McKellar to host Congressman Hern next week during NFIB's Small Business Challenge
On Monday, August 26th, NFIB member Whitney McKellar will host Congressmen Kevin Hern during NFIB’s Small Business Challenge. At 11:30, Rep. Hern will see – and do what it takes to run a small business such as McKellar’s M & M Lumber. The Small Business Challenge encourages lawmakers to get out and experience the challenges small business owners face every day. The hope is for members of Congress to better understand how the decision they make in Washington D.C. impact the lives of job-creating small business owners like Whitney. Here’s her story.
Joining the family business was the last thing Whitney McKellar wanted to do with her life. She didn’t want to live in Tulsa or spend her days surrounded by wood at her family’s small business, M & M Lumber. However, after she graduated from Oklahoma State University, she had trouble finding a job. Her dad offered her some work and reluctantly, Whitney accepted. She quickly found out she really liked working alongside her dad and her grandpa all day. In fact, she enjoyed it so much, she recruited her husband Sean.
Whitney and husband Sean pose with their front counter crew on OSU/OU game day.
The family’s connection to lumber began decades ago during the war. Whitney’s grandpa, Jim McKellar Sr., worked in a sawmill in the South Pacific during World War II. In the middle of combat, McKellar and his fellow Navy Seabees were forced to use such inaccurate and dull equipment – the wood could only be milled into two sizes: thick or thin. Yet they somehow managed to built roads, bridges, and hospitals on the way to an Allied victory.
Navy Seabees mill wood in the South Pacific during World War II. Whitney believes her grandpa, Jim McKellar Sr, is one of the men in this picture.
When Jim returned to Tulsa, he founded what would become M & M Lumber – which has increased in size from 2,000 square feet in 1964 to 10,000 square feet today. Even though much of the world has changed in the last 55 years, the way the McKellar’s do business has not. Grandpa Jim taught his son and granddaughter that the most important thing a small business owner can cultivate with their customers – are positive relationships. In a world of Amazon Prime and Apple Pay – where the simple click of a button can buy you just about anything – the McKellar’s still believe that a business transaction can happen with a word and a handshake.
Whitney McKellar poses with the M & M Lumber girls around Christmas time.
Today, the McKellar’s 36 employees can still find a piece of Grandpa McKellar in the form of his Navy uniform hanging in a corner of the lumberyard. A display of a time, and a small business philosophy they hope never goes out of style.
Whitney’s dad, Jim, likes to get out of the office on nice days and run the forklift.
