Ivan Turner
Supportive Member
This morning I received a call from a friend and Rotarian brother, who happens to be a lender in our community. I'm naïvely thinking the call is to discuss this weeks upcoming meeting. Boy was I wrong. The conversation quickly turned to my affiliation with Rudy. Evidentially Rudy has been charged in some sort of SEC Fraud relating to his sports drink called "Rudy".
With the exception of a handful of friends in the industry most aren't aware of this story which I feel is worth sharing.
Here's the story - when I first conceived the plan to build a disaster Recovery business, the plan was two-fold. First - the plan was to build the local business to use as a model and shortly thereafter, take it on a national level to serve as a vehicle to help our nations veterans as they transition from active duty to civilian life. I come from a long line of veterans. In fact, all six of my siblings served in various branches, two of which are fully retired. So I do have a deep appreciation for our Veterans, especially those who have been injured or lost their lives serving our nation.
Early into the business development process, I took on three partners, one of who was Daniel "Rudy" Ruettiger. The partners were what most would consider as silent partners. In fact, Other than a couple of phone calls with Rudy, we had never met in person. The partnerships were going to be equity splits and Rudy was going to be the man leading the national charge because of his name recognition in addition to him being a naval veteran and a huge contributor to veteran programs.
Here's the dilemma - after the "deal was struck" I began a robust PR campaign to raise awareness of the initiative. Naturally, I spoke with many groups and individuals- one was Michael Gerber, the man whom I consider as the catalyst for helping to grow my first business through his book - The "E - Myth". I also shared my dream with my Rotary group about the Disaster Brigade, USA initiative. Response was favorable as you might imagine with people interested in the initiative especially since Rudy was to be involved.
So here I sit wondering what I am going to tell my Rotary group at this Fridays meeting, other than the truth of course.
Deb and I traveled to Denver, Chicago, Daytona Florida, South Bend Indiana and many points in between to push the initiative forward. By the way, while in Denver we had dinner with a dear friend Evan Kessler. At any rate, by August of last year all partnerships were dissolved. My original website which proudly displayed Rudy as our man leading the charge was removed and the site was redone.
Speaking of websites - A shameless plug for Raj Manikum CEO of Steam Masters in beautiful Vail Colorado does my sites and is very reasonable.
In closing, though I had never met Daniel in person, nor have I ever watched the movie (I hear it is a tear jerker and watching me cry is not pleasant), I have a great deal of respect for the man and pray that things turn out good for him. The valuable lesson I learned from all of this is to simply - never, ever stop believing in your dreams and just as important - always remember that success is never easy!
With the exception of a handful of friends in the industry most aren't aware of this story which I feel is worth sharing.
Here's the story - when I first conceived the plan to build a disaster Recovery business, the plan was two-fold. First - the plan was to build the local business to use as a model and shortly thereafter, take it on a national level to serve as a vehicle to help our nations veterans as they transition from active duty to civilian life. I come from a long line of veterans. In fact, all six of my siblings served in various branches, two of which are fully retired. So I do have a deep appreciation for our Veterans, especially those who have been injured or lost their lives serving our nation.
Early into the business development process, I took on three partners, one of who was Daniel "Rudy" Ruettiger. The partners were what most would consider as silent partners. In fact, Other than a couple of phone calls with Rudy, we had never met in person. The partnerships were going to be equity splits and Rudy was going to be the man leading the national charge because of his name recognition in addition to him being a naval veteran and a huge contributor to veteran programs.
Here's the dilemma - after the "deal was struck" I began a robust PR campaign to raise awareness of the initiative. Naturally, I spoke with many groups and individuals- one was Michael Gerber, the man whom I consider as the catalyst for helping to grow my first business through his book - The "E - Myth". I also shared my dream with my Rotary group about the Disaster Brigade, USA initiative. Response was favorable as you might imagine with people interested in the initiative especially since Rudy was to be involved.
So here I sit wondering what I am going to tell my Rotary group at this Fridays meeting, other than the truth of course.
Deb and I traveled to Denver, Chicago, Daytona Florida, South Bend Indiana and many points in between to push the initiative forward. By the way, while in Denver we had dinner with a dear friend Evan Kessler. At any rate, by August of last year all partnerships were dissolved. My original website which proudly displayed Rudy as our man leading the charge was removed and the site was redone.
Speaking of websites - A shameless plug for Raj Manikum CEO of Steam Masters in beautiful Vail Colorado does my sites and is very reasonable.
In closing, though I had never met Daniel in person, nor have I ever watched the movie (I hear it is a tear jerker and watching me cry is not pleasant), I have a great deal of respect for the man and pray that things turn out good for him. The valuable lesson I learned from all of this is to simply - never, ever stop believing in your dreams and just as important - always remember that success is never easy!
