Invixis Media Co Founder Tom Leach
If you happen to love rags to riches stories then you’ll likely enjoy my non conventional evolution from truck driver to social media entrepreneur!
I was raised the son of a baptist minister in a sleepy West Virginia town. As you might imagine, while this upbringing centered on family it certainly didn’t provide fertile ground for my eventual interest in technology. Not to be outdone by the cliché’s, I rebelled and had my daughter while still in High School… dad was not terribly pleased! As difficult as this time of my life was, it did light a fire in me and I became determined to build a financially secure future.
While still finishing High School, I attended the Warren County JVS and took digital electronics while working two jobs. I worked construction after school and also worked third shift in a paint factory, where I eventually became the head of the quality control department all before graduation.
Between graduation and the time I became involved in technology, life was a whirlwind. I was young, a bit frightened and desperately felt the need to explore. I held a number of non-technology related jobs in the steel, paper and security industries. Most interesting however was my eventual decision to take my life on the road and explore the country as a cross country
semi driver for several years. There were honestly some of the best times of my life. They were peaceful, quiet and allowed me to see virtually every square mile of our great country.
By this time, my daughter was in High School and asked me to come home for her senior year. It was this pivotal year in which I discovered the internet.. a discovery which changed my life forever. It was 1995 and as crazy as it seems, this was only two years after the first rudimentary search engines appeared online. It was an exciting time in technology where every little advancement or innovation was huge news. It was also a time where anyone with a little know how could virtually print money. This was a time that predated Google, Yahoo, Myspace, Facebook and Twitter. There was no such thing as Adsense. The closest thing to Social Media was happy hour at the local bar. If I only knew then ….
Here is a fascinating video regarding the internet from 1995. It’s amazing how fast technology has advanced.
I dove in with both feet and learned everything I could about working online. Things progressed quickly from selling simple products to getting involved with some intense, online marketing projects.
At this point, I hardly recognize my own companies. We have progressed from selling pencils to developing social media software, creating interactive, web based marketing materials and developing thousands of domains. Staying ahead of the curve has become the greatest challenge and to do so, we have invested a tremendous amount of time and financial resources into our business model as well as our software platform.
Although I sometimes long for the simpler times of 1995, I’m extremely excited about the future of my business!
If you have any questions about this site, Invixis , Merchant Who etc please don’t hesitate to contact me via the form below! I actually do answer all of my emails!
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