Biography

As the owner of one of the world’s first kite stores, Bob Negen used to constantly remind his staff “nobody NEEDS a kite”. It was only creating a great customer experience and parlaying that experience into long-term, highly profitable relationships that allowed his company to flourish.

In the twenty years Bob owned the Mackinaw Kite Co. he helped change the public’s perception of the kite from a child’s toy to an “eco-friendly” hobby for families and people of all ages and he grew his company from a pitiful $17,000 in annual sales to over $3 million.

A natural marketer, Bob constantly created very successful promotions. His favorite, the Great Lakes Sport Kite Championships, grew into one of the largest, most prestigious kite events in the world.

Bob was also instrumental in helping create a nation wide yo-yo boom. At one time his company employed eight full time yo-yo professionals performing in schools, malls, nationally broadcast parades, professional sporting events, and other large entertainment venues.

While building the national craze, his company opened “Yo-Yo Universe” kiosks in over a dozen malls, hired and trained over one hundred fifty employees using his unique training system, and sold over $2,000,000.00 worth of yo-yos.

All in a little over 6 months!

His yo-yo adventure forced Bob to boil down twenty years of hard-earned experience about life as an entrepreneur into fun, but no-nonsense systems to run businesses with.

This “make it fun, but get it done” attitude has given Bob an expert edge not only in marketing, but also in practical, proven customer service practices, solid, common sense employee management, super efficient operations, and focusing the entrepreneurial spirit.

Bob will bring the same sense of fun and adventure to your audience that he brought to the toy business, where having fun was a job requirement.

When you hire Bob Negen you are getting a real businessperson whose knowledge, skill, and passion come from the trenches of small business. You get a speaker whose credibility and audience connection come from shared experiences, not from academic degrees. When Bob tells an audience something will work, it will. He speaks from experience.