By MORGAN TARPLEY

mlt017@latech.edu

 

A Management 400 class received some unexpected small business advice from a local entrepreneur.

James Sullivan, owner of Sullivan and Sons, Inc., an instrumentation and valve supply company, spoke to the class Oct. 6 about how he started his business.

“I had no idea that I would be in business,” Sullivan said. “I didn’t know other ways to make a living, so I went to Nicholls State [in Thibodaux] and got an education degree.”

Sullivan’s business began in 1986 in his own bedroom and has now grown into a four-building business with 20 employees.

“In the 1990s, we went from almost going bankrupt to making a good living in one year,” he said.

Sullivan said a certified professional accountant told him that he had never seen a business turn around like Sullivan and Sons, Inc., had.

“All I knew was that I was just an old country boy who knew that if you had $5 in the bank, you couldn’t spend $10,” Sullivan said.

Marshal Pilgreen, a senior computer information systems major, said it was interesting to get a different perspective on starting a new business from someone who knows about the ups and downs a business can take.

“In our entrepreneur class we have speakers come in and always speak about business plans and about going big,” Pilgreen said. “But [Sullivan] started small and then built on that.”

Sullivan said through his business experience, he has found that money management plays an important role in owning a business.

“If you can’t manage your money now, then you might want to reconsider going into business for yourself,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan also said if someone is not willing to sacrifice to start their own business, then they may not make it.

“I had three kids and we had to make ends meet,” Sullivan said. “So we had to sell fried chicken out of a moving trailer for about six months.”

Dr. Richard Lester, the Management 400 class professor and an assistant professor of management, said Sullivan seemed to point his success on different things other than the product.

“[Sullivan’s] main theme seemed to be that the actual business product was not as important to his success as was his personal commitment, inner strength and his relationships,” Lester said.

Sullivan said there were rough times but even then his family relied on God to take care of them.

“Sometimes things do not work out,” Sullivan said.

“But we knew God wanted us to have this business so we kept on going.”

Eric Jackson, a senior political science major, said he was encouraged by Sullivan’s dedication and faith in starting his business.

“It was great to hear a guy giving his rags to riches testimony,” Jackson said.

“I liked how he mentioned that it was not on his own merit that his business succeeded but that it is God-based.”

Sullivan said his faith is what gave his business the success it has today.

Sullivan now sells instrumentation and valves to paper mills, utilities and chemical plants all over the United States and in several foreign countries.

Sullivan and his wife, Irene, bought a 250-acre ranch in Haughton last year and now are breaking ground to build a plantation-style home.