"If I knew how difficult this was, I would have never done it," says Landgren. "My biggest asset was that I wasn't that smart. I worked hard to make this happen."

Landgren began his career in the electrical distribution business right out of high school in 1973. He started in the warehouse and worked his way up to general manager of a family-owned Chicago distributor.

Realizing that he had reached his growth potential, Landgren opened Sunrise Electric Supply in 1986 with one employee in a 2,000-square-foot building.

Continued.