It makes us really proud to hear about small businesses celebrating milestones, particularly when we have showcased their journey along the way.
Richard Cropley from Rhino-Rack is celebrating his 25th year in small business and first appeared on KBB’s Entrepreneur in the Spotlight in 2015.
When he started out in 1992, Richard began a Roof Rack City which was a small retail business. He grew this into a small wholesaling business and his decision has really paid off since.
Rhino-Rack’s durable and easy-to-use roof racks
From its humble beginnings, Rhino-Rack has grown to supply quality roof racks to over 800 dealers nationwide and they export to 55 countries around the world.
So, what has made Rhino-Rack thrive in business for a quarter of a century? Richard says it’s about having a great and highly qualified team. Over the last couple of years, he has strengthened his management team with senior outside advisors and contractors. He has also reorganised operations and the accounting processes.
Owner and founder Richard Cropley
Today, Richard has over 165 employees across their manufacturing and warehousing departments in Australia, USA and New Zealand.
Richard’s biggest step with Rhino-Rack was when he decided to take the plunge and build a distribution facility in the USA just before the Global Financial Crisis. “I thought it couldn’t get any worse over there. We even had the dollar going against us. I thought why not go directly to the .coms which are going directly to the end customer. And that was the smartest move we ever made,” Richard says. Since the expansion, Rhino-Rack has had a continued growth of 40 per cent by acquiring new accounts.
“Our product advertises itself”
“We’ve had regional based marketing plans in place to identify opportunities for growth to ensure best outcomes for the business,” says Richard. He adds there has been a significant development to the manufacturing process with the consolidation of product lines and a slow moving and obsolete program of removing stock.”
There’s no stopping this inspiring entrepreneur. Here’s to another quarter of a century in business!
Watch Richard on Entrepreneur in the Spotlight
Have you reached a milestone in your small business? Let us know by commenting below.
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