I believe every small business should start with a simple idea and money you find in the couch cushions. If you don’t have a couch, I don’t know what to tell you.
~Mark Whitney, America’s Coach
I understand things that are small and smart and look askance at things that are big and stupid. I recognize that every small thing is not smart and every big thing is not stupid. But, I also recognize trends.
Why America’s Coach?
At 66, I have been an entrepreneur for 45 years.
I am dedicated to educating, persuading, entertaining, and inspiring entrepreneurs, would-be entrepreneurs, and small business owners across generations, in support of their ongoing quest for the individual autonomy, economic predictability, personal satisfaction, and quality of life that can only be provided by building and sustaining their own thing.
Of the ten businesses I founded or co-founded, the only one I lost was funded with debt.
I have been paid a lot of money to speak at hundreds of famous companies like Apple, Google, Amazon, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle and Disney—which is pretty good for a high school educated, convicted felon from a dirt road in Vermont, who spent 1992 in Federal prison.
In April 1993, my term of imprisonment was declared unconstitutional by Stephen Breyer, who recently retired from the Supreme Court of the United States. I would have been there much longer, if I had not developed a system for getting myself out.
Shortly after my release, I adapted the analog legal research system I created in prison to a computerized system, and then for the next quarter century, sold tens of thousands of subscriptions to small law offices from Portland, Maine to Portland, Oregon.
The competitive intelligence infomediary I co-founded in 1996, was acquired by ADP and is still in business.
My current business partner, Rose Fletcher, is my most successful former mentee—on par with my sons who are also fantastic entrepreneurs and critical thinkers. My media company co-produces the sister podcast to America’s Coach that Rose hosts. Bitches With Itches is a nuts and bolts show for women who want more in business and in life.
My sense of humor plays a role in everything I create. Find the funny, find the opportunity. My creative writing, speaking, production, and development skills have been showcased on Robert McKee’s Storylogue alongside Steven Pressfield (author, “The Legend Of Bagger Vance”), Ed Saxon (producer, “Silence of The Lambs”), Zak Penn (writer, “X-Men”), Paul Haggis (writer, Best Picture Oscar winners, “Crash” and “Million Dollar Baby”), and Sarah Treem, (Writers Guild Award Winner, “House Of Cards”).
In 2011, I was honored to share the cover of Story Magazine with Drew Carey and Russell Brand. A magazine is a thing with pages that required turning. From 2007-2013 I wrote, produced and toured the autobiographical political dramedy, “Fool For A Client” on the North American Independent Theatre Circuit, winning Best Solo Performance Awards at performing arts festivals in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Minneapolis, Boulder, and Washington, D.C. According to NYTheatre.com, I am “the foremost amateur attorney in the history of the United States!” (This explains why the site is now defunct.)
An early precursor to America’s Coach is a one hour corporate keynote I crafted for Toastmasters International called: “Bring Your Show: The Art and Business Of Humorous Speaking”. After finding the video archive, Dananjaya Hettiarachchi, the 2014 World Champion of Public Speaking, commented: “If there is one video I could recommend to you, to get the real essence of public speaking, Bring Your Show would be it!”
Weekly Production
Written Word
I write a minimum of 3500 words a week.
Spoken Word
Every weekend, I adapt the prior week’s writing into an audio-only podcast that is typically 20-30 minutes in length.
