I've Asked The Same Questions You Are Asking

• Is entrepreneurship right for me?
• Do I have a viable business idea?
• What's the simplest path to begin my business?
• How do I grow my business?
• What does it take to be an entrepreneur?
• How do I take control of my own life and be my own boss?

I've Dreamt The Same Goals You Are Dreaming

We All Start Somewhere

Growing up in an entrepreneurial family exposed me to the struggles early on. At a very young age, I witnessed the highs and lows of entrepreneurship.

While my father was trying to get his business off the ground, our family of 5 lived in a two-bedroom apartment in Queens where the roaches and mice were essentially our roommates. After moving around during my elementary school years, we settled down in New Jersey for the long-haul.

Basketball Cards, Talent Shows & Hotels

At an early age, I had an entrepreneurial spirit. In elementary school, it came from trading basketball cards where I learned how to recognize value and negotiate.

In my teenage years, I had a desire for hotel ownership, so I took a front-desk job at a small extended-stay to understand how the business operates.

During high school, I led the largest extra-curricular organization where our annual talent show raised the highest proceeds of any event.

In college, I kept the entrepreneurial ambition alive. During my Freshmen year, a group of us came up with an idea to develop a tablet that can be placed on restaurant tables where games, movie-times, weather and news would accessible. Placed advertisements would be the revenue generator. We pitched it to a venture capital firm and were laughed out of the room. Keep in mind, the year was 2000 (Ten years before the launch of the first iPad). Our idea was ahead of its time.

Turning Down The Lucrative World Of Hedge-Funds

After graduating from undergrad in 2004, I had a promising future in the financial industry. But the allure of entrepreneurship was too much to pass-up. I ended up choosing the risky road.

The Family Business

Deciding to join the family businesses was a gamble. We owned two businesses and they were in two separate industries and required a modern touch. The businesses needed websites, professional email addresses, and brand redesign such as logos and color schemes. The businesses also needed processes and systems to be put in place. The hurdles I was dealing with at the time make us forget how much easier things are today:

• No smartphones for one-stop access
• No apps or automations to improve operations
• No cloud services (Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive)
• No Canva for design and content creation
• No DIY website creating platforms
• No social media strategies

Regardless, I put my head down and busted my a$$. In the first four years, we doubled our revenue each year.

The Serial Entrepreneur

Getting my feet wet with the family businesses gave me the confidence to start different endeavors. Whether it was investments into companies or co-founding new ventures, I took the calculated risks and went for it. The same feelings of doubt, fear and confusion where there, but not as prevalent as they once were.

2008 Global Recession

Nothing shows you what you are made up of like a global economic crash. The aftermath of the 2008 global recession resulted in closing down one business, streamlining another and exiting a few endeavors.

I ultimately left the family businesses, retaining only a board seat and decided to get my MBA.

Faced again with the possibility of joining corporate America, I once more chose entrepreneurship.

Post MBA

Having the serial entrepreneur's mentality, I again jumped into more than one endeavor.

One of those endeavors, in the hospitality sector, was the most stressful business I've ever faced. I eventually sold it and decided to focus all my attention in my consulting practice, which was thriving.

Playing Golf Between The Mountains & Vineyards of Chile

Entrepreneurship can be exciting and provided experiences that I never would have had otherwise:

• Touring FDA approved pharmaceutical facilities off the beaches of South India.
• Negotiating the purchase of assets in minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit weather in Norway.
• Bitten by baseball-sized mosquitos in Togo, Africa.
• Witnessing the chaotic passage of vessels through the Suez Canal.
• Visiting the famous contract manufacturing plants and showrooms of Guangzhou and Foshan, China.
• Almost kidnapped in Nigeria.
• Enjoying the sunset behind the green mountains of the Faroe Islands.
• Playing golf between the mountains and vineyards of Chile.

These experiences are just a sample of my journey, with some exciting adventures and some dangerous ones.

What you should also know is in entrepreneurship, there are many tough and lonely nights. When businesses are not operated correctly, or are hit with outlying factors, there is a lot of stress. When the work piles up, many face burnout. When money dries up, tough lifestyle choices must be made.

How do we mitigate these feelings? How do we simplify the steps in making tough choices? How do we get our mindset to a point that can weather any storm?

"In my 17 years of entrepreneurship, I've been through it all. Having owned and managed 7 companies in different industries, I've answered these tough questions."

Helping You...

My consulting practice helps companies, entrepreneurs, students and you!

When I started the practice, the initial service was assisting businesses with their operational, financial and growth strategies. I had created a simplified framework that can help anyone Think Business. I called it the Business 360 Framework.

Realizing the benefit of the framework, I introduced it to the Director of my MBA program. That snowballed into being brought in annually by business schools around the country to teach their students how to Think Business.

My latest addition is helping entrepreneurs launch and grow their business with clarity, courage and confidence through my 6-week online accelerator, The Entrepreneur 360 Academy.

I am dedicated to...

providing you with as much free resources as I can through my fun YouTube videos, social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram) and free guides.

I also have dedicated to providing you community support though my Facebook and LinkedIn groups. Be sure to join them.

Thank you for taking the time to learning a little bit about me. I hope to get the chance to learn more about you.