The Three Amigos
The Story of the Hanks Brothers

Bridgepoint Systems is owned and operated by three brothers, Rob, Gordon and Dave Hanks (in order of age). Their personalities developed early in life. Rob was clearly “Mom’s favorite”, which was not really a place of honor in the family. It simply meant that he got more attention from Mom, wanted or unwanted. Rob would never admit that it had anything to do with his behavior but maintains to this day that it was both unwarranted and unfair.

Gordon was known as the “brains” of the family because he liked to take the instruction pages of any product into the bathroom as reading material. That would seem strange to most rational people but Mom and Dad managed to put a positive spin on it.

Dave was spoiled because he was the youngest. The older kids were never allowed to have firearms in the home. Dave got a .22 rifle. The older kids were never allowed to have motorcycles. Dave had a motorcycle. We don’t have time to list all of the inequities here but suffice it to say that all of this took place after Rob and Gordon were out of the house and that all of the complaining fell on deaf ears. Mom and Dad, as they got older just got too tired to argue with Dave.

Bridgepoint Systems began in the most humble of circumstances. Rob and Gordon were both in college. Rob was at National Guard one weekend and was complaining to a friend that he needed to find a job that would pay enough to support him and his wife-to-be, Wendy, while he was finishing college. His friend suggested that he try carpet cleaning, a business that his friend had recently abandoned to join the family business. Rob borrowed his machine, cleaned the carpet in his new apartment and thought that was a reasonable part-time job. He and Wendy emptied their bank accounts, borrowed the rest of the money to purchase a new portable machine and began their business as Rob and Wendy’s Carpet Cleaning.

Weeks later, Gordon came into the business with enough money to purchase a van and Aztec Carpet Cleaning was an official business. After a few months Aztec was doing well enough that the boys had to make a decision. They were running a mediocre company and doing a mediocre job in college. They decided to quit college to go into carpet cleaning full-time. That little piece of news provided the second worst day of their mother’s life.

The worst day of Mom’s life came a few years later when they talked their brother Dave into quitting college to go into business with them. After much weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth Dave decided to go into the business with his brothers. That was not necessarily the end of the war however. As recently as 10 years ago, Mom asked Rob when he was going back to school to get a real profession. (Keep in mind that this took place after each of the boys had 5 children of their own.)

The personalities that developed in the early stages have shaped the company. Gordon has always been the detail oriented one among the owners. He has been responsible for computer systems, accounting and purchasing, in other words, the internal workings. Rob and Dave have been in charge of sales, promotion and education.

In spite of the fact that Bridgepoint Systems is 29 years old at this writing, the brothers are still very active in the daily activities of the business. Each one shows up at work every day, overseeing his responsibilities. They aren’t showing too many signs of slowing down but should you ever get a chance to visit Bridgepoint’s headquarters in Salt Lake City, it would be very obvious that they have a wonderful young management team in place that will ensure the continuation of Bridgepoint Systems well into the future.