A message attributed by the CEO:
1947
Our founder Eric Ee, was born in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia in 1947. He was raised in a family with 6 boys including himself and 1 sister. His father was a coal miner that worked tenaciously to raise his 7 children. Growing up he didn’t have much because there was a lot of people that needed support in the family. He knew from an early age that when he grew up he wanted to able to provide a better life for those around him.
1969
After finishing school, he immigrated to Canada in 1969 with $100 in his pocket. Needing money to survive, he quickly found a job as a local driver delivering small parcels throughout the Greater Vancouver Area.
1970
He got married and shortly after had 4 children to support. This meant that he needed to work around the clock just to put food on the table. He made many sacrifices of his time and personal desires to humbly serve his family. The family lived in 1 bedroom of an attic in an old house off of Fraser Street in the East Side of Vancouver. There was 2 beds in the 1 bedroom, the children shared 1 bed and the adults shared the other. The house was so old that when you would peel back the baseboards in the bedroom cockroaches would come spewing out. The kids would often play games by slapping the cockroaches with slippers and then hiding them in each others shoes for a nice surprise for one another later.
1976
In 1976 he decided to go in to the unknown to become an entrepreneur. He scraped together every penny he had to start Rolls Right Trucking with 1 truck and 1 driver, himself. The business provided local moving and delivery services in the lower mainland. Building a business while raising a family was tough and he went through many trials while doing this.
Slow and steady the business grew from 1 truck to 10 trucks. He continued to drive a delivery truck himself, while he also dispatched using a wire telephone and paper, did all the accounting, hiring, sales, and anything else you can think of when running a business.
Working feverishly to keep his customers and drivers happy his days got longer and longer from 12 hours, to 15 hours, to 18 hours per day and so on. He sustained these long hours for years until one night after working 18 hours, he realized that he had reached a bottleneck. He couldn't put any more hours in to grow the business because he physically needed to sleep at least a few hours each day.
He had grown to the point where dispatching off of a telephone and paper was hindering any opportunities to move the business forward. In the 1970's cell phones were almost non-existent which meant everything was dispatched via phone or in person. Once your driver was on the road it was impossible to reach him without a radio unless he checked in with you at the next stop or you were able to figure out where he was going next and call that stop. Other than that you were hooped if you needed to re-route, add orders, expedite a shipment, or do any changes at all.
This inefficiency wasted a lot of time for many reasons, one of the main reasons was because if an order was added by a customer and a driver was going right past the pick up area of that new order, the driver wouldn't find out until their next stop and would need to drive back again to the area they just came from. For a multitude of reasons lines of communication needed to be improved with drivers and the best way at the time was to purchase CB radios. Unfortunately, in the 70's CB radios were $2000 a piece and he needed 10 of them totaling $20,000, which also happened to be $20,000 over his budget. He had to decide to either maintain the business as is or find money to fund the purchase of the radios.
With his can-do attitude he quickly made the choice to press forward and went enthusiastically to his bank the next morning to get a loan. To his dismay his bank was quick to say no so he visited a few other banks, one after the other all of them denied him a loan. A few weeks went by of him searching for funds without any success, when one day he walked by a newspaper stand and saw his favorite news paper "The Province News". He enjoyed reading the news paper because he learned a lot from it and it kept him up to date, but often was not able to purchase one because he had to choose between buying the daily paper or saving up to put food on the table. This day though something inside his heart told him to purchase one.
He picked up the paper that day and read it at night, as he read through the main articles he flipped past an advertisement page that caught his eye. It read "Anyone can get approved for an instant loan now!" surprised, he thought to himself this is fantastic!, but then as he continued to read his enthusiasm also continued to subside because below that it read "20% to 30% Interest Rates", and below that he read "PER MONTH".
Again, he had to make a tough call, paying even 20% interest per month would be more than what he made in an entire month. This risky move could not only put the business in jeopardy that he worked so hard to build, but more importantly his entire family’s well being. He would need to find 100% efficiencies in the business just to get his income back to where he started before the loan and because all this income was used to support the family, it was a very tough call to make.
After many sleepless nights he was still not sure which way to go. He began to think back about why he was in this dilemma in the first place. He came to realize it was because he immigrated to Canada with almost nothing and not knowing anyone to start a better life, to raise a family, and provide them opportunities that he never had as a child growing up. It was only after recalling this that he found the courage the next day to proceed with the loan.
The radios were ordered, and he received them within a few days. From that point onward, he did what ever it took to ensure that he would never have to make tough calls like that again that could potentially jeopardize the lively hood of his family. That’s how the 5 pillars of success began to be developed. They were created from his heart, woven together to help foster a healthy successful organization. Today, because of the company's fantastic team members, it employs over 200 people, supports multiple charities, and provides a valuable service that helps communities flourish.
We share this story because out of the many stories he has told, its the one that has really stuck the most. It's taught us that its important to have unwavering faith, courage, determination, and endurance. Most importantly though we’ve learned that good decisions come from thinking with a good heart. There are not a lot of things we are proud of in this world, but we are proud he is our founder and that we have the opportunity to work with an amazing team, helping each other and our customers succeed everyday.
Forward:
The 5 pillars of success he taught has helped shape the business model of Rolls Right Trucking.
1. LONG-TERM THINKING
2. BE SYSTEMATIC
3. SPECIALIZE
4. BE CUSTOMER FOCUSED
5. EMBRACE TECHNOLOGY
The first thing he taught was to make every single decision was based on we are in it for the long-haul. There was never any question about deciding based on a short-term win, its always been about what’s best for the business to ensure long-term sustainability.
The second lesson learned was to work smarter instead of harder. He constantly evaluated every process in the business to see if there was a way to simplify it, make it easier, and most importantly systematized.
Third, he was adamant to stick to only what the business can be absolute the best in the world at. He was relentless at becoming the best in a niche market by teaching everyone to continually provide the exact same services repetitively, so we would become experts at it.
Fourth, he got people always thinking from the customers point of view. Making decisions based on putting yourself in the customers shoes ensured the business excelled at providing a high level of customer service.
Lastly, he was a pioneer in technology. He saw the potential in it and would always ensure we had the latest cutting-edge software tools. If we couldn’t buy a technology solution we needed, then he would heavily and continually reinvest resources, time, and energy to build it. More importantly he taught us to remember technology is an accelerator of momentum not a creator of it.
1947
Our founder Eric Ee, was born in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia in 1947. He was raised in a family with 6 boys including himself and 1 sister. His father was a coal miner that worked tenaciously to raise his 7 children. Growing up he didn’t have much because there was a lot of people that needed support in the family. He knew from an early age that when he grew up he wanted to able to provide a better life for those around him.
1969
After finishing school, he immigrated to Canada in 1969 with $100 in his pocket. Needing money to survive, he quickly found a job as a local driver delivering small parcels throughout the Greater Vancouver Area.
1970
He got married and shortly after had 4 children to support. This meant that he needed to work around the clock just to put food on the table. He made many sacrifices of his time and personal desires to humbly serve his family. The family lived in 1 bedroom of an attic in an old house off of Fraser Street in the East Side of Vancouver. There was 2 beds in the 1 bedroom, the children shared 1 bed and the adults shared the other. The house was so old that when you would peel back the baseboards in the bedroom cockroaches would come spewing out. The kids would often play games by slapping the cockroaches with slippers and then hiding them in each others shoes for a nice surprise for one another later.
1976
In 1976 he decided to go in to the unknown to become an entrepreneur. He scraped together every penny he had to start Rolls Right Trucking with 1 truck and 1 driver, himself. The business provided local moving and delivery services in the lower mainland. Building a business while raising a family was tough and he went through many trials while doing this.
Slow and steady the business grew from 1 truck to 10 trucks. He continued to drive a delivery truck himself, while he also dispatched using a wire telephone and paper, did all the accounting, hiring, sales, and anything else you can think of when running a business.
Working feverishly to keep his customers and drivers happy his days got longer and longer from 12 hours, to 15 hours, to 18 hours per day and so on. He sustained these long hours for years until one night after working 18 hours, he realized that he had reached a bottleneck. He couldn't put any more hours in to grow the business because he physically needed to sleep at least a few hours each day.
He had grown to the point where dispatching off of a telephone and paper was hindering any opportunities to move the business forward. In the 1970's cell phones were almost non-existent which meant everything was dispatched via phone or in person. Once your driver was on the road it was impossible to reach him without a radio unless he checked in with you at the next stop or you were able to figure out where he was going next and call that stop. Other than that you were hooped if you needed to re-route, add orders, expedite a shipment, or do any changes at all.
This inefficiency wasted a lot of time for many reasons, one of the main reasons was because if an order was added by a customer and a driver was going right past the pick up area of that new order, the driver wouldn't find out until their next stop and would need to drive back again to the area they just came from. For a multitude of reasons lines of communication needed to be improved with drivers and the best way at the time was to purchase CB radios. Unfortunately, in the 70's CB radios were $2000 a piece and he needed 10 of them totaling $20,000, which also happened to be $20,000 over his budget. He had to decide to either maintain the business as is or find money to fund the purchase of the radios.
With his can-do attitude he quickly made the choice to press forward and went enthusiastically to his bank the next morning to get a loan. To his dismay his bank was quick to say no so he visited a few other banks, one after the other all of them denied him a loan. A few weeks went by of him searching for funds without any success, when one day he walked by a newspaper stand and saw his favorite news paper "The Province News". He enjoyed reading the news paper because he learned a lot from it and it kept him up to date, but often was not able to purchase one because he had to choose between buying the daily paper or saving up to put food on the table. This day though something inside his heart told him to purchase one.
He picked up the paper that day and read it at night, as he read through the main articles he flipped past an advertisement page that caught his eye. It read "Anyone can get approved for an instant loan now!" surprised, he thought to himself this is fantastic!, but then as he continued to read his enthusiasm also continued to subside because below that it read "20% to 30% Interest Rates", and below that he read "PER MONTH".
Again, he had to make a tough call, paying even 20% interest per month would be more than what he made in an entire month. This risky move could not only put the business in jeopardy that he worked so hard to build, but more importantly his entire family’s well being. He would need to find 100% efficiencies in the business just to get his income back to where he started before the loan and because all this income was used to support the family, it was a very tough call to make.
After many sleepless nights he was still not sure which way to go. He began to think back about why he was in this dilemma in the first place. He came to realize it was because he immigrated to Canada with almost nothing and not knowing anyone to start a better life, to raise a family, and provide them opportunities that he never had as a child growing up. It was only after recalling this that he found the courage the next day to proceed with the loan.
The radios were ordered, and he received them within a few days. From that point onward, he did what ever it took to ensure that he would never have to make tough calls like that again that could potentially jeopardize the lively hood of his family. That’s how the 5 pillars of success began to be developed. They were created from his heart, woven together to help foster a healthy successful organization. Today, because of the company's fantastic team members, it employs over 200 people, supports multiple charities, and provides a valuable service that helps communities flourish.
We share this story because out of the many stories he has told, its the one that has really stuck the most. It's taught us that its important to have unwavering faith, courage, determination, and endurance. Most importantly though we’ve learned that good decisions come from thinking with a good heart. There are not a lot of things we are proud of in this world, but we are proud he is our founder and that we have the opportunity to work with an amazing team, helping each other and our customers succeed everyday.
Forward:
The 5 pillars of success he taught has helped shape the business model of Rolls Right Trucking.
1. LONG-TERM THINKING
2. BE SYSTEMATIC
3. SPECIALIZE
4. BE CUSTOMER FOCUSED
5. EMBRACE TECHNOLOGY
The first thing he taught was to make every single decision was based on we are in it for the long-haul. There was never any question about deciding based on a short-term win, its always been about what’s best for the business to ensure long-term sustainability.
The second lesson learned was to work smarter instead of harder. He constantly evaluated every process in the business to see if there was a way to simplify it, make it easier, and most importantly systematized.
Third, he was adamant to stick to only what the business can be absolute the best in the world at. He was relentless at becoming the best in a niche market by teaching everyone to continually provide the exact same services repetitively, so we would become experts at it.
Fourth, he got people always thinking from the customers point of view. Making decisions based on putting yourself in the customers shoes ensured the business excelled at providing a high level of customer service.
Lastly, he was a pioneer in technology. He saw the potential in it and would always ensure we had the latest cutting-edge software tools. If we couldn’t buy a technology solution we needed, then he would heavily and continually reinvest resources, time, and energy to build it. More importantly he taught us to remember technology is an accelerator of momentum not a creator of it.