Suzanne Pucci Suzanne Pucci's carpet cleaning business, which she bought in 2001, occupies 7,000 square feet in her own building of 16,000 square feet.

In Pucci's first year, she and her 15 employees and five trucks grossed about $500,000 in sales.

For 2007, Pucci's Stanley Steemer franchise can expect more than $2 million in sales from her 30 employees and 10 trucks.

Pucci was born in Alliance, Ohio, 17 miles from the NFLHall of Fame in Canton. She is the youngest and only girl among a family of four boys.

Her father recently retired as a hospital administrator.

Pucci lettered four years on her high school basketball team and picked up golf after high school. She was offered an education and a position on the basketball team by West Point but was not interested in a military career.

Pucci stayed in Alliance and attended Mt. Union College where the golf team invited her to join the previously all- male team. Her school and its competition didn't sponsor women's golf, so she played from the men's tees.

During her sophomore year, Pucci landed a full- time job with BankOne while she continued a full- course load.

Pucci changed her major from sports medicine to business and soon after graduation took an offer from one of her brothers to join his Stanley Steemer franchise operation in Akron where she stayed for nine years.

Pucci left Akron with her friend for Charleston. In both Charleston and Myrtle Beach, Pucci and her friend ran a Stanley Steemer franchise until Pucci bought her own in Columbia.

With one central office in Columbia, Pucci and her Stanley Steemer business cover eight counties from Florence to the Aiken County line and from Orangeburg to Whitmire.

Stanley Steemer has been around more than 60 years. The company's main advantage is in its equipment. The patented technology fits in a truck, which can go just about anywhere. If a house is high above the street, accessible only by elevator, the Stanley Steemer equipment can arrive in a portable version removed from the truck.

The company uses a method that takes out 95 percent of the moisture necessary for cleaning. It leaves no soap residue.

Besides carpet and rug and upholstery cleaning, Pucci's Stanley Steemer offers tile and grout cleaning, restoration after water damage, air duct cleaning, and floor finishing installation. If a pipe breaks at 3 am, Pucci's people can immediately take the call and repair the damage.

All of Pucci's people are screened to enter customers' homes. Upon application for employment, there is always a national criminal background check, and random drug tests are the norm.

For a three- bedroom home with separate living and dining rooms, Pucci can offer same- day carpet cleaning service for a little more than $150.

Pucci's brother, who lives in Akron, is still in the business.Two of her brothers, Kevin and Jeff, own the Los Angeles franchise, where they have the second highest sales total in the country. Her other brother, John, is doing the same thing in Detroit.

Pucci enjoys Columbia. She appreciates the opportunity she took to buy into her business here. She rarely leaves.