MY STORY
I am a blessed man to have been offered so many chances to grow and finally to become an independent entrepreneur. That moment presented itself by the unfortunate event that the Management Consultancy firm that I started with colleagues through a management buyout collapsed in its 3rd year of existence. Looking back it was not built on a solid foundation and it was money driven by the major shareholders instead of ideal driven.
There was I without a job on my 45th. Nobody wanted to hire a high ticket Management Consultant with that age and salary requirements. But fortunately, a few of my former customers wanted me to help them out with major organizational problems. In one week I received three assignment requests. To solve that luxury problem I hired 2 former colleagues to participate in my first entrepreneurial step. InnoMotion Partners was born. The company lasted until 2006 when we closed the doors to retire.
I have a long career that is dominated by applying information & communication technology to large corporations. First as a bank employee (start 1971), but since 1989 as an entrepreneur in a specialized management consultancy firm. The internet was just becoming a new technology for business and later for individuals and how that grew into what we all know now. For many years I was a happy user of the functionalities mainly for web search and communication.
I slowly grew into the world of entrepreneurship. The bank allowed me to set up an internal unit that delivered Statistical Analyses Services for Marketing and Local branches. We charged our services cost-based.
I remember setting up my first website for our villa-development business in Bali in 2004. It was not more than an online brochure.
JOHN THOMAS, MARKETING MIX CEO