Calling All Entrepreneurs
After spending five years at Nabisco, Cliff Medney felt the tug to be free. “It was time,” he says. “I had learned and experienced a great deal and wanted to apply it on my own.” So Cliff quit his job and formed his own company, Cliff Medney Enterprises.
Life as his own boss has been fruitful for Cliff, who says his title is “chief happy human.” He’s launched two licensed properties, one of which – Slimamander – was picked up by Kentucky Fried Chicken as a kid’s meal toy, a major feat for a newly created property. “Slimamander’s success validated why I left Nabisco,” he says. “I’m actually seeing my properties come to life.” Another of his properties, Shoulders, a doll designed to comfort children with illnesses, has been licensed by Johns Hopkins and Intelihealth.
Cliff is leading a trend in which some of the promotion industry’s best and brightest are striking out on their own without the trappings – or aspirations – of big organizations. So, we delved into the minds of Cliff and two others, Paul Theroux and David Parkes, to find out why they did it and what they’ve learned.
Their companies are small by industry standards (typically fewer than five people), but their model is based on quality, not quantity. Fortunately for them, the stigma that was once attached to flying solo has all but vanished – no one will ever accuse these guys of being “on the beach.”
Despite his success, Cliff has encountered a few rough spots. “I used to waste time with people who would fall in love with what I created and then fail to follow through,” Cliff explains. “Now I’m better at managing my expectations before getting into a binding agreement.”
Some of Cliff’s “friends” also suddenly disappeared when he left Nabisco. “I’ve had a dose of reality. When you’re on the client side everyone tells you how great you are, but you realize it was really about what you could do for them,” he says, adding, “Everybody wants to tie into a big brand.”
Paul Theroux, president of Paul Theroux Associates, LLC, echoes Cliff’s point of view. Paul left CCM in New York City to start his own business in May 1998. “I wanted to leverage my own unique experiences, lifestyle, and special interests to develop a competitive advantage in the promotion marketing industry,” he says.
Paul’s initial success was in the development of a new licensed brand called Runner Rewards, which made its debut in the U.S. and Canada last October. The brand was developed in conjunction with the New York Road Runner Club, Inc., organizers of the New York City Marathon.
When he started out on his own, Paul was surprised at how exciting it was to build a career based on what was unique about himself. While he misses the social aspect of working for a large organization, he is happy running his company. “What is really important is building your own legacy around what you enjoy doing,” he says.
It’s a small world after Kinko’s David Parkes, President of Andover Marketing, LLC, considers himself an entrepreneur by circumstance rather than by design. He was working for MGR when it was acquired in 1996. David had a certain following that gave him the courage to start out on his own, and the confidence to know he was employable if the business were not successful. “There was no reason not to do it,” he says.
According to David, having his own business brings higher highs and lower lows. “It’s like when I was 12 and had a paper route. Everything is important.” He considers his greatest success repeat clients. “We’ve worked with basically every client on multiple projects,” he says.
Like Cliff and Paul, life as a president hasn’t always been easy for David. “Certain things have been out of our control,” he says. “From a reputation standpoint, when things like production have gone awry, I’ve had to eat some costs versus passing them along to the client.” But all in all, he’s happy with the path he has chosen. “I’m fortunate to have the freedom to work on the things that are really important to me,” he explains.
This trend toward self-employment in the promotion industry appears to be getting stronger. Paul cites the loss of loyalty in the business as a reason the trend will accelerate. “Today, corporate employees are starting to develop skill sets with an understanding that they need to be updating their resumes. Although larger companies are attaining record-level profits, they are still laying off people to further enhance stockholder equity.”
Cl iff’s explanation for the start-ups has to do with the availability of resources. “There is a business infrastructure out there that didn’t exist before. Ten years ago, there weren’t Kinko’s and Staples. Now it’s easier to create your own organization.”
David sums it all up by saying, “All you need is a reputation, a good team, a computer, and letterhead.”
