Episode 4: Grit It Out, with Kent Lapp

Kent Lapp is an Entrepreneur, Investor, & Optimistic Realist.

He grew up in the beautiful Finger Lakes Region of New York State.

His father, Sanford Lapp, unfortunately was diagnosed with cancer at age 29, passing away 7 years later at the young age of 36.  This left his mother, Barb, with 4 kids and a small business to run when Kent was 10 years old.

After graduating High School in 2002, Kent went straight into the family business that my father had started in 1983, Woodtex. After working in all areas of the company for several years, they started the process of turning the day to day management over from his mom to himself. His mom has since moved out of this company altogether, and she sold it to Kent and his brother Ben.

Woodtex currently has manufacturing & sales locations in four states, NY, SC, TX & TN, although they do sell and deliver nationwide.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

• Kent’s background
• Why Kent moved his headquarters to Nashville
• Getting clear on your core values
• Employees vs team members
• What gets Kent going every day
• The value of hard work and gritting through the challenges you face as an entrepreneur
• Why quitting is the wrong choice
• The lessons that Kent has learned from his mentors
• Some examples of why Woodtex has launched products and had to go away from them
• Why your team members need to be clear on what their role is
• Kent’s struggles with self discipline
• Why Kent loves “Good to Great” by Jim Collins and “The ONE Thing” by Gary W. Keller
• Why Kent would spend time with Winston Churchill if he could

Ways to contact Kent:

• Website: woodtex.com
• Website: riverwoodcabins.com
• Website: kentlapp.com