About Troy
I’ve Made Some Big Mistakes in Business. Every One Taught Me Something I Now Use to Help Other Owners.
I’m not a consultant who’s only ever advised from the outside. I’ve run the payroll, missed the payroll, lost a business, and rebuilt from nothing more than once. This is the short version of how I got here.
My Story, the Short Version
Diamond Building Systems
I’ve been self-employed since 1998. My first business was Diamond Building Systems, a construction company doing metal buildings and metal roofing. I grew it to $1.7 million a year with 17 employees. That’s also where I fell in love with marketing. Figuring out how to get the phone to ring was as interesting to me as the construction itself.
A Health Crisis and a Legal Fight
A health crisis put me in the hospital for 53 days. While I was out, a company check didn’t clear, and it turned into a legal fight that cost me the business, and eventually my freedom for a while. I’m not going to pretend that year didn’t happen. What I will say is that it changed me. I came out of it with a real faith in Jesus I didn’t have going in, and a clearer sense of what actually matters.
Amazing Garage Floors
While that legal case was still working its way through, I started Amazing Garage Floors, a residential epoxy and polyaspartic coating business. I was pouring floors during the day and losing leads because I couldn’t call people back fast enough. So I built my own lead follow-up system just to stop my own business from bleeding leads. That system eventually became CoatingPro360, a product other coating contractors use today.
One Eyed King Marketing
After I got out, I started One Eyed King Marketing, doing marketing for local home service businesses, the kind of businesses that live and die by whether the phone gets answered and the follow-up actually happens. It’s been running ever since. In 2014, everything I’d learned about growing a business like mine went into a book.
Custom Cut Decor
I also ran Custom Cut Decor for a while, selling handmade decor on Amazon. It rode a trend that eventually faded, so I closed it when it did. OEK kept going the whole time.
Why OEK Exists
Every business I’ve built, fixed, or lost taught me the same lesson: most businesses already contain the opportunities they need to become substantially better. Somebody just has to find the real problem before recommending a fix. That’s the whole job. Not selling you the thing I happen to sell. Finding what your business actually needs.
I’ve been the guy who lost everything because I got the diagnosis wrong. I built One Eyed King so other business owners get the right answer the first time.
A Few Things Worth Knowing
Built and Lost Real Businesses
Published Author, 2014
Creator of CoatingPro360
Direct Access, No Account Managers
Let’s Talk About What Could Work Better.
No pressure. No prepared pitch. Just an honest conversation about your business.