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By Mike Brennan | MiBiz
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GRAND RAPIDS — The best lesson an entrepreneur can teach his children is empowerment, Fred Keller, founder and CEO of Cascade Engineering Inc., told a few dozen members of aimWest at the technology networking group’s January meeting.

Keller was the keynote speaker, along with youngest daughter, Christina, who leads a business unit within the company called Triple Quest, which manufactures Hydraid BioSand water filters. Christina Keller has been working with her father for more than two years. Fred Keller started the company in 1973 next door to his dad’s business, Paragon Die and Engineering, which is still in the family.

The Cascade Engineering family of companies — 15 units in all — employs about 1,000 people, half in Michigan. Fred Keller said becoming a community leader starts at birth and develops over time with influences from community and family.

For example, Keller said he opened checking and credit card accounts for his three daughters when each reached 12 years of age. They then were in charge of managing their monthly expenses, which included buying their own clothes — and staying on budget. If they ran out of money before the next monthly stipend, they received no bailouts from dad.

He also empowered each child with the mantra “no boundaries, but don’t get hurt.” Plus, Fred Keller said he tried to serve as an example of what it means to be an entrepreneur, including getting each child introduced to business life at an early age.

Christina Keller said another example of her early business training was when her father made her write a business plan when she asked him to buy her a dog. The dog-business plan eventually turned into a pet hamster, she confessed.

“When you expose your kids to business, it is the greatest education,” Fred Keller said.

He also said it is important to teach children that it’s OK to fail and to persevere during the “tough times.”

Said Christina Keller: “If you fail and don’t die, you can pick up and start again.”

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• cascade engineering
• fred keller
• grand rapids
• hydraid biosand