Kerusso

The Kerusso
Story From Startup to Industry Leader, the Mission Stays the Same The company that started in a spare room of Vic Kennett's Arkansas home has become the industry leader in Christian-themed apparel—with Kennett as CEO. But the story of Kerusso, Inc.—named from the Greek word meaning "to preach"— begins years before, in 1987, when Kennett pulled his first messaged t-shirt off the screen press. "I was 12 years old and working two jobs," Kennett recalls. "In my uncle's motel and at the Passion Play as an actor." Growing up in Eureka Springs, Ark., home to the outdoor event called The Great Passion Play, Kennett was in fact working three jobs. At age 12 he'd also launched his first entrepreneurial venture—selling shoes door-to-door. The ups and downs of self-employment, Kennett would later say, led to his career sharing the Gospel with products about Jesus. Those products originate at Kerusso headquarters, a 65,000-square-foot facility in Berryville, Ark., a few miles from Eureka Springs, sitting on 10 acres and selling through more than 5,000 retailers in over 100 countries. But in 1987, when Kennett saw his first messaged t-shirt and thought, "I want to do that," he was coming off one of those "down" periods. Because a few years earlier, at age 20, he'd left the University of Arkansas to start a fitness center. "I had the entrepreneurial blood," he said. He also had a nest egg. His parents were shaped by living through the great depression and Vic was shaped by his parents. "Saving money and avoiding debt was the best financial advice I've ever lived by." (In fact, Kerusso today operates debt-free.) - See more at: http://www.kerusso.com/about-us/the-kerusso-story.html#sthash.zOulfQ8V.dpuf
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