Q. What if I invite you to come to my office to discuss a possible project. What do you charge for that?

A. There is never a charge for an initial consultation. This meeting often results in a specific request for a proposal. We never go forward with an assignment unless you know costs in advance and have approved them.

Q. How does your college teaching experience benefit me?

Good question. I am proud to have taught marketing, advertising, and sales courses for almost twenty years for Lebanon Valley College and Elizabethtown College. My students were adult learners who wanted to be there. My anonymous evaluations were first rate. My business demands have kept me out of the classroom recently.

The teaching experience allowed me to learn from interaction with smart interested people; disciplined me to keep up with my craft; and enhance my “mentoring” skills, which I apply in any business situation.

I am also proud that my career experience has also included a few “visiting professor” stints at my Alma Mater, Ithaca College. Very fond memories.

Q. Who are your role models?

A. There are a few. My first advertising agency boss, Dale Casto who ran the Buffalo office of BBDO, one of the largest advertising agencies in the country. Casto was a tough, fair, and fatherly mentor who pushed me to take on increasing creative and account management responsibilities and allowed me to develop professionally. Another was Den Fujita, the man who built McDonald’s Japan from a handshake with Ray Kroc to the largest international McDonald’s market in the world. I had a close-up view of his work for 5 years and I learned a lot from observing Fujita's style.
My earliest role model is the most memorable of all. My grandfather, Joseph McDonald, never got past the 8th grade. He started working on a garbage truck, and kept studying and passing civil service exams in the City of New York. His perseverance and hard work led to his eventual promotion to Head of Sanitation of Staten Island NY. It shows what can happen if you keep learning and believe in yourself.

Q. How did you know you were cut out to be an entrepreneur?

A. I didn’t know it at the time, but I learned the value of the entrepreneurial spirit
at age 11, when I got a paper route for the Brooklyn Eagle in Brooklyn, NY. That early experience taught me about customer service, money management, business development, and self-confidence. The lessons are still valuable today.

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