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By Christine Imbs
Bob Plummer is a born businessman.
“Ever since I was seven years old I wanted to be in business
and develop property,” he says. “In fact, I don’t remember a
time when I wasn’t trying to do something.”
And as a young boy, Plummer did everything from selling Burpee
seeds, to homemade potholders and lemonade. Whatever it took
to earn some money.
“Once I had five paper routes all at the same time,” he remembers.
“But that’s just how it was. I came from a small town—Litchfield.
People can talk all they want about all the opportunities available
in a large company. There weren’t any large companies in Litchfield.
So the only way for me to run a company was to grow my own.”
And grow one he did. Today R.P. Lumber Company and its affiliated
Plummer Companies have grown to more than $200 million in annual
revenue. Plummer Companies, which specializes in real estate
rental, sales, development and excavation and truss manufacturing,
has shopping centers in Troy, Mo., the Springfield, Ill. area
and the Metro East. There’s also about 500,000 square feet of
Class A office space in the Edwardsville, O’Fallon, and Springfield,
Ill. areas. In addition, the number of lumberyards he owns has
grown from one in 1977 to 44. And it all started with $5,000
and an abandoned lumberyard in Staunton, Ill.
“It had been closed for nine or ten years. I opened in the middle
of winter,” he says. “There was no running water, very limited
electricity and no heating to speak of—just a pot belly stove.
The first three days there were no customers. But I was raised
in an environment like that.”
Plummer says growing up; lumberyards were like grocery stores
in Litchfield. There were seven in the town. His father owned
one of them.
“He had no fork lifts or anything like that to work with,” he
recalls. “And he worked hard. I admire him tremendously. He
taught me morals, a good work ethic and honesty. We may have
grown up with nothing, but both he and my mother were always
there when I needed them.”
Plummer says he feels he was blessed with a gene to thrive in
business, but stresses that he doesn’t do it for himself. At
age 22, he says he made it a goal to provide 1,000 families
with a job. Today he’s accomplished that goal and then some.
“We have over 1,000 families in our related companies,” he says.
“We provide them with good jobs, health insurance and a very
good profit sharing plan. My goal now is to provide opportunities
for them to really grow in the company. And I mean this sincerely.
We’ve been blessed with some very talented and loyal employees
who are committed to our customers.”
Plummer believes the key to his success is persistence.
“I grew up believing most things could be accomplished, if you
just worked at it,” he says. “I was a teacher in the Hazelwood
School District when I decided to start the lumberyard. I didn’t
go to a business college where they teach you all the pitfalls.
I guess because I didn’t know any better, I just thought I’d
be successful. I was successful selling all those potholders
and lemonade. So why not?”
Plummer feels he was blessed to have many mentors and role models
to follow in his life—his father, John A. Plummer, his father-in-law,
Charles Linnemeyer and his very good friend, Albert Cassens.
With all his success, Plummer says without a doubt his biggest
accomplishment is his family.
“I have a wonderful life,” he says. “My wife’s my best friend.
We’ve been married 35 years. And my children have been great.
They’re good people, good citizens, and have done well. So I’ve
been very blessed.
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TalkingPOINTS
BORN: Litchfield, Ill.
FAMILY: Wife, Donna;
two daughters and a son
EDUCATION: Degree in
Political Science from SIUE
FAVORITE BOOK: “The
Bible”
CURRENT BOOK: “The Lone
Survivor” by Marcus Luttrell
FAVORITE SONGS: “Remember
When” by Tim McGraw and “Believe” by Brooks and Dunn
HOBBIES: “Spending time
with the family. But I really do love to work.”
TRAVEL: “I love traveling
to watch the Dodgers play.”
FAVORITE SAYING: “You’re
judged by the company you keep.” and “It never hurts to
be nice.” |
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