Entrepreneur Exchange is our forum where we interview the Influencers, CEO’s, Author’s, Business Owners Of All Types, Shapes, and Sizes.
Entrepreneur Exchange: Today, we sat down with Marc Winkelman, CEO of Granicrete International, Inc. and we learned a ton about the man behind the opportunity. Come learn more today.
Here is our Q and A session w/ Marc:
Q: Entrepreneur Exchange Could you briefly, tell us a little bit about your background and let the readers know more about your 11 years as the CEO of Granicrete International?
A: I was in the wholesale petroleum industry for over 20 years. Through the decades I learned much about wholesale service and customer support. My expertise was regional business development, technical training, and writing training manuals for use by novices. In my later years, I saw the products of the industry become commoditized and the business model had little profit at the wholesale level.
Q: Entrepreneur Exchange When did you decide to open your own business opportunity?
A: Well, I decided to move out of the industry and I began a two-year search for an industry to get into and for me have my own business. During my time of searching, I kept coming back to decorative concrete and figured out why.
Q: Entrepreneur Exchange When did you discover in that process?
A: Easy answer! I had happily discovered that decorative concrete had been around for over 20 years and nobody knew about it. This meant two things: 1) It was not a fad and had long-term potential, and 2) It had been poorly marketed which meant a huge opportunity for growth. I decided to jump in and learn the industry from all levels of installer, wholesale, and manufacturing.
Q: Entrepreneur Exchange What is it about the business/industry you are in that made it so attractive to you?
A: I quickly learned why nobody knew about decorative concrete. It was because the few manufacturers in it had poorly written training materials and focused solely on targeting the others’ customers. Novices were not welcomed and expected, if they dared to get into the business, to pay their dues in costly learning curves.
Q: Entrepreneur Exchange What is it about the business/industry you are in that made it so attractive to you?
A: A couple years later Granicrete International was formed on the premise to attract novices to this great industry through our best-written training materials in the industry coupled with our easy to use products. Our goal is that novices would immediately and successfully produce finishes that exceeded what any of the pros were capable of doing.
One big attraction for me was that I was choosing to start a turnkey business. That absolutely requires having the motivation to make things happen and the support system around you to encourage you as you strive to make those things happen.
We at Granicrete will discern if the personal drive is there before extending the business opportunity to an individual. We will discern the difference between go-getters and a wannabe because we will only commit our team’s resources to go-getters.
Q: Entrepreneur Exchange Any words of encouragement for our readers and prospective buyers of your business opportunity?
A: As for the encouragement side, my title is CEO. To me, that means being the Chief Encouraging Officer to my team and to each of our independent businesses. By design, I am wholly available to all our customers nationally and internationally and many know my 24-7 commitment by their personal experience. My greatest enjoyment in Granicrete is seeing my customers start their businesses and grow by broadening their offerings and add employees and crews. I have great satisfaction in knowing their successes.
Special thanks to Marc Winkelman, CEO and Chief Encouraging Officer Granicrete International, Inc.