Kelly Dobbins admits that just 10 years ago, she never would have considered it possible to operate a business just by providing drug testing. But the 48-year-old Memphian and owner of Mid-South Drug Testing has now cast those doubts aside, operating a booming pre-employment drug testing business.

The onetime banking professional has grown her business to include a branch in Arkansas. In all, the flourishing company will provide more than 11,000 drug tests for clients this year. “Drug testing is a weird venture,” Dobbins says. “It's not something you wake up one day and say 'I want to do drug testing.’”

However unattractive the field may seem to outsiders, Dobbins says it was the science part of testing that first sparked her interests in drug testing while serving as the CFO of Memphis-based Justice Network, Inc., a private probation company. Although her duties went beyond just managing the drug testing program, Dobbins said she saw a need to expand the company's drug testing business to private companies that were looking for pre-employment screenings.

“My boss and I had a long conversation about growing the company in employment drug testing,” she says. “But it was his company and that's not what he wanted to do. I had been there 11 years and we had a great relationship, but I left and basically started my own company with very little money.” After getting loans from family and friends, cashing out her 401(k) and receiving a $25,000 Small Business Association loan, Dobbins founded Mid-South Drug Testing Center in 2004 with hopes that she could carve out a niche in Memphis.

While she saw ample opportunities to grow right out of the gate, Dobbins’ push to expand the company beyond just Memphis almost closed her business before it could get started. Just seven months after founding the company, Dobbins opened another office in Paragould, Ark. Although Mid-South Drug Testing had only eight part-time employees at the time, Dobbins said she wanted to expand in the Paragould area to serve many of the large manufacturers who have mandatory drug testing policies.

“I grew too fast and ran out of capital and didn't know what to do,” she said. “I was scared that I was going to lose everything so I threw my business plan out the window.”

Instead of opening expensive new branches in other locations to grow her client base, Dobbins created a service offering that allows her to reach new customers at their own office. Because many companies and municipal governments require that any employee who is involved in an accident be drug tested, Dobbins created a mobile service, which allows her customers 24-hour access to testing.

Whenever there is a need to administer a test, Mid-South Drug Testing can dispatch certified technicians to perform the test onsite. That service alone has made Mid-South Drug Testing an attractive alternative to other providers.

“(Dobbins) has a quality program,” says Ray Douglas, Millington police chief and Mid-South Drug Testing client. “If we need her, we make a phone call and she provides the service no matter if it’s day or night, 7 days a week.”