Getting Started – Real Life Investor

The Truth About Entrepreneurship

It’s a dog eat dog world. It’s high risk and everyone is working against you in hopes that you fail. There’s no room for your business or success.

If you’re like most people looking to pursue a life of entrepreneurship, those statements above can feel true. But is it really true or is it self defense for not trying? I’m not saying that there isn’t any risk and that businesses don’t fail, but it’s unlikely that absolutely everyone is against you. I have had to redirect companies that I have started. Sometimes that plan going in isn’t going to work exactly as designed. There’s nothing wrong with that and it’s important to be flexible to the fact that there could possibly be a need to change or start from scratch with new plan.

I am extremely grateful for the relationships that I have been able to develop through my businesses. These fellow business owners and community leaders that I consider as friends and mentors. They freely impart the knowledge that they have obtained throughout the course of their lives and genuinely want to help me be successful. It gives me chills to think about how much I appreciate their selfless contribution to me. I didn’t understand it at first. Why would someone that has the means and knowledge to do what I am doing not just be doing it for themselves? There must be some kind of catch. What do they want from me?

If they wanted something, I hadn’t figured out what it is was. So I decided to ask just to make sure they weren’t somehow going to steamroll over me in the future. The answer was that they had received guidance when they were first starting out, and they want to be able to pay it forward to help others also be successful.

Wow! I was shocked and slightly relieved at the same time. It made sense, but I was still cautious. There have now been countless times that this particular entrepreneur has helped me out of a bind, and he is 100 percent genuine. This was my first experience with a fellow entrepreneur desiring to help with no expectations. There are now several people that I consider to be vital resources. I just hope that I can one day provide value for them as they have for me.

A funny thing has been happening for me lately. People have either reached out to me for guidance or I have seen an opportunity where I can help. Like my entrepreneur mentors, I do not have any expectations. I simply find pride in myself for being considered a resource to help others find their success. It is a great feeling. Perhaps it is validation that I am doing something notable that others want to be a part of or it’s that human desire to help other people being fulfilled. Regardless of the reason, that’s a feeling that I want to continue to experience. I genuinely have a strong desire to help people, it’s one of my core values. This is how I know that I am on the right path with my business strategy of building and redeveloping businesses and communities. It brings me excitement and joy!

In summary for those upcoming entrepreneurs. There are plenty of people that can be invaluable resources to help you succeed. Proceed with these relationships with cautious optimism because there are people out there that can significantly cut down your learning curve. There are people that will invest their time and money in you for absolutely nothing in return. Just make sure that you are prepared to take action and that you’re not wasting someone’s time. Otherwise, you may lose that connection and it will take a while to regain their trust that you are serious about what you’re doing.

Do you have your own business? What is your experience with mentors? Have you found that people are willing to help you on your journey?

The World of VLOGGING

As a complement to this BLOG, I’m going to start a VLOG. Gone are the days when text is cool. VLOGGING and video content is an absolute must to create engaging content. I just ordered my first VLOG camera and I can’t wait to get it!

Trying to determine which camera to get was overwhelming. After reading countless reviews and researching the features of dozens of cameras, I chose the Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark II Digital Camera w/ 1 Inch Sensor and tilt LCD screen – Wi-Fi & NFC Enabled (Black). This camera has all of the bells and whistles in an easy to use package for creating stunning videos.

I have determined that my passion is not only to be successful, but to be able to help others in the process. I think that more important to my success is being able to help set others up to be successful. I can think of several instances where I have put other’s best interests before my own so that they have an opportunity that they may otherwise never have.

VLOGGING for me is going to help provide the medium for me to connect with you at a more personal level. I am hoping that what I share can help inspire, motivate, and create exciting dialogue around entrepreneurship. I will simply be jazzed by having the chance to provide content that will hopefully change lives.

Keep in mind, while I do have some experience with starting and running businesses, I am new enough to absolutely be able to relate to the struggles of finding direction and validation. I’m at the beginning of my journey and if you’re in the same position or looking for company, join me. There’s no reason that anyone should feel that they need to do it alone. There are enough sources for self doubt and criticism. Let this be a place for inspiration and uplifting encouragement.

More to come on the VLOG soon! Bear with me though. I am not a videographer or marketer by trade, so there is definitely going to be a learning curve. I welcome feedback and constructive criticism in advance.

Make it an awesome day!!!

You Make It Look So Easy

Have you ever watched someone do something that appeared to be effortless for them but when you tried it was seemingly impossible? Sure. We all have. That skate boarder that lands an impossible stunt, the ballerina’s graceful performance, the actor, the athlete, the rapper, the entrepreneur…

They all have the same thing in common, preparation. Let’s face it. It takes years and years of practice and preparation to operate at the highest levels in any profession. We get to see people perform at the top of their game for entertainment or inspiration, but what we don’t get to see is the effort that it took for them to get there. We don’t get see the countless hours of practice, the early mornings, the late nights, the strict regiments, or sacrifices.

One the most difficult concepts to wrap my head around throughout this journey of entrepreneurship is how easy it looks for so many others before me. By the time that we recognize a successful person, they have already spent years preparing and practicing. What we see is an instant success. We tend to see someone that just happened to get lucky or have natural abilities. Sure. Luck and skill have a huge role in success, but you can prepare for luck and hone in on a skill.

This has been a difficult concept for me to grasp as I look at the greatest entrepreneurs of our time for inspiration. They are so far out of my league that I cannot even imagine performing at their level. It’s difficult to relate to their beginnings and what they are accomplishing today. Intimidating? Absolutely. Why? because I am trying to compare myself to Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerburg, the quintessential entrepreneurs.

I think it is important to have role models and heroes. They keep us energized and dreaming bigger than a life that we can imagine. But, I also think that it is important to have an individual perspective. This is to know your personal intent and what success is for you as an entrepreneur. So you’re not a billionaire, that’s okay. Tell yourself it’s okay.

Now that you don’t have to sit trying to come up with the next billion dollar idea to compete with the greats, get to work preparing and practicing for your success. You’ll eventually have your friends, family, and possibly the world saying, “Wow, they make it look so easy.”

The Lebanon Community Responds

It has been a little over a week since I published the blog post, Lebanon Paper Box: Day 40, and hit social media to solicit some suggestions and ideas about what the community would like to see at this predominant landmark in Lebanon City. The suggestions have been enlightening and has provided a glimpse of what is on the minds of the community, albeit only a small segment was sampled. I have received feedback from over 50 residents thus far.

Below is a consolidated recap of the suggestions that I have received. They are not listed in any particular order. Some of the ideas come as no surprise, while others were very unexpected…

Homeless shelter
Veteran shelter
Roller skating rink
Something tech related and interesting
Recreation center
Retail stores
Apartment building with affordable housing
Ballerina school
Art gallery and studios
Karate school
Public clinic
Go karts
Something similar to the GoggleWorks in Reading
Trampoline park
Museum of the history of Lebanon
Grocery store
Skate park
Chick-Fil-A
Place for kids to play
Community center
Lebanon annex of the Spooky Nook Sports complex
Connect with the Lebanon county Career and Technology Center during renovation
Great location with a bike trail. I’d be so happy just to see it restored

A common thread, throughout a majority of the suggestions, is that Lebanon City is in need of community events and affordable things for residents to do. Primarily for the younger residents. It’s also clear to see that there is a lot of pride for the city and residents are passionate about providing programs for the homeless and our Veterans.

Based on all of this information, I have some research to do to better understand what programs already exist and where there may be some gaps to fill. Perhaps there are already some things in place that may require some public education, or perhaps not. Ultimately, the extent of feedback is motivating in that there is a community that cares. In time, there will be the a call for participation and action to help bring opportunities to fruition, this will be the true test of the community spirit.

The call for suggestions has not only spawned a list of ideas, but it has also created some dialogue between residents on the official Facebook page of the Lebanon Paper Box building. The conversations have been a mixture of constructive and destructive criticism. I have not been moderating the conversation as I want everyone’s voice to be heard. After all, criticism is a sign of doing something and making a contribution.

“To avoid criticism say nothing, do nothing, be nothing.”
– Aristotle

In the meantime, keep the ideas and suggestions coming! Also, give some thought to how some of these ideas can be accomplished though other initiatives. This is just one building in the City of Lebanon, but it can be a part of a bigger movement to help bring life into the surrounding community. This is bigger than one person or one building and it is going to require the effort of many.

If you want to become more involved in the Lebanon community, but don’t know where to start, feel free to reach out and I can help.

Making Morning Me Time

In a prior blog post, Routines: The Struggle is Real, I briefly discussed the difficulty of establishing a routine. Although establishing a routine can be difficult, the feedback that I received from that post indicates that it is certainly worth the effort.

I was having dinner with a friend last night and I brought up the fact that my Fiancee has started waking up at 5:30AM to make sure that she has enough time for breakfast, meditation and exercise before getting ready for work. This is a new habit that she has been working on since the start of the year and she has been very dedicated. I, on the other-hand, remain in bed sleeping until the last possible minute before having to get moving for the day. This usually involves hitting the snooze button on my phone several times.

“Why don’t you just wake up when she does?”, my friend asked. He went on to say that my sleep is being disrupted anyway and the extra rest that I think that I’m getting may just be an illusion. The same goes for the false sense of rest that hitting snooze provides. Instead of hitting that snooze button repeatedly, just get up. You’re really not getting more rested. You’re just shoveling on the anxiety feeling like you’re not getting enough sleep and condensing the amount of time between getting out of bed and when you need to hit the ground running for the day.

I went on to explain to my friend that I feel like I am running full throttle all day and by waking up early I will simply be extending my work day. Extending my day even further could push me into over exhaustion long-term, and I cannot afford a shutdown due to being overwhelmed. It’s important to maintain a balance of emotional, physical, and mental health. I have already been struggling with finding me time to give my mind a rest. My friend had some really good recommendations on this as well. Things that I already knew, but sometimes it helps to hear it from someone else.

The first step to getting out of bed early in the morning is to get to sleep at the right time the night before. Everyone has a slightly different sleep pattern and the amount of sleep that is right for you could be different. My friend said that he needs only 5 hours of sleep, but I need a solid 8 hours or my day will result in a zombie-like version of me just going through the motions. With that said, I would need to be in bed and ready to be asleep by 9:30PM in order to wake up, rested, at 5:30AM.

Below are some tips to help get to sleep at your ideal time:

Try to avoid caffeine after 2:00PM. If you are someone that is heavily impacted by caffeine, you may want to avoid it even earlier in the day or avoid it completely.
Plan your evening around your predetermined bedtime and commit to it. Everything that you do should help drive you towards climbing in bed on the time that you committed to. This is not necessarily easy and will likely take practice. Try not to get frustrated if you don’t master this right away.
Disengage from electronic devices at least one hour before going to sleep (ie. phones, tablets, laptops, television, etc…) I’ve read that the light from the screen could inhibit the creation of melatonin; which is a bodily chemical that helps to promote sleep.
Use a pen and paper to write down anything that is one your mind that you want to accomplish tomorrow or things that you don’t want to forget. It’s not necessarily a journal. It’s just a scratch pad to dump your thoughts onto so that your mind can let them go.
Listen to sleep mediation. This can be really helpful if you have a lot on your mind. The meditation helps you to focus on your breathing and clear your thoughts and anxiety.
Relax and let it happen.

So now that you’ve got a restful night of sleep, now what? My first meetings of the day usually begin promptly at 8:00AM. Waking up at 5:30AM gives me an additional one and a half hours to fill in the morning. The goal is not to start working an hour and a half sooner. This additional time in the morning is meant to be personal time and therapeutic. If used properly, it should be a time of day that you look forward to.

My fear is that by waking up early, I am just extending my work day. My friend gave me some ideas to fill the time productively and ways to ensure that I don’t do myself a disservice by getting straight to work.

Below are some tips to get your day start off on the right foot:

Don’t open your email right away. Wait as long as you reasonably can. In my case, I will not log into email until 8:00AM. It’s probably best to find a way to completely leave your cell phone behind until you’re ready to officially start your day.
Prepare yourself coffee and breakfast.
Write down 10 things about the day using a pen and paper. This could be things that you wish to accomplish or simply things that you’re grateful for. This will help to get you in the mindset to navigate your day and everything that you do consciously and subconsciously will comeback to this list that you created in the morning.
Get some form of exercise to get your heart pumping and juices flowing. It’s wonderful how much a little bit of cardio exercise can improve your mood and clear your head (I guess that I should mention that you should reach out to your doctor before starting a workout routine or making a significant change in your physical activity).
Read something for 15 minutes that gets you motivated or educates you on a specific initiative that you’re looking to achieve.

The next step is to put this practice in place! The morning me time could be what I have been missing to help maintain better work / life balance. What are some other suggestions on what do with available personal time in the mornings? What are the things that you do which work for you?

Lebanon Paper Box: Day 40

As I arrived in Lebanon City this morning, it dawned on me that today marks the 40th day since taking ownership of the Lebanon Paper Box Co building. Time certainly flies, and although I have been busy working tirelessly on nights and weekends at the warehouse, it wouldn’t appear to be any different to someone walking by on the outside of the building.

The only changes that a local resident may notice is that there are a few more lights on and some security cameras are spontaneously popping up on the corners of the building. The iconic Lebanon Paper Box building is situated between Cumberland, Jones, and Willow streets on the edge of the Western gateway into Lebanon City, Pennsylvania. This magnificent building has valiantly stood the test of time. Sure, there have been a few leaks, vandalism, and the appearance of being an abandoned warehouse, but I can assure you that there is life beyond those exterior walls.

Believe it or not, this building has been the home of BOXIE for over 40 years! BOXIE is primarily in the business of storing patterns, which is why there appears to be limited activity in and around the building. BOXIE is actually a part of a very important foundry industry that is thriving in the Lebanon area.

On a quick side note: Lebanon, Pennsylvania is the home of Lebanon Bologna. I know! It was so obvious, that I was shocked too! Seriously though. If you like Lebanon Bologna (even if you don’t) then this is a city that you must visit. Many restaurants, brewery’s, and the vendors in the farmers market have a ton of bologna related foods and beverages to try. Check it out!

Now back to BOXIE and the Lebanon Paper Box building. Admittedly, I didn’t know a single thing about this industry before I got involved with this real estate deal. So I can’t blame anyone else for not knowing what a foundry is or a pattern for that matter. Let’s just say that the Lebanon area is supposedly a hot spot and this is the area where the patterns come to stay. More information about foundry’s can be found here on Wikipedia.

While the building has been storing patterns for many years, I believe that there is an opportunity to bring something new to the community. There is currently perfectly located space in the portion of the building that faces Cumberland Street. This is a major road straight through the heart of Lebanon City and is easily accessible to the surrounding suburbs. With over 16,000 vehicles passing this building everyday, it could be a great opportunity for some small businesses, artisans, and at least one restaurant. Personally, I would love to see some life in and around this 217,000+ square foot building and a renewed spirit.

What do you say Lebanon City? What would you like to see this space turned into to bring something special into the city limits?

I will be continuously following up on this project and will post the feedback that I receive for further discussion.

I’m an entrepreneur looking to help others achieve their dreams. What are your ideas? How can I help? Please feel free to comment or send me a message about this post at info@lebanonpaperbox.com

Campus Skooters: The Seed That Started The Company

It was another football weekend for the Penn State Nittany Lions and I was in State College looking forward to the fun and debauchery leading up to the next morning’s tailgate prior to the game. Basically, it amounted to a bar crawl from one place to another hanging out with friends and enjoying the entertainment. While making our way downtown to the hotel, we noticed the bus stops packed with students. One of my friends suggested that there has to be a better way to get around and that there’s so much time wasted just standing and waiting on the bus. Not to mention, it doesn’t always get you to exactly where you want to go. From this conversation was born the idea that scooters could provide a transportation alternative.

At this point, I had been trying to come up with an idea for a business for a long time, and this seemed like viable opportunity to me. On the drive home from State College, I began drawing up my business plan. There would be quite a bit of overhead for rent, insurance, vehicles, maintenance, and employees but I was able to make it financially viable through a tiered pricing rental model. My target market would be the college students at Penn State University that are seeking flexibility in transportation around town and did not have the financial means to own a car (the worst part about owning a car in State College is finding a place to park it).

The concept around the tiered pricing model is that the longer that someone rented a scooter, the less expensive it was on a per day average. This would help to ensure that the scooters remained rented an providing income. It also reduced the amount of time that it would take to check in and check out a scooter rental. Of course there were countless other details that needed to be explored, but I was excited and hit the ground running!

This was the initial concept which lead to launching Campus Skooters into the business that it is today. Follow my blog for more stories on the opening and growth of Campus Skooters as well as the other business ventures that I am exploring on my path of entrepreneurship.

Lessons Learned: Contractors and Friendships

Warning: This post comes from fresh emotions of disbelief, frustration, anger, and disappointment. The identities of the parties involved have not been disclosed so that they can take full responsibility for destroying their own reputations. (they’ll know who they are)

If you have done any kind of research on becoming a real estate investor or have even simply considered having some work done on your own house, then you’ve heard the horror stories related to contractors. We’ve heard all of the stories about contractors abandoning projects, taking the money and running, or spending way over budget; but we simply didn’t have to worry about any of those issues. We have a contractor that makes promises they will deliver, someone that won’t leave us hanging, and someone that will grow with us and our business. We have a friend that is a contractor. It’s going to be the best business relationship ever and we are going to take over the rehabbing world!

Well, that was the plan…

We were in the process of building a dream team. Our contractor was highly motivated. His energy and motivation was contagious and inspirational. We couldn’t wait to settle on a house and begin the demo process. The realtor that we were working with was the contractor’s girlfriend. She was also a very driven person seeking to catapult her career to new heights. The ambition that they brought to the table was a sure win. The cool part was that they were working to build a brand together like a wannabe Chip and Joanna Gaines couple. They have the cute kid to exploit in marketing gimmicks and even bought chickens. The perfect family to compliment the perfect business partnership.

Things started out with a bang. There was a ton of commotion and activity around the rehab as old fixtures and debris was being removed from the house. We would get excited every time that I’d stop by the job site to check out the progress. We have to admit, seeing the result after demo was a bit overwhelming trying to imagine how everything would be put back together again. That worry quickly subsided because, heck, I’ve got the best team looking out for our interests. I’ve got faith in them and we all benefit when the job is complete; the realtor gets the listing and commissions and the contractor agreed to a percentage of the profits, so of course it’s in all of our best interests to get the house rehabbed and on the market as soon as possible.

Until it’s not…

Not long after the demo was complete, there seemed to be a distraction or two. There had been some exterior improvements that really screamed progress. A new roof and siding transformed the curb appeal of the house and created quite a bit of excitement around the neighborhood. We were excited about the new look and could see the potential. We couldn’t wait to see how the improvements inside would turn out. While we were excited about the progress of the rehab, the contractor was increasingly excited about a new house that he was about to build for him, his girlfriend, and the cute kid. The contractor assured me that this would not impact the progress of the rehab since he is a professional and capable of managing multiple projects. Yeah right.

It’s still very painful to reflect on how naive we were to expect things to get better. We would drive to the job site weeks on end without any signs of life or progress. Repeated calls to our contractor would go unanswered. When the calls would be answered, we would get a line of excuses, promises, and revised timelines to completion. We would cut our losses and verbally agree with our contractor that the new timeline is what it is and swallow our frustration. This process happened over, and over, and over, and over again…

Trying not to live with regrets…

We regret not firing our contractor. We regret this decision every single day that work drags on at the rehab. Our weakness was doing what we felt was the right thing in helping a friend. After all, he helped to open our eyes the opportunities and excitement of rehabbing. He had already invested time and energy in the project and we still wanted to give him the share that we had agreed to. We offered to help find sub contractors to complete the work and got lip service that he was working on it and that he will be there to finish the job. We started talking with other contractors to see if they could provide guidance on how to go about getting things finished without our contractor “friend”. Throughout this entire endeavor, we never ever considered abandoning our agreement to give him the negotiated percentage of profit. We continued to look out for his interest in the project that he abandoned. It’s like we cared more about his share than he did.

Gah!!!!!

So this post could go on and on about the specific details of frustration and disappointment that we are facing, but it makes us sick to think about how ignorant our contractor has been that we are trying to complete this deal with some kind of profit. This is a job that should have taken 6 months, but has missed the deadline by almost a year. The optimist in us thinks that at least there is a benefit from a capital gains tax perspective, if there’s even a profit.

In the end, the worst part is being disappointed by the so called friends that we thought we would build our dreams with. Their loss. They have turned into nothing more than shysters. If they continue down the path that they are on then they are destined to have a run in with karma and a few terms like fraud and embezzlement.

We shouldn’t even care anymore…

Honestly, we just want to move on and still make good on all of our promises. However, the contractor expects to underdeliver, break all promises, go over time, go over budget, steal, and then ask for more money… haha!!

Fortunately, we have not let this experience deter us from our real estate endeavors and we are already wrapping up our next project with a new contractor with much more success. Subscribe to our blog to get notifications on our future posts and learn about what we have done differently to ensure that we have chosen a honest contractor. We personally recommend Hawk Rock Construction or Five-Star Contracting which serve Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and the surrounding areas.

** Oh yeah. I forgot to mention the ending of the business relationship with the realtor. She completely forgot about us until it was time to list the property so that she could cash in on a commission. She was simply too busy with building her own house and self indulgence to pick up the phone, even once in over a year! Even after giving her a chance for redemption and trying to come up with an amicable resolution, she was arrogant and ignorant to the end. Which reminds me… where’s the buyer that you said that you had? Oh wait, never mind. Don’t care. You’re fired.

Entrepreneurship in a Corporation

Deciding what I wanted to be when I grew up was probably one of the most difficult decisions that I had to make in my young adult life. I knew that obtaining a college degree would provide me with the most opportunities in the future. The tough part is knowing that once you start going down a particular path, you’re pretty much locked in. Your choice in professions determines which college you should attend and classes that you need to take in order to satisfy the requirements for your degree. It’s scary to think that this decision could end up locking you into a particular path for the rest of your life.

I suppose that I had a entrepreneur mindset early one. I struggled with this decision and wrestled with what career would provide me with the most satisfaction throughout my life. I decided that I wouldn’t do something just for the money. I didn’t want to spend the working days of my life waking up and going to a job that I hated. I had a passion for helping people, and my personal evaluation led me into pursuing the field of special education. My college career began at the Harrisburg Area Community College where I took the general education classes that I would need before transferring to a four year school to finish my degree. That was the plan, but of course plans change…

When I was attending West Perry High School, I had the opportunity to take courses to become a Cisco Certified Network Administrator (CCNA). Computers had always interested me and I appreciated the opportunity to understand the interconnectivity and communication from one device to another. It was also an opportunity to gain some experience to fall back on if I suddenly decided to move out to Silicone Valley. While I enjoyed the CCNA program, and ultimately became certified, I really enjoyed my Turbo Pascal class much more! It was incredibly gratifying to write code and watch the computer execute my commands.

As most college students do, I was working part-time. It was more like full-time with four different part-time jobs. One of my part-time jobs was with a regional grocery store chain. I worked in the 90,000 sqft store in several different capacities. This not only gave me the opportunity to be scheduled for more hours, but it was an opportunity to learn a little bit of everything that was happening around the store. I would build promotional displays, breakdown the nightly delivery truck to prepare it for stocking, jump on a register as a cashier, work in the dairy department stocking and rotating product, and work on special assignments from management. I was told at one point by one of the managers that I was welcome to come in anytime to work because I was always productive and found something that needed to be done.

I would regularly browse the job postings that were in the break room to see what kind of positions were available at the corporate headquarters. I had come across a listing for an internship in the Information Systems arena. I had the CCNA certification from the program in high school and I was taking college courses, so I figured that I had a pretty good shot. I figured right. This was only a six month internship, but my plan was to do my best to remain at the office and not go back to working in the stores. When I asked my manager if I should turn in my uniform shirts, he said “keep them, you’ll be back.” That was fuel for my fire to ensure that I succeeded. I wouldn’t be back…

The internship experience was much like my store experience in that I was able float around and experience the different IT departments in the office. I was like a sponge soaking up as much information as I could. I took full advantage of the opportunity and always worked the optional 40 hours a week. It was definitely an awesome experience to see how the support office interfaced with the stores and how new technology was implemented and trained. There are also polarized perspectives. The stores feel like the support office is out of touch with their needs and that they sit in the “silver palace” without a clue. The office associates feel like the stores are slow at adopting new processes and make their lives complicated by resisting change. All that I knew is that at the conclusion of the six month internship, I wanted to be on the office side of the organization.

Desperate to find a full-time position, I was willing to take any opportunity to simply get my foot in the door. There was an opening in the mailroom and I applied for the position. When I was contacted by the HR manager explaining that I did not get the role because I was overqualified, I was extremely disappointed. However, she quickly followed up with telling me that I would have been bored and that she had a different position in mind for me. Needless to say I was thrilled and surprised. The surprising part is that someone took notice of my ambition and they took the time to help me find the appropriate direction that would set me up for success. I am grateful in so many ways for the opportunity that I received and individualized attention that I received from that HR manager.

The role that she had in mind wasn’t higher on the pay scale than the position in the mailroom, but it gave me the chance to continue to hone my skills and build rapport in the organization. I was hired as the administrative assistant for the retail strategies and pricing director. One of my primary roles was a taking the competitive price checks and chart them across our different market areas and departments to benchmark our indices against our primary and secondary competitors. This information was then passed along to the merchandising teams and the executives. As I performed this duty, I discovered that it was an extremely manual and arduous process. It was also a fairly short sighted look into the data. Everything was being aggregated by department and market area, but we were receiving the information at a store level by SKU on a hardcopy report.

This became my first real project where I could make an impact and improve our insights and analysis. I only had a small introduction into programming in high school and no relational database experience, but I knew that I could doing something if I could receive the data contained in these reports electronically. At the time, the company was what I would call a mid sized retailer. We had just under 200 stores. My idea was to create a data repository with a user interface so that the merchandising teams could slice the data by any competitor or group of stores. They would also be able to drill into the department to see the category, sub category, and segment level indices based on their selections.

I didn’t really know where to start. I just knew of Microsoft Access which had the database and UI functionality all contained within a single instance. No one else in the company had spent much time with using Microsoft Access, so I purchased a book and began teaching myself during the downtime that I had throughout the day. There were definitely moments of extreme frustration and doubt that I would be able to figure out what I had set out to accomplish. After all, I didn’t have anyone else that I could talk to. All that I had way my book and a few sparse forums on the Internet.

The good news is that I was able to do what I set out to do and the competitive pricing application was well received. I began seeking other opportunities to convert manual paper processes to a digital format. The conversions improved productivity through input validations, integration of known information, and the electronic transmission of data. An example of one of the solutions was a report that we used to email to all of our stores on a weekly basis. The report was a large file and the stores had to filter through the document to find the information that was pertinent to their particular store. I developed a program that would parse the data, create a store specific file, and automatically email the stores their individualized report. I can still feel the excitement upon successfully executing this program.

Merchandising Systems was born. I had gone from a store associate to an intern to an administrative assistant to a merchandising systems analyst. The merchandising systems analyst was a brand new role created specifically for the work that I was doing within the organization. This is an example of entrepreneurship within a multi-billion dollar company. Identifying a need and working to fill it. I have been fortunate throughout my corporate career to rarely hold a “job” where I would repetitively do something day in and day out.

Needless to say, my aspirations for continuing my higher education in elementary special education dwindled. I had a taste of the business world and I was hooked. While it is significantly different, I was helping people and improving their day to day work-life. I could positively impact people and the bottom line through software at a magnitude that I could have never imagined. I was fortunate to be in the right place at the right time with the right background to grow within a company during this evolution into a digital world. Gone were the days of mainframe reports piled on desks and filling up filing cabinets. All of the information that associates needed was available on their desktops in a clean user friendly interface with dynamic views of the data. I eventually grew the merchandising systems department of one to a team of 22. We moved from Microsoft Access to more powerful database servers and .NET for application development.

We were highly innovative and focused on the user experience and productivity. The amount of time and money that the merchandising systems department saved in man hours by automation was equivalent to hundreds of workers and hundreds of millions of dollars that would have been required to complete the work in the past. Not to mention the increased opportunities that and business growth that resulted from our solutions. I like to believe that I would be a millionaire from the solutions that I helped to implement and think about what I could have done differently. Unfortunately, if I were a third-party consultant, I wouldn’t have had the insight to the opportunities that helped me to grow the team that I grew within the company.

I am an entrepreneur and I always have been. I have now had the opportunity to work within a fortune 500 company and leave a legacy that will continue on long after I have moved on to my next venture. I am now working in the capacity of a Business Consultant within the organization. It’s a gratifying experience to be able to walk the floor of the office and see the tools that I built being used to drive the company forward and helping to make people’s jobs more enjoyable, productive, and rewarding.

Preamble: It All Begins With Your Parents

Like it or not, who you are to some extent begins with your parents. If that’s bad news to you, then the good news is that you are not your parents and you can control you own life. Take the good and learn from the bad.

My mother and father grew up in a fairly depressed area of Northern Pennsylvania. Long before they were born, the area was known for manufacturing and coal. That boon came and went and now people are simply trying to get by. My parents recognized that they did not have very many opportunities if they stayed, and they wanted more for their eventual family. So they decided to move away in search of better employment and quality of life. They headed to South Central Pennsylvania and settled in the suburbs just outside of the Harrisburg area. The rolling hills of Perry County was going to be their new homestead. My mother and father moved into a trailer sitting on the land where they would eventually build the home that I grew up in. At this time, you had to save a 50% downpayment to build a house and interest rates for loans were upwards of 15%.

Both of my parents began their careers working for the State of Pennsylvania at the Liquor Control Board. My dad would go on to hold several different positions within the State Government before ultimately retiring. My mother had a break in her career to raise my brother, sister, and I then later returned to the Liquor Control Board where she ultimately retired.

My parents have three amazing children, of which I am the middle child. We were, what I considered, a pretty average middle class family. Both of my parents worked hard to provide the necessities and even the luxuries, like braces for our teeth and a private education in a Catholic School. We had a comfortable three bedroom ranch house with a huge yard to play in as kids. The only struggle was the one bathroom that the five of us had to share.

Previously I mentioned that my mother took a break in her career to raise the family, but in reality it wasn’t really a break. She worked even harder during that time and, looking back, my parents made a lot of sacrifices for the things that I took for granted growing up. My mother gave up her 8-4 office job to be at home for us when we got off of the bus and to volunteer at school functions. At night, after my dad would get home from work, she would head off to her part-time job working at the local pizza shop or Hill’s (the now defunct department store chain).

I don’t tell my parents often enough, but I have a lot of admiration for their hard work and dedication. Perhaps that’s were I get my work ethic and unyielding desire to achieve. I know that my childhood was far from rough in comparison to others out there. I believe that it is because my parents took the initiative to give my siblings and I opportunities that they didn’t have. Had they stayed in their hometown, I can’t imagine where I would be today.

We all come from somewhere. While my childhood was not filled with seemingly insurmountable adversity, I didn’t grow up with the proverbial silver spoon in my mouth. My parents were not business owners and their approach to finances was to simply save money in bank accounts and IRAs, which is what we are all told to do. We are told to do well in school, go to college, and get a good job working for someone else. Check, check, and check. I have done all of those things and I know that there is more out there…

Regardless of our upbringing, we can become whoever we want to be! The struggle that we all face is going against the grain. Surround yourself with people that add value to you life and share similar dreams and aspirations. That’s the purpose of this site. We can all help one another succeed and break through the barriers of norm that we are surrounded by.