Let’s start with the introductions. My name is Mark Bove. By trade, I’m an entrepreneur, author, and business marketing coach. Over the years, I’ve built my success on a reputation for seizing the concept of what ‘business’ means in the 21st century. My personal style is a blend of practicality and imagination. I believe this unique blend is becoming the new definition of entrepreneur.
My focus is on serving my customers and providing them with value and a level of assistance that sets me apart from the competition. What I am out there doing is helping businesses grow towards success, reaching out a helping business hand to others, and assisting businesses in identifying their needs. I want to share my experiences with others because I believe my journey can offer valuable insights to those looking to launch their own business or career.
I have always endeavored for nothing short of excellence. Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, fresh out of college, I tackled my first business pursuit. Turns out, I was pretty darn good at it, too! But, as we all know, we can never predict what life is going to throw our way. This first business endeavor was interrupted when I was involved in a serious accident. I sustained injuries that greatly interfered with my ability to continue on with the profession I had chosen. In case I had been hard pressed to think of ways to spend the moolah I’d been earning, the hospital bills and extensive rehabilitation were ready and waiting to snap up all that green.
I’ve accepted the physical challenges I will continue to face, but ‘disabled’ wasn’t a term that was going to define who I am. Nope! I had other plans in mind. For me, this was the right time to reinvent myself as an entrepreneur. The business world can get wrapped up in a dog-eat-dog mentality. It’s all about competition. I decided to look at things in a new way � what if I could be a whole other type of entrepreneur, one that provides support for businesses?
The product of my efforts to restructure my business and my passion is Your One Stop (www.youronestop.com), a printing and design service. Yes, I know this is going to sound clich�, but Your One Stop truly did start out as nothing more than me in a basement working doggedly towards a dream. Stick with me here � I promise that’s the last time I’ll sound like the intro to an anecdote in “Chicken Soup for the Entrepreneur’s Soul.” In all seriousness, my vision was to fill a major gap, a gap that rivaled the Grand Canyon in enormity: a service that supports businesses at all level. Basically, customers who came to Your One Stop for their printing and design needs would be able to get more than one type of service within my area of expertise. Basically, if you could print something on it, I was determined to offer it.
So my business started out small and (literally!) underground, but I knew that there were no limits to Your One Stop’s potential for growth. Bound and determined to operate a business above sea level, I began building myself a ladder for success. I developed a marketing plan that focused on three major points: growth, my customers’ needs, and total creativity and imagination in my products and services.
Before long, my vision became a reality. Your One Stop provides services in every area of printing and design. (see Channel 7 documentary four years into business. We are now at the begin of our eighth year in business.)
The benefit to my customers is convenience and specialized, expert help. Your One Stop continued to expand and became a place where businesses could find more than signs. They could also find support, and I provided unparalleled convenience in offering services that met their design and printing needs, start to finish. Finally, businesses had a place where all their image needs could be fulfilled in one stop � hence the name Your One Stop!
Over time, I saw more opportunities for growth presenting themselves. I expanded into other areas of design such as web design and hosting. It was a natural fit, given that Your One Stop services businesses who harness the technology of the 21st century.
Then I moved into one of day’s hottest emerging trends when I created a branched I call One Stop Auto Graphics. It’s for businesses that wanted an actual automobile to speak to their company’s image as they’re cruising around town. One Stop Auto Graphics has been a phenomenal success. I have more than 4,000 customers who continuously turn to me for support with their growing business and evolving image in the community.
When it comes down to the nitty gritty, substance � not image � is what matters. Of course, all businesses must consider the image they project. What I mean is that there has to be something of real value behind clever slogans. I saw a way to put my beliefs into action when I observed businesses that needed that extra push and were asking for a expert business hand to guide them along the way. And so All Aboard Advertising was born. I started All Aboard Advertising to help my customers advertise their business multiple ways, not only through the traditional approaches like signs and web design, but also through reconceptualizing what advertising means.
All Aboard Advertising is what I point to as strong example of what I am as entrepreneur � a mentor and a coach to businesses looking for innovative guidance. This dual role began in earnest with Guerrilla Marketing Coaching, which has helped several businesses build their own identity and gain success in their individual endeavors.
I coach businesses in large part because I want them to know that they need to get the word out. My book, “Getting the Word Out,” www.gettingthewordout.com expands on the coaching on practical, everyday issues that I provide to my customers. I decided to write a book so that businesses will have a resource they continue to reference when they need advice on achieving success. In this book, as well as in my coaching, workshops, and seminars, I use practical examples that make the concepts easier to grasp and retain.
Everything I do is built around a single concept. As a business, building relationships comes before any other pursuit. Interpersonal relationships are more than just a one-time exchange of goods and services; these relationships lead to the development of future connections with other businesses and individuals.
I have incorporated this core principle into another business, www.understandingothers.com. Through this site, I have the ability, and the privilege, of developing more connections with those who are interested in learning more about who they are, how they interact with others, and what their best personal and business strengths are.
Success isn’t handed to us on a silver platter. After my accident, I overcame challenges and looked at things in a whole new way. The success that I’ve experienced as a result of my reinvention got me to thinking that I could help others in yet another way. I wanted to share my experiences and my insights as they progress through their own, sometimes rocky, path to success. It’s an ever-changing world we live in, and the meaning of “doing business” is changing as well. I dove into the 21st century with a sense that we’ve got to do something new. If you’re ready to do the same, levels of success beyond your wildest of dreams are ready and waiting.
