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About Me

If you’re looking for words of wisdom from a successful business guru, you’re definitely on the wrong page.  Actually you may be on the wrong website.

This site is a gift.  A gift I hope will accomplish one thing… encourage you to take action despite your fear.  To take action even though you don’t know if it’s going to work out.

Hopefully this site will become a place you can discover and learn from others.

My Story

The Beginning

I was born in Alexandria, Louisiana.  Picture the most thriving, business-oriented city… okay, now with that picture in mind, imagine the complete polar opposite of it.  That was, and still is, Alexandria.

Despite living in Alexandria, the entrepreneurial spirit was in my blood from a young age.

My first venture in business occurred when I was about 5 or 6 years old.  I really don’t remember if it was my idea, or something my parents encouraged me to do, but I opened a vegetable stand in our front yard.  I don’t remember much about it, other than I made money and then proceeded to spend every single penny at Toys R Us.

A few years later, my family moved to a new neighborhood, and our new neighbor had bags and bags of aluminum cans in her garage.  (This was before people recycled to help keep our environment clean for future generations.) After further inquiry, I discovered these used soda cans were worth money.

I immediately became an aluminum can recycler.  I searched roadsides, woods, and parking lots, anywhere I could find cans.  But school and homework greatly limited the time I could spend collecting cans.  In my mind there was only one solution… hire employees.

During the 80’s baseball cards were a BIG deal.  Everyone bought and traded baseball cards.  Every year for Christmas I asked Santa Claus to bring me baseball cards.  I must have been a good boy because each year he brought more cards.

My friends wanted some of the baseball cards Santa had brought me.  They wanted them so badly, they were willing to collect cans for me in exchange for baseball cards.

The business went well for a short time, but recycling aluminum cans didn’t make me enough money.  I had to find another business.  When I was about 12 years old, a friend and I were discussing ways to make money and one of us mentioned mowing lawns.

We spray-painted a piece of plywood and nailed it to a telephone pole.  The sign read, “Yard Mowing 640-01–.”   About a week later we had our first customer.  (The sign was so ugly, I’m surprised that anyone actually called.)

Due to logistics – neither of us could drive and he lived about 25 minutes away – he quickly dropped out of the business.  I continued the business throughout high school and college.

Business Degree

After cramming 4 years of college into 5, I graduated with a business degree.  Thanks to Zig Ziglar I decided to pursue a career in sales.

My first job was selling manufactured homes.  I only lasted 8 months.  I was fired! I didn’t follow the map they provided.  I tried to create my own map, and they didn’t like it.

Within a week of being fired, I was selling advertising for a national billboard company.  After about a four month learning curve, I became very efficient and my pay check reflected it.  Things were going well.  I was working Monday – Friday, 8 to 5, and making good money.

But after about a year I was ready for a new challenge.  I wanted to be on my own.

Re-birth of the lawn business

Much to my parents’ dismay, I left my corporate sales job and started a lawn business.  My friends told me I was crazy, and my parents were horrified.  But I was now a business owner, pursuing the “American Dream.”

I wish I could tell you the business was an instant success, but it wasn’t.  The business really struggled for the first year.  If the first year was the famine, the next two years were the feast.

Looking for a new challenge

By the end of three years, I was ready for a new challenge.  I put my lawn company on the market and had a buyer within a month.  I didn’t know what I would do next… I just wanted a new challenge.

I decided to apply for a job with State Farm as a catastrophe adjuster.  This was shortly after Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc on New Orleans.  State Farm was looking to hire about 200 people from outside the company.

Over 25,000 people applied through monster.com for these 200 positions.  I was fortunate to be one of the 200.

A new addition

About a year and a half later my wife and I had our first child.  Traveling six months out of the year didn’t work well with a newborn, so I decided to resign.  I spent the next year working as a local independent insurance adjuster, and building a few internet businesses.

Today

After three years of working as an adjuster I was ready to pursue my passion full-time.  When I owned the lawn business I became a serious student of marketing.  And over the years I have been involved with several companies, helping them develop their marketing systems.

But in January 2009, I started Ugly Mug Marketing.  My goal was simple: help businesses/people make more money.  It’s been a battle, but one I gladly fight.

I love the process of helping business owners see their company through a completely different lens.  It’s a challenge, but one I love.

This site isn’t perfect.  Actually, it’s far from it.  But I had to ship (publish) this site.  The thrashing could have continued forever.  So here it is, flaws and all.

I’m no different than you.  I battle the resistance every single day.

Keep fighting!

Wayne

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