THE DAY THE LIGHT WENT ON
AND STAYED ON! I DEVOTED MY LIFE TO IT
WOW, WHAT A CONCEPT
Nearly 35 years ago after the sale of my first organization I found myself with a pile of money and time on my hands. My plan was to take a six-month sabbatical, do my homework (this time), learn how to truly run a business and then come back at it again and start all over.
At that time I decided to investigate this new computer thing folks were talking about. So in 1986 I purchased a Commodore 128, (latest, most popular/consumerized) computer available at that time, a monitor, three computer programs, a spreadsheet, a word processor and a database program—and yes, these came on 5 ¼” disks!
GAME CHANGING DISCOVERY!
When I had figured out how to integrate the three programs I realized I had identified a breakthrough for myself, my future business(es), and most importantly, my future clients. That was when I discovered that instead of using 3 x 5” cards to keep track of prospect data, outbound sales activity, and all the details regarding a prospect, now this information could be fed into a computer and I could keep track of in a much simpler and rapid way. Nowadays we take for granted access to these capabilities but back then, I had a vision. The possibility of having the power to keep track of hundreds (or thousands) of prospects and to be able to contact and communicate with them in an organized and systematic fashion was a game changer for me.
STILL DOING IT TODAY!
To this day, I have helped hundreds of business owners implement this impactful, powerful strategy that they’ve used to grow their organizations.
IDENTITY CRISIS
In 1991 I had the opportunity to work with Jack Roush and the executives at an organization called ECS/Roush (this event happened as a result of nearly two years of dogged pursuit, dozens of meetings, and the commitment on my part to make something happen there). The management team originally only wanted to update the existing logo and create a corporate brochure, however, they took my advice to make some bigger things happen and blow the organization up.
BLOW IT UP!
My recommendations included a name change and the creation of five business units that would help them to communicate their enormous automotive engineering capabilities better. They agreed and Roush Industries was born, as were the five business units and a total corporate-wide rebranding of 20+ buildings. The industry reaction was predictable, in that people were asking, “Wow who are these Roush guys?” This corporate identity change and organizational presentation upgrade were integral to their meteoric rise and explosive growth. The success and excitement of this project reverberated for years, providing my marketing firm with the credibility and capability of an organization that can make big things happen!
ON THE DASH!
In 1992, Mark Martin’s Daytona 500 entry carried the new ROUSH Racing logo on the dashboard, an exciting and rewarding ending to a very important change for all folks involved.
LIKE THEY SAY, DETROIT: WHERE THE WEAK ARE KILLED AND EATEN
I am enormously proud to have been born and raised in Metro Detroit and the surrounding area. Southeastern Michigan is a great place to grow up, work in, and eventually to be from. I learned so many things from my exposure and connection to the automotive manufacturing world, its supplier base, as well as the overall concept of turning ideas and crates of parts into finished automobiles and how exactly that process took place.
AUTOMOBILES, MUSIC, AND SPORTS
Detroit provided me with important things that helped mold me into who I am today. The rich music talent, and sports teams that competed and won championships got me hooked on the concept of working hard and winning big. Witnessing new automobile designs and exciting new vehicle models from all manufacturers while attending the North American Auto Show annually didn’t hurt either. Seeing products successfully being made and brought to market had a big impact on me!
MY FIRST COMPANY
I started my first company in 1983 while in my third year of college at Wayne State University (in downtown Detroit). It was a screen print manufacturing firm producing screen printed plastic parts and metal parts; it eventually led to a wearables division as well. It did not take long—business was booming, and for the next 24 months I literally worked around the clock seven days a week. Although loving every minute of it, I had minimal entrepreneurial skills, and it had grown larger than I could handle. So when a good client approached me (in the beginning of my third year) and asked if I had ever thought of selling the place, I felt like I was reborn! I successfully sold the organization (it’s still in business today, 40 years later) and my next challenge was ‘on’.
NEW ADVENTURE - NEW ACHIEVEMENTS
During a trip out west to Long Beach, CA to take-in the Long Beach Grand Prix in 1994, my wife and I fell in love with the beach, the mountains, and the overall vibe and atmosphere of southern California. It seemed like a great place to live and work. So at that time we secured an executive suite and created a West Coast office for the marketing firm we were growing back in Michigan. We set a goal for ourselves of five years to build our business, sell it, and move out west to start from scratch and do it all over again. For those next five years we helped nearly 60 Detroit-based businesses look better and grow their firms dramatically (while building a business that we were planning on selling). In 1999 (exactly five years later) we sold our growing corporate identity and marketing firm, packed up our belongings, and moved to Redondo Beach. We did not know a single person there.
A BIG ADVANTAGE: MID-WEST WORK ETHIC
AND A HISTORY OF MAKING BIG THINGS HAPPEN
Once settled, we leveraged our Midwest work ethic and our knowledge of corporate identity and growing companies to create a seven-figure marketing design and business development firm that has helped over 40 organizations blow their firms up, one company at a time. We dramatically changed the lives of our clients, whose businesses doubled or tripled revenues—some even more. We came to California with big dreams and we continue to make them happen, both for ourselves and our clients!
A NEW WAY OF MAKING BIG THINGS HAPPEN
After 30 years of working one-on-one with my clients and their companies, I wanted to create a scenario to where we could provide hundreds of forward-thinking service firms that wanted to grow their organizations, with the tools, processes and leadership they needed to make that happen. After years of working with franchisors and helping their franchisees grow their organizations through NEXTGEN outbound new account acquisition, we created an innovative organization that provides affordable, franchise-like branded sales and marketing tools, a proven new-customer account acquisition process, plus leadership training and support programs. These now allow us to help folks from all over the globe to grow their organizations in an ongoing and systematic fashion.
FROM ONE-ON-ONE… TO ONE-ON-MANY…
The franchise model is hot; the concept makes sense and the opportunities for professional service firms to join a group of like-minded, non-competing business peers is both beneficial and valuable to their ability to expand their customer base in their service area—and without the restrictions, rules and royalties that accompany a traditional franchise organization.
ROCK YOUR COMPANY THE NEW WAY TO GROW YOUR INDEPENDENT SERVICE FIRM—NOW!