GaryOsberg.com

I am a recovering entrepreneur.  I couldn’t work for the man, I had to be the man. I have a collection of 44 calling cards from 22 different companies. The time I got the closest to the “Brass Ring” was when Jimmy Dorr and I started the Knoll office furniture dealership, Corporate Environments.  Knoll is the Mercedes Benz of the office furniture industry.  In 1986 both Jimmy and I were salesmen for Dayton’s Commercial Interiors.  (My wife Marcia was happy with this one since it came with a 20% discount from the Dayton’s Department Store.)  

Knoll was represented by both Dayton’s Commercial Interiors and General Office Products but the Knoll share of the commercial furniture business in Minnesota was tiny.  Bill Perry, a Knoll executive, came to town and approached Jimmy about starting a new dealership and taking the line away from Dayton’s and GOP. Jimmy approached me and with the help of a few friendly investors and a second mortgage on Jimmy’s house, we opened a showroom on the fourth floor of International Market Square.  We won a design award for the showroom and we managed to score some big orders, but by 1988 we were forced to bow out and turn the reins over to others.  Someday I will write a book about the experience.

In 1994 I joined Albinson Inc. as the Xerox rep in the St. Cloud market.  Life was good and in April of 1999 I was promoted to Sales Manager.  On July 14, 1999 Albinson and Xerox parted ways and I was let go. I spent the summer painting old buildings in Upsala.

In August I saw an ad in the St. Cloud Times for a position with Minnesota Public Radio.  It took two and one half months and seven interviews to get this job, but today is my 23^rd anniversary of selling on-air messages, web ads and pre-roll messages for MPR in central, western, southwestern Minnesota, Sioux Falls and Sun Valley, Idaho.

Now there is an opening for an “Account Executive” in Rochester, Minnesota.  If you are interested, here is the hotlink  AE position in Rochester   Please mention my name in your cover letter.  Call me if you have any questions about the job.

“It will be fine, in a little while.”   Jimmy Dorr