Comment on Mind Your Own Business: Teen hay-hauling business shaped Paycom chief's entrepreneurial spirit

Paula Burkes As a 16 year old in his hometown of Tuttle, Paycom President and CEO Chad Richison held firm on his price for baling hay -- after a local farmer tried to short him 4 cents a bale on an agreed-upon 36 cents. Richison remembers telling his buddy and coworker, “If we don’t hold him accountable now, he’ll pay us less for the rest of the time we work for him,” before he threatened to disassemble all the hay from the some 1,000 bales they’d just harvested using a flatbed welded to a ‘62 Box Chevy V that he bought for $300. Today, Richison calls on the same grit to run his 18-year-old online payroll company, he told guests at a Junior Achievement of Oklahoma Business Success series luncheon Thursday at the Home Builders Event Center. Determination, flexibility, ongoing learning, and a focus on the client experience, he said, have helped him help build Paycom to a $3.5 billion market cap nationwide with more than 2,000 employees and 60 to 80 new hires a month. Richison’s industrious story was fitting for supporters of Junior Achievement, which seeks workers of all levels to help teach workplace readiness, financial literacy and entrepreneur skills to kindergarten through 12th-graders. In its 50th year, Junior Achievement of Oklahoma is on track to reach some 16,000 students in the Oklahoma City region with more than 900 volunteers, said Darcie Henderson, mistress of ceremonies, JA board member and CrossFirst Bank executive. Before introducing Richison, Henderson recognized John Koons, longtime OG&E community relations coordinator, for recently accepting JA’s highest individual volunteer Gold Leadership Award in New York.Read more on NewsOK.com