For me, it’s about how we’re going to get to the finish line and make some great things happen.
Growing up, I wanted to be the best at anything I did. In the Army, I wanted to be the best soldier. I wanted to be the best apparel guy when I started in the apparel business. Later in life, I wanted to be the best ad guy.
Right out of college I went to work for an apparel company in Customer Service. I went to interview for a sales job, had no experience. So they said, “Well, we’ve got this Customer Service position available.” And I was such a cocky kid, I said, “I’ll take this job, but I want to tell you right now I don’t plan on making a career out of Customer Service.” They gave me the job anyway.
I stayed in Customer Service for about a year, until there was an opening to be the assistant to the national sales manager, which was one of the highest levels in the company. Under his responsibility came advertising. It was a very calculated move on my part. I lobbied for the job and got it. I studied night and day for about six months, and by six months I knew more about advertising than my boss did.
The agency that we worked with was Sanders, Pero and Morton. How do you like that? David Sanders and I worked together for ten years as I went from the assistant to the sales manager to the VP of Advertising and sales. At a young age I had a chance to work with Bill Blass, Jim Henson, as well as Oscar de la Renta.
One day Sanders offered me the chance to be an owner in the firm, and when you have an opportunity to explore and try something different, and maybe you could make a difference someplace else and experience some things that you would never have an opportunity to experience again…Sometimes you have to gamble. Life is a gamble. Business is a gamble. And sometimes you have to try things and see where they take us.
One thing’s for sure, though: we wanted to make some great things happen. And we are.
