A Sharp Transition From Active Duty To Veteran Entrepreneur

From a young age, I aspired to one day manage several businesses! Ok, you could presumably say I didn't know that at the time and that instead I just wanted to be the boss and get rich is more like it. Many years wiser and my observations along with my own actions have proven that putting good will into the market place fosters value, and money follows value so you do not have to go out looking for or chasing after it. I started working at the age of 14 with a General Store Maintenance job back in my hometown of Crystal Lake, Illinois. At the age of 15, I began my first 'j.o.b.' at Dukes Bar & Grill downtown. Giving up football went along with my pride at the time but one of the first nights bussing tables I remember bringing in exactly $114 in cash from tip-outs, and I thought, meh this isn't so bad. Smoking, which I picked up was, however. Bad for me that is. Like many, a smoke break was what got me through most of the dead-end jobs and later my short lived military career. 

There was one job in particular though that stood out the most to me, the Arlington International Racecourse. I can still reminisce at the inviting smell of fresh flowers and well, horse, that greets you up a red cobblestone walkway along with the many equally vibrant Kentucky Derby Sun Hats atop women's heads. It's not how much you make if you love going and doing the things you are passionate about and the places you surround yourself in. But being in a state that has pretty merciless winters just north of the Chicago, the big windy city, this placed closed during the Winter as it was outdoors, so I would shovel and do odds and ends so that I could have some spending money. One year I even started a website called bird mansions to sell my crazy awesome, quality crafted bird houses. I realized early on that money may not buy me happiness but having none of it will not buy me anything. Convinced I was going to walk into work one day hit the next trifecta and cash out of my shift and live the rest of my years like the Great Gatsby my hopes were shattered one winter when realizing not even Mc Donalds would hire me. It wasn't because I wasn't awesome either, they knew I was over qualified as I would find out is what category I fit into I felt with most of the jobs I obtained back then. 

By the time I had graduated high school and experienced my first few jobs in the workforce I knew I did not want to work for someone else my whole life. But by the time it had taken me to accomplish a few preliminaries and one real estate exam some of my peers were graduating college so I knew this type of structured learning was not for me. I sought a different path, and it went from people watching in the mall to studying rich people who made a living making money, solely online. Fast forward over 12 years later and I am living it! I wanted to stay in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia after separating from the Air Force in May of 2017 under honorable conditions. 

In the fall of 2016, three days before my house almost went up in flames I started Online Marketing Shark and continued to work my full-time job while active duty. The fire of 2016 put me and my four animals up at Marriott Inn & Suites for nearly five whole months while the interior of our home was restored. Looking back I would say that without that set back in the beginning I might not have had the proverbial fire needed under my ass to get in gear treating my business like a business. Before the end of the year, I had a website on the opposite side of the country ringing in calls for customers needing a tow! Before long I would have a paying client and be selling lead generation services across the country remotely, how cool right! You can see that site by going over to Google and typing in, "Chula Vista's Best Towing Company" or you can click here! Through the years I have seen that the internet and marketing is a huge deal and only growing more each year across all industries. Seeing that web design and online businesses are the future, I wanted to be a part of that and help others prosper in their business ventures too!

Online Marketing Shark Contact Information

​To learn more about Online Marketing Sharks company, products & services, call Mike at 757-803-0138. You can visit Online Marketing Shark's website or visit us on Facebook.


How Was Virginia Business Review Born?

What has been revealed to me through the years is that business owners are truly an unconventional breed of awesome, each individually and uniquely. They have a dream of everything outside the normal 'job' life and pursue themselves instead, their passions. Each one a very different story to tell you, their narrative, their "why!" So, The Virginia Business Review will proffer them an opportunity to share their "why" with the city of Hampton Roads, and offer the city of Virginia Beach, Virginia and surrounding municipalities residents with intriguing stories! 2019 marks 5 years here in Virginia, and it thrills me I am able to bestow onto you the aspirations of other local Virginia Beach entrepreneurs and what their "why" is for beginning business. Let the adventure begin Virginia! 

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