Hello from Jamestown, Tennessee, "The
Heart of Big South Fork Country,"
situated atop the beautiful Cumberland Plateau!
I was born in Norfolk, Virginia but was raised
in Central Michigan and spent most of my life
in the Flint area - mostly in the little town
of Davison. I am the eldest of four children;
our family of six includes my two sisters and
my brother.
My dad worked as a laborer, and having never
finished school, made every effort to instill
in us the importance of a good education. Once
we were all old enough to go to school, Mom
began working as well. Things were tight many
times growing up, but my parents never let on
about it and did their best to make sure that
we had what we needed.
During my junior high and high school years
I was also very active in church. I attended
AWANA Clubs from third through eighth grade
and won the Timothy Award for completing three
handbooks consecutively. It was through AWANA
that I learned how to memorize, and during my
high school years that ability was honed even
further as a member of the Calvary Baptist Word
of Life Quiz Team.
I've always loved to read and learn new things.
My love of reading helped me immensely during
my school years; I graduated Davison Senior
High School with honors.
It was also during my high school years that
I developed my entreprenurial bent. I had a
paper route for two years that covered two to
three miles. I rode my bike to deliver the papers
except when it was snowy- then I did my route
on foot. My customers loved me; they said that
I was the best paperboy they ever had. I received
an award for being an Outstanding News Carrier
from The Flint Journal.
My next job was in the summer of 1982 as a Hav-A-Bar
Ice Cream Salesman. No, I didn't drive a truck;
instead I pedaled an ice cream cart up and down
M-15 from Richfield Center to Davison six days
a week. I won several contests held by my distributor
throughout the summer and achieved record sales
as well.
The summer following my senior year I got a
crash-course in public relations as Deputy Assistant
Registrar at Richfield Township Hall. This was
where all Township business was conducted; I
even worked as an election inspector for the
August Primary.
I entered Grand Rapids Baptist College in 1983
and began a whole new chapter in my life as
I was challenged to assess who I was and what
I believed, and then apply it to every aspect
of life. This Christian liberal arts college
gave me the opportunity to travel with the Symphonic
Band (I've played the clarinet ever since fifth
grade!) and to go to New York City over spring
break.
It was also at GRBC that I discovered the many
avenues of the world of work. Although I had
a couple of grants and took out student loans,
through the college work/study program I worked
my way through college. I worked in the dishroom
(we called it 'the pit'); got up at 5:30 am
on snowy days to drive the stepvan with the
snowblowers from maintenance to the parking
lot and then started helping to blow snow off
the sidewalks; I worked for housekeeping during
the summer of 1985 and for Miller Library in
1986.
I also worked for a while cleaning the science
lab after hours, and, during the annual Bible
Conference in February, I helped park cars.
I even spent a little time now and then helping
out my friends who worked at WCSG,
the college radio station. And somehow in between
these jobs I managed to go to class, study,
have some fun now and then and finally graduate,
making me the first person in both my mother's
and father's families to achieve this milestone.
As a result of my work experience in college,
I had learned to become a much better self-starter.
A liberal arts degree doesn't
get you a high-paid job so I began a series
of jobs varying from roofing to painting to
temporary work in factories to--selling vaccuum
cleaners! One thing I quickly realized was that
I didn't want to spend my life doing these kinds
of things because I wasn't
very good at them. It was then that I discovered
those "Income Opportunity" magazines. I ordered
some of the money-making materials and thus
began my education and interest in Marketing.
It was in the summer of 1987 that I began
the journey that brought me to Tennessee and
to where I am online today. I received that
money-making information along with some additional
material. One piece left an indelible impression
on me, and I still have it as my inspiration.
Because of that one odd-shaped piece of cardboard,
I determined that I wanted to find
or create a product or service that would truly
help people, and that I would not be ashamed
to promote.
Well, in the meantime I was rooming with
my old college roommate and we both went through
the job-to-job cycle for a couple of years.
Then Michigan's economy began to falter, and
shortly after that the build-up to the first
Gulf War began, stagnating the economy. And
then my car died, followed by my buddy's van.
There we were: no job, no vehicle and rent coming
due. And all of my "back-up plans" had failed.
We spent the next four months working for
room and board in a tiny church in a tiny town
in northern lower Michigan, thanks to the man
who later became my roomie's father-in-law.
During that time I learned about a camp
in Livingston, Tennessee that needed counselors.
Two weeks before camp I got my acceptance letter
and that's how I moved to Tennessee!
I spent a year and a half there and then
moved to Jamestown, just about thirty miles
up the road. I worked as a cook at Sonic in
Cookeville for three years, and also for a short
time at Dairy Queen in Jamestown. Then I heard
about the radio station, WCLC.
Having no experience
whatsoever, I went in and made some demo recordings
and that's where it ended. Except
for the fact that I was so obsessed with radio,
thanks to my brief encounters with it in college,
that I hung around the station every chance
I got. Well, seeing my interest and willingness
to learn, the General Manager eventually hired
me as a substitute. I did my first live solo
shift on Thanskgiving, 1993.
After about six months I began to get better,
and eventually I became the morning man and
then hosted Southern Jubilee for two
years. I did everything from writing commercials
to voicing and producing them. I had discovered
another way that I could be creative . . . it
was great!
In the meantime I also re-discovered my passion
for meteorology (weather) as we were required
to monitor and do live weather coverage during
periods of inclement weather. As a result of
this I also began to want to do News. Following
six months as acting News Director, the manager
gave me the position, which I held for at least
another two years. (Since the death of our late
General Manager, Jim Cody, I have again assumed
the position.)
During this period I was working part-time
at the station and as an administrative assistant
at Quality Home Health Care. Eventually I went
full-time with the station, and then gradually
moved to full-time at Quality.
I first met the hometown girl who is now
my wife in 1995. We were married in the summer
of 1998, and now have two wonderful children.
As a husband, and now a dad twice over, I want
to spend more time with my family, and ever
since 1987 I have kept pursuing various income
opportunities and continued my study of marketing,
which is my passion.
I’d heard about the Internet since 1995,
but being in such a remote place like Jamestown
meant that the arrival of such technology was
very slow. Local ISP dial-up service arrived
at Quality in 1999 and I got a free e-mail account
or two and started some online searching about
Marketing - that’s when I discovered something
called Online Marketing.
My online life began in 2000 and thanks to
Ken
Evoy I realized that I really
could make money
online. Since that time I've had the privilege
of attending Ted Ciuba's live Internet Marketing
event twice and Michael Penland's Internet &
Joint Venture SuperConference twice, and the
incredible experiences and opportunities at
these events have changed my life!
I have met and conducted live interviews with
Ted, Michael, Terry Dean and over a dozen more
top-flight marketers at these events and am
creating my own product with them. It was at
Ted's event that I came up with a name for my
own system that I've accidentally discovered
and dubbed myself "The Premiere
Info-Strategist"(TM).
And thanks to the friendships I have made
with people like John Delavera, Gary Huynh,
Joel Christopher, George Callens, Jennie Armato,
Marc Goldman, Lonnie Amirault, Dennise Ryder,
Kimberly Gordon, Richard Quek, Bryan Winters,
Mike Mograbi and many others by using my creative
Info-Strategies,
I have been able to be a part of some great
products and joint ventures.
My motto (and my business name, Eph5
Communications) is taken from Ephesians
5:16, which says, "Making the Most of Every
Opportunity." By using my Info-Strategies,
I seek to create unique, valuable and profitable
win/win/win situations for my JV partners, their
customers and myself using "ordinary" information
and free or low-cost marketing methods.
The inspiration behind my Info-Strategies
is this well-known phrase by Zig Ziglar:
| “If you help enough people get what
they want, you will get what you want.”
|
My website, prosperityunleashed.com
is dedicated to helping people to discover the
tools they need to "Create Your OWN
Brand of Success" thereby unleashing
their own Prosperity. I seek to help them discover
those tools based upon my own research and experience,
which I share with them in my newsletter, ProsperityUnleashed!,"The
No-Nonsense Source for Your Success."
I believe that life is a learning experience,
and that applies to Marketing or any area of
expertise. As a result of hundreds of hours
of research and study, I have amassed, and continue
to amass, a collection of proven resources,
tools and methods that I'm using, and that you
can use as well, to "Create Your OWN
Brand of Success."
Thus my email and newsletter signature,
in the spirit of Zig's quote, is always . .
.
Seeking YOUR Success,
Stephen Boutelle
Stephen (Steve)
Boutelle
"The Premiere Info-Strategist"(TM)
Click
Here to Check Out Some of My Online Accomplishments
