Russ: This is the BusinessMakers Show, heard here and online at the BusinessMakers.com. And now it's time for the Aflac BusinessMakers Flashback, brought to you by Aflac, ask about it at work. And this morning we're going to share the thoughts that triggered the ideas that led 3 of our guests to start their companies. Up first we have Gay Gaddis, the founder and CEO of T3 the largest, independent advertising agency wholly owned by a woman in the country . Listen as Gay describes the precise day when she decided to take the big step
Gay: Actually, I was mad. Two things happened, built this motto that I thought was going to be the advertising agency of the future and this was of course in 1989 and we had just come through a very very hard and we're in the middle of a terrible economic downturn.
Russ: and this is actually before you started T3?
Gay: Yes, the downturn's stock market really took the hit in '97 and we just languished in a very difficult economic time. Not different from where we are today, actually, it's worse today because it's a worldwide crisis.
Russ: and you were with another agency at this time, correct?
Gay: Yes, I was and had developed a business motto that I thought was going to be, it sounds very simple, but it was really combing the art and science of the business. A lot of agencies back in those days were more about creativity, winning awards, and art shows and I believe you had to do that, you had to intrigue people, but at the same time, you had to get results. And so, I walked in, presented this plan that I had worked on to our advisory group and everyone was nodding their head and was very excited about let's kind of rethink our model. The president came in to me the next day and said "You know, I been thinking about this, Gay and I'm not going to support your business model. I'm not behind you." I was angry, I was hurt, humiliated, really unhappy. I was just fuming in my office and so I sat there for about 45 minutes and then I marched back down to speak with him and I said "well, I guess if I can't do this here, I'm going to do this someplace else." I had no idea where that someplace else was. I spoke before I thought, but I knew I could do it and I started off with two other employees in this little office and cashed in a $16,000 IRA, that's all the money I had and started this little business and with a passion and with a belief that we could really make a difference.
Russ: What was the original idea that caused you to have all this courage to take some risks? I mean, did it evolve around really providing a solution, as opposed to an ad?
Gay: Yes and from the very beginning, we were always kind of doing things that weren't always advertising solution and I was very motivated to make sure that we got resolves for our clients because I couldn't afford to lose them. You know, I was in survivor mode.
Russ: Ok, up next, we have the cool story of the exact hour when Jimmy Jongebloed decided to discontinue his law practice and dive the eyewear buisness.
Jimmy: I was actually waiting to get my hair cut at a hair salon by a guy that's a friend of mine that cuts my hair and my wife. And he had been cutting this woman's hair who I'd never met before.
Russ: Okay.
Jimmy: And apparently she had talked to him about how her and her husband had a couple patents in the eyewear business and they were gonna change eyewear but they were running out of money and didn't know what to do with them. He said some nice things and then he also said that I'm a lawyer, which I am.
Russ: Okay.
Jimmy: A recovering lawyer.
Russ: Okay.
Jimmy: And when I got up in the chair to get my hair cut all the sudden I had this woman that I'd never met before asking me, like I was being interviewed, you know, "Where did you go to school? How long did you practice law? Who'd you practice law with?" And I was answering all the questions, really not knowing why. And I got off the chair and I turned around and she slipped these very prototypical magnetic eyewear to my sleeve and said, "You'll never lose these. What do you think of that?" And I said, "Well, hum." And I immediately thought, "Bottom of Lake Travis, bottom of Lake Livingston." Everywhere my current sunglasses resided because certainly none of them were still with me.
Russ: Okay.
Jimmy: So I was a real good person to fall into this.
Russ: And that's were all of this started.
Jimmy: That's where all this started. She said, "My husband has the possibility of a worldwide patent on this." And I thought, "Okay, clearly this woman doesn't understand what a worldwide patent means because this is just too simple."
Russ: Right.
Jimmy: And sure enough, he did.
Russ: Ok, and for this morning's last "idea trigger" story, we're going to feature the founder and author of the very popular blog, Chookoolonks. We're talking about Karen Walrond. Listen to the events that got Chookoolonks started.
Karen: I started Chookooloonks almost 5 years ago, and at the time I started it because my husband and I were waiting for our daughter to be born and I'm from Trinidad and my husband is English, and so all of our family were all over the world, so it really started as sort of a personal blog with that. Chookooloonks actually is a Trini word that means sweetheart and it's used usually for children, and so I just kind of started there and it sort of has evolved. Photography has always been a really big hobby of mine, and so I started using it as a platform to show off some of my work. At the time, I was a lawyer and I was a practicing lawyer for a large energy company and just recently quit my law job and quit my law career and now I'm writing and shooting full time.
Russ: Ok, and that concludes this week's session of entrepreneurial idea triggers. And that wraps up his morning's Aflac BusinessMakers Flashback, brought to you by Aflac Ask about it at work. Stay tuned in for our Featured guest interview with Chad Farrell and his sister in law, Brooke Farrell, the co-founders of RecycleMatch. You're listening to The BusinessMakers Show, heard here and seen on line at thebusinessmakers.com.
