I have read, and heard, from blogging mavens that a little bit of a personal touch is good in a Business Blog. As opposed to something more sanitized like say a Press Release. That being said, I realize I may be pushing it with my third post in a row largely about Me. But this is different. This is an effort at correcting an omission in my previous Link Love post.
This is about Scott Frangos.
Now I can’t explain why Scott deserves a post in my Business Blog without incorporating a micro-bio about myself. So, believe it or not, more yada about yada me.
I gave my best years, as they say, to the Food Service industry. To put it much more precisely, I spent many of my younger years in the Food Service industry. Primarily in that hottest of crucibles, Restaurant Management.
The last, and longest, of my tours of duty was as a General Manager for Pier 101, a relatively-fine Steak and Seafood establishment in Portland , OR. You know, stained glass, lots of greenery & ferns, hardwood, and antiques of course. Anyway, I hired a bartender once named Scott Frangos. As a bartender, skill-wise, he was average, not someone I would dare put on the Front Lines on Friday or Saturday night. But that isn’t why I hired Scott, I hired him because he not only could tend some bar, but because he could do magic, literally, he was a magician, an illusionist.
On those chaotic Friday and Saturday nights he would be my secret weapon, entertaining customers waiting in the lobby and bar for tables, roaming the place spreading additional good will. If there was a problem at a table, Scott would go over and delight those ruffled feathers back into place. Nice.
As I recall Scott was recently out of school, a Journalism major or such. I hadn’t been out of college ALL that long myself, a grad of Portland State’s Scholars Program with an English Degree and a bent for American Fiction and Poetry. Managing a restaurant as a result – of course.
Scott and I became friends. Many a “what are we doing here” kind of conversations. Eventually he moved on, so did I.
Actually, chewed up and spit out, would be a better way of describing my path. Food Service can be a hard business. I was in it for many ill-suited years. It left me a low-down wreck.
While befuddled and depressed concerning my fortunes in life, Scott reached out to me. Now this in the late 80’s maybe, lifetimes ago. Scott was doing something called desktop publishing, on a new fangled thing called a Mac. Now these are the recollections of a Food Service refugee suffering from shell shock at the time mind you, so for you tech historians out there I hope these time lines match up.
The point, Scott was pioneering, way back then. And he tried to include me, for no other apparent reason than some kind of regard for my intellect, integrity, and love of communication – words.
I wasn’t up to it. I couldn’t rise to the challenge back then, of learning something so radical. After a few sessions in front of the Mac, I drifted away.
What followed were a number of years regaining my sanity at Elmer’s Flag and Banner, (yes the same Elmer’s Flag that is now an AdWords client), under the wing of my gracious older brother Mike Hale, then manager, now owner, of Elmer’s.
And then another wrong turn, for this strategic wordsmith anyway, into almost a decade of Financial Services and Insurance, just wasn’t my cup of tea as it turns out. But once again that old acquaintance, Scott Frangos, was there. Even though we had been out of touch for a number of years, he bought a Life Insurance policy from me. Now that’s trust.
Now fast forward, through a bunch more of my story, (ok, ok already – I’m 50). Actually I’m skipping the good parts, how I finally got on the right path that led to AdWords for instance, but that will have to wait until another time, because I sense eyeballs rolling back into heads.
So, a rush to the finish….. A couple of years back or so, already an “AdWords guy”, I was going over my Google News Alerts, RSS I believe was the subject. I saw a byline, Scott Frangos of WebbFadds.com (Owner)
Could it be? Scott? Magical, Mac-Publishing Scott? Of course it was, still pioneering. Web 2.0 had brought our spheres together once again. I emailed, and we have kept in touch.
When I started this blog, not too long ago actually, Scott helped me get the WordPress machinery going, because I am actually a tech-ninny. He also published an article of mine in WebHelperMagazine.com, of which he is Managing Editor. The first time any of my AdWordian thinking had ever been published.
How did I repay him? This man who has reached out and given me a lift three separate times over about two-decades. By forgetting to mention him while I have been doing all this horn blowing about “Link Love” lately, that’s how. Shame, shame, shame.
I’m exhausted. That’s a lot of remembering.
Do I endorse Scott Frangos? Damn Right I Do!!!!
On the Human Level most of all.
The Highest of Citations.
Tom Hale, AdWords Specialist
