Today we’d like to introduce you to Alex Oswiecinski.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Alex. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I grew up in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. Was adopted by a couple of great parents, no siblings. Went to college near Cleveland as well, and my first job was importing vacuums from China for Dirt Devil. Meanwhile, I finished my MBA at Cleveland State, then ventured south to Dallas in ’06 to work for TGI Friday’s corporate, as a buyer. I moved into the Village (off 75) and actually lived with my good friend from Cleveland for a couple of years who worked at a Sherwin Williams plant in Ennis. We had some fun years going out on Greenville, uptown, etc. I ended up dabbling in some real estate investing/flipping while taking an international assignment with TGIF, working in supply chain consulting. That took me to over 50 countries in a span of three years.
I then took a leap to work for Which Wich, at the time a 140-unit sandwich chain (now 400+). I was there to jump-start their international division with the founder’s brother. Over the course of five years, I took the leadership role in building a team and taking the brand to 10 countries.
Meanwhile, I had been researching different ways to help use data and digital technology to better connect with investors and franchisees abroad, rather than expensive and time intensive trips for 1-2 meetings. This led me to meeting the co-founder of Prospect Direct, Mohammed, and starting the company using his technical talents and my ability to understand how to apply it with big brands in the market. It’s been about a year since I left Wich Wich, and we now have over 50 national or global brands as customers in franchising, and other across several B2B industries.
Since I’m not sure what the next questions are going to be, I’ll stop there as it basically takes us to today.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I guess smooth is relative. In my 20’s especially (even more than now) I was a pretty avid reader of biographies and nonfiction books about people older and more successful than me. I knew that as you moved up and took on more responsibility, the stress and volatility can also increase. Even knowing this, there were definitely some times where it was all optimism and bliss, and somewhere everything I was doing seems to hang on a single decision or event that could go either way. Luckily I’ve been able to balance risk and patience and generally things move forward. I’ve found that if you do what you say you’ll do, and keep your reputation intact, it allows more doors to open later, as a compounding effect occurs.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
At a high level, we are a digital marketing company. I like to make the quick distinction between what we do and a marketing agency though. We have a very specific process and serve a segment of the B2B market. For high-ticket products (like a franchise, or expensive marketing software) we use a combination of Facebook, email, and LinkedIn to micro-target the exact decision makers and business owners most likely to be a great match for the product, service, or investment. In many cases, agencies actually white label our service and data for their high-end B2B clients.
I’d probably say I’m most proud that we have a differentiated product and system that produces real and predictable results for our clients. That and our team, which I believe is made up of all “A” players, along with a lot of machines.
What were you like growing up?
I was about a 50/50 introvert/extrovert, pretty much like now. You could find me at a local pond trying to catch turtles or fishing by myself. Other times I’d be hanging out with a few of the same friends at someone’s house or playing video games. In my early teens, I had a fascination with making money. I was a busboy at a fine dining restaurant when I was 15, or whatever was the earliest age you could start. I was also into a couple of sports – baseball and tennis. I still play tennis fairly often today.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.prospectdirect.com
- Phone: 972.532.6585
- Email: alex@prospectdirect.com
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