What year did you graduate from Bluffton High School?
I graduated in 1996.
Tell use about the first business you launched:
When I graduated from Bluffton University, I along with Jacob Hudson had already started Bluffton Online. My goal in life has always been to being an entrepreneur "a business owner" a server to the community. After I sold Bluffton Online, I decided I first needed to have an experience in the corporate world to get a better understanding of how big business works.
Where did you go next?
I worked at Menard's in Lima as the electrical manager. My last year there I won the award as "top year over year in growth sales out of all the electrical departments in the company." At the time, there were 215 stores in the corporation.
That's pretty amazing. What did you do after you left Menard's?
I then decided to get out of managing and move into more formal sales. I had the opportunity to get a sales position with Verizon Wireless where I could learned great selling skills. In fact, Verizon Wireless training that is known by Training Magazine as a "Top 100 Training Organizations in America.". I worked at both Lima and Findlay corporate communication stores. While there I attended the University of Phoenix getting my master's in marketing Degree.
So, where does that put you today?
All my past jobs and experiences have built up to the moment where I am today. I had the book knowledge with my education, but I needed to experience corporate America and work experience too.
I remember my Uncle Bob telling me one day while I was working for his drywall business during college summer vacation. His wise words told me "there is a big difference between being book smart and common sense. My advice to you would be to make sure your familiar with the both of them because that is what will get you through life."
That's pretty good advance. What was your long-term goal all this time?
My goal ever since I was a young child was to always work in the financial services industry. See when I was younger, the Internet was not as main stream. So not everyone had a computer at home or if they did it most likely wasn't hooked up to the Internet. I grew up on the farm and we raised pigs. My father, Bill, also worked at Ford Motor Co. as a Pipefitter. My mother is a nurse at the Mennonite Memorial Home.
Go on.
At that time, Dad worked second shift, so after we did all the chores. (During the summers), Dad, one of his friends, and I would go to Findlay and eat lunch. After lunch we'd go to Morey's so Dad could buy his four daily papers.
Four papers?
I swear each paper had a specific section he enjoyed most. Then we would go across the street to McDonald & Co. our first investment adviser firm. In their lobby, they had one community computer that was only good for looking up investments. I remember being in awe of punching up the stocks we owned or were tracking from the paper and seeing what they were selling for at that exact moment and watching them grow or go down in value. I was in awe of all the "suits" coming in and out as they passed during their lunch breaks. At that moment, I knew that is what I wanted to become.
Tell me more about your arrangement working on the farm.
Dad and I had arranged a deal with me helping him out on the farm. See, the deal was that I could get half the profits from helping him on the farm, but I couldn't spend the money that I made. I had to take the money and invest it.
So, I never had the opportunity to fall in love with the latest gadgets or the hot items at the time. So if I was going to spend my money, I had to get excited about investing. While I was in that lobby punching up my stocks and the ones I was also following I would go to the one wall and take every single investment brochure to take home for me to read. Sometimes we would even talk to the broker, if we had an appointment, and confirm our trades. "I always had a thousand questions to ask."
What about after you graduated from Bluffton University?
I remember soon after graduating college and talking to Ron Michel at Edward Jones. I asked him what I needed to do to become a financial representative. I wish I would have started this career sooner and not waited for as long as I did, but he told me to go out there and gain experience and knowledge. Along with that comes maturity. You know "grasping the ups and downs in business and life more gracefully. Then you will become a better financial representative when you start servicing this industry. I appreciate the advice he gave me that day and thank him for his support.
What do you believe was the best lesson you learned in life?
The best lesson in life was learning how important the financial services industry was. This came through the death of my father. He was only 45 when he passed away from brain cancer.
If dad would have never saved his money, bought the necessary life insurance, and made sure we stayed on budget with our spending, my mother and mys life could be very different today. I owe a great gratitude to my father for teaching me the values of working hard and understanding how money works and for always doing what is right.
