Expert Business Startup
Head Coach
Babe Ruth Softball
August 2015 – Present (2 months)Newton, Kansas
12U girls head coach for competitive softball.
Owner
South Central Tinting
July 2015 – Present (3 months)Newton, KS
We are a residential and commercial window tinting company that provides solar solutions to reduce energy loss and heat inside your homes or offices. Service South Central Kansas.
Owner
LC Drafting Services
June 2015 – Present (4 months)Newton
I have been involved in Architectural Drafting and Design for 9 years. I got my start at a construction company that specialized in designing and building mega churches, often times 100,000 sq.ft. or bigger, around the USA. I was the lead designer, working side by side with the vice president of architecture. Frequently I was crossed over into the construction side to help with drawings for buildings that were currently under construction. My weapon of choice is Autodesk AutoCAD software. I have taken this experience and with my current freelance work around the world I have decided to open LC Drafting Services. We are a complete 2D architectural drafting company that can handle residential, commercial and CNC drawing requests for any stages of design.
Owner/Inspector
SafeGuard Home Inspections
September 2014 – Present (1 year 1 month)Newton, Kansas
Certified inspector for residential and commercial properties in the state of Kansas.
Senior Partner/Business Consultant
CXXC Group Inc
May 2009 – Present (6 years 5 months)Newton, KS
Analyze market trends in the region as well as investigate and research on going projects for clients to best determine course of actions that will have the best ROI for them. Analyze data collected with our methodology and convert into tangible documents for presentation to clients. We offer and assist with financial analysis, business development, restructuring, exiting and acquisitions. My specialty in market research and top/bottom line separation has propelled me to continually explore my options and test new theories while putting them to work.
Youth Softball Coach - Seasonal
Newton Recreation Center
May 2015 – July 2015 (3 months)Newton, Kansas
Volunteer coach for 1st and 2nd grade softball.
Assistant Operations Manager
Midwest Iron & metal
October 2012 – May 2013 (8 months)
Was in charge of the New Steel division and ensured their orders were processes as well as new campaign ideas to further the growth of that division. I also ran the scrap side scale to enforce the goal and views of the company were reflected to the customers that were being processed.
President
LC Enterprises
November 2008 – May 2012 (3 years 7 months)
I was tasked with handling multiple entities that were owned by LC Enterprises. Some daily duties included HR, accounting, dispatching and customer service.
CIO / Senior Design Draftsman
R Messner Construction
April 2007 – November 2009 (2 years 8 months)Wichita, Kansas Area
Lead design drafter for preliminary department as well as the Chief Information Officer for the company. Often times I would be called upon to assist the construction side to get the working drawings out to the field to allow construction to work smoothly.
Sergeant
US Army
September 2001 – January 2005 (3 years 5 months)Ft. Drum, NY - Tongducheon, Korea - Ft. Benning, GA - Bagram, Afghanistan
US Army Infantry with multiple specialty schools. I started out as a weapons specialist and moved into indirect fire, mortars. Being part of a "leg" unit I was able to expertly use the 60mm, 81mm and 120mm mortar system as a gunner. I embraced the suck and pushed myself to a breaking point. I was moved into FDC, Fire Direction Center, which was tasked with calculating the deflection and elevation requirements to pinpoint fire a gun system, 4 mortars, into areas where request for fire was called for. After destroying my fair share of vehicles, not by choice but Mr. IED's, I finished my contract and was honorably discharged.
Marketing Strategy
Expert Business Startup
I have bootstrapped over 25 business, most which have been sold to larger companies. Your best marketer is yourself. You have lived with the product and know the products in their entirety. Essentially, you are a product of the product and need to market yourself as such. With regard to freelancing, you get what you pay for and there is no real results in marketing other than the revenue created which can not be traced back unless you have a way to do so. On the flip side, an established agency will have an upfront cost and could take a percentage of sales based on the company size. To finalize this thought, invest in yourself to become the business and find your own niche market.
Product launch
Expert Business Startup
With regards to marketing, you should target all aspects of social media with a blitzkrieg. Use your keywords conservatively and hit on the hot topic buttons. Although SEO takes a while to get going, it can be very valuable in the long run with this campaign. You can not only use your startup SEO keywords but also use the hot topic media buzz words as well. Point all ads to your Indiegogo account and update your social media every day at least 3 times. Ask people to like, share comment etc etc to expands your reach. Best of luck.
Idea Generation
Expert Business Startup
Create a AutoCAD plugin that will allow users to verbally control the software and have it draw what they are saying. Make it work cross platform for SolidWorks, ProE and more major brands. The rest is up to you.
Business Strategy
Expert Business Startup
Simple answer is you will never find someone who will work for free. The old saying, "Money for nothing and your social media idea for free". Either get good at coding, or partner, I use that term loosely, with someone who can. A partner does not have to own 50% of something, they can own 1-99% of it and still be a contributor. There are freelance sites out there where you can post your project up and potential candidates will bid on the project. Who knows, maybe you can find someone who can code your idea for a few hundred dollars. If you believe that it will be successful then that should not be a problem. Search for venture capitalists, only problem will be the ownership requirements for some may make you the minority owner. Best of luck.
Payments
Expert Business Startup
First one would have to define the charge-back policy within their contracts. Then a determination of fault would have to be identified by either parties in that contract. The problem with using credit cards for payments is the ability to have the payer request a charge back based on evidence "X". Since you missed a deadline, does it state in your contract agreement or other form of project acceptance that there would be a charge back if the deadline was missed? In this day and age I do believe that every business should have ways to protect themselves, especially if you are dealing with international clients. Was there any correspondence from you as to the potential to miss a deadline? There are too many unknown variables to determine the proper placement of a policy such as this. Most standard agreements will have a "mediation before litigation" clause in them to avoid the predicament you are currently in. Best of luck.
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