Today we’d like to introduce you to Corey Capone
Hi Corey, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Coming out of undergrad my plan was to attend law school and become an attorney. I started in an entry level sales role for an energy client fresh out college just to kill some time and make some money before venturing off to what I thought would be my real career. In my first few months in that position I met people who started in the same position as myself and moved up into management and executive roles, where they were making as much or more money than the attorneys I knew, with a much better work/life balance. After 3-4 months of learning the sales process, and getting a clear picture of what a long term career could look like in sales, I decided to stick with my current role and turn it into a career instead of going back to law school. I never expected a career in sales. My parents who were both teachers were nervous about me working on commission, but I saw that there was an enormous upside in sales, and I was confident if others could find success doing it, I could too. After becoming a top performer in sales, learning to lead, train, and develop others, and all of the administrative work that came with running my own small business, my client broker (who negotiates contracts between big name clients and smaller locally owned marketing/sales companies) helped me to get incorporated and open my own firm. The first few years were a grind. Working 80-100 hour weeks, missing holidays, birthdays, and trips with friends, the work we put in the first few years built the foundation for the success we’re seeing today. I moved to Cincinnati at the end of 2016 to take on a project for a green energy company with a small team. We grew that campaign bigger and faster than they expected, started to take on more projects with other clients, and now have 7 locations across Cincinnati, Columbus, and Toledo with over 100 employees. Our goal this year is to double in size, expand into new markets, and take on more projects with existing and new clients.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
In my opinion anything worth doing is going to be difficult and challenging. If you want to become a doctor, you need to go to med school, go $200k into debt on top of undergrad, work your butt off, just to graduate and work 90 hours/week in the hospital. I was planning on becoming an attorney, going $150k into debt on top of undergrad, just to get my J.D., then come out working 80+ hour weeks in the beginning. If you’ve seen the show Suits, think of what Mike does when he get’s hired at Harvey’s law firm. He’s living at the office. Literally pulling all nighters a few nights per week, just to get ahead. That was my plan. When I decided I was going to stick with sales, I treated my career the same way I planned on treating law school. Come in early, stay late, work 6-7 days every week. If you talk to most successful people and ask them about their first 5-10 years out of undergrad, they all have similar stories. They worked harder and were more committed than everyone else. The struggle for me was most of my friends felt like once they graduated college and got a job, they made it. The more I talked to successful people, the more I realized that’s where the real work begins. It was difficult working 10 hours on Saturday while my friends went on a trip they invited me to. It was difficult working until 11pm on a Friday while my friends were sending me snapchats at the bar asking where I was at. If you want to become part of the 1%, you need to walk, talk, and act differently than 99% of the people around you. My struggle was making peace with that, and understanding that if I wanted to provide an amazing life for my family in the future, I needed to make short term sacrifices. Thankfully I had my priorities straight, and understood that time with my family and children 10 years down the road was more important to me than happy hour in my 20s.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We are a business development firm that focuses on acquiring new customers for big clients in specific markets. What sets us apart from competitors is our culture, our people, and systematic approach. We pride ourselves on being able to WOW our clients, going above and beyond what they would expect from similar firms. We take pride in being able to deliver results. Our goal is to be the #1 source of revenue and new customers for every client that we represent.
What does success mean to you?
As an organization we define success by the numbers. We’ve won numerous awards over the past 6 years for helping to drive revenue and growth for our clients. On a personal level, we define success by how many of our employees we’re able help reach their goals. Helping employees buy their first home. Helping recent graduates pay off their student loan debt before the age of 30. Helping new parents get time with their family while continuing to progress in their career. When we help our people achieve their goals, we create a winning environment that everyone want to be a part of.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Four-Facets.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fourfacetsoh/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FourFacetsOH
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/four-facets
