About this episode

Chris Boots shares his journey from building a custom cabinet to founding CJ Boots Casket Company and navigating the casket industry.

Chris Boots was building a custom pantry cabinet at his wife's uncle's shop in 1999 when he looked at the top sitting on the cart and thought it kind of looked like a casket. He'd always wanted his own business. He didn't know what business. That cabinet was the seed. He spent nights on the bed flipping through funeral trade magazines while his wife asked what on earth he was doing. He joined the Casket and Funeral Supply Association — he'd later become its president. He bought a CNC router he didn't know how to operate and was halfway through training in Atlanta before he asked the instructor what the machine actually looked like. Chris walked into the casket industry right as cremation rates climbed from 20% to 70% and the number of casket companies collapsed from hundreds to fifteen. He built CJ Boots Casket Company anyway, going after the high-end Marcellus niche that conglomerate buyouts had cut off from independent funeral homes. Twenty-one years later he sold it, ran it through COVID for the new owners, tried Florida real estate, and landed in commercial insurance after a chance conversation on Lido Beach with a guy who happened to insure the same trade association Chris…

People in this episode

Host: Matt Nettleton

Guest: Chris Boots

Topics covered

• entrepreneurship
• casket industry
• business growth
• cash flow
• commercial insurance

Keywords

• casket
• entrepreneurship
• cash flow
• funeral industry
• commercial insurance

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Casket and Funeral Supply Association, CJ Boots Casket Company

Places: Florida, Lido Beach

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