User:Tom Egelhoff/Tom Egelhoff

Thomas C Egelhoff (November 10, 1943 - ) is an American author, radio talk show host and columnist who specializes in business information directed at business owners in small towns and rural communities.

He was born and raised in Jerseyville, Illinois. His parents, Ralph and Ruth, were farmers and also had a floral and landscaping business that Tom worked in along with his older brother and sister. Tom graduated from Jersey Community High School in 1961 at the age of 17 and attended Kigore Jr. College in Kilgore, Texas (1961-63)on a basketball scholarship. In 1963 he turned down athletic scholarships from Southeast Missouri State and MacMurray College, gave up athletics, and came back to Illinois and enrolled at Western Illinois University and flunked out after one semester.

He moved back to Jerseyville and worked in the family floral and landscaping business. In 1964 he went to work at Owens-Illinois Glass Company in Alton, Illinois and worked there until he was drafted into the U.S. Army in August of 1965. Tom did his basic training at Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri and had an MOS of a carpenter. Due to his high test scores he was offered the opportunity to be an acting NCO during basic training. He was put in charge of Platoon D. Each platoon had an NCO adviser to help them through the 8 weeks of training. Tom's adviser had an accident and Tom was on his own with his platoon. At the end of the eight weeks, Tom's platoon had the highest physical proficiency tests as well as the highest general test scores. In the latter weeks of Tom's command it came to light that his girlfriend was pregnant and Tom was relieved of his command on moral grounds. In the second eight weeks Tom began his carpenter training and graduated.

Vietnam

In January 1966, Tom began a one year tour of duty in the Republic of South Vietnam. He was assigned to Company A, 588th Combat Engineers at Cu Chi, Commanding officer was John B. Kidd. During his tour he worked as a carpenter helping to build most of the mess halls on the new post. He also drove a dump truck for a time.

On April 29,1966 he got word that his father had died of a heart attack. He was picked up and rushed to the Saigon airport for a flight home for his fathers funeral. On May 6, 1966 his son was born to the pregnant girlfriend. He named the boy Bryan after Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys band. During his leave Tom got drunk with some friends and they were arrested and jailed for vandalism and disorderly conduct for throwing beer bottles at passing cars. Incarcerated, he was unable to attend his fathers funeral. He had to ask for an extension of his leave since his jail time overlapped when he was supposed to be back on active duty. His commander complied. After time served he as taken by sheriff's deputies to the St. Louis airport and put on a plane back to Vietnam.

Returning to Vietnam as a father, Tom had an epiphany. Soldiers in his unit were starting to die. It wasn't a big computer game anymore. At the ripe old age of 22 he knew his life was going nowhere. For the rest of his tour he decided to try to be the best soldier possible even though he hated being under the thumb of any authority. He promptly accidentally fired his rife in the company compound while clearing the breach and was given an Article 15. During the final 60 days of Tom's tour he became the company commander's driver until his tour ended in January of 1967.

Ft. Benning, GA

Back in the USA Tom was sent to Ft. Benning in Columbus, Georgia with the 68th Engineer Battalion. Tom had reached the rank of E-4 and once again due to his high test scores he was put in charge of all the tools used by the battalion for their construction projects. In July of 1968 Tom was promoted to Sgt. E-5, a non-commissioned officer. In August of that same year he left the service with an honorable discharge.

WS Dicky Clay

In 1968 Tom went to work as a figure clerk for W.S. Dicky Clay Co.,a sewer pipe manufacturer, in St. Louis,MO. After about 6 months he was moved to the sales department taking phone orders for pipe sales. When one of the outside sales people was fired, Tom was offered the job and readily accepted. Now he was in his element. No supervision, setting his own schedule. It was a great job. Company car, expense account, commission plus salary and half of Illinois for a territory. He sold one of the largest subdivisions in Illinois at that time. Here he learned about various types of business and how to construct sales. He called on city officials, architects, contractors, lumberyards and agricultural industries. However, in late 1969, the company fell on hard times. Outside sales people were the first to go and eventually the location was closed.

Victor Business Machines

Next it was the sales of adding machines and calculators to small businesses for Victor Business Machines. Although he didn't know it at the time, this job became the genesis of the books Tom would write later in his life. It was a tough job, 75 cold calls each Monday, find 20 placements to demo products and sell as many as possible. It was fast paced and required extreme time management. By late 1970, Tom was tiring of the travel and high pressure selling day in and day out. His son's mother had married and Tom gave up his custody rights. It was time for a change.

Jacoby Furniture

Although outside sales was more lucrative, Tom felt it was time to do something where the customer came to him. So from 1971 to 1979, Tom sold retail furniture for Jacoby's Furniture in Alton, Illinois. It was an old time family owned furniture store that operated with hand written ledgers and inventory in notebooks. But it was the perfect way to understand exactly how the sales process works and why customers buy. In 1976 Tom met and married Deborah Davis on New Years Eve 1977. But, by 1978, Tom thought he had learned all he needed to about retail sales. He would be proven wrong in a few years.

Wickes Buildings

In the summer of 1978, Tom was back in outside sales with Wickes Buildings. A San Diego based company that was making pole barns for farmers, along with Wickes Furniture and Wickes Lumber. Once again he was back with a company car and the freedom to set my own schedule. Unlike the freedom of being single as he was with Dicky Clay, this time there was a wife and step-daughter at home. But once again it seemed that luck turned it's back on him. With a 20% Prime Rate, double digit unemployment and home loans at 15% or more, sales were tough. Then Tom was called to the main office in Taylorville, Illinois to find out that Wickes Buildings was being closed for good. He turned in his car and once again was out of work at the beginning of one of the worst recessions in US history at that time.

Prudential Insurance

A friend, who worked for Prudential Insurance, told Tom they were looking for a sales person in Tom's home town of Jerseyville. Tom was reluctant but took the job out of desperation. Insurance was not his passion and he failed his first license test. He did pass on the second attempt but his heart was not in it and the recession worsened. Even though he was meeting his sales goals, in the summer of 1980, Tom signed up for the Dale Carnegie Public Speaking course thinking that might help him with his sales and presentations. Even though he was voted the Outstanding Speaker of the group, it was too little too late. After a few weeks, Tom's wife moved out and once more he slid into deep depression. With a failed marriage and no job prospects ending it all was a very inviting proposition. One night he ran into Janet R., an ex co-worker from Jacoby's Furniture. She had just ended a relationship so they had a lot in common. Over the next few weeks they went out a few times but Tom was still feeling that there was still some kind of plan for him it just wasn't in Illinois. He decided he would go to San Diego, headquarters of the Wikes Corporation, who he felt owed him a job. So without a word to anyone, on September 27, 1980 he packed everything he owned in his Mazda hatchback and hit the open road with a new hit song on the radio... Willie Nelson, "On The Road Again."

San Diego

Tom arrived in San Diego on September 30,1980 and checked into the Super Eight Motel. The following morning he was in the lobby of the Wikes Corporation being told that all hiring was done at the store locations. The suggested he drive up to El Monte, south of LA, to a Wickes Lumber that was hiring. Even though Tom was an army trained carpenter, his construction experience was not enough. So he drove back to San Diego and checked into a much cheaper hotel. He signed up with local employment agencies but with the recession still in force he was soon out of money and living in his parked car. He walked to nearby 24 hour gas stations and offered to do all the overnight chores for a tank of gas and a couple of bucks for food so he could continue looking for work. During a job interview a personnel manger somehow sensed that Tom was in trouble. After some denial that everything was OK, Tom finally came clean about his situation. The man suggest Tom go to a Baptist church in El Cajon, CA (a suburb of San Diego) and speak with a Pastor Yeger. Going to church that same evening a parishioner came forward and offered Tom the use of his couch and phone while he continued his job hunt.

Video Library

Four months later he finally got a job in Oceanside, CA with a new company, in a new industry... video. He was hired as the Assistant Manager of the Oceanside Video Library. He found a room in a cheap hotel with no lock on the door. So every morning he had to load everything he owned into the car go to work then go back to the hotel and take everything back in the room. After a couple of months of that Tom was able to find a room to rent in a house near his job.

Tom's wife who had left was thinking about a reconciliation and she flew out to San Diego in June of 1981. But it was not to be. A short time later after returning to Illinois she filed for divorce. Later that same month Tom got a letter from Janet R who felt it was time for her to leave Illinois and could she come out and stay with him until she found a job.