I am spirited entrepreneur with a strong desire to maintain my general independence and use my experiences to work with a servitude style. In other words, after twenty years of corporate ladder climbing I was COMPLETELY over it all in 2004 and I still am. Since then, I have been sometimes without gain, sometimes gainfully unemployed or self-employed depending on the day or week.
I started my “OFFICIAL” career in 1984 working on a contract basis, installing and fixing computers for the once great General Motors (GM), in my hometown of Anderson, Indiana. I was offered a position as a Communications Analyst by Electronic Data Systems (EDS) when the company was acquired by GM in 1985. I was nominated by some of the management team shortly after to enter a three month long development program called the Network Communications Development program. I spent three months in the program living in Richardson, Texas and reporting to EDS headquarters. The program was designed for participants to become involved on a daily basis with the then rapidly converging fields of telephony and data communications networks. After returning home and completing several required projects and numerous hours of computer based training I graduated from the program in the spring of 1986.
EDS was a great company during the first six or seven years I worked there. Entrepreneurial employees like myself could have access to work in a very dynamic company. You could work on just about anything as long as you could prove it would make money, or save the company money. I really enjoyed my time during these years and worked TONS. EDS (under Ross Perot) was a true “pay for performance” business model. If you could identify an opportunity and make it happen you would receive timely bonuses. During my first five to six years this was the norm. However, after Perot’s was bought out of his contract by General Motors, the dynamic entrepreneurial work environment he had developed over the years started to fade into GM-style beauracracy. I painfully stayed on as few more years, graduated from another professional development program in 1992, and was promoted several times over the years until I received my first account management position overseeing a portion of the Rolls Royce account in early 1995. I stayed only a short while in this role, I found I had less flexibility in this new “management” role in growing and making the business more profitable than I had ten years prior as a lowly technician. I decided to throw in the towel.
It was during the spring of 1995 was offered a position as Director of Technical Services with Galyan’s Trading company that had been recently purchased in 1995 by The Limited. Galyan’s/ The Limited plans were to turn the regional mom and pop sporting goods retailer into a national chain with fifty stores in five years. It was dynamic, aggressive and right up my ally! I stayed there for five years while we took the business from 80 million per year to over a one billion. I really enjoyed those years. However, I must admit the pace had worn me down for the first time in my life.
In the fall of 1999 I was contacted by a head-hunter that was searching for someone to become a Regional Director for Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS). The position was a newly created one chartered with developing a co-sourced IT service delivery model that was to be standard across all Bristol-Myers Squibb divisions. I acccepted the position in January of 2000 and relocated to Evansville, IN where I worked out of offices at at Mead Johnson(a BMS Division). I remained in Evansville for my first year with BMS before relocating to Plainsboro, NJ in 2001 where I took on additional responsibilities overseeing the support of the Sales and Marketing automation functions. I remained with BMS another three years before jumping off the Ladder.
In 2003, I had invested in two franchise children’s portrait studios in Louisville and Lexington Kentucky that by 2004 were starting to perform surprisingly well. I decided that this would be my leap from corporate life into permanent entrepreneurship(I had owned a couple of part-time businesses over the years). I relocated to Louisville, KY in September of 2004 to continue growing my businesses and expanding my franchise network. Everything seemed to be going as planned until early 2007 when thee economy started to show shines of weakness. Sales had declined slightly, but I believed I had worked through the residual cash flow issues in early 2008. However, in a completely unforeseen series of events, the franchisor (Corporate) filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. Subsequently, one of my major bankers retracted a great deal of my business credit line and my secondary lending source dried up as well. I was forced ( with the credit markets almost completely frozen) to close the doors of my business in September 2008.
The economy has made making new in-roads challenging as an Entrepreneur over the past few years. However, I continue push forward working with determination to avoid the traditional corporate “job” that everyone else wants so badly. I hope to continue to blend a variety of activities I enjoy into a dynamic second phase of my working life.
I still reside in Louisville Kentucky with my wife of 23 years Eleanor and my two soon to be off to college aged children Ward and Elizabeth. I am a follower of the teachings of Jesus Christ.
Odd Name things…
I go by my middle name ( My first name is actually John)
List of Nicknames I have been given as well …
- Big John
- Six – Eight
- Biscuit
Other Ways I have Earned Money in My life….
- Singing
- Being a DJ
- Pouring Concrete
- Laying Brick
- Detailing Cars
- Landscaping Homes
- Cutting Grass
- Building Homes
- Refinishing Floors
- Editing Documents
- Business Book Keeping
- Building Home Computers
- Installing telephone systems
- Selling Businesses
- Flipping Cars
Hobbies I have had….
- Keeping Fish
- Writing Music
- Playing Music
- Boating
- Gardening
- Golfing
- Playing Basketball
Other Ways I spend my time…
- I spend no less than two hours per day reading ( and have for the past 25 Years)
- Watching Documentaries
Basketball…
I attended two different colleges on basketball scholarship but never played in an actual season game for either of them.
Relocation…
I have moved 18 times in my life.
Kyle Paschal 