Last week, Hendricks – with a fortune of $ 11.6 billion – topped Forbes’ list of America’s richest self-made women for the fifth consecutive year. Her fortune depends heavily on ABC Supply, a building materials company she built with her late husband in 1982. She is currently president of the company. In 2017, Hendricks told Forbes that seeing her parents run the farm 24 hours a day established her work ethic, which became important from an early age: She became pregnant at 17 and had to finish high school while living at home. . . At the age of 21, she filed for divorce from her high school sweetheart and, as an unmarried mother, managed a series of bizarre office jobs – instead of pursuing a career and pursuing one-sided success in it – before finally pursuing a real estate license. property. “Motherhood got in the way very quickly and I grew up very fast,” Hendricks said. “It did not stop me from wanting to achieve my dream. In fact, I think I became even more focused on what I wanted to achieve.” Some of her dreams were simple, Hendricks said: moving to a city and wearing a suit to work every day. Those dreams changed after she met and married housing contractor Ken Hendricks in the 1970s. Together, the duo combined talent and co-founded ABC Supply in Beloit, Wisconsin. By 1994, the company had 100 locations. Four years later, it earned more than $ 1 billion in annual revenue for the first time, according to Forbes. Ever since her husband died in 2007, Hendricks has led ABC Supply on her own. The company now has more than 840 sites, according to its website, and is the 23rd largest private company in the country, according to Forbes. The ABC Supply website notes that it has acquired the assets of 18 other companies in the last five years, an indication of its market dominance. Success did not come without controversy. In 2016, the first year Hendricks topped the Forbes list, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that it “did not pay a single penny in state income tax from 2012 to 2014.” He also did not owe money to state taxes in 2010, according to the news agency. This is not necessarily illegal: ABC Supply tax director Scott Bianchini tells CNBC Make It that the company had changed its tax classification from C-corp to S-corp over the years. Under Wisconsin state law, companies can apply to be S-corps at the federal level and C-corps at the state level, which means ABC Supply could opt out of tax option – possibly including any checks made by the company on Hendricks – if all its federal taxes were paid. Today, Hendricks is still based in Beloit, which has less than 37,000 inhabitants. According to Forbes, he has spent millions of dollars on local projects to rebuild abandoned properties and set up new businesses in the state. In 2017, Hendricks opened a local career center, which hosts workshops for teaching skills to high school and high school students, such as coding and construction. He told Forbes that the program aims to expose teens to the “value of a job”. “The kids say, ‘Wow, that’s how a welder works.’ he said. “They can go to vocational school and become welders who will pay $ 50,000 a year. These are good jobs. Really good jobs.” Sign up now: Become smarter about your money and career with our weekly newsletter Dont miss: Tory Burch wants to see more business leaders talk about social issues: “I tend not to be able to keep quiet about issues around humanity” The 2 Best Tips to Have a Happier, More Successful Career, According to These Co-CEOs
