New Venture Lab: Equipping Christian Entrepreneurs

There was an excellent profile of Ken Hendricks of Beloit, Wisconsin in a recent issue of Reader's Digest about how he went from a high school dropout and a roofer making $10,000 per year to building and running a 350-store roofing supply chain that has $3 billion in sales.

Money isn't everything and like most entrepreneurs, he didn't start off to make money, but rather, he started off with a vision of creating a store that would better serve roofing contractors like him.  The article covered some excellent ground on his operational moves that made his supply centers successful.

Here are a few of the tips he offered:

What's the most overrated secret to success?
Intelligence. Success is about how you take care of your employees and customers, and how sincere you are about that. You don't have to be smart to treat people well. Swallow the ego and hire somebody who's good at what you don't have the knowledge to do.

What's the most overlooked secret to success?
Having a calculated vision. Let's say you go into a store and say, "Boy, this would be a great place if..." That's the vision, okay? Then do your homework to make sure your vision makes sense.

Do you still ask your employees what's working and what isn't?
All the time.

What's the most important thing you've learned in business?
That people have the right to fail. Otherwise, they stop thinking, and then you need more management to manage them because you have to think for them. But if they figure out why they failed, and if they correct it, then the failure has real value.

What are you looking for in a potential hire?
Energy. And if somebody says to me, "I just want a chance."

You dropped out of high school. Any regrets?
What do you think!? Actually, I do need to address this. We're in trouble with our education system. That's because a family today is considered a failure unless their kid goes to college. But not every kid has the aptitude to go to college. We need more service- and tradespeople -- electricians, plumbers. There's nothing in school anymore that trains you for a job. When I dropped out of 11th grade, I could build a house with my own hands. I knew what I wanted to do.

What are the rules you live by?
One, have the patience to train others to do your job so you can build your business. Two, take care of your customer. Three, reward people. Four, look ahead at the big picture, not just the job in front of you.

Read the full story here.