My Story – How It All Started….

It all started on Christmas morning In 1982. Santa left behind a Commodore 64.

I was 11 and I’ve pretty much been glued to the screen since.

Back then was the time of movies like War Games… The Cold War was on – and kids like m were doing everything we could to get into, but stay out of trouble…

Computer bulletin board systems, or BBS’s where the rage. I ran one called Sesame Street using the alias of The Cookie Monster. I did this for a few hacking/pirate groups – one being Rowdy American Distributors.

What was a Bulletin Board?

Well, in reality, it was a lot like a website today. Except rather than typing in www.whatever.com, you’d dial a phone number and connect directly to some other computer somewhere in the world. This was back when you had to pay to call 15 miles away – but we didn’t care – we figured out ways to do it on someone else’s dime.

Back then we had pages, links, forums, walls. People signed up and joined for access. It was the pre-internet.

Ironically, it was the linking together of these bulletin boards that formed the modern day commercial internet – via Genie, Compuserve and other services.

I did this through grade-school, jr. high and high-school.

After high high-school was over, I decided to give college a try. It didn’t work out and after dropping out six times, I realized that I’d better do something else.

My First Job in Sales…

As luck would have it, my neighbor and best friends sister was dating the son of a professional sales trainer and motivational speaker. After spending some time with him I asked him for a job and went on to sell sales training and coaching to Realtors.

While working and learning from one of the nations most established Real Estate Agent sales trainers, I was exposed to a marketing consultant named Jay Abraham.

Jay created a marketing system and teh results were absolutely incredible. New clients were beating down our doors and I had never seen anything like this – AND…I knew I had to learn what he did – and how to do it for myself and others.

The Discovery? LEVERAGE!

I was told cold-calling was the best way to generate business back then. In some cases, this may be the case. However for me in that situation it wasn’t. I learned that with the right offer to the right list, direct mail could be used to reach out to massive amounts of people quickly, pre-educate them and turn them into ready buyers…

And we all enjoyed the days following this campaign where the sales were made before the prospect ever picked up the telephone – and when we’d answer, all we had to do was collect their name and payment information.

Going to Work for Jay Abraham & Company

18 months later I went to work for Jay. What an experience.

That was the beginning of my REAL sales and scientific marketing career. It was also the first time my hybrid sales and technical computer/database skills would come into play.

I found myself managing and tracking the results of multiple campaigns while also getting on the phone with clients, prospects and joint venture partners.

At 22 I was working for America’s highest paid direct marketing consultant . At that time he actually charged $5,000 an hour for his time, in the early 90′s when the economy was horrible…and people were paying it.

While there I became very close with this business partner who is still to this day a very dear friend.

Then Web Browser Happened…

I can still remember the day that changed my life forever. It was 1994. My friend Scott Weir and I got an early version of Mosaic (later to be known as Netscape) from Jay’s old business partner. We got it installed and then got online with it.

I went on to start a software development/internet marketing company called The Stirling Bridge Group. SBG built websites, hosted, or consulted with dozens of Fortune 500 companies. (You can see a partial list of our them here)

We helped many household brands get started online.

I sold SBG July 1, 2001 and I stayed on board through September of 2003.

The End of One Life and the Beginning of Another

Mid-2005 the search for a new passion began. Like always, I was drawn back into technology and marketing. At the end of that year I met Aaron Wall and he lit a fire under me.

I now have own and operate a few companies or internet properties. One is a national directory of ice rinks known as RinkTime. The other helps companies establish marketing strategies that focus on best utilizing both traditional and online marketing methods. Working together creates what we like to call a force multiplying effect. The sum of the two is much greater than their individual elements..

John J Kirker