Cabinetry business built on the backs of a solid team

Colton Rasmussen is a charismatic, ambitious young man.  He has built a successful cabinetry business from the ground up, starting from a creative idea to a full production cabinetry plant.

Colton’s father owns a cabinet shop in Utah that Colton now competes with.  Although he learned a thing or two about cabinets from working in his Dad’s shop, he used his ingenuity to follow his own path.  In Northern Utah there is a company, Lewis Cabinets that builds cabinet boxes and fronts for business to business sales.  In 2012, Colton realized that he didn’t have the money to start his own manufacturing company so he made a deal with Lewis Cabinets.  He would hit the street, sell and install cabinets if Lewis would supply them for him.  Lewis agreed and Rasmussen Custom Cabinetry was born.

Lewis Cabinets were blown away by the ambition and hard work Colton put into his work.  Colton was a great client and they really enjoyed working with him. It didn’t take long for Colton to grow his business to a point where he could start manufacturing cabinets on his own.

This is about when the Small Business Development Center began working with Colton.  The Lewis brothers suggested the SBDC contact Colton and see if we could assist him.  Colton was ready to ramp up manufacturing and needed a building.  The SBDC was able to guide him to the Fast Track Grant available to rural counties in Utah.  Colton was stationed in a non-rural county, but when he saw the opportunities in setting up shop in a rural county, he went after it.  He found a building in the small city of Corrine in Box Elder County and used the Fast track grant to buy it.  The money he saved was used to hire an employee and buy a piece of machinery.

In 2018, Colton used the Fast track grant again to buy another piece of machinery, giving him a competitive edge over other Cabinet shops.   In a short 6 years Colton has built his business to 4 million in sales with 33 employees.  He is continuing to innovate and create. “I know I could stop and just go with the flow now.  I have built a pretty good business, but I believe we can do more so we are always working on what we can do to build this to a nationwide company,” he said.

One of Colton’s success attributes is his humility.  Colton realizes he needs bright, talented people around him that are strong in his weak places, so he has built a tremendous team. “I take the seagull approach to management.  I fly out and do what I am good at and then fly in and poop all over everyone,” he joked.  Kidding aside, you can see through his success in such a short period of time, he has built a solid and loyal team of like-minded people.

Colton is also a devoted husband and father.  Although he works hard and puts in a lot of hours, he makes sure he has a lot of time to spend with his family.

Reprinted with permission from the Utah Small Business Development Center, appeared in the 2018 Issue of the Utah SBDC Report -- Success