ABOUT
The Short Version:
Born in Baltimore, raised in Philadelphia. Lived in northern NJ through junior-high. Lived in Denver, SoCal, and now, outside of Reno…the Nevada-side of the Sierra mountains, on a back road to Lake Tahoe. Been in sales since 1963. 1963? Well, I sold candy to classmates in 2nd grade and I feel like I’ve been in sales ever since.
Started with a credit card, ran for nine years, and grew to 16 people, then sold, an AutoCAD dealership. First successful exit. Had no idea how to sell a business and sold way too cheap.
Worked with a team of programmers in Estonia to develop a WYSIWYG website editor, which leveraged the HTTP-put function to upload HTML to a server. This was before Microsoft Frontpage. Also sold this too cheap, to a company who eventually sold it to AOL for millions.
Became Director of International Sales for Inter-Tel, Inc., a Fortune 1000 telecom company. Then found a small company on the east coast who had technology Inter-Tel needed. Went to work with them and sold the entire company to Inter-Tel six months later.
Built a critical delivery company to 12 drivers. After one of my drivers hit a house, I sold the assets and customer database.
Started a drone company for video (still have this, just for fun and an occasional gig).
As a Regional Manager in training for LegalMatch, I implemented a self-gen workflow using LinkedIn, Calendly, and Zapier to generate attorney prospects, becoming the top rep in just three months.
For Integrated Wealth Systems, a wealth coach, I closed over $110k my second month.
I had already formed, and was days from launching a Part 135 charter airline when Covid hit, which halted our progress.
I discovered Salesprocess.io and was never the top producing rep for them. It’s not the kind of sales organization in which I thrive.
Founded and launched “The Lead Pilot” in July of 2020.
Products and services I’ve sold:
Candy to my 2nd-grade classmates (retail), newspaper subscriptions (D2D), hardware (retail) , Rainbow vacuums (D2D), Colliers Encyclopedia (D2D), wholesale tires (B2B phone sales), wholesale steel building structures (B2B phone sales), wholesale steel products (B2B phone), wholesale greenhouse structures (B2B phone sales), computer systems for CAD (B2B field sales), computer-based PBX (B2B wholesale), white-label Internet software (OEM), Internet service (B2B), VoIP Systems (to international telecom carriers), software for VoIP application dev (OEM), 802.11 campus networking (B2B), P2P microwave installation (B2B carriers), cell tower construction services (B2B carriers), wholesale residential mortgages (B2B phone/web), retail residential and light commercial mortgages (B2C phone/web), telephone systems (B2B phone/web), nesting software for various cutting systems like laser and punch press (B2B field/phone), critical delivery trucking (B2B field/phone/web), drone video services (B2B phone/web), lead-gen for attorneys (B2B phone/web), wealth consulting (B2C phone/web), SaaS marketing consulting (B2B phone/web), sales and marketing consulting (B2B phone/web).
The Long Version:
Born in Baltimore, raised in Philadelphia, I went to Catholic school from 1st to 5th grade; St. Joseph’s downtown and Most Blessed Sacrament on 56th & Chester. While in 1st grade, I cleaned bricks for $0.25 per hour. My first sales job came in 2nd grade, selling candy to my classmates. 6th through 8th grade was spent in Ramsey, NJ, at Eric S. Smith School, while living with two of my great aunts (mom’s father’s sisters). They were both NYC school teachers, so they knew how to handle a wild kid. I was a drummer in the school band, learned to ski at Campgaw, and was always one of the fastest kids at track and field events. Helped my neighbor sell subscriptions and deliver his paper route. With the money, my buddy and I bought a used go kart. It was a blast! I still teach auto racing at HPDE events.
Back to Philadelphia for high school, we lived in a low-income neighborhood. I tested in the 97th percentile to enter Central High, a public school for “advanced” students. Classes were good, but there was almost no athletic program at the time. As the neighborhood was extremely rough, bullets flying, my sister and I didn’t play outside too much. Worked in retail sales for the local hardware store.
Just before my 16th birthday, we moved to Colorado. Wow, what a culture shock! People were friendly and the neighborhood was fantastic. We had a yard. But, the school system was 2-3 years behind the east coast and I got bored quickly. I dropped out and took a job washing and bussing dishes at Jim Bundy’s Festival Restaurant, on the corner of Evans and Broadway. That was 1973. Right next door to the restaurant was a Yamaha dealership. Guess what I did with my money? I spent most of it on tires and gas; the rest, I wasted.
After the Bundy’s restaurant manager made me pray with him before collecting my paycheck, I decided to move on to a more ambitious opportunity…short-order cook at Bob’s Big Boy Restaurant on Colorado Blvd. (in Denver, the franchise was called Azar’s). I was a young, successful kid, with a dirt bike, cooking at Azar’s! I needed an apartment!!
A friend pulled me into a “tremendous opportunity” as a groundskeeper at Denver University, where I took continuing education classes for fun…really, to meet college girls. Kathy Snow was the first love of my life. I found an apartment right around the corner from the campus workshop (corner of University and Jewell). Even though it was a blast working on the college grounds, greener pastures were calling my name. I took my first telesales job, selling tires for a wholesale distributor. Soon after, I found a sales position with Wedgecor Steel Buildings, selling dealerships to construction companies. I quickly became the top sales guy, of 45 people. It was circa 1976 and I was making good money, so I bought a use ’70 Pontiac Gran Prix with a 400 c.i. engine; a 2-door with lots of power, leather seats, and electric windows. What a land-yacht!
I had saved up a little money and a friend said his brother needed us to come work with him doing plumbing in California. So, we put our two cars together to make one good one that would make it to CA. I was making good money again, but living in motor home, with no running water or electricity, on a fold-down bed. I could sick my tongue out and touch the ceiling. So, I took our car and split. We had gone through Belmont Shore in L.A. and I thought that would be a good place to find work. I drove there, ran out of gas, and literally had a dime in my pocket. The next day, I took a job at Lynn’s Perry’s Pizza on 2nd Street. I was living in the car and washing up at the truck stop.
After getting my tax return, I moved into a flea-bitten apartment in Long Beach (Esperanza and Bird Wy). On Jan 1, 1979, my buddy and his wife…the same guy who drove out to CA with me…visited in Long Beach, and we felt our first earthquake. We looked at each other and said, “Well, I guess it’s time to move back to Colorado!” A month later, Rob, his wife, his brother and I we were back in CO.
Upon returning to CO, another buddy was starting a company installing lawn sprinklers, so I became a laborer. At the end of the summer, I decided it was time to consider additional education. My family had moved out of Colorado while I was in CA, back to the DC area. So, I headed east and went to Montgomery College in Rockville, MD, to study Architectural Engineering. That was fantastic. I met people from around the world in DC. But, I missed CO, the beautiful environment, the people, and my friends. After a semester, I went back.
Took a labor job working at the Henderson Mine, on Berthoud Pass. Moved into Big Horn Apartments in Idaho Springs and my neighbor was an older lady, Nancy, who talked me into working with their contract drafting company, at a Mountain Bell office. It was a good fit, as I had some drafting knowledge from school and I liked working outside. I was drawing up as-built plans for new construction, which required I go out and see what was actually installed by the construction crews.
I met the second love of my life there, at Mt. Bell – Nina Lowery. Soon after, I found another opportunity in sales, with a steel broker. Did extremely well there and set some sales records for “oil country tubular goods”. Another friend had studied accounting and landed a great job in Paris as part of a tax auditing team for Peat-Marwick-Mitchell. Nina and I went to see him and his French fiancée. We spent a few weeks traveling from Amsterdam to northern Italy. Lots of walking and driving. It was an epic journey! Unfortunately, things didn’t work out with Nina and I and it became time to part ways.
Upon returning to the U.S., I was living at The Palisade apartments in downtown Denver and took a sales position with a company in Boulder that manufactured greenhouses – the lean-to type that attach to houses and restaurants (English Greenhouse Products Company – EGPC). It was a good gig and I was able to hire the first couple of salespeople under me. At this point, personal computers were starting to come out and I suggested EGPC buy a computer. I did the research and presented the business case. Bought the computer and learned it quickly.
I had stayed in touch with Nancy, from Mt. Bell, and we were out for dinner with some of her friends, when I met the third love of my life, Barbara Ann Tuttle. We soon move in together, “Monaco Lakes” apartments in Denver, and were soon married. We soon upgraded to The Fairways apartments in Aurora.
Barbara was waitressing, but always wanted to be a flight attendant. Thumbing through the help wanted ads, there it was…United Airlines was hiring. She applied and got the job. The only problem was she had to move to Chicago. So, we had a long-distance marriage for a year, until she could transfer to Denver. In the interim, I moved us to Boulder, the Wimbledon Apartments. It was close to work and I was thinking about buying a house in the area.
The guy who sold me the computer (for EGPC) was getting into a new drafting software technology called AutoCAD. I had sales experience, architectural drafting experience, and computer experience, so I was a perfect fit, and Jim Hudson hired me into Abacus Systems, of Boulder, CO. It was amazing. In 1984, I paid cash for a new 4×4 truck, so Barbara could get to work in the snow. And then, an opportunity slipped through my fingers. Abacus was expanding. We were growing and changing into a distributor of computer electronics, focusing on graphics. I could have been a 1/5th partner for $50k. That was more money than I had ever dreamed of having, so I was unable to invest. That company became one of the biggest in the industry; revenue over a billion a year and was eventually acquired by Lockheed.
In the transition, I was offered two opportunities…stay and run Abacus Systems, the AutoCAD dealership in Boulder, or, move to CA and open an office there for the new distributor. I chose California. Barbara and I moved to Huntington Breakers Apartments, then bought our first place in Laguna Niguel, at Crystal Cay Condos. Soon after, I started the first of many businesses, CAD/CAM International was an authorized National Accounts Dealer for AutoCAD and a wide selection of hardware.
Business was good, and I was able to get my first office. Ultimately, my lovely wife and I were growing in different directions and our paths finally did the same. Got my pilot’s license in 1990. I grew my first company to 16 people, mostly remote sales, over a period of nine years and sold the assets to a competitor. Although I sold at too low a price, the timing was perfect, as Orange County soon went bankrupt due to bad investments in junk bonds. The local economic downturn was from massive cut-backs in aerospace and defense. HUD was selling 1,500 – 2,000 homes per weekend at auction. I bought and flipped seven homes with a partner.
PCBX was a small board manufacturer, ahead of the curve in H.323 VoIP technology. Worked in global sales for them, but they had a high equipment failure rate. Soon after, I joined Inter-Tel Integrated Systems, selling their T-1 carrier VoIP equipment and services to entrepreneurs, businesses, and global telecoms. I moved to Reno and was the new Director of International Sales. Inter-Tel’s product was solid, but the SDK was lacking. So, I found and signed up with MasterMind Technologies, who published a graphical call-flow programming editor (software), which could handle all of the existing legacy and emerging compression technologies. I sold this company’s entire assets to Inter-Tel.
A local reseller was looking for a sales rep to handle the burgeoning 802.11 networking and P2P microwave installation market. I penetrated the cell tower construction market for Rapid Broadband Technologies, where I was responsible for virtually all of the company’s revenue, as VP of Sales. I secured opportunities to build cell sites for Cingular Wireless, Sprint, Verizon, and AT&T. Unfortunately, the company owner failed to meet proper insurance guidelines and was subsequently closed.
As I had a good experience with buying and selling properties in Orange County, I realized the key to investing in real estate is financing. I accepted a position in wholesale residential mortgages, selling by phone across the USA, for MLSG Home Loans. I learned the mortgage industry there and, two years later, started VictoryNevada Mortgage, a licensed Nevada mortgage broker, and grew it to 18 mortgage agents. We provide residential and light commercial mortgages. Then, 2008 hit, which required I sell the accumulated real estate, except for my primary residence. Luckily, Inter-Tel (above) had made an offer when they acquired MasterMind (above) and brought me back onto their sales team. Unluckily, three months later, they laid off their entire U.S. sales staff (about 1,500 people). Luckily, I was picked up by SigmaTEK System, because of my background in computers and CAD/CAM software. Unluckily, it was a time when manufacturing jobs were vanishing overseas, so my serviceable obtainable market (TAM/SAM/SOM) in five western states was quickly eroding; 18-months later, I was looking for work again.
Reno, Nevada is a great town. People are friendly, the air is clean, and, 15 minutes away from the international airport, you feel like you’re no longer in the city. I didn’t want to move, but needed work. Reno is also a major logistics hub. So, based on market conditions, the available jobs in Reno, it was clear that some form of trucking would be a potentially lucrative opportunity, if not a stop-gap. I founded Global Hot Shot to provide critical delivery (same day – next day) of items up to 16,000 pounds. We were DOT licensed and heavily insured. I landed contracts with major mining industry suppliers in Nevada, construction products companies, IKEA for white-glove residential delivery, and air carriers for last-mile services. Getting up at 4am is brutal, but, in tough times, you do what’s required to build a business and survive. We were growing and incrementally profitable. Then, one of my drivers hit a house. It was at that point I decided to sell my customer database and exit the logistics field.
lead-gen for attorneys (B2B phone/web)
wealth consulting (B2C phone/web)
SaaS marketing consulting (B2B phone/web)
The Lead Pilot (B2B phone/web)