Imagine you're at work one day, and a representative from another company comes into your office and has such an effect on you that by the end of the discussion, you're ready to switch careers.

Situations like that may occur more frequently in movies than in reality, but a notable exception is Wayne Detmar, co-founder and CEO of PrimeSource Management, a leading corporation in the Professional Employer Organization, or PEO, industry.

"A gentleman came in one day and offered the [PEO] service to me," Detmar said. "He explained to me that he could do payroll, loss control, risk management, [human resources], benefits and workers' [compensation] and bundle it all up in one charge per week as a percentage of my weekly payroll. After he told me that, [he] sold it to me [and] delivered the checks on Friday. The following Monday I explained to my partner that this was going to be my new business venture, and I offered him to buy me out because I was going to do this type of business."

It's easy to see how appealing a PEO looked to Detmar, who owned and operated several truck- and trailer-repair shops at the time. According to the PrimeSource Web site, PEOs can help small-business owners solve a number of problems, including time, cash flow, workers' compensation, employee benefits, government compliance, human resources, operating leverage, employee turnover, risk management and payroll taxes.

"You hire, train and supervise your staff, and we do the rest," the site says. "When we assume these duties, you can rest assured that your company is in compliance and experts are working around the clock for you. By using our services, you have more time to do what you do best: Run your business."

Or as Detmar puts it, "PrimeSource relieves an employer or a business of all the administrative functions regarding the employee."

Detmar established PrimeSource in 1998 after leaving the truck- and trailer-repair business and spending six months as a salesperson for another PEO "to get a feel for [the business]." Over the past 12 years, PrimeSource has expanded from a small, local business in San Antonio to a fairly large corporation that does business in eight states and a yearly revenue of more than $100 million. A considerable portion of that income goes to local charities, including the Spurs Foundation, the San Antonio Livestock Expedition and a number of local ministries.

Money wasn't always so abundant for PrimeSource, however. The only real challenge Detmar encountered in the beginning involved collecting the "large amount of capital" he needed to keep the business running. Everything else basically fell into place for Detmar, since he was no stranger to starting a company from scratch; as an established businessman, he knew what to expect and how to deal with it.

So if you've already got an established corporation, why sell it, enter another industry and start all over again? For Detmar, it was – as the cliché goes – the principle of the thing.

"[A lot of] small businesses cannot afford to have a full-time safety person or [human resources] person [and] can't buy workers' [compensation] or benefits at a reasonable price because there's no volume as far as employees," he said. "What you're able to do on the PEO side is essentially the Costco effect: Buy in bulk, put a team together and offer it to the client at a much lower rate than they could [get] on their own."

For Detmar, helping startups and small businesses succeed in such a competitive marketplace is one of the most rewarding aspects of his business.

"The main reward is to help a company that is struggling with administrative issues," he said. "In other words, if a company puts transmissions together, they make money putting transmissions together; they don't make money by hiring employees and dealing with administrative issues. [They can] leave employee administration to us. Watching those companies succeed through the partnership that we've offered is very rewarding."

Detmar also prizes his exceptional staff and extensive list of valued business contacts.

"I've always hung around with a pretty good crowd of businessmen," he said, "but having a great support staff and hiring great people around me has made my job so much easier. And having good business partners – Kevin Burke and Vance Yarter – has helped, too."

Detmar's network of business connections in San Antonio is part of the reason he never set up shop outside of his hometown.

"You spend your life building relationships with people," he said, "and to me it would be meaningless to go outside of home to re-establish them."

The other reason is that in his estimation, "there's not a better place on earth to live."

When it comes to the entrepreneurs of tomorrow, Detmar recommends they place just as much value on relationships as he has and "maintain great business relationships from college all the way through." Perseverance, making one's own capital and working twice as hard as everyone else are other ways he says they can "reap the benefits."

And Detmar would certainly know about that. He reaps the rewards of his hard work and perseverance outside the office by hunting and spending time on his ranch in Dilley. Making money, helping others and relaxing on 600 acres of one's own private land may not epitomize the all-encompassing American dream, but it's safe to say it comes pretty close.