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SECRET TO SUCCESS: Surround yourself with good people
Senior Reporter Surrounding yourself with good people is the only way to be successful, Bob Sullivan said.
He's had the same manager in Duluth since the restaurant opened there.
"Without good quality people you can't do what we do," he said. "My approach is I want everyone around me to be successful. The more successful they are the more successful I'll be. I've been very lucky to have found really good people to surround myself with."
Jean Jacobi has been keeping the business books in order for 12 years. Sullivan said Jacobi is the smartest person he's ever met and one of the most ethical people anyone could surround themselves with. In addition, Heidi Rogge, who has worked for the company for eight years, joined the business right out of college. Sullivan said Rogge helps with growth development and coaching.
"Heidi does an excellent job keeping me organized and making me look good," he said.
Sullivan said it's treating people with respect and realizing they have a life too beyond the doors of the business.
At one time Sullivan owned seven Wendy's restaurants in Minnesota and North Dakota and Wisconsin. Now he has four stores, Brainerd, Duluth and two in Fargo, N.D.
In each expansion to a new city, the work includes getting to know the community's unique heartbeat with its own peaks and valleys in terms of strong to weak sale periods. Considerations for locations and how the area may be affected years down the road.
"Sometimes you guess right, sometimes you don't," he said. "Sometimes the greatest rewards come from the risks you take."
A key is being interested in doing the job better, he said.
"You have to have a strong work ethic and you need to continually look forward and work for tomorrow," Sullivan said.
Setbacks, he said, are learning experiences. "That's what worked for us. It's not what you make. It's what you do with it. I love the challenge of things you have to make money in business but you can't be just about the money. You have to look at the challenge. You have to have passion for what you are doing."
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