About That Dream

HEC is the result of a goal Hunter Equipment's CEO and owner David S. Pratt set in 1981. "When you're 23 years old and living from paycheck to paycheck, starting your own company is only a dream," David says. "I've always been a goal setter, so that's what I did: I told myself I would start my own company by the time I reached 35."

David spent several years working as a salesman/seaplane pilot for his mentor, the late Bob Belaire. He called on inland barge drilling rigs throughout southern Louisiana. "Bob took me under his wing and gave me an opportunity I now see as one of the most important in my life. His employees and friends loved him, and I wanted to be just like him."

Several years later, David was working for a rep/distributor in Mobile, Ala., and his 34th birthday rolled around. "I realized I had absolutely no prospects of realizing my dream." A phone call would change that. A business associate told him GIW Industries, a slurry pump manufacturer in Grovetown, Ga., was moving from direct sales to a rep network. "I'd told him of my aspirations a long time ago and he thought I should call GIW."

David wrote down a list of items he wanted to convey and -- with a deep breath -- made the call. Unfortunately, GIW was about to sign an established rep firm in Baton Rouge, La. "But I was told they would hold off if I could get a business plan to them within a week. I said, 'Sure. No problem,' and we ended our call. I sat there for a minute and realized I hadn't written a business plan since college and had no idea how to start."

A trip to the Mobile city library and a book titled, "How to Write a Business Plan" solved that. David submitted the plan and was granted a meeting with the president of GIW.

He left the meeting disheartened, but determined. "I was basically told my chances were very slim and to go back and find other prospective lines to complement GIW's because I would never make it with only one."

He returned to Mobile to find his office had been cleaned out and -- he was fired. "My employer had gotten wind of my aspirations."

A week later, things were looking up. David had a small group of companies that allowed him to put them down as prospective lines if he started his enterprise. Then, GIW called. "For whatever reason, they agreed to give me their fine product line."

The letter from GIW's national sales manager that welcomes HEC as the new representative for Louisiana, Mississippi and Jamaica is framed and displayed on a wall in HEC's corporate office.

The letter is dated April 15, 1994 -- David's 35th birthday.