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Vickie Hall
Executive Director

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317-732-7096

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Zionsville, IN 46077

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zWORKS Graduate Spotlight – Chris Jackson and Glampfitter

Connecting people to nature. It’s a simple idea and the genesis for zWORKS member Chris Jackson’s start up, Revival Recreation, founded in 2019. Some might remember the company name when Chris won the “People’s Choice” award at the inaugural zWORKS Pitch Night. A win he calls “proof of concept.”

Chris was first introduced to zWORKS through his close friend, zWORKS Board President and ongoing business mentor Paul Dreier. Paul encouraged Chris to join, so he could utilize the community, resources, and opportunity offered by zWORKS. The membership has proven invaluable to Chris’ journey.

Chris says “entrepreneurship is a lonely endeavor” and discovered the community zWORKS provided him resources needed for the twists and turns (known and unknown) ahead. His business isn’t the traditional tech-related, coworking, zWORKS startup. A retired US Air Force explosive ordnance disposal team leader, Chris wanted to create a glamping experience for the non-camper. His original idea was to simply set up a glamp site for his customers and take it down when they were done.

After retiring from the military, Chris earned his bachelor’s degree in leadership psychology and a graduate degree in outdoor recreation, while also completing the Syracuse University Veteran Entrepreneurship in residence program at Purdue University. This business foundation told him his idea was good, but the question remained: how do I scale it?

Chris consulted fellow zWORKS members including The Growth Coach Bob Paden and TRG Web Design. He formed a board of advisors that includes Dreier and zWORKS member, Jon Sheedy, founder and principal of Bull Capital. Chris says he “leaned on the support of the community to fail fast, learn, and succeed.”

In the fall 2019, he also met with Zionsville resident Hunter Smith, former Colts punter and owner of WonderTree Farm over breakfast. Chris remembers they talked for hours, a conversation that foreshadowed his future.

With fellow zWORKers input, advice, guidance and a small stipend from his People’s Choice win, Chris got to work shifting his business model to develop Glampfitter LLC, a campground outfitting company dedicated to partnering with existing campsites by outfitting glampgrounds nationwide at KOAs and other locations. The 2020 New Year would be the official launch.

In February 2020, Chris brought Glampfitters to the Indianapolis Boat Sport and Travel show where over 100,000 people experienced his Glamp setups over the course of one week. With the assistance of advisory board member’s Jon and Paul, they left the show with over $250,000 in contracts ready to be finalized at the end of March. Startup was feeling successful.

Then bam—COVID19 began closing the country. The orders were cancelled, and Chris was back to square one. What could he do with four glamp setups in a country quarantined during a historic pandemic?

On a whim, Chris called Hunter at WonderTree Farm to see if he was interested in outfitting a few glampsites (Chris’ display merchandise) during the summer. The two met. What was supposed to be a 30-minute conversation turned into a six hour vision-casting session. They discovered a mutual vision: connecting people to nature and the land.

Hunter started WonderTree farm to build something for his family for generations to come. Growing up on a ranch in Texas, he understood and believed in regenerative farming practices. He wanted to create a system with processes to prove how effective farming benefits the land while bringing fresh food options to the community. Chris was ready to focus and streamline many business operations of the farm while bringing people to the site for a glamping experience.

Four glamp sites were set up and sold out at WonderTree farms in 2020. The glamping experience allowed people to experience the farm while gaining insight and education to regenerative farming practices that benefits community, quality of food, and life of the animals. Overnight guests book a site and get to order fresh eggs, bacon, meat and other items to cook (grills included) during their stay.

Chris and Hunter poured entrepreneurial energies into operations by updating the point of sale system, creating business processes, installing new freezers, and managing costs by finding ways to partner with local farmers and business owners.

Ultimately, the two have developed a shared vision for an AgrilPark model, dedicated to becoming a food staple provider for people living in the surrounding 10 miles and creating job opportunities for the community. WonderTree Farm includes Indiana’s first drive-through farmers market that allows community members to visit the farm and purchase fresh meat, eggs, raw dairy and other food items.

When Chris reflects on his entrepreneurial journey, he credits zWORKS saying, “My successes in this community are solely based on my connections at zWORKS.”

About WonderTree Farms

  • Located at 2280 US 421 Zionsville
  • The glamping season opens April 15. Get rates, options and book a stay on the website.
  • The WonderTree Farm Market is open Tuesday to Friday. Hours vary

About Regenerative Farming

  • Regenerative farming focuses on building soil health. This allows farmers to invest in their farmland for future generations.
  • Regenerative farming is good for the environment. Regenerative farming practices help to decrease CO2 emissions.

Featured Members – Adelpha Twyman

Adelpha TwymanUncovering the career path you want to pursue can be a difficult and daunting task, no matter where you are in your life. Even after being in the workforce for years, many people change careers. Ultimately, this question is hard to answer and frequently asked early in your life.

As the Extended Experiences Coordinator for Zionsville Community High School, Adelpha Twyman connects students to opportunities to explore their interests and passions to uncover the possibilities for future careers.

Born and raised in Dallas, Texas, Adelpha attended Texas A&M University earning her undergraduate degree in Education. She met her husband while working for the Plano Independent School District. After marrying in 1997, she and her husband decided to make Indianapolis, her husband’s hometown, their permanent residence.

Adelpha began her career in the Dallas Independent School District where she was a middle school English teacher for six years. Following this time, Adelpha returned to school at the University of North Texas to obtain her Master’s Degree in School Counseling. She would move on to work as a counselor for W.H. Adamson High School (Dallas ISD) and then Bowman Middle School (Plano ISD).

Upon moving to Indianapolis, Adelpha began work as the Dean of Girls at Southport High School. During this time, she earned her second Master’s Degree in Secondary School Administration from Butler University. At this time, the opportunity presented itself to be the Assistant Principal and Guidance Counselor at Speedway Junior High. Accepting this position made Adelpha the first African American professional to be hired in Speedway Schools.

Adelpha eventually found her position with Zionsville Community High School as the first Extended Experience Coordinator. The district’s administration researched local and national high school career programs to create the Extended Experiences resource that complimented Zionsville’s academic offerings. Adelpha’s experience  as a classroom teacher, administrator, and counselor made her the perfect candidate to help find opportunities beyond the classroom.

Her role as coordinator allows her to connect students with opportunities, whether it’s for careers, global travels, community services, or academic research. . This resource helps ZCHS students gain experience prior to graduation so that they may make more informed decisions post-high school.. Ultimately, the goal is to help students prepare for the next chapter of their life.Students have engaged in various endeavors from  interning with zWORKS partners  to  conducting research for a federal grant in IUPUI’s science lab to earning a  pilot’s license before graduation.

In the initial three years of developing the resource, zWORKS partnered with the high school to conduct a one-day Entrepreneurial Boot Camp. Following participation in the camp, students interned with various zWORKS businesses.. This partnership helped entrepreneurial minded students learn what it means to start and build a business. It also allowed these entrepreneurs to give back to the community and receive assistance with their businesses during the summer months. This win-win alliance helped students to learn a great deal about small business and entrepreneurship, as well as provide entrepreneurs with much-needed assistance.

Coming in May, zWORKS and ZCHS will partner for the third time and host a “Shark Tank” event. Students will create and present their business ideas to participating zWORKS entrepreneurs, the way a startup would when searching for funding. This will help students gain real world experience by creating a business plan and presenting it for feedback.

In the future, Adelpha is hoping to build on the existing relationship with zWORKS to provide  students with greater opportunities  within the zWORKS community. As the Extended Experience Coordinator, Adelpha is constantly looking for new experiences  for the students of Zionsville Community High School to explore their interests, passions, and offer servcie.

If you are interested in partnering with ZCHS and offering students opportunities to partner with your organization, please feel free to contact Adelpha at atwyman@zcs.k12.in.us.

Getting to know Adelpha on a more personal level…

  • Adelpha holds two masters degrees: one from the University of North Texas and the other from Butler University.
  • Adelpha and her husband have one son who is a Freshman at Ball State University.

Featured Members – Kimberly Hartzel

Kimberly HartzelAs we surpass one year in the COVID-19 world, it’s easy to flash back to the memories of the early days of the pandemic. The uncertainty of what was to come led to the scramble to get your home stocked with toilet paper and hand sanitizer. Many things have changed during this time and have evolved over the last year. As the pandemic raged on, the supply for cleaning supplies and hand sanitizer grew scarce. In an effort to alleviate the strain on local businesses and their community, Yellow Turtle Hand Sanitizer launched with the hope of providing quality, affordable bulk hand sanitizer.

Originally from Chicago, Kimberly Hartzel worked in Marketing and Advertising for several years at BBDO as she built her career. Mainly focusing on traditional forms of advertising she had the opportunity to work with Dodge Ram Truck and the Wrigley Company. She organized marketing campaigns and events all over the city of Chicago.

Upon moving to Indianapolis twelve years ago, Kimberly raised her four children and would return to work with the United States Tennis Association (USTA). As a nonprofit, their marketing budget was small so there traditional advertising efforts were limited.

At this point, content marketing was taking off and Kimberly took advantage of the early digital marketing space and the use of social media as a marketing tool. Her role with USTA allowed her to work with many different people, helping them stay active and healthy while also growing her career in marketing.

By the time the pandemic hit, Kimberly was ready to move on from the USTA and was looking for her next role. The sudden need for high quality and affordable hand sanitizer made in the US gave Kimberly the opportunity to launch Yellow Turtle.

A main driving force behind her ambition to start her own company was to set an example of strength and resilience for her daughter, to get her involved with small business and show her what can be done in the business world.

Yellow Turtle started as a family venture, with Kimberly’s daughter helping her name the company, design the logo, and support her throughout its development. Launching the business involved understanding and meeting all FDA regulations surrounding hand sanitizer. At the time, many people were selling harmful hand sanitizer, not approved by the FDA. Part of the mission statement for Yellow Turtle is to focus on giving its clients the chance to do the best they can. That means providing them with the highest quality, FDA approved hand sanitizer at the best price they can.

Yellow Turtle supported many small and medium sized businesses immediately during the early stages of the pandemic. With the limitations on shipping and high demand for hand sanitizer, the ability for Yellow Turtle to support these businesses with US-produced hand sanitizer allowed them to safely operate day to day. Now, Yellow Turtle continues to work with several of these businesses providing bulk supplies of hand sanitizer.

Part of the mission for Yellow Turtle is to continue to support single moms. As a way to do this, Kimberly and Yellow Turtle partner with Coburn Place, whose mission is to empower people impacted by interpersonal abuse. They provide resources, housing, support, and much more to their survivors.

Kimberly is optimistic for the future of Yellow Turtle, as they continue to work with their clients to supply them with affordable hand sanitizer. Looking to the future she hopes to expand her offering to include more cleaning supplies and to continue to give the clients of Yellow Turtle the chance to do the best they can.

Getting to know Kimberly on a more personal level…

  • Kimbely remarried a year and a half ago. Her and her husband love to play pickleball whenever they get the chance.
  • Kimberly has a daughter who lives in France. She was able to see her in January in the French island of St. Barts.
  • Kimberly lives just a bike ride away from downtown Zionsville in the new Vonterra neighborhood.

 

Featured Members – Virtual Marketing Directors

In the virtual business environment of today it is more important now than ever before to fully understand the importance and power of a high quality website. For many businesses, their websites’ ecommerce ability and high functionality allowed them to weather the storm over the past year. Today, as companies look to the future, they should prioritize their website. Is it high quality? Is it supporting your sales funnel? Is it optimized for SEO? These are all questions that should be asked when reviewing your website performance.

The Virtual Marketing Directors, formerly known as the Indy Web Developers, are a team of three that started by focusing on their expertise of creating high quality websites. Founder and Owner, David McArdle started the company three years ago, born out of his inability to sit still. David is a pilot for a local freight company, spending his nights flying he found an abundance of time to fill during the day. Joining him on the team is Zach Bowman, the full time web designer for the company and Alyse Tucker Bounds, who is the team’s Virtual Marketing Director, working with clients to onboard them, create content, and handle all marketing efforts.

As the once named “Indy Web Developers” continued to grow, work began to expand past just website development. As this continued and the client base started to expand outside of Indiana, the company rebranded to become “Virtual Marketing Directors”.

Even though the company has grown, a large portion of the work continues to focus on website development. Creating websites that support their clients’ sales funnel is one of the main focuses of their work. The team is StoryBrand certified and uses this approach to help their clients’ websites cut through the noise and communicate their message clearly to their audience.

Understanding the power and value of website sales and SEO performance is a priority for the Virtual Marketing Directors. Their goal is to not only to create websites that optimize these opportunities but also help their clients understand its importance. As the Virtual Marketing Directors continue to grow they are hoping to create and maintain these long lasting relationships. The company’s goal is to methodically grow while building long lasting partnerships organically. With limited spend on their own marketing, their continued work with established companies creating high quality websites is a trend they hope will take them to the next level.

Looking to the future, the Virtual Marketing Directors are excited to see where their recipe for success takes them. The team is constantly learning and improving to stay on top of ever changing SEO best practices so they can continue to support their clients.

Meet the Virtual Marketing Directors Team

David McArdle – Owner/Founder

David McArdleDavid McArdle is the founder of Indy Web Designers and The Virtual Marketing Directors. When he is not helping small business owners create websites that grow their businesses he enjoys running, biking and any excuse to be outdoors. As a StoryBrand Certified Guide, David has found his calling helping businesses communicate what they do in a way that actually helps businesses grow.

Zach Bowman – Website Designer

Zach BowmanZachary Bowman is the Lead Designer for the Virtual Marketing Directors. With a desire to create by blending technology and art, Zach shifted into the technology industry after receiving his BA in Criminal Justice from Indiana University. His daily involves handling the design & development for all of our clients. When he is not building websites, he enjoys competitive gaming, indoor bouldering, and being a lifetime Colts fan while living in Fishers, Indiana.

Alyse Tucker Bounds

Alyse Tucker BoundsAlyse Tucker Bounds is the Virtual Marketing Director for Indy Web Designers/Virtual Marketing Directors. She enjoys content writing, onboarding new clients, and maintaining the marketing side of the business. Alyse received her undergraduate degree in Art History and Classical Studies at Herron School of Art + Design in Indianapolis. After working/studying in Metropolitan London, England she moved back to Indiana to pursue a career in marketing. She was offered the opportunity to work alongside David and his team at Indy Web Designers. She is passionate about helping people communicate with their clients in innovative and successful ways.

Getting to know David on a more personal level…

  • David is a pilot and started Virtual Marketing Directors in his free time.
  • David typically spends his nights flying and his days running Virtual Marketing Directors.
  • He is grateful for the solid team that is able to take care of their clients.

Featured Member – Eric White

Eric WhiteInspiration can be hard to find when searching for it. Oftentimes, the spark of inspiration is ignited at random moments when you least expect it. This happened with zWORKer Eric White as he pulled into work in April of 2015.

Eric was born and raised in Columbus, Indiana located south of Indianapolis, just east of Bloomington. Eric attended Indiana University in Bloomington where he graduated in 1992 with a degree in Computer Science. He moved up to Indianapolis post graduation to begin his career in Enterprise Software Development.

Living in a carriage house at 44th and Meridian, Eric would meet his wife, who at the time, lived in the main house from which he rented. Working in developing Enterprise Software, he worked with both trucking and train transportation companies, developing and improving their software for the managers and drivers of the companies.

As his career progressed, Eric recognized that his skills in relationship building and project management complimented his deep understanding of Software Development. Pivoting his career path, Eric started working in the Project Management side of Enterprise Software Development. He helped ensure the ROI of the customer coupled with making sure the operation of the software was understood and implemented.

Eric worked in Enterprise Software Development for 20 years before listening to a podcast called The Critical Path with host Horace Dediu, which inspired him to start his work with Revealed.

The inspiring episode focused on the Jobs to be Done theory pioneered by the show’s guest, Bob Moesta. Bob takes the host through an interview focused on a recent car purchase Horace has made. This interview goes deep into the theory of this particular interview technique and how it helped explain key moments in the purchasing decision process.

Wanting to learn and understand more about this process, Eric started doing research and eventually found his current business partner, Allen Klement on Twitter. Allen was writing a book titled When Coffee and Kale Compete, which focuses directly on the Jobs to be Done theory.

This work inspired Eric to want to understand the main question being asked in The Critical Path and When Coffee and Kale Compete: why? Why do consumers make the decisions they do? Why are consumers going to behave differently?

Eric would spend weeks flying between New York and Indianapolis to work with Allen on learning and understanding the Jobs to be Done Theory. As they worked, they became good friends and with the launch of Allen’s book, opportunities started to arise.

Their first client, Pipedrive CRM started working with Revealed and over the years has continued to use its services to understand their buyer. Eric found a moment of realization on how impactful the work of Revealed had been for Pipedrive, when the founder of the company attributed much of its success to the work Revealed had done for them.

Seeing the full impact of their research, Eric and Allen have continued their work with Revealed and have been able to help technology companies use their customer research to solve their complicated growth problems. They have had the opportunity to grow their operations in the US as well as Europe, spending an 80 hour week working with a company based in Paris to develop a new product. Revealed has partners in Berlin and Lisbon and continues to grow.

As Revealed moves on into 2021, it focuses on its continued success in what it knows as well as growing its services. Revealed has begun focusing on using data and research to predict market trends. With a new book due to come out focused on the topic, the company is excited for what the future holds.

Getting to know Eric on a more personal level…

  • Eric is the president of his Homeowners Association and loves the job. If he could make his living doing it he would.
  • As a result of being president of the homeowners association, he is involved in state politics. Recently he has been helping with the legislative problems arising from the new 5G rollout.

Featured Member – Lance Schwab

Lance SchwabOne of the aspects that truly makes zWORKS unique is the variety in its memberships. As we highlighted in our last Featured Member blog post, there is a wide range in zWORKers from e-learners to entrepreneurs. zWORKer Lance Schwab is no different in that his journey and profession is as unique as the next zWORKer.

Lance was born and raised in Indiana, growing up in the small town of Remington. Staying relatively close to home, Lance attended Purdue University. During his time as a Boilermaker, he studied business and upon graduation, moved to Indianapolis to start his career working in finance for Owens Illinois, a glass bottle manufacturing company.

During his time with OI, Lance wore many hats including managing the factory operations, earning his Six Sigma Black Belt Certification. He eventually moved onto Element Three where he joined a small team of six in a Finance role. Looking back on his journey, Lance identifies this chapter of his career as where he really “cut his teeth” in growing a business. He worked with the team on everything from marketing strategy to operations and account management. Eventually, he helped the company grow to over 40 employees by the end of his time with them.

Lance used that experience and his passion for helping young companies grow into sustainable businesses when he joined Tegra, a family business started with his father. Tegra’s inspiration begins when Lance’s father was in the Ukraine with their church doing work with local orphanages. Driving around the country, he had the opportunity to see the vast farmland, and as an experienced farmer, recognized that the technology and farming methods were out of date compared to the current US farming practices.

Over the following six months, Lance and his father took this observation, conceptualized the business plan, and started working to get boots on the ground. In the early days, they worked to overcome language barriers, cultural differences, and a significant learning curve. Operating largely in the Ukraine and Eastern Europe this journey has been challenging and difficult, but very rewarding. Lance and his father have built Tegra from the ground up over the last seven or eight years.

Tegra now works with its team to provide Irrigation, BioStimulants, Biologicals, and other farming solutions for the region’s farmers. The team working for Tegra today is the same team put together seven years ago at the inception of the company. Despite the difficulties of the past year, Tegra’s team has maintained high morale and its experience has allowed the team to adapt with the complexity of 2020.

Prior to the pandemic, Lance would travel to the Ukraine half a dozen times a year, spending about four months of the year in the country. Every spring his family joins him for a one month trip. As a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, Lance has not traveled to the country in over a year, but hopes things will change sometime in the near future.

Lance and the Tegra team are headed into 2021 optimistic and motivated. Rounding out 2020, the team was able to complete a major project exporting Alfalfa Hay directly to dairy farmers in the Middle East. With the expectation to continue their regular pace of 1-3 major projects a year, the Tegra team is hitting the ground running in 2021.

You can learn more about Tegra by visiting their website.

Getting to know Lance on a more personal level…

  • The whole Schwab family goes to the Ukraine for a month every Spring.
  • His two month old has a passport.
  • Ukranian Customs agents are inclined to let you through security quicker when your family is with you.

Featured Member – Andrew Ratz

Andrew RatzFor everyone, this past year required some level of flexibility to continue to move forward in today’s world. These changes came all around and in many ways as daily routines changed, businesses changed, and we all became zoom experts.

As zWORKS heads into 2021, one thing we will continue to focus on is the health and safety of our members. 2020 brought a new kind of zWORKer: the e-learner. As schools and universities continue with online classes and virtually meeting, zWORKS found members whose focus are on their studies rather than their business.

Andrew Ratz is a Freshman at Loyola University Chicago where he studies Biochemistry with the hope to attend medical school postgrad. As a Zionsville native, Andrew attended Zionsville High School while playing soccer for the Indiana Fire Developmental Academy. Andrew is the youngest with three older sisters, one currently in medical school, one in dental school, and the third attends Butler University also studying Biochemistry. The example set by his older siblings as well as his father, who has a PhD in Organic Chemistry, helped Andrew decide that he wanted to pursue this path toward medical school.

As he searched for his dream school, his initial focus was influenced by soccer, wanting to play at the collegiate level while reaching his academic goals. Eventually he landed on Loyola, which he first visited for a soccer camp in high school.

With the outbreak of the pandemic, Andrew never made it to campus for his Fall semester as all courses were shifted to online. Working on his studies at home proved to be difficult. Distractions got in the way and eventually Andrew’s mother signed him and his sister up with memberships to zWORKS.

zWORKS was able to provide a quiet study space needed to focus on the academic workload that comes along with online learning. Much of the semester was spent teaching himself from the textbook, which can be difficult at times with science-based material. The ability to work in a conference room and use the whiteboard to help visualize his work greatly benefited Andrew as he worked through the semester.

Besides the quiet study space, Andrew was able to spend more time in downtown Zionsville and experience the entrepreneurial spirit that is present in zWORKS.

When he is able to return to campus, Andrew will be rooming with his friend and fellow Zionsville High School alum. When exactly that will be is still undetermined, but Andrew is hoping it will come in the Spring semester.

Getting to know Andrew on a more personal level…

  • Enjoys playing video games with his friends in his free time.
  • His full name is Andrew Michael Ratz, Jr. and his contact prescription is often confused with his Dads.
  • Andrew loves IU Basketball.

Featured Member – Matt Philips

Matt PhilipsHave you struggled with creating your ideal home experience? Creating an environment in your home that you love can be challenging.  Finding the right combination of furniture and technology is a difficult task when you go at it alone. Oftentimes the furniture you find isn’t what you expect and does not match the way you pictured it.

When Matt Philips founded Parker Gwen, this is the problem he sought to solve. He wanted to provide an online shopping experience for his customers that was like nothing else. As families seek to create an experience in their home that will last, Parker Gwen is there to help guide them through it by assisting the shopper in picking out the best quality furniture and technology for the space.

Matt’s background in retail runs deep beginning over 20 years ago in Crown Point, Indiana, working in retail in high school. Matt attended the Kelly School of Business at Indiana University where he studied Retail and Marketing. Following his graduation from IU, Matt started his career in Minnesota with Best Buy. Matt was with the company for nine years before taking a role with Groupon.

Working for Groupon in its early years, he had the opportunity to grow an entire division of the company from scratch. Matt helped launch Groupon Goods, growing the division from nothing to a $400 million operation in four years. This experience of creating and growing a whole division of a business sparked his initial desire to seriously consider launching his own retail operation.

Following his time with Groupon, Matt joined the Senior Management team at HH Gregg. For this position, Matt and his family returned to Indiana and moved to Zionsville about four years ago. While working for HH Gregg, Matt’s desire to create something new remained and he felt more prepared than ever to take the leap into entrepreneurship. Matt prepared himself for a career shift and started his journey in creating Parker Gwen.

Parker Gwen strives to help their clients personalize their shopping experience. When describing the retail experience that is most common in the market, Matt identifies the clutter of options that the shopper is confronted with. Many of these options are low quality and simply not what you want when building a lasting home experience. There are endless filters found on sites like Amazon and Wayfair, but Parker Gwen offers personalization and the quality of product that the consumer desires. Parker Gwen helps customers build the experience in their home that they want and their Customer Support Advocates make sure that happens. These experts are here to help consumers identify the right products for their needs and ensure everything from pillow textures to cabinet colors match.

As a young brand, Parker Gwen has been able to build its trust with customers through consistent delivery of high quality products and support. Taking out the complexity that can come with retail shopping and directly addressing these issues with the consumer allows for a stress free process when working with the Parker Gwen team.

Getting to know Matt on a more personal level…

  • Matt has been to Las Vegas over 20 times, but always for business.
  • He has been to Japan, South Korea, China, and Taiwan.
  • Matt has two kids named Parker and Gwen.
  • Matt enjoys cooking and hosting. He has won several burger cooking competitions.

Featured Member – Paul McCoy

Paul McCoy

Being a good coach in any aspect is a difficult thing to do. It requires several qualities that many people lack and can be hard to develop. Oftentimes the best coaches are those who are the most passionate about the subject matter and understand the point of view of those they are coaching.

Originally from the city of York, in the United Kingdom, Paul started his professional career with Rolls-Royce as a Mechanical Engineer. He worked full time for ten years in the UK, earning a MBA along the way. Having always wanted to work abroad, Paul was able to transfer to  to the United States where he has lived and worked for the past 21 years.

Paul first moved to Indiana, and then transferred to Virginia, where he helped Rolls-Royce open a new factory. One aspect of this project was outreach in the local community. Paul became involved with the local Chamber of Commerce and within ten months, was elected as the President of the Chamber of Commerce.

As the chamber was facing significant financial trouble, Paul had to work hard to lead them on the path of growth and sustainability. This project was a pivotal point for Paul and would prove to be influential for him down the road when transitioning his career to business coaching.

That first experience in leading a group dedicated to local small businesses and coaching them to improve was one that stuck with Paul as he continued his career with Rolls-Royce. Ultimately, Paul and his family would move to Indianapolis.

After some time working for Rolls-Royce in Indianapolis, Paul decided to take his career in a new direction and pursue business coaching. Paul has a coaching background in sports as a Zionsville High School Rugby Coach for the last eight years. Along with that, he played rugby his whole life, traveling internationally to compete. Leveraging some of the skills gained from experience with competitive sports and combining that with his professional knowledge and experience has allowed him to build and grow his professional coaching career.

As a coach, Paul plays a number of different roles when working with a business. He helps CEOs make decisions they may be struggling with by providing an outside perspective. This outside perspective also allows him to help streamline workflows for his client, improving efficiency and lowering costs.

As an engineering minded individual, Paul has found some of his most successful projects come from businesses with like minded dispositions. Working with many different engineering businesses dentists, financial institutions, CPAs, bankers, and an assortment of other professional businesses. One particular successful project came with a chiropractic business. With Paul’s coaching, he helped one associate increase their number of clients per week from 65 to an average of 122. Their peak week during this time reached 225.

Now, as a coach under Tidal Coaching, Paul is focused on delivering for his clients what “TIDAL” stands for. Talent, Integrity, Diagnostics, Achievability, and Leverage.

Get to know Paul on a more personal level…

  • Paul and his family love the outdoors and often go hiking, cycling or kayaking.
  • Paul loves to travel and when he can he tries to travel back to the UK to see his parents as often as possible.
  • Paul loves to try new things and has recently tried archery for the first time.
  • Paul played rugby in Europe, Asia, Americas and Australia, playing internationally with his Rugby club.

Featured Member – Jeff Wishek

Jeff WishekEntrepreneurship can be a long and bumpy journey, filled with highs and lows, consistency and inconsistency. Experience, perseverance, and support are major factors in navigating this field and ultimately essential to seeing success. Jeff Wishek has all of these factors behind him and has been building his career over the last twenty years, setting himself up for success in his newest endeavor as Midas franchisee.

Growing up in California, Jeff entered the workforce in a quality control role for MTC Laboratories then moving to Air Industries Company, which manufactured metal and aerospace products. From here, along with a number of management certifications, Jeff grew his career to include several other quality control positions. Ultimately, Jeff took on a position working for a company named Alfa Leisure which produced motorhomes.

In 2002, Jeff left the company to join his father in starting their own trailer manufacturing business where he would gain his first experience in starting and running a business. Jeff worked with his father manufacturing trailers until about 2007 when they decided to pivot the business to e-commerce, selling trailer parts on ebay. During this time, April, Jeff’s wife made a career change from teaching and joined the business. As time went on, Jeff and April took the experience they had gained in e-commerce and pursued an opportunity in the Indianapolis area so they could be closer to family.

In 2012, Jeff and April launched IndeCorp, LLC. They have successfully run their e-commerce business for the last eight years and continue to do so, operating as a third party seller on all online marketplaces as well as their own site. After some time Jeff and April found they wanted to shift gears from IndeCorp and start something new. They wanted to distance themselves from the heavy influence which Amazon holds over the e-commerce industry.

Looking for the next venture, Jeff researched a broad scope of opportunities, casting a wide net to determine what fit their needs. Ultimately, they wanted something that fit the strengths Jeff has in process implementation and efficiency.

Landing on Midas, April took over the management of IndeCorp, as Jeff launched the team’s newest venture as franchisee with Midas. Touch of Gold, LLC currently has four Midas locations throughout Indiana, employing over 20 people. With the goal of having eight to ten locations by the end of next year. Touch of Gold, LLC is growing fast.

It was not as smooth as it may seem when Jeff and April started down this path in 2018. To learn the business and understand its intricacies, Jeff spent ten months on location, working five to six days a week away from his family, at their first Midas location in Valparaiso, Indiana. His goal was to deeply understand the business model so they could successfully replicate it over and over again all over Indiana.

Jeff and April are members of the community and live in Whitestown, Indiana with their children, a thirteen year old son and ten year old daughter. With their ultimate goal of creating jobs and providing high quality customer service to the community, Jeff hopes to headquarter Touch of Gold, LLC in Boone County.

Get to know Jeff on a more personal level…

  • Jeff and his family love to travel and will often take camping trips.
  • His family has traveled to see Niagara Falls and Yellowstone, camping along the way.
  • Jeff and April love to spend time with their kids and take advantage of as much time as they can.
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