From the CEO:

Championship Teams and Championship Stores️

Every March, millions of Americans fill out their brackets and settle in to watch the drama of the NCAA basketball tournament. Upsets happen. Underdogs rise. Favorites fall. And by the end, one team is left standing as the champion. If I may brag for a second, my grandson’s eighth grade team did that recently!

As I coach my grandson’s team and watch the NCAA tournament each year, I’m reminded that the traits that make championship basketball teams successful are remarkably similar to the traits that make great hardware stores successful.

Running a successful hardware store, or any business, isn’t that different from running a winning team.

First, championship teams always have a game plan. Coaches spend hours studying opponents, designing plays, and preparing their players for what’s ahead. The same is true in business. The most successful businesses don’t simply open the doors each morning and hope for the best. They plan ahead by watching inventory levels, understanding seasonal demand, and thinking strategically about staffing, pricing, and customer service.

Second, great teams rely on depth on the bench. A championship team isn’t built around just one star player. When someone gets in foul trouble or needs a rest, another player steps in ready to contribute. Hardware stores are no different. Your team, whether it’s the person mixing paint, helping customers find the right fastener, or managing the front register, is what makes the experience special. Customers return not just for the products, but for the people who know how to help them.

Third, in basketball they say defense wins championships. In business, defense often means paying attention to the fundamentals: managing expenses, keeping an eye on margins, maintaining accurate accounting records, and making sure payroll and taxes are overseen correctly. These may not be the most exciting parts of running a business, but they are essential to long-term success.

And finally, March Madness reminds us that anything can happen. Lower-seeded teams knock off national powerhouses every year. In the same way, business always brings surprises through economic shifts, supply chain issues, unexpected competition, or a sudden surge in demand for a certain product. The stores that succeed are the ones that stay prepared and adaptable.

Independent hardware stores across Wisconsin and around the country demonstrate these traits every day. Every business should and does. You plan ahead for the busy season, you build strong teams, you manage the fundamentals, and you adapt when the unexpected happens. That’s why local hardware stores continue to be trusted pillars of their communities.

At Midwest Hardware Association, our role is to support those championship efforts behind the scenes. Whether it’s accounting, payroll, tax services, or member benefits, our goal is to help ensure your back office runs smoothly so you can focus on what matters most, i.e., serving your customers and leading your team.

Because in the end, the best hardware stores, like the best teams in March, are the ones that prepare before the game starts. May your team and business get many wins!

Warm regards,

Todd Kuckkahn

CEO, Midwest Hardware Association

Every now and then in business, you come to a moment where you must ask a simple question:

How do we serve our members and clients even better in the future?

Over the past several months, we’ve been asking that question about payroll services at Midwest Hardware Association.

Payroll regulations continue to get more complicated. Compliance requirements keep expanding. Technology keeps evolving. The states we serve are growing. And while our team has done an excellent job serving payroll clients for many years, we want to make sure our members continue to receive the best possible payroll solutions.

That led us to an exciting step forward.

Beginning April 1, 2026, MHA payroll services will transition to PayOptions, a payroll provider that shares our same service-first approach and—importantly—uses the same payroll software platform we already operate on.

What does that mean for current payroll clients?

In many ways, very little changes.

You will still work with the Midwest Hardware Association team members you know and trust.

Our fees remain unchanged, and we will continue operating from our same offices with the same contact information.

Because PayOptions uses the same payroll system, most clients will not even need new login credentials. Reporting will remain consistent, and we expect the transition to be smooth.

What this partnership does bring is expanded capabilities, including:

• Affordable Care Act compliance and 1095-C filing
• Automated timekeeping solutions through Swipeclock
• Expanded employer and employee online portals
• Electronic new-hire onboarding tools

In short, it allows our payroll clients to benefit from additional resources and technology while keeping the familiar relationships they value.

And for MHA members who currently do payroll elsewhere, this partnership is definitely worth exploring.

While Midwest Hardware Association will continue focusing on the accounting, individual tax, corporate tax, and advisory services many of you already rely on, PayOptions can provide a modern payroll platform with strong compliance support and service built around small and mid-sized businesses.



If you are interested in learning more about payroll solutions through PayOptions, our team would be happy to point you in the right direction. If you have questions about the transition, feel free to reach out anytime to Todd Kuckkahn, CEO at toddk@midwesthardware.com.

In a world where the letters “AI” are becoming increasingly mainstream, what does this really mean for you and your hardware store? The short answer may be, “we don’t know yet,” which is acceptable… for now. However, the consensus feeling that it is only a matter of time before AI will be a part of our everyday lives, is real. So what do we do about this? We prepare, we gather information, we train our employees, we figure out how we can use artificial intelligence to better our businesses.

That said, we would like to share the US Department of Labor’s introduction to their newly released AI Literacy Framework. This is great foundational content to guide, educate and form a game plan on how to use AI in your store.

DOL AI Literacy Framework