Jimi Page, Founder of Page Business Solutions – High Speed Low Drag Podcast

imageJimi Page is the founder of Page Business Solutions.

He is in the business of helping other companies increase their business performance through more efficient document management programs by providing printers, copiers, high-speed color printers, IT services, maintenance and tech support.

Click here to listen to Jimi Page’s Podcast on Stitcher.

Click here to listen to Jimi Page’s Podcast on iTunes.

HSLD: Besides the little background that we’ve give about you, could you tell us a little more about yourself?

 Jimi: I have 5 children- 3 boys and 2 girls. I’ve been married 29 years and I’m just having the time of my life right now.

HSLD: Let’s start with your success quote. What is it?

 Jimi: My success quote is:

“Regardless of how tall your father was, you still have to do your own growing.”

That quote is by Abraham Lincoln.

HSLD: Let’s focus on your military experience. Tell us a story of your most pivotal moment in the military and share with us some of the lessons you learned.

 Jimi: The most pivotal moment I had in the military was the day that I decided to join the military.

That was when I left high school and decided I wanted to be an officer in the navy.

I made that decision when I was so young that I did not realize all that it entailed besides being the proper age, graduating college and of course having the business acumen to do that.

I made the decision to go into the military and visited my local recruiter and was told that I would not be able to make it into the naval academy because I did not graduate high school.

He instructed me that I could go down to the Navy and join as an enlistee. I did that with a friend but before we could go down there we found out we needed to have our GED.

We both took the test and failed but I later found out that I failed it by 1 point. I went back 2 weeks after to retake it and asked my friend to come back with me but he didn’t want to take the test.

I took it alone and found out 2 weeks later that I passed it by a point so I was able to enter into the navy and that’s really where my whole life changed.

HSLD: Let’s focus on your transition out and the failures, challenges and lessons you got from it.

 Jimi: My transition was an interesting one and one that probably all veterans see.

You spend all your time in the military trying to receive a rank – get one stripe, two stripes three stripes. And yet, when you get to the civilian world the stripes don’t really matter because nobody cares about the stripes.

One of the first jobs that I took was at a place called Model Furniture. It was a regular furniture store but the difference was it had different nationalities of people that were selling furniture to their own kind.

So here I was at my first job trying to impress everyone and I really sold to everyone, regardless of their nationality. I wanted to get on top of our board.

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Page After Page Business Systems has over 26 years of experience in the photocopier industry and is an authorized Konica Minolta dealer.

I managed to do that but to my dismay I would come out to my car and my tires were slashed, I had notes written saying “Leave my customers alone.”

It was so indicative of the world and that was such a lesson there.

 But I did make number 1 and I made number 1 because of openness, honesty and transparency of my personality.

I communicated with others not in their own languages but with a smile and a handshake. Those are universal.

 I learned a lot about the civilian world then. The stripes did not matter. You had to be able to talk to people at their own level.

HSLD: Let’s fast forward to an AHA moment that you may have had. Share that light bulb moment to our listeners and the steps that you took to turn it into a success.

 Jimi: I had 5 different jobs after I left the military- the furniture store, at a gas station, at a pharmaceutical company, at IBM and I also had a paper route.

With all of that working I hardly got the chance to see my children or my wife and to top that off I then started my own business.

One day I was at Nordstrom thinking of buying a suit and I hear this guy talking about his ship. I listened further and found out he was a captain in the navy.

I made a joke about the ship and said I must have scrubbed a lot of those floors. He came and asked me what I did. I told him that I had just started my own business and also worked at some part-time places and he said “If you took this leadership class, I guarantee you it will change your life”.

At that time I was going through tough times with my wife and didn’t know how to handle many things. Regardless I signed up the next day.

To cut a long story short, I took the course and my life got on track. My relationship with my wife and kids got back on track. I was able to make enough money to start my business and I never looked back.

jpegJimi’s Lighting Round Answers:

  • What is the most difficult adjustment you had to make to the civilian world? Adaptability.
  • What is the best business advice that you can pass along to people that are making their transition now? Find your passion and the world will actually make a hole.
  • What is one of your habits that you believe contributes to your success? You should always wake up before the sun. I do that and I exercise to fail so I can grow.
  • Leave us with one parting piece of guidance . All you veterans already have the leadership skills from the best of the best. You need to find passion and go fly.

Click here to listen to Jimi Page’s Podcast on Stitcher.

Click here to listen to Jimi Page’s Podcast on iTunes.