Copied-and-pasted from my previous venture as a financial coach…
Howard has been online ever since there was an online. In 1985 (Pre-Internet) at the tender age of 17, Howard launched BayLine/16 a Bulletin Board System based in Brooklyn accessed by the primitive technology known as a telephone modem. Teen Howard doubled the capacity within 12 months and BayLine/32 established itself as the most popular online service in New York City (with callers from all over America!) serving thousands of subscribers who paid $10 per month. At that time, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg was in diapers celebrating his first birthday and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey might’ve been learning how to ride a bicycle without training wheels. Ten years later this thing called the World Wide Web caught on and the Internet we know was born. Howard was right there, of course. First surfing the web on Lynx, a text-based web browser running on Unix then launching two Internet Service Providers, among the first of their kind on the east coast in 1995 (the original Excaliber in New Jersey followed by Excelsior in New York City). Not content cornering the market on Internet access for a large chunk of the northeast, he went on to NASDAQ-listed RMI.Net, a nationwide Internet and telephone provider, as a Senior Vice President running two divisions. During his tenure he acquired Microsoft’s highest level of technical certification as a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer as well as achieving recognition as a Cisco Certified Network Associate.
From there Howard turned his attention to his passion for writing, launching an interactive fiction publishing company with a global footprint. Bitten by the business bug, he went on to launch a nationwide remote tech support company, took on a consulting role with GeekSquad as a mentor to their senior support techs as well as acting as a liaison between senior management and the staff. He then decided to totally change gears by acquiring a public relations firm.
Along the way Howard picked up college degrees in management and accounting.
Howard’s eclectic skill set, education and depth of knowledge pegs him as a polymath who smirks at every challenge and smiles with every achievement.
I’ve done stupid. I’ve been broke. Then I gained access to the exclusive club Jim Cramer, Robert Kiyosaki and Mark Cuban belong to.
There sure were ups and downs…. then a steady slide downhill as if somebody cut the brakes. Choking up to the eyeballs in credit card debt, then divorce, then house foreclosure. Then things got really bad as I lived through some lean years fundamentally rebuilding my company from the ground up and struggling to make soul-crushing alimony and child support payments… and the rent…
Some days went by with the power shut off, other times I couldn’t make the cable bill so I had to go to my community’s clubhouse to watch TV and use their WI-fi as I worked hard to sign new clients.
My mom begged me to quit that crazy business and get a job. I refused. I’m an employer, not an employee. I’m an entrepreneur. That’s how G-d made me. Fish can’t climb trees or something like that.
When you’re going through hell, keep going. – Winston Churchill
Long story short: I struggled. I strived. I succeeded.
So did CNBC’s Jim Cramer and Rich Dad, Poor Dad author Robert Kiyosaki who were both homeless and living in their cars. Shark Tank legend and billionaire Mark Cuban, who shared an apartment with five roommates, had to sleep on the floor or sometimes on a couch if he was lucky.
I’m proud to be a research contributor to The University of Cambridge’s Judge Business School and Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business. Just saying…