Being one’s own boss is a common desire among the men and women who decide to embark on a career path toward becoming a mobile tool distributor. The idea of being an entrepreneur with direct influence over the growth and development of a business is often appealing to those individuals looking to get their start selling tools.

Shawn Niehaus was no different when he went into business as a mobile tool salesman more than a decade ago. After establishing himself as an independent distributor in Alborn, Minn. in 2003, he appreciated the fact that he was able to find a career where he could make a good living for his family while answering to no one other than himself and his customers. However, after leaving the business for a while, Niehaus decided to return and realized that in order to achieve a long-term goal of owning and operating a multi-route business, he would need some help from a flag.

“One of the biggest reservations, though, was as an independent, I was independent-minded,” says Niehaus. “I’ve never liked the idea of a boss. That’s what the (flags) represented to me.”

A Mac Tools district manager in Niehaus’s area pursued him and regularly attempted to convince him to come aboard as a franchisee. Though he resisted initially, Niehaus eventually determined it was the best course of action for him to successfully work toward building a multi-route operation.

Niehaus joined Mac Tools in November of 2012 and put a second truck on the road just a few months later in April of 2013. Now, four years later, he manages a multi-route business-- The Tool Chest, Inc. -- comprised of four routes. Three are based out of an Alborn-based shop owned and operated by Niehaus. The fourth is located about two-and-a-half hours away in St. Cloud, Minn., where Niehaus rented a facility to house a tool truck and store its inventory.

Soon after teaming up with Mac Tools and getting a second route started, Niehaus established another goal for himself. At some point, he wanted to stop operating a truck himself and transition into a role where he managed other distributors in his company and helped them run their routes. He determined he needed to have a minimum of three trucks on the road selling approximately $10,000 a week in sales in order for him to step off his tool truck, turn his route over to an employee and commence with a new role managing the multi-route business.

“That I finally achieved in June of last year,” he says. “It gave me the opportunity to, in essence, become my own manager. Now I can go out and do those sales and larger-ticket things for my company I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to do without giving up a portion of my route sales.”

However, undertaking a managerial role has required some adjustments on Niehaus’s part. He says he has needed to learn to accept the reality of others being tasked with completing duties he used to do on his own and visiting with customers he used to see regularly.

“Especially when I first got off the truck, it was very difficult for me to hand over these customers I have a sense of loyalty to be seen every week by somebody else,” he says.

However, he has managed to set up his company in such a way that it allows for his employees to focus completely on getting in front of their customers, selling tools and making collections. Also, he cites the support of Mac Tools -- specifically through the company’s branded products and through its efforts to provide him with financing programs to bring to his customers through Mac Credit -- as being integral to the success of his multi-route operation.

“What I’ve experienced, through working with Mac Tools, is a team mentality,” says Niehaus. “There is a desire to grow together, and they have helped me go beyond what I could ever have done on my own.”