About Me

Learning to run an offset printing press at 16 years old isn't what most kids get to do. But, with a father that needed cheap labor and having the intelligence that I inherited from my mother, I was a shoe in for the job.

A few years later, when I no longer wanted to have ink under my fingernails, I started to sell printing and graphic design. I figured that I could make better money if I learned how to do the graphic design myself. At the time, I wasn't great in business, but I knew how to learn. After a few years of running an offset print brokerage and doing graphic design, I was hired at Kinko's as a graphics job manager and then at IKON Legal Document Services as a graphics department manager. I also started teaching graphic design for independent training companies.

After running my design shop for IKON for about a year, I was recruited to sell color copiers for IKON Office Solutions. I still maintained a little freelance work during this time and also did some teaching at the University of Utah. I think that I learned more teaching there than I ever did doing my freelance work. The subject I taught was Adobe Photoshop for Web Design.

With that experience, I was recruited to be the Color Systems Specialist for the Western United States for Canon USA. I supported copier dealerships in 17 Western States teaching them how to sell and use the graphics systems from Canon. One of the things that I really focused on learning during this time was color theory and color management. I learned, through various training and tests, that I have superior color discernment. My wife is quick to point out that it doesn’t mean that I have any color style… it just means that I am good at knowing the differences between all the colors. I did find that I ended up teaching far more sales skills than I did color skills because so few of those I supported even had the most basic of sales skills.

After traveling over 200,000 miles and having (at the time) 2 children that wanted me home, our family moved to Boise, Idaho and I started working for Fisher’s Document Systems as the Technology Sales Specialist. After a short while, I was promoted to Sales Manager and then to Vice President of Innovation. For four years, I focused on understanding technologies in the office equipment industry. I learned everything I could about electronic document management, electronic forms processing, electronic document distribution and capture, and managed print services. Throughout this, I became very adept at understanding current business problems and providing process improvement to my clients.

Over the years, I earned a  Bachelor's in Information Technology Management and a Master's in Business Administration. I learned the value of education, both personally and from an academic institution.

In October 2007, I decided that I wanted to try running my own business once again. I resurrected an old business name, Tribute Media, and started a web development company. I decided to run this business a lot differently than my first business... I wanted it to be very successful as a business and not as a freelancer just trying to make his way. I also decided that I wanted to form very strategic partnerships. As a result, I have essentially two facets of that business.

The first facet of my business is to function as a web development team for other companies. Through this, my team of designers, programmers, writers, data entry and a very capable project manager function as a company's web development team and function under their brand. For example, for Dealer Marketing Systems and Prospect Builder, I function as the Chief Web Architect. For Seybold Scientific, I function as the VP of Technology and Infrastructure. This relationship offers them the ability to maintain their brand when talking with clients as well as having a full service web development team provide all the required services their clients might demand.

The second facet of my business is to provide these web development services directly. So, if you have a website that needs building, writing that needs done or ideas that need materializing, I stand ready to help.

Some of my key projects that I am part of now are CopierCatalog.com, OfficeProductNews.net and SeyboldKnows (still very much in the early phases of development). With 60+ websites to our name, I think that we have come a long way in one year to establishing ourselves as a web development force to be reckoned with.

This blog at MasterTheBusiness.com is just a blog about my musings in business and technology. I'll post the launching of key clients (usually those that pay a little... after all, I am an evil corporate giant) and any business or technology ideas that come to mind. I also have a blog about web and SEO for the copier folks that we service at Copier Catalog... which probably is great for anyone that is trying to establish a solid web presence.

Subscribe to my blog via RSS or Email via the links at the top right. Leave comments on any of the posts. Drop me a line via my contact form. I'd love to hear from you.