When it comes down to it, I am a member just like everyone else in WAM! Here is a little more about me.
Born in Richmond, graduated from High School in Storm Lake, Iowa. Joined the Marine Corps in my junior year of high school and left for boot camp on May 28th of my senior year. In the Corps I worked in the communications center mostly typing, transmitting and receiving encrypted messages. I was stationed in California, Okinawa, South Korea and often visited the Philippines. After the Marine Corps I worked in several sales positions, warehouse work and restaurants until I went out on my own in 1999, opening a tree service business with a family member. I then opened my first landscaping business in 2001.
I worked hard to grow my landscaping business but hard work wasn’t enough. I had a lot of clients, plenty of work, a lot of employees, etc. but in the end, I was struggling and I lost in 2005. I worked for someone else until that fell apart in 2009 at which time I ended up trying it again.
When I opened again in 2009 I was committed to doing it smarter. I hired coaches and sought out help any chance I could. I sold that business in 2016 and now focus primarily on enjoying life and trying to help others to achieve their success as well.
In 2014 I bought into a networking business and grew that pretty successfully. I was able to get a lot of people to join but struggled with retention. What I discovered was that while our members were getting referrals they were just working harder and harder and eventually moving on, looking for something else. I figured out that they were doing what I had done in my past.
Coaching, learning the things I didn’t know and creating better long term goals and plans in which to achieve them helped me and now I wanted to offer the same for others. WAM! Is an affordable opportunity for members to help other members via peer to peer coaching.
On the personal side, I really enjoy the outdoors. I spend a lot of time golfing but I also enjoy hiking, biking, kayaking, fishing and am open to just about anything. I am the Junior Commandant of the Marine Corps League, on the board of the West Richmond Businessmen’s Association and I host an annual charity golf tournament. I’ve recently began flipping houses as well and always looking to dabble in other ventures.
If you’d like to connect, you can contact me at Walter@wam-usa.com, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram or text me at 804-519-4427.