CHAPTER 5 They Earned Their Own Success CHAPTER 5 EXCERPTED FROM ~~~~~~ “The big driver of happiness is earned success: THE SPIRIT OF OPPORTUNITY a person’s belief that he has created value How Free Enterprise Lets Entrepreneurs in his life or the life of others.” at Winsupply Earn Their Own Success Arthur C. Brooks, American social scientist, bestselling author and former president of the American Enterprise Institute ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ The story of Winsupply is the story of our fundamentals – our philosophy, business model and key principles – and the details behind our operating structure and procedures for pattern management and Richard W. Schwartz scale. with Teresa Zumwald And yet, there’s more to it than that. The best way to tell the Winsupply story is to talk about some of the courageous, capable, hardworking entrepreneurs in The Winsupply Copyright © 2020 by Richard W. Schwartz Family of Companies: people who maximized their opportunities and earned their own success. Scott Wilson on equity partnerships: ‘The chance to share ownership is our No. 1 competitive advantage’ Scott Wilson grew up in the 1980s, in a subsidized housing project in Kansas City, Missouri. He had a dirt bike he kept in the kitchen, Suggested citation: because if he left it outside, he knew it probably wouldn’t be there the Richard W. Schwartz with Teresa Zumwald, next morning. The Spirit of Opportunity: How Free Enterprise Lets Entrepreneurs at Winsupply Earn Their Own Success As a teenager, Scott worked at a Sonic Drive-In, the burger and tater (Dayton, Ohio: Westendorf Printing, February 2020). tot place. And then one day in 1993, when he was 17, he asked Chester Remington for a job. Chester was a family friend and the president of Kansas City Winwater, a local company in Scott’s hometown and one of Winsupply’s top 135 The Spirit of Opportunity They Earned Their Own Success companies. Chester hired Scott to work in the pipe yard at his company, own 30 percent of his own company – and then he turned right around which supplies valves, fire hydrants, and all kinds of water, storm and and offered to share ownership with eight of his employees. He gave sewer pipe to contractors in the area. them the chance to buy 10 percent of Kansas City Winwater, just as Chester had done for him. It didn’t take long for Chester to see something in Scott that Scott couldn’t yet see in himself. All eight of his employees said yes, because they saw opportunity in ownership. Becoming an owner is really a way take a chance on Because Scott worked hard, he was promoted quickly. Soon, he was yourself – to bet on yourself and believe you can serve customers better earning some pretty great commissions as a salesman for Chester’s than your competitors can. Scott told me: company. “The opportunity to buy stock in my own company at By the time he was 25, Scott knew he was destined to do much more Winsupply was a gift. I had to pay big money for it, but the than sales. Chester told him that someday, Scott would be running the returns! Every employee who works here would tell you the company. same thing.” Since nothing worth having comes easy, Scott continued to work After Scott became president, his No. 1 objective was to grow his very hard for the next five years. Then Chester decided to share company: to take it from where it was to where he thought it should Winsupply’s ownership opportunity by giving Scott the chance to be. So he decided to revamp his team a bit to make it the best in the become a 10 percent stockholder in Kansas City Winwater. Scott said: industry – people who are hungry to do more to take care of customers. “I was 30 when Chester asked if I wanted to buy stock in Kansas Scott and his team make a promise to their customers, and it is this: City Winwater and become an owner. It was a huge risk! But I took it after someone at Winsupply said, ‘Scott, would you “We’ll be better today than we were yesterday. And we’ll be rather invest your money in a big public company where you better tomorrow than we are today.” have no say-so? Or would you rather invest in the company you As a result, Scott’s company is still a top-performing company work for where your voice is heard every day?’” at Winsupply; for many years it has been named our Waterworks To get enough money to buy stock in his company, Scott scraped Company of the Year. together his life savings and borrowed the rest from his father-in-law. Scott tells customers all the time about the chance for him and his It took him four years to buy in. employees to buy in and share ownership, together with Winsupply: Meanwhile, Scott became an eager student of Chester’s, learning “I tell customers that shared ownership is our No. 1 competitive every aspect of the business well beyond sales. He took on more advantage – the No. 1 reason why our company is so successful. responsibility, asked questions, made mistakes and learned lessons. “Never in a million years did I imagine where I’d be today. What To Scott, Chester was a gracious leader, a father figure and a patient an unbelievable opportunity this has been for me, someone who mentor. For 10 years, Chester did everything he could to prepare Scott came from nothing.” to take over the company in 2014, when Chester was set to retire. When that day finally came, Scott needed to have even more skin in the game as company president. So this time, he invested enough to 136 137 The Spirit of Opportunity They Earned Their Own Success Greg Jackson on local owners with local autonomy: decisions, like cutting expenses and diversifying the company’s products, ‘People at Winsupply make you feel like you can do to gain more sales. anything if you put your mind to it’ But what a difference it made. By 2001, the company had so much business that Greg made Just a few states away from Kansas City Winwater is Dayton a case for starting a new local company north of Dayton called Windustrial, a local company in Ohio run by Greg Jackson. Sidney Windustrial. He even suggested to us that one of his very best Greg’s company sells commercial construction supplies – like employees, Cory Osenbaugh, had earned the chance to become Sidney drainage, fire sprinkler systems and industrial pipe, valves and fittings Windustrial’s first president and make it a success – and Cory did. – everything that goes under the ground, in the ceiling and behind the Over time, to stand out from the crowd, Greg invested a lot of his walls of hospitals, restaurants, office complexes and school buildings. money in new equipment and new services. It was a big risk, but it If there’s a commercial construction job happening right now in helped his company grow. Dayton, you can bet Greg’s company is probably involved in it. But you Plus, he started carrying brands his competitors didn’t and sold couldn’t have predicted that 42 years ago, when Greg was spending his additional items like water heaters and plumbing fixtures. Then he days pouring and finishing concrete for new homes south of Dayton. raised the bar even higher by filling and delivering most orders to Back then, Greg told me he was a “directionless kid” who longed customers the very same day, something his competitors still can’t do. to do something different with his life. So in 1982, he took a job as a He just kept ramping up customer service, unloading material on job truck driver for Dayton Windustrial. Before long, Greg found himself sites as early as 6 a.m., so contractors could get a jump on their day. answering phones, receiving inventory and learning every aspect of the wholesaling business, while taking classes at local universities. Year after year, Greg took a hard look at his company and found new ways to expand and serve more customers. He made it very easy for Sometimes he’d get a little frustrated on the job. And his boss would customers to do business with him, and they did. say, “Someday when you own your own Winsupply company, you can do things differently!” And Greg thought: Today, Dayton Windustrial does six times the business it did in 1993, when Greg took over as president. It happened because we trusted “Own my own company? I’m just a truck driver! I don’t know Greg, as the local owner, to make decisions that he believed were best what you’re talking about.” for his own company’s success. We trusted Greg to determine how he But then Greg learned what he could do at Winsupply. He found out and his employees would serve their customers well. about the Spirit of Opportunity: the chance to risk a little money, run During Winsupply’s 60th anniversary celebration in 2016, when your own supply house and chase the American Dream, with help from Greg’s company was named one of our top-performing local Winsupply. companies, Greg told me this: So he started spending more time at Dayton Windustrial – sometimes “Winsupply is not for quitters or wimps, because you don’t make doing job quotes until 10 o’clock at night – because he loved the work, a lot of money in the beginning. and he loved serving customers.