Messages in this thread | | | Date | Sat, 9 Sep 2000 22:25:42 -0400 (EDT) | From | "David Greenwalt" <> |
| |
Who is Dave and What is Dave's Power Store?
Dave of Dave's Power Store is David Greenwalt, a midwestern born and raised 35 year old who lives and loves his family, business, and the sports of bodybuilding and powerlifting in that order. In fact Dave is the one writing this so I'll quit talking in the third person. :-)
In 1987, after attaining a Bachelor in Science degree from an Illinois state university and marrying my high school sweetheart I started my first business by purchasing an existing, but failing gym in the small town of Dixon Illinois. Co-Ed Fitness Center was mine! At the same time I was a Dixon Police Officer. Even though I put in 40-50 hours of shift work per week as a police officer the additional hours necessary to make Co-Ed thrive were hours that really didn't feel that much like work. I knew right away that the health business was where my heart really stood. After all, weight lifting was a passion I'd had since 1982.
After a couple of years of growth, new equipment purchases and other improvements, Co-Ed continued to grow, however, in a town of only 15,000 people "making it" in the gym business was becoming less of a reality. I continued to work as a police officer and in 1990 was hired by the Illinois State Police.
Shortly after being hired by the State Police I sold Co-Ed Fitness. The Illinois State Police requires all recruits to attend a state police academy for six full months! I knew I wouldn't be able to run the gym and attend the academy at the same time.
After graduating from the academy and getting settled, finally back in my home town of Dixon, I felt an emptiness and knew I wanted to start another business again. It was in 1992 that I started a tiny little company called The Power Store by selling supplements to a few local people. And when I say a few local people, I mean a few local people! People were coming to my home to buy them or I hand-delivered all of them to their home and hoped they'd pay me in a reasonable time. To say my business plan was suffering is an understatement.
During The Power Store's formative years I took every call, ordered every product for inventory (3 shelves in a room 10 X 15), picked every product and packed every order. My wife was working full time during The Power Store's early years and we had two of our now three beautiful children. So in between wiping snotty noses, giving hugs, changing diapers, reading stories and wrestling with my two boys I worked full time as an Illinois State Trooper. I can still remember a common practice that makes me cringe a bit today and wonder how I really did it then. It wasn't uncommon to have 2-4 orders per day during this time and I always wanted to make sure the orders got out on time, regardless of the seasons or weather in Illinois. In the Winter time the routine consisted of packing two orders on a bitterly cold day that had to get out to be delivered on time. What did this mean for me then? It meant continuing to juggle the duties of a State Trooper with packing up one infant boy and a toddler in full Winter gear into my beater car, after packing the whopping two orders, and driving fifteen miles to a UPS center so I could make sure the orders got out on time. I finally grew enough to ask UPS to come to my home. Thank goodness for that!
The Power Store continued to grow by word of mouth and small advertisements in magazines and in 1993 I had to move the business out of my home. I'm generally a very private person and I just couldn't have all these local people coming to my home at all hours of the day and night. I hired my first real employee in September of 1993 and hoped the phone would keep ringing. Remember, no internet in 1993. And the phone did keep ringing. In fact, the phone has been ringing ever since but now the internet is beginning to silence the tone.
By 1997 The Power Store was one of the largest sports supplement catalog retailers in the country. I attribute the growth to my midwestern values learned from my mother and father who instilled in me a commitment to service and quality. I then instilled the same values into every employee I hired and continue to do so. "Getting by" or "good enough" didn't cut it and never has cut it. Because I'm such a strong critic of the way others don't service their customers and make their customers feel as though they are the ones being done the favor I have made sure that Power Store customers know the relationship is a mutual one. Yes, The Power Store provides high quality products at unbelievable prices but if it weren't for our customers we wouldn't exist and we value every customer, big or small.
To wrap up the store's history quickly, The Power Store continues to live it's own life as a strong catalog/internet company with a retail store in Sterling Illinois as well. We continue to deliver quality products at the absolute lowest everyday prices and I still understand the importance of delivering service and products on-time and so do my employees, many of who have been with me since 1993 or 1994.
As far as me personally, well, I no longer work for the Illinois State Police but still believe it's one of the greatest organizations a police officer could work for. In 1996 I committed to running The Power Store full time and then some as anyone who owns their own business and loves it can imagine.
I still reside in Dixon Illinois and even though we don't have a great restaurant or Broadway in this small town we have family values and the same midwestern ethics that helped me become the husband, father and businessman I am today.
I've competed in powerlifting (was NASA Wisconsin state champ at 220 pounds) and been a powerlifting meet promoter on no less than ten occasions. In 1995 I turned in my enthusiasm for powerlifting competitions in favor of bodybuilding competitions and continue to train for and compete in natural bodybuilding competitions today.
Although I attained a Bachelor in Science I really learned about dietary supplements by reading everything I could get my hands on, finding out what Medline was and reading endless stacks of full research papers, and living the fat loss/muscle gain lifestyle for the past 20 years. I've also written well over a hundred articles on supplements and training, many of which can be found at our website under the ARTICLES link. I've also been published in Muscle & Fitness, Peak Training, and been a ghost writer for many others. I'm also a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) certified by the National Strength & Conditioning Association. I presently coach over 200 people every month through my Coaching Club and thoroughly enjoy the friendships and amazing transformations I've been partly responsible for creating through the club.
I recently wrote a book called "The Leanness Lifestyle", currently in its 3rd edition, which is a 350 page compendium of everything I currently know to help anyone wanting to strip fat and add or keep precious muscle.
Thank you so much for your time and getting to know me a bit. If you are inclined to do so don't hesitate to drop me a note on paper or e-mail. I try to answer every letter but it might take a while.
In health & performance,
David Greenwalt CSCS - President Dave's Power Store 1011 North Galena Ave Dixon, IL 61021 815-288-7432 800-382-9611 815-288-7433 FAX http://www.thepowerstore.com
P.S.: If you would like to secure your own copy of "The Leanness Lifestyle" or find out more about the latest edition of it please go directly to http://www.thepowerstore.com/engines/?ID=aweber&KW=leanness
P.P.S.: If you would like to find out more about becoming a Coaching Club member go directly to http://www.thepowerstore.com/whyjoin.html
Make sure your good friends, coworkers and family members don't miss out on Dave's Power Store FREE News E-zine! Send them this section below so they can also join.
--------------------------------------------------------- "To sign up for Dave's Power Store FREE News E-zine just send an e-mail to powerstorenews@aweber.com and you'll immediately be subscribed for FREE. It's simple and you can unsubscribe any time if you don't like all the discounts and news on supplements." ---------------------------------------------------------
To stop additional follow up messages click below: http://www.aweber.com/r.php?i=powerstorenews&e=linux-kernel%40vger.kernel.org
- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
| |