I guess you could say that fits my personality pretty well. Or, maybe it’s just my ADHD that keeps me bouncing from project to project, starting new companies, and generally having as much fun as possible while surrounding myself with great people in the form of co-founders, employees, partners, family members, vendors, and customers.
A great term that describes exactly how I have started one company after another – literally “found” a reason to be in business and then built an organization around that reason. Like Steve says, “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.”
Looking back, it all makes sense, but each time I was at the foundry of a new startup, much of it was either accidental, fortunate timing or cast from a brief flash of insight that pushed things forward. And let’s be clear, often that insight did not come from yours truly – but rather, one of those great people I mentioned above.
Here’s a quick review of my business experience to date, with some comments to guide you along the path.
First time calling the shots, managing a business, and being accountable. I’m a huge outdoors guy and love working with plants and building materials. This landscape construction company helped me work my way through college, employed most of my buddies at one time or another, and set me on the path toward never working for anyone else again. We had a blast, and it kept a smile on my face all the time due to the fact that people actually paid me money to do this stuff.
I think it was in 1990 that I bought my first Mac, and my lifelong love affair with the smiling startup dude began. This business was started with a thought (beer might have been involved): “Wouldn’t it be great if we could actually make a living with the Mac?” And that’s just what we did – a little bigger than we had initially planned. The company turned out to be a giant sandbox where I would learn about managing hundreds of employees, fail miserably at many things, succeed at enough to keep things going and I found that I still had that big smile on my face most of the time.
In 2001, we merged with another company from the Midwest and rechristened ourselves as ResQ Systems. By 2004, my smile was gone, and I sold my interest in the company and moved on.
Did I mention that I’m a deal guy? Well, I was lucky enough to meet Dave Hamilton back when we were investing heavily in online advertising. Even luckier to find out that Dave was (is) a deal guy as well. We launched DOW as a deal listing website, focused on tech and gadgets, and it ran strong for over a decade. The impetus for founding the business was pretty simple: My wife, Renee, and I wanted our kids to go to a local private school and had to come up with the revenue to pay for it. We eventually changed the site to DealBrothers.com, and while it’s still up, it’s basically not doing anything right now. Just sitting there. Waiting. For Dave and I to do something with it again.
For me, one of the most important and enjoyable aspects of business has been collaborating with great people. Early in 2015, I was searching for a way to share some of my experience, expand my network of peers while coming up with a way to work with Dave again. We’re just getting started with the Small Business Show Podcast, but we’re already having fun, and I’ve got that big smile on my face again. I hope you stick with us as we look back, connect the dots, and build new things together.
I was renting all kinds of construction equipment, so it just seemed logical to start buying tractors, cranes, backhoes, and the like to use for landscape projects. When jobs were done, we would ship the equipment to different parts of the country, hoping to make a profit or at least cover all our costs and save on the rental fees. Pretty fun, until you get a call in the middle of the night from a truck driver in Alabama that doesn’t have the proper permit to transport the 40-ton crane he’s carrying…But that’s a story better told over a couple of beers.
After the merger of MacResQ, I realized I needed my own sandbox and launched ReBound Trading. I’m a deal guy who loves finding the delta between buying and selling. ReBound has allowed me to play in all different markets outside of the Apple space and with various products. ReBound is strictly business-to-business, building on relationships and collaborations that I have nurtured over many years.
So, there was no way I was leaving the Apple market after I sold my interest in ResQ Systems. TechRestore began by focusing on repair, with the first nationwide, overnight Mac repair business in the country. At one point, we had a TechRestore notebook box in every DHL truck in the U.S. A quick call and we would pick up your Mac notebook, bring it in overnight to our repair center, and send it back within 24 hours. The company continues to kick-ass and has since branched into three divisions: Consumer and Educational Repair, Wholesale Parts, and Refurbished products. With thousands of Apple products moving through the TechRestore facility each month, the day-to-day operations are run by a great team that includes folks who have been with me for over a decade. Update: TechRestore was acquired in June of 2017, with the new owners moving to operate in Louisville, KY.
Born out of an experiment to see if I could start a company and run it exclusively on my phone, ReBound Fashion focuses on high-end luxury handbags and watches. This business operates primarily on social media platforms and marketplaces, with over 500k followers on various platforms.
SlingShot focuses on the sports apparel market with licensed apparel from the NFL, NCAA, and more.
Poshmark Unlocked shares my journey to create a new business just using my phone. With over $3.7M in sales on Poshmark and other social commerce marketplaces, learn about this crazy experiment and how social commerce changes everything about marketplace selling.
eBay Unlocked takes a deep dive into my 20 years of experience as a seller on the marketplace. I share what worked, what didn’t, and how to create a six-figure revenue stream using the eBay marketplace.
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If you made it all the way down here, thanks for sticking with it! Outside of work, I enjoy being outside. I enjoy fishing, hiking, hunting, and working in my garden. I’ve been known to be a bit long-winded (as if you couldn’t tell from this long blog post). I’ve been married to Renee for 30 years, have two great kids who are much smarter than I am, and a couple of dogs that keep us laughing. It’s always an adventure around our house, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Cheers!
Shannon Jean
Lafayette, California
Connect with Shannon to discuss the particular the ins & outs of your personal journey.