An article was written about our owner John Marx. It's raw and it's uncut. The version going into the magazine will be a more tame version of this. We found the original still good so here it is.
Anyone who has had the chance to meet John Marx, would not argue that he is an eccentric, creative, genius with an extremely colorful mind. John is the owner and creator of not just one, but four local businesses that are branches of his main company JM2 Webdesigners.
Business YETI is the branding and marketing company. Holly’s Hobbies, run by John’s wife Holly, is the arts and crafts (or creative) company. Valpo Shirts, his most recent business, is the custom apparel line. The fourth business, coming in August, is My Skills Displayed that will aspiring high school students get accepted into college and receive available scholarships which is free for all not-for-profit organizations.
This didn’t all just happen overnight. John had to in his words, “work his ass off” to make it happen. Everything has been bootstrapped from the ground up. He has gone from the bottom of the totem pole to the top. He says, “Don’t expect the world to be handed to you on a silver platter, you have to work for what you want in life.”
John’s work life got started in 1995, when Al Gore invented the internet on the day after he got out of the United States Army. From there, he went on to work with various hotel management companies, consulting companies, magazine software development, and an accounting firm. After getting tired of the crap in the corporate world he decided to do things differently. In 2012, he started the software development, branding and marketing business which opened in 2013. Now he is not only his own boss, but he is the boss for an awesome team.
“The world has way more good things in it than bad. Other people like to focus on the bad. I just want to focus on the good, and see how many people I can help in the process,” he says.
His parents have been the biggest inspiration in his life, and his work, as they are his foundation. Holly is his cheerleader that he leans on the most as she makes certain he stays in check and always doing the right thing. He depends on her more than anyone. Everyone he surrounds himself by encourages him to hit the ground running every day to improve himself. With a goal to try to make a difference in the world. This ties in with his main goal of wanting to help small businesses grow. The catch is that they have to WANT to grow. Because why offer help to someone who doesn’t want it?
Many people wonder how John’s businesses came to be so successful. His philosophy behind it all goes back to the age of ‘Leave it to Beaver’. Where you work your ass off, you charge a little and make your money over time rather than ripping off one or two people. John has one rule in life, and that is NO LYING. There's a quote that's very applicable to this, “Fine words are not sincere, and sincere words are not fine.”- The Tao Te Ching. This being said, John is one of the most honest people out there. He calls it how he sees it, and doesn’t deal with bullshit.
Although John may seem intimidating to some people, he is actually quite the opposite. His life revolves around wife and family, work, coffee, and beer. His day usually starts with a mocha latte at 5 am, and ends with whatever type of beer that’s left in the fridge around 10 pm. This also happens seven days a week. When he was asked how he and his employees make their workday fun he said,” Oh, well we could write a whole damn book about this! Around every corner, there is a Nerf gun, locked and loaded, and the fridge is always stocked with beer. If your work life isn’t like that, then you’re missing out on a real adventure.” His employees of Business YETI have said that John has proven the phrase: “If you truly love your job, you’ll never work a day in your life,” to be true.