Today we’d like to introduce you to Bert Blackburn.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Bert. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I grew up on a small farm in Roswell, Ga. My parents started a small distribution and brokerage company in 1979 named Southern Professionals. This meant that my father would go sell a product to a retailer like Eckerd Drugs. Once it was sold, we would go pull the product out of the backrooms of the stores and put it on the shelf.
In the early years, our family did everything we could to make ends meet. When I was old enough, I would ride with my dad or a distributor to pull and place inventory in or out of the stores. My parents also made BBQ sauce in our kitchen and sold it to Stone Mountain Park. We had a little assembly line in the kitchen putting it in mason jars, adding a lid, labeling it, and packing it.
I spent my high school and college years starting small businesses. Like many young men I had a lawnmowing service in high school. One funny little business we started was horseback rides. We would load up a horse and take it to IHOP on Saturday mornings and charge kids to walk them around the restaurant. That business had its challenges! My best business in college was the tree removal business after a hurricane came through.
After graduating from Auburn, I started selling heavy equipment around Atlanta. I found that life had prepared me for this job. I always wanted to own my own company, so when I wasn’t selling heavy equipment, I had small side businesses. I started a small construction company building homes and subdividing the property. I also had a small farm with cows, a vending machine business, and I invented a device for heavy equipment.
After 10 years I decided I wanted to go out on my own. My parents had grown Southern Professionals over the past 25 plus years. At one time they had as many as 20 employees doing both sales and distribution. The industry had changed, and they were able to scale back and just represent good manufacturers to the dollar stores.
By 2007 they had sold the farm in Roswell and closed their office. They started another little farm in Dawson County and worked out of the basement with one part-time employee. My father and I put a deal together and I was back working for Southern Professionals.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Shortly after buying their business, the market started to crash. This caused about 50% of my manufactures to sell out. While this caused major challenges, the downturn in the economy caused a number of other manufacturers to now want to move into the accounts we call on, the dollar stores.
This allowed the company to grow at an accelerated rate. After about 8 years in business, I decided it was time to expand into Walmart. I formed a partnership with an ex-Walmart employee, Hayes Wade, and we opened a division in Bentonville, Arkansas.
Southern Professionals – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We help manufacturers get distribution in the Value Channel. We act as the local sales team specializing in the retailers we call on. We have worked with companies from the TV show “Shark Tank” to Skinny Pop Popcorn, to Mom and Pop businesses, just getting started.
Our mission is to guide our retailers and manufacturers as they navigate through the purchasing, promotional, and customer service process. Our goal is to be the best company any buyer or manufacturer has ever worked with and to set a new standard in taking care of our clients.
Once we start serving our merchants and manufacturers, we develop relationships that set us apart. When someone works with Southern Professionals, they know we will work in their best interest.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
The thing I am most proud of is that the SP team goes to work every day so that we can fund hope for others.
We have been able to install wells through Water is Basic in Africa, start a daycare in India run by widows, given away automobiles, pay for housing for single Moms through Serenade Heights in Woodstock, and support a number of organizations including The 410 Bridge, out of Alpharetta.
Contact Info:
- Address: 121 Olde Heritage Way
- Website: www.southernprofessionals.net
- Phone: 404-925-5078
- Email: bert@southernprofessionals
Getting in touch: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
