Stan Crader is a third-generation businessman. His grandfather, Buford Crader, started the family business—which sold harvester farm equipment—in 1944 with a couple of his cousins, and his father joined the business in the early 1950s. When Stan came on board in 1971, he saw a better opportunity for growth if they became a wholesale provider of chainsaws, and now the Crader Distributing Company is the exclusive distributor of STIHL Outdoor Power Equipment in Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, and southern Illinois.
“The year we decided to focus, our annual sales exceeded $1 million for the first time,” he says. “We’d seen very gradual growth up until then. As soon as we began to offer marketing and inventory stocking programs, combined with STIHL’s expansion of handheld product offerings, our sales grew at a much faster pace. We’re on track to pass $225 million in 2017—that’s a pretty good growth trend.”
Though they’ve experienced great success, regulatory requirements have been a consistent burden. Engineering small power equipment engines to comply with EPA emissions standards has been an arduous task, Crader says, and developing materials to withstand the corrosive nature of ethanol has been an ongoing, expensive process as well. Meanwhile, in Missouri specifically, the state tax law that requires Missourians to pay taxes on income earned out of state is restrictive for a business with a national footprint.
However, overall, Crader says Missouri is a great place to do business because of the Midwest culture and work ethic. He praises the people he works with—customers, staff, and fellow small business owners—as the best part of being a small business owner.
“We’re fortunate in that we deal primarily with people who like to sell power tools,” he says. “And even though we used to deal largely with small mom-and-pop shops and now deal also with large operations, the strategy is the same. Deal with people honestly, know the value of the product to them, and meet people where they are.”
Crader’s frustrations as a small business owner are echoed by many: long hours, taking on tasks they can’t hire out, and not being big enough to negotiate good deals for things like health insurance. NFIB has been able to help, however. Crader says he joined to support the local community as well as to stay abreast of and influence legislation and regulatory proposals that affect small businesses, but he has also enjoyed the economies of scale that come with joining with other small business owners.
“All successful small business owners know that their success depends on long hours, risk, and perpetual problem-solving on logistics, marketing, regulations, and more,” he says. “There’s never a lack of material to discuss with other small business owners. It’s a way of life.”
