17 People, 20 Million in Sales...Really??

His team of 17 sales people will generate 20 million in sales this year. 17 People, 20 Million in Sales...Really?? That's impressive! These numbers will be changing with the recent news that MadeToOrder formed a subsidiary with California-based distributor Steal One LLC (dba JAMS). This year, the new subsidiary is forecasted to add approximately $6 million in revenue to MadeToOrder's current projected current sales of $20 million; in 2014 that increase could be as much as $10 million.

Amazingly, Rod still manages to takes two months off every summer. Although for most of us this seems completely impossible, Rod said it is very possible. "You have to stress test your business," he said. "Do you really have a business or is it just you dressed up as a business?" Being gone for a length of time is certainly a test!

Rod is also known for his service work outside of our industry. Every year he and his sons head to Africa and serve as volunteers at rural feeding stations. This is an unglamorous job where you cook corn meal mush in an open oil barrel over a flame, hoping you have enough to feed most of the line of 200+ kids that assemble waiting with plates in hands and expectant, hungry faces. Rod says he has no illusions about changing lives long term, but this work helps feed someone that day and that small help certainly has value to people who have nothing else.

Spring break takes Rod on an annual trip as one of 50 adult leaders and 200 kids to rural Mexico. Working with Amor Ministries, groups of two adults and 12 high school students tackle the backbreaking work of building a home for a family in five days. Rod explains that "home" in that part of the world means something different. "It's a glorified shed," Rod explained. "A wood frame house, no interior walls, on a hand poured slab that has two windows, a door and is water and rat proof." The house is constructed with no power tools or electricity. At the end of the week in Mexico, keys to a finished home are presented to a family in a moving ceremony.