The end of the OneCoach Era
It seems only fitting to mark the reboot of the Web, Power and Light website with a retrospective on where I’ve been the past few years.
On March 7th, OneCoach unceremoniously closed it’s doors, ending my 2 1/2 year stint there leading the Technology Department. Prior joining the company in August 2008, I was at Litronic where I lead the CAC and Fortezza library teams. In August 2008, after interviewing with the senior management team John, Scott and Murray, I joined the 37 other employees and picked up my new IT department. The next two years were quite a ride with ups and downs. December of 2008 saw the end of my probationary period just in time to earn Employee of the Month at the beginning of the month, and a layoff of many employees just before Christmas and a change in the management lineup. We relocated offices and I was promoted to Vice President of Technology in the summer of 2009.
OneCoach was definitely an amazing experience. Coming from the CAC and Fortezza projects it was certainly a breath of fresh air. While those projects were engaging, and challenging and the teams were good, there was very little you could point at for motivation. Working with the government and prime contractors is a slow, painful process, and the best win you can hope for is just stable, secure code. In contrast, coming back to the private sector we were working with small businesses who needed us, and we often received gracious and appreciative letters from our clients describing the changes our business made in both their professional and personal lives. Later I became involved in managing the weekly client calls, and had the opportunity to work even closer with the clients.
I’d like to thank some of the many people who made my time at OneCoach special, they’re listed below in no particular order. This list isn’t complete, but it is representative.
Laurence Debruyne – the lady I’m going to highlight first, Laurence was the lady who brought me in to OneCoach. We had worked together briefly with Eydie Pinney during my tenure at Planetwide Games, and we hit it off. Laurence is a unique combination of artist, project manager and technician and has an awesome french accent that tickles your ear. She had been after me for some time to consider OneCoach, but I was in mid contract to our Prime at Litronic and couldn’t leave in good conscience. I took so long to get there that Laurence left for a Vice President position shortly after I came onboard. Thank you for believing in me before I came onboard Laurence.
John Assaraf and Murray Smith who founded the company together to realize their vision of bringing success, prosperity and an improved quality of life to small business owners. Murray was my first interview with OneCoach. Thank you Murray and John.
Scott deMoulin – Scott was the President of the company when I joined, and my direct manager. Scott was patient and supportive during my hyper accelerated warmup period and was very actively involved in shaping the culture of the company. His cultural influence of mutual respect and patience and clear communication lasted long after Scott left. One of the challenges I face with business people is communication, Scott had the foresight to give me a framework (building architecture) to communicate with him to help him come up to speed on my projects. Thank you Scott and Dallyce.
Susie Carder – Susie joined the company after Scott’s departure, bringing her unique style and energy to the company, and made some really difficult and brave decisions to support the company. She scaled the company beyond what we thought possible and believed in us and knew what we were capable of before we did. Thank you, Susie.
Gordon McWilliam – Gordon joined the company after Susie’s departure and managed the team until we closed. Gordon shifted my IT metaphor from architecture to sports metaphors. I STILL don’t know the difference between an eagle and a birdie. I contributed back to him iPad addiction, so I chalk that one up as a win! Babalooo! Thank you Gordon.
Jennifer Bridges – Jennifer was “Auntie OneCoach” – she was the operations organizational oil that kept the company moving smoothly and possessed an encyclopedic knowledge of the company’s history, current state, and future plans, and knew at any time what was coming up and what every department was doing . She was a master at keeping all the balls moving and was sorely missed. Jennifer moved back east to run the Eye Care One offices in Georgia. Thank you Jennifer.
Laura Harkin – Laura was our communications / brand integrity / event manager and the first OneCoach employee. Another class act, she was on par with Jennifer as one of the leading ladies of OneCoach. She worked tirelessly and often under great stress to make things not only happen, but happen well. The events she planned and executed in Marina Del Rey and San Diego for our clients were amazing and her firm but invisible hand of brand integrity was intact until the day we closed. We lost Laura in 2009 after she relocated to Seattle to be with her new husband. Thank you Laura.
Shannon Smith – Shannon was Jennifer’s counterpart as the spirit of OneCoach keeping the finances and cash flow in order even during tight times. Shannon worked tirelessly for the company and put herself on the line. We could always count on her. Thank you Shannon.
Gene McNaughton – Gene was our Vice President of Sales when I came onboard and was incredibly supportive of the IT effort. It was through Gene that I came to understand some of the nuances of how our systems worked. Gene also moved on to run his own consultancy and was very much missed. Thank you Gene.
Matt Morea – Matt was one of our star franchisees, and like Gordon came onboard to lend his expertise to the company after Susie’s departure. Matt’s also running his own shop now; Lumnari based on Carlsbad with some of the other OneCoach alumni. Thank you Matt.
Reggie Batts – Reggie was my office neighbor and partner during the early months at OneCoach. He’d been in the space for a very long time and brought a lot of perspective to bear on working with the franchisees. Reggie moved on to lead JT Foxx‘s team, but like many of the other OneCoach alumni we still talk often. Thank you Reggie.
Jeff Narucki – Jeff was my right hand man when I joined OneCoach. We lost him in December 2008 when he went to a new product management opportunity. Jeff is a graceful class act in business and a talented fiction writer, who’s great integrity shined brightly during his departure. I’ve been privileged to keep him in my circle of friends. Thank you Jeff.
Holly Berberich – Holly was my daily other half. When Laurence left, Holly stepped up fulfill the role of Marketing Manager. She worked with Laura and myself constantly every day to keep things moving, and took on an immense load of responsibility as time passed. For a long period our desks were parked next to each other, and we talked shop over lunch most days. Her thoughtful and careful planning was a great compliment to my “NOWNOWNOW”. Thank you Holly.
Tom Stacey – Tom was the golden pen of OneCoach — the written “voice” many of our clients were familiar with was Tom’s. I was amazed at how an email I would forward to Tom for review would be transformed when he returned it. He also worked under often tight deadlines to publish our blog posts and newsletters. I often found myself bookmarking his articles to read later, before realizing it was our own content. Thank you Tom.
Ryan Mettee – Ryan was consistently our top business advisor from 2009 to 2011 when we closed. Ryan joined the company as a marketing intern originally, joining the sales team in 2009. There were months when it was Ryan’s performance alone that made the difference. His love of business shines through in his personal blog and every conversation. Ryan has an impeccable work ethic, authenticity integrity and has now joined Matt at Lumnari. Thank you Ryan.
Giles Fabris – When I joined in 2008, Giles was leading the customer service team, and working as a coach. He would often be in at 6am when I arrived, working with clients all over the world, encouraging and pushing them to be accountable and stay on focus. Consistently he was one of our most requested coaches. Thank you Giles.
Alan McKenna – Alan consulted with us to revolutionize our lead generation program and was the father of the Business Momentum Club, a program that was fairly successful to introduce new clients to OneCoach and went on to ultimately lead a life on it’s own as a stand-alone product. Alan is dedicated, savvy and solution oriented; a class act. Thank you Alan.
Scott Allen – I’ve worked with and observed a fair number of social media practitioners, and the spectrum of quality is very wide. Scott not only advises on Social Media, but he has a real business and marketing background, with an understanding of technology and sales. Scott was instrumental in re-imagining OneCoach’s tone. You can read his book The Virtual Handshake. Thank you Scott.
Thank you all, and thank you to the many who weren’t named.
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