Amanda Cherolis never expected her degree in fashion design and retailing would lead her to a career in software integration with her own business.
Cherolis, who owns and runs Dayton-based Davandia, originally wanted to work for a retailer as a regional manager. After seeing firsthand how much traveling and time away from family was involved, she decided to look for something else that would give her a healthy work-life balance. A friend who was a purchasing manager for Stratacache got her a job as a buyer for the company, and early on, they implemented NetSuite. Cherolis picked it up and learned the system quickly and found that she liked the work.
This led her to working for a company that did NetSuite implementation for businesses. Cherolis prides herself on being someone who takes charge as a natural leader and found herself stepping in where needed to manage. It reached a point where Cherolis was doing a lot of high-level help running the company, and she realized she wanted to do things her own way.
“I want to make the rules and decide how I want to do things and not be beholden to someone else's decision,” Cherolis said. “I felt like I had enough of a skill set that I could immediately be successful.”
With the blessing of her previous boss, Cherolis took several clients she had worked with for years and started Davandia in October of 2022.
In her first year of operation, Cherolis built her client base through marketing and outreach on LinkedIn. In the famine piece of a feast-famine cycle, she got creative and started applying to companies looking for NetSuite administrators. On the follow-up call, she’d deliver her sales pitch — an entrepreneur with her own business who could work on a contract basis — which brought in two clients, who still work with Cherolis. She ended 2023 with a revenue of $350,000 and has hit the ground running in 2024 with a revenue goal of $500,000.
One of the ways she’s found success is through something of a niche with processes around inventory control. In her job at Stratacache, she learned NetSuite through the lens of manufacturing and inventory space, which has led her to working with several manufacturers. Additionally, her approach to software implementation isn’t one-size-fits-all; she prefers a personal and individualized approach with clients to find out what their specific needs are for their business and works to cultivate the best systems to implement into their company. The end goal is to make sure that anything that is recommended or set up is going to be in the company’s best interest and will help make function and operation more seamless.
“I really want to be somebody that's a true partner alongside them,” Cherolis said.
In addition to working toward $500,000 in revenue for 2024, Cherolis is looking to add another employee that can help with managing clients. She currently has one employee that handles tasks as delegated and works with several people on a contract basis, but Cherolis is the only one managing clients directly.
