to the rescue. “I fixed the damage in less than two hours and she was overjoyed. I saved her almost 90 percent of what she thought it would cost and the table never even left her house,” he remarked, with a smile of great accomplishment. “I feel good about being able to help repair damage to people’s furniture that always seems to them to be hopeless. I’ve been doing this full-time since last April and every time I do another ‘medical’ repair I get a recommendation that gets me another new customer,” he said. Bodenburg said he uses state-of-art materials and techniques to transform damaged furniture into like-new condition. “The repairs are invisible in almost every case,” he claimed. If you have damaged furniture, antiques, heirlooms or office furniture, contact the “Furniture Medic” at 570 686-4208 to get an estimate over the phone.