It’s hard to believe 19 years ago I made the decision to open up an advertising agency in Hamilton Ontario. At the time I called it fingerprint marketing and Design. The concept was an agency that would be unique as you. I tagged line I registered and incorporated as part of our advertising.

 The office was downtown on one Duke Street. Currently a restaurant resides underneath and my old offices have been converted into bachelor apartments. At the time I took over a storage space. And one corner was a desk from 1950, an old washing machine, a snow blower and a sink against the wall. The smell was rustic with old carpet and wood panelling from the 1970s.

Across the hall for me was a doctor who was  a psychiatrist. He was an interesting gentleman who definitely did not like his parking spot taken. In addition was friendly enough kept to himself. I did have the honour of discussing with him a few times business. It was at that time he told me he was an investor in XEROX  and got out of the market as it was becoming to technological for him.

 I expanded from that one office into pretty much the entire floor. From 2003 to 2005 the agency Grew From Myself to almost 40 people. We had the luxury of working with clients from Tim Hortons, NASCAR, Sara Lee and other major brands. We primarily focussed on building websites and developing marketing campaigns on a local level.

 In 2005 I open up the agency in the United States as Sara Lee had migrated down to Pennsylvania I was told if I wish to keep the account I was to move with them which is where I Incorporated accordingly.

 2005 to 2010 were  my  Glory Days. Things were going fantastic  the company was building in the Millions I was travelling across North America meeting clients. Our staff were developing campaigns that were pretty Innovative I had developed a software program that we are marketing and getting recognition through the Lottery Corporation. Things were great.

 The Great Recession took place.  it was a wallop. A punch to the gut, a smack to the face and in less than 2 weeks I went from hero to zero. I call myself a successful failure. And I still look back to that time wondering what the heck I was thinking. In a matter of a few weeks I owed pretty much 1.5 million dollars in debt.

 I downsized, many of my clients were impacted by the same Great Recession as other companies and as such I wasn’t going to be collecting a lot of the revenue that I was due. I had to release a lot of my accounts as I was no longer able to sustain them. 

 I had to downsize the agency to 5 people. That was a very difficult move letting so many people go in such a short period of time. I took advantage of work-share programs offered by the government of Canada to help me get through it. I went through a nasty divorce with my the time due to the financial hardship.

 From 2010 until 2017 things were rebuilding slowly. I was able to sustain my debt and hold tight with many clients that were loyal and saw the value of what I was able to deliver for them. From 2017 until 2020 we were focussed on again large growth.

 Along Comes the pandemic. Once again a slap in the face a punch in the gut and I’m back  not to the degree I was in 2010 but it sure hurt. A restructure of the company once again but this time the demand for our services with our new restructuring layout let itself to become reinvigorated.

 Reinvigorated we were. During the pandemic the demand for e-commerce development and people doing online sales which we had a specialty and understanding how to do it since 2010 was now in demand. We created the company to now become an online sales agency. Dealing less with just building a website we were now creating a Powerhouse of making your website a sales tool for your business.

 We were able to develop relationships with clients that are earning 1 million to now as of today burning between 100 million to 300 million dollar clients. We continue to develop and grow our agency in that direction and with the opening of her Vancouver office in 2020 and soon to be in office in Toronto that Vision continues as of today.

 I can honestly say I did not do this alone. I may have been the one that started but it is the many staff that have come, continue to work and those that have moved on that built the agency what it is today. We are now 19 years old legal drinking age and pretty much all of Canada and I’m excited to the many years ahead of us to come