Mark Lehman founded Power Access Control in 2019 with no venture capital, no private equity, and a strict operational rule: spend zero dollars on advertising. Six years later, the Atlanta-based commercial security firm is projecting $8 million to $10 million in annual revenue for 2027, a trajectory that validates an approach many in the industry initially considered reckless.
Lehman left a secure job at an established security company out of frustration with what he saw as chronic indifference to client needs. "I couldn't stand watching clients suffer through delayed service calls, unreturned phone calls, and indifferent customer care," he said. In commercial access control, he noted, a broken gate or failed entry system is not merely an inconvenience but a significant security vulnerability and an operational disruption for a business.
Instead of investing in paid lead generation, Lehman staked the company's future on a single premise: over-deliver on every contract and let the work speak for itself. "When you don't rely on ad money to feed your business, your work has to be flawless," he said. "Every project had to be our best billboard. If a client had a critical issue, we didn't put them on a two-week queue—we showed up, took ownership, and fixed it."
He also made an early strategic decision to focus exclusively on the commercial sector, stepping away from residential work to concentrate on high-security, high-throughput infrastructure. That focus led to the launch of Atlanta Turnstiles, a specialized division handling complex turnstile security, optical speed gates, biometric access, and perimeter security integration.
The company's client roster now includes Choate Construction, Tyler Perry Studios, Peachtree-DeKalb Airport (PDK), and Fortune-Johnson—accounts landed without a single paid ad. Word of Lehman's standards spread through Atlanta's general contracting and facility management circles, where subcontractors and property managers came to see Power Access Control as problem solvers who delivered on time and on budget.
The implications extend beyond one company's success. In an industry where competitors routinely spend thousands on paid advertising and aggressive sales funnels, Power Access Control's growth suggests that reputation and service quality can function as a scalable substitute for marketing spend, at least in relationship-driven commercial niches. As metro Atlanta's commercial landscape continues its rapid boom, the firm's trajectory offers a case study in organic, referral-based expansion. More information is available at https://poweraccesscontrol.com.
Lehman frames the milestone less as a financial achievement than as validation of the philosophy he started with. "We proved that you don't need a slick advertising budget to build a multi-million dollar business," he said. "You just need to trust the process, treat every customer like your only customer, and never settle for anything less than excellence."
