Post-matriculation, I entered the workforce as a Marketing Research Analyst for a well-established mobile home manufacturer. During my fledgling career, I aimed to garner success, and rise within the ranks of the company. Assigned with garnering an exhaustive list of potential wholesale clients, and mobile home retailers throughout the United States, I recognized the non-existence of such a list. Thus, by purchasing every single phone book in print at the time, I set forth on the path of creating the list that was now sought after by this established business. From there, a business venture was born.
Recognize A Hole In The Market, However Niche
By recognizing the non-existence of this particular piece of “information technology”, I was confident that the creation of such an exhaustive list would be of value to other similar vendors throughout the nation. If a well-established mobile home manufacturer did not have access to a streamlined business listing on a national level, perhaps competitors were in a similar situation, and could benefit from streamlining marketing practices by having a concise list of parties to solicit. From there, my thoughts broadened, realizing that these listings could be useful throughout every facet of manufacturing, retail, and even the service industry. Though the product at hand was extremely niche, it could be applied to various occupations, businesses, and situations.
Take An Idea From Inception To Completion
Confident in the need for a comprehensive database of potential marketing targets for a mobile home manufacturer, I purchased each phone book in print, and independently searched through each book to create this concise listing. Working on this project after-hours, I remained focused, and completed the tedious task of creating the product successfully. Determined to be the first to offer such a product, I realized that time was of the essence, and utilized this self-proclaimed pressure to complete the task in a timely manner. From there, I offered my employer the first opportunity to purchase the list. Upon his decline, I persevered, and decided to take my list to the public, creating American Business Information in the meantime.
Sell, Sell, Sell
Borrowing $100 from the local bank as my first humble business investment, I utilized the funds to create marketing flyers, advertising my newly created product to potential clients. During this initial stage, the $100 investment was all that I could reasonably afford, and trusting my business instinct, I decided to go for it, betting on the eventual successful return on investment. Confident that I had a needed product on my hands, I disseminated the flyers, and immediately garnered interest, and pre-sales from interested parties. Before I knew it, I was getting advance checks in the mail from companies that wanted to purchase my listings.
Since the initial success, I saw the opportunity to scale the operations, constructing new lists, and leveraging additional marketing opportunities throughout new fields. By gaining an understanding of the informational needs of business owners, I was able to successfully create bespoke products for various professional fields.
Change With New Technologies To Remain Relevant
Over time, the company continued to grow, reaching $75 million in revenue. InfoFree, the company sought to provide the most modern information technology to businesses throughout all sectors. With the globalization of information as a direct result of the prevalence of the internet, and global businesses operating throughout the world, information technology has continued to change. Physical data lists were replaced by their digital versions, and printed mailing services were replaced by email listservs. Recognizing these shifts in the changing needs of business owners, I was able to shift the paradigm of what products we offered, remaining relevant in the changing field of information technology.
Instead of hanging on to the products and offerings that we have already perfected, I realized that InfoFree needed to grow alongside changing cultural, business, and communication trends in order to remain successful. With businesses looking to spend their marketing funds directly on targeted social media advertising, I began offering information based solutions for this modern iteration of marketing. Once again proving the benefits of “going for it” in the realm of business, the concept of ebbing and flowing to offer tangible solutions relevant to current business culture proved to be fruitful.
After my success with InfoFree, I developed The Everest Group, a boutique company offering investment equity, business development, and business growth solutions for failing endeavors, fledgling startups, and other ventures in need of assistance. By providing insights based on my previous experiences, I was able to leverage my expertise to shape other businesses, often encouraging owners to “go for it”, and assisting business owners to develop modern market-worthy solutions, products, and services. Throughout my professional experiences, I have learned to harness the power of finding a hole in the market, and leveraging this hole to develop a new market-ready product. With an in-demand product at hand, any business can flourish!