BUSINESS PROFILE ROCK ON ENTERPRISES 3100 7th St S // Waite Park, MN 56387 (320) 230-2998 // rockontrucks.com/aboutus.html Email: info@rockontrucks.com Business Description: Certified DBE trucking company and licensed and bonded aggregate truck brokers, with end, side, and belly dumps; dump trucks; flatbeds; stepdecks; and dry vans // Number of employees: 57
PERSONAL PROFILES KRYSTAL VIERKANT, 41 Owner/CEO, Rock On Enterprises Hometown: Becker, MN Education: Graduated from Becker High School; some college Work History: Owner – Rock On Companies – 16.5 years. Prior to Rock On - finance manager, accounting, and banking positions Family: Married, 2 adult step sons, 16 year-old-step son, daughter, 12, and son, 10 Hobbies: Spending time with family, scrapbooking Advice to a couple thinking about starting a business together: Set home/work boundaries and stick to them. Make time for each other outside of work. ––––––––––––––––––––––––
KEVIN VIERKANT, 58 Operations Manager, Rock On Enterprises Hometown: Sauk Rapids, MN Education: Sauk Rapids High School Work History: Trucking industry for 40 years Family: Married, 4 boys and 1 girl Hobbies: Working Advice to a couple thinking about starting a business together: Communication and compromise are huge.
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Business Central Magazine // J A N U A R Y/ F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 8
said. “We came together on Sunday morning and looked at it. I’m a crier, so I cried a lot. Kevin tends to clam up, so I went to church and cried and he took some time to himself.” The couple was thankful that no one was hurt during the fire, which took several fire crews hours to put out. But as for the business that the Vierkants had spent 16 years building, it was shaken to the core. “The shop was my baby,” Kevin Vierkant said. “I dreamt about a shop and wanted a shop and never thought in a million years that I would have a shop like I had. I mean, that was a big building. It had everything I wanted.” It was a building that represented the years of hard work and commitment the couple had invested, not only in the company, but in each other. Rock On Enterprises Inc. began as a one-man trucking company back in 2001. Krystal Vierkant had worked at another trucking company in the finance department for several years before leaving to pursue a career in banking. “I took a big pay cut by switching to the bank,” Krystal Vierkant said. “So, I was trying to look for something to supplement my income. Kevin was a friend
“Before, when we were smaller, Kevin and I were the team, but now we have a team, so we don’t do nearly as much one-on-one working together anymore.” — KRYSTAL VIERKANT of mine from that trucking company, so I bought the truck and he drove it. It was good team work.” In the midst of starting a new trucking company, Krystal and Kevin began dating. “We were dating for about six months before we started Rock On,” Krystal Vierkant said. “And it just fit. He was driving the truck and I would come home on my lunch breaks, check the mail, get the deposits, and bring them back to the bank. Then I’d do billing when I got home from work.” That worked up until about 2003 when Krystal decided to leave her job at the bank and run the company full time. It was a small operation up until 2005 when the Vierkants began adding additional trucks. Almost from the get-go, Rock On created signature cab designs. “We began with the NASCAR theme when we first started,” Krystal Vierkant said. “We had to come up with a theme for the truck I bought and Kevin liked Dale Earnhardt at the time so we put the big number three on it.” After the NASCAR themes, the Vierkants started venturing into kid-friendly character trucks – conveniently coinciding with the
couple having kids after their marriage in 2007. Together the couple has two children ages 11 and 10. Kevin Vierkant has three older boys from a previous relationship. The Rock On Enterprises team has grown to close to 60 employees based out of the Waite Park office at 3100 Seventh St. S. In addition to owning and managing a fleet of trucks, Rock On Enterprises operates several divisions. Rock On Trucks Inc. provides trucks to customers; Rock On Rocks supplies road construction materials; Rock On Properties owns and manages Rock On properties; Other divisions which include Rock On Repair and Minnesota Tarp and Liner. “Before, when we were smaller, Kevin and I were the team,” Krystal Vierkant said."But now we have a team, so we don’t do nearly as much one-on-one working together anymore.” What keeps the couple grounded, in both their business and their personal lives, is the constant support they receive from one another, for better or for worse. “We’ve got a strong relationship,” Kevin Vierkant said. “I think we can walk through fire and back. You