The Whole Story
Entrepreneur. Pioneer. Founder. CEO.
What Happened
Nick never expected to be competing in the global software industry when he opened The Raven and the Sparrow Gourmet Café in early 1994. What he soon found was an entrepreneurial spirit that led him to his success in the ever-changing economy of the Internet marketplace and it earned him millions of dollars along the way.
Here You Go.
Those who knew Nick as a child in Long Island probably wouldn’t be surprised to hear of his success. As a child, Nick always displayed a highly competitive nature because of his humble childhood and circumstances. Moving to South Texas at the age of 16 provided a change of outlook for the city kid who had become accustomed to being just another nameless student in the crowded Long Island school system. The small town atmosphere in the Corpus Christi Texas area provided the opportunity to be noticed. With only ninety students in his graduating class, teachers and administrators alike saw promise in Nick and provided the confidence-building encouragement that still helps Nick today.
After graduation, Nick enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. His blue-collar family didn’t have the resources for college and the job market in South Texas didn’t hold much promise without a college education or experience. Scoring well on his military entrance exams, Nick qualified for Radio Operations Technical training where his class standing earned him one of two openings to receive state-of-the-art training in the burgeoning field of satellite communications. This provided him with his first real taste of technology and he recognized that he had found his niche.
Nick was stationed in England, which was still feeling the effects of the Cold War. His working hours were spent in a small, high security area in front of a massive Rockwell computer system. His duty placed him as a key communication link between various military commands and their headquarters in the U.S. Due to the nature of the communication traffic that he was entrusted to relay, his position required him to possess the highest level military security clearance. He was also given the privilege of working with the National Aeronautical Space Administration and was one of only one hundred fifty people authorized to wear the NASA space badge at that time.
Returning home with skills in such a highly specialized field didn’t provide many job prospects in the Corpus Christi area and Nick embarked on what would turn out to be an 8-month job search. Eventually, he ended up taking a position as a dog handler at a greyhound-training kennel . Not long after, a greyhound racetrack was opened in Corpus Christi and Nick accepted a position as an assistant trainer at one of the larger kennels. Left to his own devices he learned the details of the multi-million-dollar business and also learned what winning was all about.