From Skater to Shop Owner: How SurePayroll Keeps PLUS Skateboarding Rolling

When you step into PLUS Skateboarding, you’re entering a community. Whether it’s their first visit or 50^th, each customer is greeted warmly and welcomed to the small shop that’s brimming with skateboarding equipment, merchandise, and history.  

Rob Woelkers III, owner, long-time skateboarding aficionado, and artist, mixes the latest gear with an homage to the history of skateboarding. Look up to see the evolution of the skateboard, with boards dating back to the first commercial skateboard manufactured in 1959, strung across the ceiling.  

It’s clear the skateboarding community means the world to Woelkers. He launched PLUS Skateboarding in a basement shop off the main street of downtown Farmington, Michigan, in the early 2000s.

It was a true labor of love.  

“When I started my business, I didn’t run payroll. I don’t even think I paid myself,” he says.

Stepping Up: Why PLUS Skateboarding Picked SurePayroll  

When he started hiring employees and moved to his current street-level location, Woelkers knew he had to get serious about payroll.  

Woelkers dislikes computer work with an intensity that matches his love for skateboarding.  

“I don’t like computer work, and running payroll myself just wasn’t an option,” he says. “I knew I couldn’t pay these kids under the table. I needed to take care of them, pay them the right way, for them and my business.

“I discovered SurePayroll. SurePayroll fits my needs perfectly. It’s very easy to use,” he says. “I don’t have to remember to run payroll. SurePayroll sends me emails to remind me of due dates to enter hours and run payroll, so my workers get paid every payday.”

SurePayroll® By Paychex gives Woelkers the freedom to pay his employees and payroll taxes quickly and easily. And it leaves him time to focus on his customers, the unique aspects he’s built into the culture of his shop, and to support his community.  

Freeing Time for What Matters: Skate Camps, Parks, and Creative Arts

Woelkers fell in love with skateboarding in the 1980s. He dreamed of opening his own shop for as long as he could remember. His goal: Give skaters a place where they can feel welcome, get the best product available, and immerse themselves in skateboarding.

That’s one of many reasons he continues to rely on SurePayroll. “SurePayroll is easy, affordable, and it saves me time and headaches,” Woelkers says. “I don’t have to figure out how to do payroll and taxes because SurePayroll does it for me.”  

By taking payroll off his plate, SurePayroll frees him to channel his energy into his true passions: improving his community through skateboarding and art.  

For PLUS Skateboarding, that meant launching a skateboard camp. The camp, which has become known as one of Michigan’s best skateboard camps, hosts more than 200 kids each summer. At the camp, counselors work to create a creative, safe environment for kids to learn how to have fun on their boards. The campers also design boards, shoes, T-shirts, and stickers.  

“It is important to us to share skateboarding with new generations of kids,” Woelkers says. “We love it, and we want them to be introduced to it the right way and learn that skateboarding is all about having fun!”

Continuing in that theme, Woelkers was instrumental in creating a skateboard park in his community. He worked with the city for approval, helped raise funds, and in 2009, Farmington Hills opened the free 29,000-square-foot all-concrete Riley Skate Park. The park attracts around 200 skaters a day during peak season, and hosts thousands of visitors who come for skateboard competitions and camps.  

Art serves as a throughline for Woelkers shop and passion. From the mural he painted at the entrance to his store that pays homage to his original basement shop to the individually illustrated bags each customer receives with their purchase, Woelkers weaves art, business, and community together.  

He encourages his employees to illustrate bags. Many of those illustrations become art for the merchandise he sells in the store.  

He also serves on the board of directors for Skep Space, Downtown Farmington’s Artist Incubator.  

From Brick-and-Mortar to Browser: Scaling with Confidence

Now, when Woelkers has to do computer work, he can focus on growing his business, such as launching an online store to complement his physical location.  

“I want to give all my customers the ability to shop at their home store, no matter where they are now,” Woelkers says. “I also love to introduce new people to the sport, so they can fall in love with it.”

Integrating his store inventory with web inventory proved to be a lot of computer work. He pushed through and launched the site in 2023.  

Knowing he can count on SurePayroll while he focuses on building his business provides peace of mind.  

“The SurePayroll interface is easy, and that’s really important to me,” Woelkers says. “It’s also competitively priced. It’s always been pretty easy. It does exactly what is supposed to do.”

PLUS Skateboarding Payroll Philosophy: Easy is Number 1

Woelkers has a lot of interests and passions: Skateboarder, snowboarder, hockey player, and artist. Becoming a payroll expert is not on his list.  

He’s happy to have a payroll service that fits his small business needs.  

“I stay with SurePayroll because it’s easy. That for me is number 1,” Woelkers says. “I don’t want to have to think about payroll. SurePayroll takes care of that for me with email reminders and easy payroll service.”

For Woelkers and PLUS Skateboarding, SurePayroll isn't just a service; it's a reliable solution that lets him pour his energy into fostering a vibrant skateboarding community, one accurately paid employee and inspired new skater at a time.

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