Much of my success has come from the help of coaches and mentors.
I’m excited to share coaching and mentoring with you as a new entrepreneur
Skip Dalrymple
Certified Virtual Incubator Coach
Enterprise Architect
E-mail me
I grew up in Easton, Pennsylvania, part of America’s “steel belt”; a fun and safe place to grow up, near the big league sports action in Philadelphia and New York.
A large part of my “blue collar” upbringing was an almost religious devotion to all things sports, where every kid in my neighbourhood dreamed of making it as a big time professional athlete. But early in my life, my focus was on ways to make money, not becoming a big jock. By the 8th grade, my friends and I had launched a newspaper recycling business (long before anyone called it that), a custom Easter Egg Tree business (they get big money for these in gift stores today)… and believe it or not a radio station!
We learned a lot about the reward for imagination and hard work and we were the kids in my neighbourhood who always seemed to have spending money.
By age 13, I had grown to 6 feet tall and 226 pounds, but due to my lack of regular exercise I was a pretty pudgy kid. As they often do when we are kids, my mom stepped in at this point and approached the local high school football coach to see if he was interested in training another player. Mom didn’t know much about football except that she saw a lot of big guys on the T.V. when my dad watched his football games. She convinced the coach that he could use me.
With the guidance of some very interested coaches and teachers during high school, I learned how to prepare academically for college, how to eat properly and most importantly how to deal with college recruiters, which came in very handy when I was scouted by Syracuse University. I was fortunate to win a “full ride scholarship” to play football for the Orangemen.
After four years of playing a lot of football (that’s me in the photo – #66) against some great players, including Heisman Trophy winners Tony Dorsett and John Cappelletti, I graduated from Syracuse in 1974 with a dual degree in Economics and Psychology.
In June of 1974, I started my 24 year career in the healthcare supply and service industry, going to work for American Hospital Supply, the world leader in this industry.
Three months into my first job, I found a mentor who would guide me through the first 10 years of my career. He was my new boss and took a liking to me. I reported to him directly for only about one year but he “watched over” me until he left the corporation 10 years later.
I stayed with the corporation through a buyout by Baxter International and a spin-off of Allegiance Healthcare Corporation. During this time I developed at least two additional mentors that guided me through some very difficult periods.
Over the years, I was fortunate to be promoted to ever increasing levels of responsibility, with my final position being Corporate Vice President and President-Western Region for Allegiance Healthcare.
In January 1998, I made the conscious decision to “retire” from Corporate America and became somewhat of a serial entrepreneur and coach.
From that date to present, I have founded or help start, a Yacht Monitoring Service Company, a Comprehensive Outpatient Rehabilitation Company, a Physical Therapy Clinic, a Sports Performance Fitness business, and a Natural Health Clinic.
In all but one case, I have sold off the businesses so that I could move on to a new venture. With each succeeding business, I got better and better at more efficiently and cost effectively starting the next business.
This brings me to the “launch” of my newest business, Biz Start & Grow.
I have learned the value of “Parent, Teacher, Coach, Mentor” over my life. Without a doubt, my life would be considerably different if it were not for the fact that I was guided to more successful decisions, by people with far more experience in life than me.
Given my background, and the ever improving formula we’ve developed to start businesses, I “launch” Biz Start & Grow with great excitement!
Our mission is to help people, possibly like you, reach their dream of starting their own business in a highly efficient and cost effective way.