For some, a business plan to turn a loan of $1,200 into a multi-million dollar company is as basic as ABC. To get started, throw in a little discipline, a great work ethic and a few high level black belts. At least that was the eventual plan for a young Jim Bottin in sunny Gulfport, Mississippi, in May 1969.
In 1969, the Vietnam War was raging with more than half a million American soldiers fighting the communist regime. Soon the U.S. military added one more to its roster.
Upon graduation from Harrison Central High School, Bottin signed up at his local U.S. Air Force recruitment office. Bottin – the son of a Marine – would spend five years in the Air Force, with two of those years in Tainan Air Base in Taiwan.
The Taiwanese duty station introduced the young airman to Taekwondo, a martial arts sport which focuses on kicking techniques, self-discipline and mindfulness. In just two years, Bottin earned a first-degree black belt before heading back to the states. He was hooked.
The Mississippi native found himself at the Little Rock Air Force Base, where he began to teach Taekwondo part time at the Jacksonville Institute of Self Defense. In no time, he was teaching a substantial number of students.
When it came time to re-enlist in 1974, Bottin decided to try martial arts as a career in lieu of the military. He borrowed $1,200 from his parents, Bob and Ruth Bottin, to purchase part of the business. Within one year, he bought his partners out and was the sole owner of the martial arts studio in Jacksonville.
Bottin attributes his work ethic to his mom and dad, who taught him to work hard and save for a rainy day. They encouraged him to pay off debt, rather than accumulate debt.
While teaching and operating a business, Bottin continued to pursue elite Taekwondo degrees: fourth-degree black belt by the American Taekwondo Association, fifth-degree black belt through the United States Taekwondo Federation. He won numerous state and regional tournaments plus five national championships.
Business was booming, and Bottin opened four more studios in the late 70s and early 80s. Eventually, he began to add fitness equipment to his studios, morphing his business into fitness centers. The business name was changed to Nautilus Plus Taekwondo. In the 1980s, Bottin added aerobic programs and changed his company name to Jim Bottin’s Nautilus Plus, leaving Taekwondo out of the business name and focus.
Around this time, Bottin owned and operated 13 fitness centers in Arkansas and Texas. With his growing fitness center business, Bottin also had a growing issue with billing. In 1981, he developed a new business called American Billing Company to manage his members’ dues. He hired several qualified employees, leased space and began to collect membership dues.
Bottin realized that if he was struggling with billing, other fitness centers probably were too. He began to market his fitness center billing and software solution in trade magazines, booths at trade shows and word of mouth. The billing/software solution took off. Other centers found that ABC could assist with billing/software needs better and cheaper than they could themselves.
American Billing Company became ABC Financial Services Inc. and extended its business software focus to include front-desk check in, point of sale, class scheduler, personal trainer appointments, online registrations and more. As its services increased, so did its clients. Soon Bottin sold his fitness centers to concentrate on building ABC.
Today ABC Financial has revolutionized software and payment processing for the health and fitness industry. Headquartered in the Little Rock area, ABC serves over 7,000 clubs throughout the USA, Canada, Puerto Rico and Europe. Its largest clients are Anytime Fitness, Planet Fitness, Gold’s Gym and Retro Fitness, among hundreds of others. They service over 19 million members and collect over $400 million per month. ABC moved up to 54 in the 2017 top 75 Arkansas Private Companies published in Arkansas Business with $178 million in revenue. The company’s innovative club management software, DataTrak, is the most complete web-based software in the health and fitness industry.
Bottin built ABC through longtime staff members such as Paul Schaller, ABC’s chief executive officer. He has been with the company for 26 years. Jill Dozer, chief operations officer, has also been with ABC for 26 years; Stephanie Johnson, executive vice president, 22 years; Elizabeth Gray, vice president of systems, 22 years; Jennifer Adams, vice president of conversions, 20 years; and Bob Whisnant, chief financial officer, 20 years. There are a substantial number of employees that have been with ABC for more than 10 years. ABC employs close to 900. About 500 live in Arkansas.
In November 2017, ABC announced that Thoma Bravo, a leading private equity firm, was acquiring ABC in the fourth quarter of the year.
Throughout the years, Bottin received tremendous support from his wife Donna, whom he met in 1975 in Jacksonville, Arkansas. They have two children: their late son Eric and daughter Lindsay. Lindsay and husband Chad Wilkerson have four children. All live in Little Rock.
After Eric’s death at age 17, Bottin created the Eric Scott Bottin Foundation for charitable giving. The foundation supports the American Heart Association, Carti, Easter Seals, American Diabetes Association, Women and Children First, Care for Animals and more.
See more of the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame.
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