Q. When did you become an entrepreneur?
A. My parents were both entrepreneurs, and the bug bit me when I was 12, and I opened up a popcorn wagon in Wichita, Kansas, at the corner of Kellogg and Bluff. I rented the wagon for $2 and made $16 my first day. (12 hours). From then on, I knew that making money was fun.
Q. Did you ever work for other people?
A. Lots of times. My past is what you could call "checkered." At various times, in between attending college, I worked for a circus, a newspaper in Europe, and as a nurse in Rome.
Q. Did you go to school for entrepreneurship?
A. No. I did go to college and got the requisite degrees. BA. MA. PhD. That segment of my life led to teaching at a college. I taught business communication.
Q. How did you start ASAP Research?
A. The root beginning of the company began in 1980, when I was made editor of Entrepreneur Magazine that specialized in helping people go into business. At that time, the word wasn't as popular, and most newsstands didn't know where to place it [the magazine]. We had a simple editorial concept of "copy success." We would interview companies that had a new or unique business, and write about how they did it. Our advice was very basic, very bottom line. We told people how to hire people. How to fire them. How to market. How to write ads.
Q. So you investigated the businesses and then told others what to do?
A. Yes. And I did that for about eight years, and during that time, I met a lot of people in business all over the world, and we started working together on an informal basis. Everyone needs consulting. And everyone needs a forum. The way we worked originally was this. We set up offices in each city where there was a member consultant. And then we would fax requests for help back and forth. And we would split commissions on the deals. For instance, our first really big score was when one of our associates in London ...