President, Highbridge Spring Water - Vice-President, Kentucky Underground Storage
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Photo by Mick Jeffries
As the president of Highbridge Spring Water and the vice president of Kentucky Underground Storage, Linda Griffin Slagel learned early on that if you want a successful business, you must be willing to do what it takes to get there.
Slagel remembers when her father, the late Bill Griffin, first opened Highbridge Spring Water. The company did not have enough storage space to house the demand for their bottles of water.
“We used to come in at three or four o’clock in the morning to start bottling so that we would be finished by the time the trucks got there,” Slagel said. “We had to time it so that we would be finished and be able to put it right on the truck. If you’re not willing to go to those extremes, you may want to think twice.”
A 1978 graduate from Western Kentucky University with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, Slagel did not plan on a career of extremes. She worked with a food-service company until her father began developing Highbridge Spring Water and Kentucky Underground Storage. Then, she said, “I was fortunate enough to go work for my father.”
Slagel’s father, Bill Griffin, passed away in 2001. He is survived by his wife, JoAnn Griffin, who is still active in both companies. Three of Slagel’s four sisters have also participated in the family businesses, with Gale G.W. Reece serving as the president of Kentucky Under-ground Storage from 1983 to 2005.
“Once you start something from nothing,” Slagel said, “you get so involved in what needs to get done that you just keep going. You sure do learn a lot about everything when you do a start-up. Finances, interpersonal relation-ships –– doing what it takes to get the job done, regardless of what time of day it is.”
Slagel discovered that not only did she enjoy the challenges of working with a start-up, she enjoyed working with a small company.
“The nice thing about a small company is that you can go down and talk to someone on the line and say, ‘You know what? If we did this, it would be a lot easier,’” Slagel said. “So you just do it. You don’t have to have a lot of meetings or anything. You just change how you do things and improve.”
Slagel believes that constant forward motion is important to a successful business.
“If you have a good product and you have a good company, then there is a market for you,” she said. “It may not be what it was five years ago or it may not be what it is five years in the future, but if you’re constantly thinking about where else might I sell this product, who else might be interested in this, you’ll find you move ahead. Maybe not in the direction you’ve planned, but you move. You can’t stay still.”
Today, Highbridge Spring Water and Kentucky Underground Storage have been in business for 30 years, creating more than 50 jobs for the Lexington community. Both businesses are 100 percent owned by women.
“It goes fast,” said Slagel. “You’re working so hard, you’ve got your head down and all of a sudden, you look up and it’s 10 years later.”
One piece of advice Slagel offers to those looking to start a business is the importance of understanding your limits.
“Many times your personal life gets put to the side for a number of years,” she said. “If you’re not in the position where you can do that, you need to think further about your financial aid –– can you hire someone to help you? And if not, do you really want to do this?
“Start-ups are not done part-time,” Slagel said. “They’re barely done full-time. Start-ups are done with all your time.”