Entrepreneur Uses Low Tech Methods to Build a Fortune
By Home Business Magazine
Paul Sowinski has been keeping a low profile for the past 6 years with other priorities — getting married and having three kids. Home Business Magazine first profiled him back in 2003 and recently caught up with him again to see “where he is now.” At 34, he’s back to his “old self,” building his home business and being “'entertaining” and having some fun while doing it.
When Paul originally started Simple Toner in 1998, he had a grand vision. Within a couple months of his 19th birthday, he went from bagging groceries to running a thriving business selling toner cartridges to other businesses.
In his first year. Paul processed $40,000 in sales. By year two, he doubled sales by literally working twice as hard. Then “the grind” set in. After the initial boost, sales slowed and he needed to jumpstart his company. Over the next several years, Paul tried everything to build his business: trade shows, cold calling, attending networking events, passing out flyers, and even hiring a skywriter at the height of the dotcom boom. Some things worked, many didn’t.
Paul’s big break came when he figured out that the key to success was simply doing certain very specific, focused tasks every single day: #1) making 250 phone calls; #2) working out at the gym; #3) reading to his kids; and #4) practicing computer coding. Every single day, Paul does these four specific, focused tasks (with the exception of phone calls, which he only does during the normal work week.)
This obsessiveness and focus sometimes drives Melissa, his wife of five years, crazy. “The thing about Paul is that most of his focus is on printer toner cartridges. But every day, he works with our kids teaching them how to improve and compete in their own worlds. I respect him for that," says Melissa. Paul adds, “For years I tried many different things. My world changed when I started simplifying. I don’t have to think about my schedule. I don’t have to plan my day. I just do four things every day and it’s taking me in the direction I want to go.”
Sowinski wants to be the largest supplier of toner cartridges to small business in the US within the next three to five years. Visit www.SimpleToner.com or email Paul@SimpleToner.com. HBM
