Spotlight: Brenda Vander Ploeg
Looking back, Brenda Vander Ploeg questions her sanity. Thirty years ago, she started her small business, Direct Supply Inc, just a few months after giving birth to her daughter. She also had a three-year-old son. Fortunately, her fledgling enterprise was in the business of selling surface materials like paneling and cabinetry, so Brenda built a kitchen inside her small business where her kids played, ate snacks, and often ran amuck.
Brenda poses with her now grown son and daughter, Robert Dykstra and Michelle Timmerman in the kitchen they spent so much time in as children.
“I have a kitchen, now all I need is a shower and a bed,” chuckled Brenda. While she laughs as if she’s joking, when you hear all the blood, sweat and tears she’s put into her small business, you must wonder. Brenda doesn’t blink when she says Direct Supply is her life. Her kids grew up here and she treats her 15 employees like family. Many of them have been with her for 20 plus years for a reason: Brenda is passionate about what she does, and she does it well. Maybe that’s why her now grown children are back at the office. They’re still munching on snacks in the kitchen, but now their titles are Operations Manager and Operations and Technical Support.
Small business runs in the Vander Ploeg blood: Brenda’s dad owned a road construction business and it was her experience watching him (literally) pour hard work into the business and survive tough times that prepared Brenda for running her own shop. The 2008 recession hit Direct Supply hard, but Brenda did what was necessary to survive. After layoffs and restructuring, Brenda has grown sales by 40% and increased product offerings by 15%.
Brenda poses with her employees at Direct Supply’s warehouse.
Brenda is successful because her customers aren’t just a paycheck – they’re partners. She has four core beliefs: honesty, integrity, partnership and family. Brenda not only goes the extra mile for her customers, she personally drives the product to them with a smile – and then hands you one of those snacks she keeps stocked in the kitchen (yes it’s still there and today’s snack is a peanut butter cup).
But don’t let Brenda’s cheery attitude fool you: at her core, she’s very serious about her job, saying it’s small business owners like herself that are helping grow Michigan’s economy. She’s right. Businesses like Direct Supply, with fewer than 20 employees, added about 31,000 jobs to Michigan’s economy in 2015, the most of any small business size. However, owning and running a small business isn’t without its challenges. Brenda offers all 15 of her employee’s health insurance – at an astronomical cost. She pays $12-15 an hour, but more than half of that wage goes towards health insurance costs, about $7-8 an hour.
Brenda’s son, Robert Dykstra, is back at Direct Supply serving as Operations and Technical Support.
The high cost of health care and burdensome rules and regulations are part of the reason Brenda joined NFIB. While she tries to keep up with what’s going on in Lansing and Washington D.C., Brenda is just too busy creating jobs. That’s the reason she counts on NFIB to keep lawmakers informed about the challenges she faces every day.
Brenda talks about her hardware distribution business at a recent home show.
In 2015, Brenda was named one of the top women business owners by the Grand Rapids Business Journal. It’s an honor she wants to pass on to not only her daughter, but countless other women out there with the passion to strike out on their own.
Brenda’s daughter, Michelle Timmerman, will one day take over the family business.
“I think it’s important for other women to realize that no matter your starting point, whether starting from scratch or purchasing an existing business, you can overcome any obstacles if you love what you do and have the drive, passion and desire to succeed. A great community of other women owned businesses helps too!”
