NFIB

When Roger Duncan lost his corporate job to downsizing in the 1990s, he saw the unexpected change as a golden opportunity. Armed with a well-stocked Rolodex and 30 years of experience, he decided to start his own business.

Duncan had been the buying manager for a door manufacturing company, responsible for developing and implementing programs to purchase brass hardware from Brazil, China and Taiwan when U.S. production ceased. Rather than look for another job in the industry when he got laid off, he pulled together some money and established International Resources LLC in 1998.

In the early days, Duncan operated the company out of his home on a shoestring budget, and he took on part-time work to supplement his income. The business has grown steadily over the years, leading to its incorporation in 2001, the addition of one full-time employee (his daughter, who aspires to become a principal), two part-time clerical people and two sub-contractors.

Then, in 2002, he purchased and renovated a historic building to serve as the corporate headquarters. Today International Resources, Inc. operates with a dual business strategy. The bulk of the business involves importing products and using a central warehouse in Iowa to distribute them to 14 commercial customers across the United States. The second, smaller portion of the business, which is experiencing notable growth, involves consumer and business-to-business sales via two Web sites: www.homeproductsnmore.com and www.storm-door-hardware.com.

"We're not taking on any new commercial customers for now," Duncan says, noting that the company's growth has allowed it to expand its product offerings and has it poised for the addition of staff and, perhaps, private warehouse and distribution facilities. Achieving this kind of success hasn't been without challenges, however.

Fortunately, Duncan discovered NFIB at a pivotal time.

"In mid-'98, I was struggling with a new business. I wasn't realizing much revenue for the first year to year-and-a-half," he explains. So, he responded to an ad placed by NFIB/Iowa State Director Dave Brasher for a part-time sales representative and began calling on small businesses for NFIB. "It was a genuine pleasure to meet business owners and to help feed their enthusiasm for small business. From talking with them, I gained enthusiasm for growing my own business, too, because I could see the potential."

Duncan worked for NFIB for nearly a year-and-a-half while he got International Resources on its feet. He has since found other ways to further the organization's cause, as an active member of both the NFIB/Iowa Leadership Council and the Des Moines Area Action Council, attending meetings, participating in events and meeting with legislators as opportunities arise.

"Dave [Brasher] does a great job for small business here in Iowa. I can't speak highly enough about him," says Duncan, who counts issues of taxation, workers' compensation and "anything that affects running one's own business in a logical manner" as among his personal priorities.

Ongoing challenges to small-business ownership notwithstanding, he maintains that nothing could make him return to life in the corporate world. "I stay committed to running my own business because of corporate stupidity," he laughs. "I read about it in the newspaper daily, and I worked with it for 30 years. I'm never going to play that game again. It just doesn't fit in a well managed business."