I started my career in the 80s selling NYNEX Mobile Car Phones. Actually earlier than that, if you count my days selling electronics from my dorm room at PURDUE in the late 70s. I figured out a way to 'drop ship' stereos and such from NYC to West Lafayette, Indiana. Margins were great, and demand was high. The local stereo shops in town hated me. I was the 'Crazy Eddie' or 'The Wiz' of Indiana. It got so bad that the PURDUE EXPONENT (the campus newspaper) banned my ads due to local merchant pressure. Ahem. 

So I have been selling non-stop for 48 years. Direct mail, telemarketing, trade shows, TV ads. My first Car Phone sale was to the guy that ran UPS for the Northeast, and I met him via a Cable TV ad that cost me $900 for the month. I think I had $1,500 in the bank at the time.

Calvin Darden, senior vice-president of U.S. operations of the United Parcel Services, was born February 5, 1950, in Buffalo, New York. He was a scholarship recipient and graduate of Canisius College, where he began his career working part-time at the local UPS terminal. After graduating in 1972 with a B.S. degree in business management, he became a full-time employee with the company.

Darden's first responsibilities at UPS were to load and unload trailers at the Buffalo hub. In January of 1974, he was promoted to customer service supervisor. Soon after, he became the hub manager and later managed three packaging centers. After twelve management positions and six location moves, Darden had built a reputation for making distribution centers more efficient, improving service and boosting employee morale. In Nashville, Tennessee, he increased the center's efficiency from 65 percent to almost 100 percent. In 1993, he was promoted to vice-president and regional manager of a nine-state region based in California.

And so...... my first Car Phone sale ever was UPS. I blogged on this a few years ago. Cal said 'we need car phones for all of our executives....' and I agreed with him. 

I met the folks at Blink from a post on LinkedIn. There are 1B+ professionals on LinkedIn, and millions using LinkedIn Learning. From that post just a few months ago, it led to us offering all things Blink (www.GetBlink.us) to the millions of members of the (now) GlobalDLA.org  We went from the New York METRO Distance Learning Association (NYDLA.org) to the North American Distance Learning Association (NADLA.org) to now... GLOBAL. 

I had no money when I sold stereos from my dorm room at PURDUE. That dorm room upgraded to an apartment, because I needed storage. I had no money when I ran that Cable TV ad in the 80s. There are many folks who will be starting a business this month, this year. They will be doing so because they lost their job. They will become Entrepreneurs not because of the pursuit of a dream, but out of survival. They are trying to replace lost income. Money for food. Money for rent. 

I invite everyone to joinNYDLA.org but I really have a soft spot in my heart for startups. For Entrepreneurs.

I took over running the NYDLA.org when it was bankrupt. During the last recession. There was less than $1,000 in the bank account. We could not even pay to host a website. I blogged in the past how RUTGERS - The State University of New Jersey became our sponsor. They saved us, with money - and their 500K+ living alumni at the time. Check out NYDLA.org and click on the 'About' button in the menu bar. You can read the original letter from RUTGERS from 2012. 

2025: The NADLA.org services 174K+ K-20 schools across North America. And we service the alumni of those 174K+ schools.

If you are starting up a business, let's talk. Having no money might be the greatest opportunity of your life. Remember, if you have friends (Cal Darden, RUTGERS, et.al.) that is way more important than cash.

joinNYDLA.org - let's be friends. We're teaching everything we know. Oh, and we share our toys. (I mean tools). 

TomCapone.com goes to my LinkedIn
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Cell: 201-466-8442 { texting preferred}