I'm a marketer...

I was just reading some blog entries this evening and came across one that really hit home with me. You see, I'm a marketer...I love it...it's a fun gig. But what I really love is building companies. Anyone who knows me knows that I've made a career out of building companies and selling them off...it's a wonderful life! Being there from the inception to the development, the maturation and then exiting before it gets old and stale...what a great time!

The other thing about me, however, is that I'm a student of history...I especially admire the Robber Barons of the "Guilded Age"...that period between 1865 and 1900 where many fortunes were made through hard work, ingenuity, and hard business practices (not to mention the absence of personal income taxes). I've had many a debate with people about the "evils" of the Robber Barons (people with names like Gould, Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, Carnegie, Durant, and Harrison) but the one thing that nobody can deny is that these men left something in their wake. A bank, a railroad, a university, a steel mill, oil refineries, etc. These men left a legacy of employment that would serve hundreds of thousands, nay, millions of American families for decades after their deaths. Then comes my burning question...have any of the companies that I've had a hand in building provided for anything more than for those immediately employed..will they be standing 10 or 20 years from now? The answer is most likely, "no." My son asked me one day, "daddy, if you win the lottery what will you do with the money?" I honestly didn't know beyond the typical "pay off the house," "go on vacation," etc. But now I know. I would sink whatever I could into a manufacturing company that would have the best odds of continuing like those manufacturing companies of yesteryear. I would seek to rediscover what our forefathers knew about an honest days work for an honest days pay. I would do all I could in order to create a legacy of employment that would exist long after I'm gone. Perhaps that's already happening with this current company that I run now...perhaps my son will take over the helm one day, employ hundreds of people...then again, perhaps not. But there's just something that tears at my soul when I see "manufacturing," the engine that built the world's greatest super-economy, gone from our American landscape. I'm proud whenever WPM and/or iAdvertizing get to work with a company that actually produces a good, solid, fairly priced product right here in the States. Manufacturing is who we were in the past (right up until recent history), and if that becomes totally lost, marketing won't hold very much luster for me anymore. So I guess I'm here saying (not unlike so man others before me) Let's do all we can to support those who create, craft, build, innovate, and employ...and in so doing continuing a long rich heritage that we can certainly embrace and be proud of. I'm now a "buy local" guy...and I'm not a trendy person..(just ask anyone who works with me)

Best Always,
Dave J.

The New Robber Barons

Those who study American history are undoubtedly familiar with the late 19th century titans of industry who were dubbed the "Robber Barons." They were named such for their cutthroat business tactics and their iron will. They were seen as the Great White Sharks of industry...devouring all who opposed them and accumulating great wealth.

This morning I have just returned from Asheville, NC where my family and I visited (for the umpteenth time) the Biltmore Estate. This house, for those who may not know, is still America's largest private residence...3 times the size of the White House. This massive estate was built by George Washington Vanderbilt, youngest grandson of "The Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, founder of the family fortune and who, along with John Jacob Astor is widely accepted as one of the "original" Robber Barons. Now, this trip to Biltmore, as I've already stated, is one that our family has made many times before, but today it just seems a bit more relevant. You see, when I returned home I sat down at my desk, opened my e-mail and actually watched an info-mercial (yep, guilty as charged) on the Internet about the "New Robber Barons." This particular pitchman said that the new robber barons were the folks who signed up for a specific type of commodity trading account, and therefore it was implied that those who did not, by default, were excluded from ever hoping to achieve the greatness in industry that is each American's to seek. I thought this to be a bit dismissive and otherwise slighting! You see, the robber barons of old (Carnegie, Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, Morgan, Gould, etc.) and the inventors that followed (Ford, Edison, Dodge, Bell, etc.)gained their success through foresight and innovation. Was such an info-mercial as I watched last night around for them or when current titans such as Bill Gates or Steve Jobs had their groundbreaking ideas and helped to usher in the mass-acceptance of the computer age? Would they have been excluded from success for not taking advantage of such an offer? I believe not! This type of advertising, preying on people's fear while conjuring up the ghosts of past success is, to me, like saying to a new driver..."make sure to only pay attention to what's going on inside the car or only in the rear-view mirror." We all know that driving this way will put you in a ditch...but fast! I'm rambling about this today, but it just seems to me that if we're really trying to empower and energize people to become the next innovator and/or Captain of industry, a better approach for those wishing to become such is to study the past, but look steadily forward, rely on your own steam, and figure out what issues and/or needs need to be addressed to make the country a better place. Create, innovate, serve...for the one thing that (for all their faults) the Robber Barons of old did...they created! Sure, they were tough-minded, iron-willed, and in some instances just not nice people, but in their collective wake they left mines, railroads, refineries, pipelines, banks, brokerages, etc. Items and institutions that would serve our country, produce jobs, and propel us forward for many generations to come. That's what will bring America back...creation of opportunity...not setting up some personal commodity trading account! Want to be a New Robber Baron, think like an old Robber Baron...now you'll have to excuse me... I have to get out there and create something!
Best Always,
Dave J.