Posted March 27, 2023 | Published Article Here by Idaho Press | the Rag Company Website
Carolyn and Jeff Hennen had known for a while they wanted to run a business.
But they were not picky about what kind of business. Both musicians, they joined forces as a duo in college, playing a consistent stream of gigs to earn money, which provided some business know-how. Jeff earned his MBA from Northwest Nazarene University and worked for a variety of large corporations; Carolyn worked in health care doing cardiac ultrasounds.
In 2012, they made an offer on a Boise-based microfiber rags business called The Rag Company.
One of its owners, Bev Horn, was in hospice and wanted to sell to buyers interested in growing the business. When Carolyn and Jeff told Horn and her husband, Dale Horn, that they meant business, the company was theirs.
Microfiber cloth is made of polyester and polyamide, two types of synthetic materials. At the time the couple bought the company, it was known in some circles but had yet to reach its heyday. Since then, Carolyn and Jeff have worked to take the company to the next level while striving to create an environment where people are excited to come to work.
They were not concerned about income or sales because they were not planning to quit their day jobs, and they did not want to push products they could not stand behind, Jeff said.
“We just wanted to see, ‘what could we do with a business?'” Jeff said, “and can we have some fun with it, really try different things. We’d always had the creative side, that has always been so important to us, and (we wanted to) have some fun, tap into people’s talent, build a culture.”
To that end, their focus has been on educating people, which builds trust and creates customers, he said.
Carolyn said their efforts have paid off.
“It has surprised both of us,” she said. “(The company) has just grown and grown, year over year.”
A year after buying the company, sales were at $125,000. In 2023, Jeff estimates sales will be $28 million.
In 2014, Carolyn began Boise State University’s international executive MBA program, planning to move into administration at St. Luke’s, she said. But she learned so much about international trade and company culture that she decided halfway through the program to turn her attention to The Rag Company full time. Jeff left his day job in 2021.
One creative puzzle the pair initially had to solve was what customer base they would focus on. At the time, microfiber rags were already well-known in two arenas: janitorial and sanitation uses in hotels and hospitals, and the automotive industry, Jeff said.
They soon discovered that their new company already had a number of high-profile clients: luxury hotels on the East Coast and Tesla Motors, Jeff said.
About a year after acquiring the company, a person approached the Hennens saying he had been looking for their towels for three years.
Known as the Junkman, he was a YouTube automotive detailing influencer, and he wanted to feature the company’s towels in an episode, Jeff said.
About two weeks later, The Rag Company’s website traffic started exploding at 5 a.m.; they could see that visitors were coming from the Junkman’s YouTube channel.