Dating : John Piazza Norton and how he began morphing into the Business Fireman

Ok well here it goes. I am going to lay it all out on the line so I will be totally exposed and have my goal set recorded to keep me accountable.

My name is John Piazza Norton and I come from a long line of circus performers. My mom walked the tightrope and had a dog act, my grandparents ran the lion attraction, and my aunt was even Miss Ringling 1957. Even though it was a big part of their lives, it was never a part of mine. They never wanted me to be exposed to it.

It was a hard life. A nomadic life. My mom never got past the third grade when she was pulled out of school — and always regretted never having the chance to learn and choose for herself.

That said, you can imagine exactly how focused she was on making sure I went to school and did well. I was more interested in making money.

My mom and grandpa would grow tremendous gardens year after year. I would go from house to house selling folks (who also had tremendous gardens) more stock for them as they would can the produce. I would also climb into the thickets to pick gallons of black raspberries to sell. Or, my grandpa would park the truck on the side of the road and just drop the tailgate for me to sell produce. I loved selling other people’s stuff.

I also loved sports. With a town as small as ours, if everyone didn’t play the sport…we generally couldn’t field a team. So we practiced and I have got to say, I was probably the world’s most okayest sports player in the history of high school. You know, 1st team conference honorable mention type of good. Always knew the play, never offside, take the right angle, no natural talent type of good.

That was okay by me as I had to learn it all myself. My dad had been shot and killed in a robbery when I was 8. It was the whole reason that we had moved to Missouri in the first place to be closer to my grandparents. Mom didn’t have time to play sports with me and I just got more awkward. I took the time to study and learn and prepare for the challenge but the ability just wasn’t there. But I loved leading the team and being able to maestro a concerted effort. We were in the State playoffs every year and it kept my competitive spirit going.

Coming from a different state and growing up in a small town made it easy to not really fit in socially. There was always something just a little off when dealing with my contemporaries that were born there. I didn’t drink or smoke or run around… mainly just played dungeons and dragons with my best friend and sold fruits and vegetables so I guess part of that alienation is my fault too. So when the scholarships started coming in (calm down, they were all academic), I was more than ready to get to the big city to reinvent myself.

I had many full ride opportunities to division I schools across the country but I knew that I would feel so lost plus I had excess in scholarship money that many of those schools were looking to absorb. I did find one, my alma mater, that would give me a check for the remainder at the beginning of the semester. That’s when you’d figure I started building my businesses with the surplus. That’s where you’d be wrong.

I blew it. All of it. Not once but every semester. I finally discovered beer so that didn’t help. I started my chapter of my fraternity at our campus so that helped me overcome some of that “shyness” for lack of better term. More about that later. I just loved school. It was so easy for me so I kept finding excuses to stay. Tommy Boy had nothing on me. I figured out a way for me to be there 8 years and not be a doctor. Oh, and I came away with a smoking Political Science degree and hate just about everything that has to do with politics.

Dear scholarship donors –

Sorry,

signed

me

So I had gotten a job working for the Sprint phonecard campaign (when those were things) as the Northeast regional manager. It was nice because I got to see a lot of the country — it was bad because I had to. From Buffalo to Maine to NYC, I was driving 2 to 4 hundred miles a day to fill in for folks who couldn’t make it to their shift. I was a highly mobile babysitter. I also worked for my fraternity headquarters doing chapter visits — same thing there.

I started to get the feeling that working for someone else may not be for me. Not because I couldn’t take orders or follow directions — far from it. I was so good at taking orders that I had already been in and out of the military. Let me explain.

The summer between my junior and senior year of high school, I went to Army Basic Training. Because I was split option, I only had two choices for a job when I enlisted, fuel pumper or desk jockey. So, rather than smell awesome I took the desk job. It was far from that. In a reserve unit, a lot of times the participants are not in the best shape. But since I was, I got to hump the M60 plus all the communication gear. In the field, I looked like one badass phone booth. Once I started college, I thought the ROTC was the way to go but the Major in charge of the program made a major error in trying to let me do my internship and the program at the same time. When it failed to work, I kinda got thrown under the bus and lost my commission. I was fairly pissed at the time but I know there is a reason for everything. It did, however, teach me to always have a backup plan.

I won’t go into detail about all the “jobs” I’ve had but recapping them does make me smile as I’ve learned so much at each and every one of them. (What I learned)

Hardee’s (first job)(How to be a terrible boss)

Army (How to take direction)

Various and numerous bartending and waiting jobs (tipping can make someone’s night great or terrible, you choose)

Bar marketing manager and talent (had a radio show from inside the bar learned to just have fun and the right people will listen)

Model Scout (there are plenty of scams out there)

Internet Business Coach (yeah, I know but this was ebay and about ten years ago)

Ran a call center that sold coaching for Anthony Morrison and Dean Graziozi and made $140K annually (ethically had to quit doing it to my ex-wife’s chagrin)

Sold millions in sewer lining to municipalities (wasn’t sure I could do it so I wanted to, of course)

Rideshare and food delivery (I’m not too good to do whatever it takes to make life work and everyone has a pretty cool story if you take the time to listen)

Sold managed IT service, cloud service, remote IT support (didn’t know anything about it when I started)

Worked for payroll services provider, business image cleaner, sold shoes retail, opened and sold insurance agency — basically, I’ve done it.

I now know that I can study, learn, and be good at whatever I want to do. Well, maybe not at being married.

I’ve had to part ways with not one, but two wives. (not at the same time) The first gave me my two awesome kids who make it all worth it. The second gave me a bankruptcy and the want to eat everything in the house. These two divorces financially put me behind the 8-ball each time. Which again, probably saved me from buying the wrong program at the wrong time.

These last two years have been pretty cool getting to be myself and start whatever businesses I want. I’ve also been able to get back down to my high school weight (I’m 45 now) by dropping 100 lbs. and becoming a Certified Personal Trainer. My girlfriend (I know but she’s different) is super supportive but has no idea what I’m talking about when it comes to business ideas. I feel that blind support is even more special. She believes in me and I believe in me. I’m going to get this to the point where this is making $20,000 a day. This is not an arbitrary number. I have twenty buckets that I want to put $1,000 a day into. Maybe these are some things that you are passionate about as well.

Alzheimer’s (to remember my grandma)

Paying or financing volunteer fire departments (because they dang well need it)

Church (not one in particular, I’m open to spinning a “wheel of churches” daily to see where it goes)

Asperger’s research (for several special people)

Fighting Hunger (starting road kill rescue programs in all 50 states like the one Alaska has)

Cancer Research

Diabetes Research (for my mama)

The following people will be working for their bucket, I assure you –

My Daughter

My Son

My Mom (she’s probably good on the work already put in)

My Brother

My Girlfriend

Her Daughter

Her Son

Her other Son

Operating Expenses

Research Team (all projects)

Savings account (the algorithm insurance account)

Checking account

and finally, (and no, I’m definitely not joking), the private island bucket (it will be a healthy living resort for groups of 10–12 to escape to once a year — meanwhile, it will be my full time residence)

I already have all of the personal training qualifications that i need to make this happen and this goal came about when I found out that my girlfriend has Raynaud’s disease and cold temps are no good for her. So, I will take her away from the cold forever.

OMGosh, that felt awesome and now I am ready to tackle questions and concerns from business owners that need help. I have been helping locally for many years and have helped hundreds of companies make millions of dollars. What’s holding you back from achieving what you want with your business? I guarantee that there is a solution and I am always glad to help. I’ll be doing this daily for the next year so I hope I get to help at least one person on here — or I’ll have enough content for a pretty sweet book. Tomorrow, I will dive into staffing issues. What is the best/worst employee you have ever had?