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My father had difficulty keeping a job. We moved 15 times before I was twelve. Once, we moved the day after Christmas.
When I was trying to establish myself as an entrepreneur, I looked up to my rich Uncle, who’d worked for lots of big companies, done a leveraged buyout, and sold for millions. I’d write to him trying to get help and tips, which he provided, but one day, he wrote me back and said, “You’re NOT an entrepreneur. Go beg for a job.”
I knew I was going to have to figure things out by myself.
My family was lower-middle class, and Dad was a failure at business. His dad and brothers were chicken farmers, and he wanted no part of it.
He got fired many times. But he and my mother managed to keep a roof over our heads, feed, and clothe us.
Everything else, I had to go out and get myself.
I had a paper route, sold cameras, cleaned chicken shit off of cages, all before 16.
I also paid my way through college, every cent.
The hard thing about my childhood was the perpetual moving,
the need to work, and the embarrassment I felt about my
father’s unemployment.
I became determined to make a lot of money to be able to have
the freedom to do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted.
In my twenties, I broke sales records for several
Fortune 500 companies.
At 29, while out on a golf course, my boss asked to borrow my car during the work week. It was a selfish request and would have been very inconvenient. I said no.
So I got fired… just like my Dad.
I promised myself I’d start my own business. I NEVER again wanted
to have my future dictated by someone else.
The hard thing about my childhood was the perpetual moving,
the need to work, and the embarrassment I felt about my
father’s unemployment.
I became determined to make a lot of money to be able to have
the freedom to do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted.
In my twenties, I broke sales records for several
Fortune 500 companies.
At 29, while out on a golf course, my boss asked to borrow my car during the work week. It was a selfish request and would have been very inconvenient. I said no.
So I got fired… just like my Dad.
I promised myself I’d start my own business. I NEVER again wanted
to have my future dictated by someone else.
I started a food company and sold gourmet frozen dinners.
I was struggling to make it work.
By 34, I was hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt to everyone I knew who believed in me, friends, family and suppliers.
“You’re not an entrepreneur. Go beg for a job,” my Uncle had said to me. Maybe he was right.
Around the same time, I met my wife. She loved me for who I was, but she made it clear that I had to get my financial affairs in order if I wanted to marry her, which I wanted more than anything!
I sold the food company for a pittance, and I went out and got a full-time job.
Then something happened that began to turn things around for me.
Business owners began asking me to teach them to do their marketing, because I’d been writing catchy ads with headlines such as:
“Order Thai Chicken In Your Underwear.”
“Entrepreneur Infuriates Restaurant Owners by Giving Away Free Dinners,”
“Take This Free Dinner and Shove It.”
I dove into Information Marketing. My company, Restaurant Marketing Systems, was born.
Still working a 55 hour a week job, as a side hustle out of my apartment, I recorded and sold audiotapes. Then I added tele-coaching, then boot camps, then mastermind groups.
Four years later, in 2001, the day after 9/11, I went full-time, and my business exploded. Huge seminars. Millions in revenue. 120 restaurant owners paying $10,000 a year for my mentoring. Celebrities such as George Foreman and Mike Ditka spoke at our events. Cars for prizes.
And in 2005, I created a second company, Royalty Rewards. A Done For You Marketing play. It grew fast and branched into restaurants, all types of brick and mortar retail, even auto repair. I also paid off all the debt I owed to friends, family and suppliers.
Still working a 55 hour a week job, as a side hustle out of my apartment, I recorded and sold audiotapes. Then I added tele-coaching, then boot camps, then mastermind groups.
Four years later, in 2001, the day after 9/11, I went full-time, and my business exploded. Huge seminars. Millions in revenue. 120 restaurant owners paying $10,000 a year for my mentoring. Celebrities such as George Foreman and Mike Ditka spoke at our events. Cars for prizes.
I paid off all the debt I owed to friends and family. I settled my debt with the guy that threatened to kill me. (Through a lawyer, for safe distance).
And in 2005, I created a second company, Royalty Rewards. A Done For You Marketing play. It grew fast and branched into restaurants, all types of brick and mortar retail, even auto repair.
I had become what my Uncle said I couldn’t be. And I had accomplished what my Dad dreamed of doing but failed to achieve.
My father died when I was 31, from cancer. Which I believe was caused by his failure in business. He was never able to figure out why others succeeded where he failed.
I loved my father. He was honest and hardworking. He loved his family, and he loved me. But he lacked someone to show him how business works.
Today, in a new chapter of my life, I coach entrepreneurs to have the guidance my Uncle wouldn’t give and my Dad deeply needed.
My mission is to personally work with today’s successful business owners ready to smash through their income glass ceiling. That is, people who don’t want another mastermind program or self-help course.
That’s why I work one-on-one with a select number of entrepreneurs to transform their businesses and their lives. I help them eliminate their roadblocks, execute marketing strategies and rapidly accelerate their growth.
If that’s you, I’d like to hear from you.
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