At Land Enterprises Roofing, we’re celebrating 30 years of business this month! Brian Land has long been driven by entrepreneurship and giving back to the community.

In fact, it began fairly early in Brian’s life!

Early entrepreneurship

Brian always knew he’d run his own business some day. His dad, who worked two full-time jobs, always encouraged Brian to be his own boss. While his dad never started his own business, he was very passionate about Brian being able to do it.

This made such a big impression on Brian that he became an entrepreneur at a young age with a paper route. In 5th grade, his mother drove him to the local Otasco to take out a loan to buy a bicycle. He used this bicycle to run a paper route for the Edmond Sun that he would ride every day after school. He used his profits from his route to pay off his bicycle loan, and eventually decided that the paper route was interfering with his free time after school so he quit that job and started a business he could do during school.

So Brian started selling Hershey chocolate bars. He bought the 6 pack bars from TG&Y and sold them for a dollar each. He was able to make more money and didn’t have to give up his free time to do it! But then he found an even better opportunity with higher profits: selling cinnamon toothpicks. From Edmond, Brian would ride his bike to Quail Springs Mall to buy cinnamon oil. He bought a large pack of toothpicks and would make cinnamon toothpicks at home to sell at school.

Unfortunately, Brian eventually had to stop selling them when he was given in school suspension because a student rubbed his eye and the cinnamon oil irritated his eye. This happened twice, in fact!

Roofing to serve the community

Brian started roofing on his 17th birthday. He really enjoyed working on a team and completing projects. While in college at Oklahoma State University, he started his own company at the age of 19. Brian’s first company name was “Land Construction.” Brian earned a degree in Business Administration Management with a minor in Economics while he was at Oklahoma State University.

Brian would be called out to many repairs in his early roofing days. Many of the repairs were due to nails that were shot too high into the shingle, or shot at the wrong angle or with too much pressure. He saw numerous instances of blown-off shingles caused by nail guns, which why Land Enterprises Roofing uses hand nailing on roofs to this day. Hand nailing a shingle allows the roofer to feel the correct pressure and see proper placement of the nail.

Before starting his own company, Brian worked on two different roofing crews with different bosses. Each boss taught Brian proper methods for roofing, but more importantly, each boss desired to serve his community with integrity. Their example of great character instilled in Brian the desire to have a servant’s heart. He wants to be known for being honest and a helpful member of the community.

Fun fact: Another person on our team, Paula Buford, also sold cinnamon toothpicks in school! Check back in a couple of weeks to find out more fun facts about Land Roofing staff—30, in fact, to celebrate Land Roofing’s 30-year anniversary!