User:Waughbash15855/PaceButler Corporation

PaceButler Corporation
PaceButler Corporation buys used cell phones. The company was started in 1987 in Edmond, OK with Tom Pace acting as sole owner and CEO. Tom started the company with $62.53 and within 5 years the company's annual sales were upwards of $3.5 million with 30 employees. PaceButler started out buying IBM Mainframe computers and pretty much anything electronic, but eventually found the most value in cell phones. In 2001 PaceButler was served a class-action lawsuit over illegally solicited faxes. PaceButler sold the building they were currently in, giving them enough cash to make payroll and a deal with the banks. In 2011, the company now has over 70 employees with annual sales of more than $6.5 million.

Tom Pace (CEO)
Tom Pace, a native of Oklahoma City, began PaceButler Corporation with a vision to help people develop personally as well as the realm of business. After dropping out of college at age 18, he went to work for Larry Butler. Even though Tom was only able to read at a fourth-grade level, Larry took him under his wing and taught him how to be successful in life and business. Larry continued to be Tom's mentor even after Tom founded PaceButler. Larry had no affiliation with PaceButler but was glad to help out a good friend. For Tom, this began a lifetime of mentoring and being mentored. Tom began to see the very real benefits of having someone speak wisdom and truth into his life. After expereiencing several bouts of serious depression Tom knew he had to change his life. Tom had heard of the book "The Greatest Miracle in the World" by Og Mandino and began reading. This drastically changed his outlook on life and he couldn't wait to read another book. After reading so many books, one in particular changed his life-"The Purpose Driven Life" by Rick Warren. It changed his life so much so that he couldn't help but share it. Tom began giving books away to his neighbors and friends. However, in Tom's opinion, the people that needed the book the most were people in prison. Tom began buying "The Purpose Driven Life" in bulk and giving it to inmates. While spending so much time giving the books away in the Oklahoma City county jail, Tom realized he could do more. Consequently, every Monday night he began going to the Oklahoma City county jail and spend an hour with the inmates that chose to show up, and mentor them. One specific experience he had in the county jail with the mentees, inspired him to write a book. So, he advertised in the newspaper for writers and connected with Walter Jenkins. Walter Jenkins is a ghost writer, has co-written a number of books, and consulted on many writing projects. Walter and Tom spent a year writing the book, and to date Mentor-The Kid and the CEO has sold over 175,000 copies. Tom accomplished all this while running 3 successful businesses, being a husband, father of 2 kids, and having a relationship with God. Tom continues to help people by giving them second chances at PaceButler. Hiring people that other businesses won't hire because of their past. Tom is also the CEO of ELC (Entrepeneurers, Leaders, and CEO's) Rountable, and MentorHope. ELC is a group that helps business leaders succeed in business and life. Mentorhope provides schools, non-profits and other organizations with Tom's book and a workbook encouraging people to menotor and be mentored.

History
Tom Pace started the company in 1987 with $62.53 on the 9th floor of the Founders Towers in Oklahoma City. He rented 400 square feet of office space with the help of some friends. In the beginning, PaceButler purchased used IBM Mainframe computers and resold the pieces and the whole computers to other businesses. In November of 1987, Tom Pace hired his first employee, Esther. Her professionalism and previous experience as an executive secretary at a large firm, helped to bring order to chaos. For 3 years PaceButler had a difficult time growing. They had expanded to 8 employees but the bills and rent were increasingly overwhelming. Tom hired Louis Gandra to help with analyzing personalities, system efficiency, and the overall atmosphere of the company and it's employees. Louis helped the employees to create and write a company atmosphere statement (create hyperlink). Under the advisement of Louis, PaceButler became more efficient and its employees had a much better outlook. However, in spite of positive action on Tom's part, several of the 8 employees left, stating they did not like the direction the company was going. Nevertheless, because the employees left, Tom was able to receive his first salary from PaceButler. With a new sense of purpose, a menial salary, and just a few employees, Tom Pace pressed on. For four years the company grew slowly, hired more employees and gained some momentum. In 1994, PaceButler was making a profit but was still not efficient enough for Tom’s high standards. The 20 or so employees were asked to take personality assessment tests so as to get the right people in the right places inside the company. The assessment tests proved to be a step in the right direction and the company continued to gain momentum. Later that year, 2 of PaceButler's best brokers left to go to another firm-much momentum was lost. To add further insult to injury, in 1997 the leasing agent of the building PaceButler was leasing, gave them one months notice to be out of the building. Seeing an opportunity, Tom went to his local TEC (Technology and Enterprise Council) group (Now the Vistage Group) and asked for their expert advice. After some discussion, they all agreed it would be best for Tom to build. So, in 1998 PaceButler moved in to a 25,000 square foot building in Edmond, OK.

Business Model
PaceButler has employed many different business models since its inception. At first, they bought used electronic equipment, refurbished it, and then resold to other businesses around the country. Their main source of revenue was from the IBM Mainframe computer. These were massive computers that could potentially cost over $100,000 depending on the peripherals a company wanted to add. PaceButler was the middleman that found and bought these expensive, but used computers, and sold them to companies for a fraction of what a new one would cost. This model became the basis for how PaceButler would do business for the next 20 years. When laptops and cell phones became widely popular, PaceButler buying them used and continued with the same model. In 2004, they condensed their inventory buying only used laptops and cell phones. In 2005, cell phones only. They also stopped refurbishing the cell phones and just became the middle man. This reduced the necessity to have technical expertise and allowed them to focus on asset realocation. For the last 5 years Pacebutler has operated under this model and had their best year on record in 2009.

Recent News
As of 2010 PaceButler joined the millions of people on-line through the avenue of social networks. Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube have become an integral part of their PR and marketing strategy. In late 2010, PaceButler launched a YouTube marketing campaign called "The 100,000 Cell Phone Dog Food Challenge". The campaign consisted of a series of YouTube videos featuring President Joe Fronko urging people to give PaceButler their cell phones. If they did not recieve 100,000 cell phones in one month, Joe would have to eat a can of dog food. For one of the videos they dropped a crate of a few thousand cell phones on an old Camaro. The video recived over 200,000 hits and got local and national recognition on quite a few car blogs and video sites. Pacebutler did not meet their goal of 100,000 phones. They did however receive 56,000 phones which had been the most recieved in a 30 day period in the last 9 months.

In 2011, PaceButler has partnered with the Oklahoma Blood Institute for the months of January and February. As OBI is making one of their annual blood drives around the southwest, they will encourage people to donate their phones to PaceButler if they do not feel they can give blood. PaceButler will make a cash donation for every cell phone donated during the drive.