Time With The Boss - Jon Schram, The Purple Guys

Jon Schram
The Purple Guys

Website: www.purpleguys.com
Industry: outsourced IT support

Education: Education: BS, industrial engineering, University of Michigan
Family: wife, Jill (married 23 years), Gracie (19), Cooper (17), Lucy (14)

What is your mission?
To serve others, improving the lives of those I interact with every day.

What led you to your industry?
I took a job with Price Waterhouse right out of college as an “information systems consultant” because it sounded like I did not have to decide what I wanted to do. I had an opportunity to work on major projects at five Fortune 1000 companies in four years. I worked on the implementation of new IT systems and saw the impact of well-executed implementations.

What was the smartest thing your company did in the past year?
Leverage our customer satisfaction data in our marketing messages. We support over 5,000 individuals monthly and have a 97.3% net positive rating. We started incorporating those comments and ratings into our marketing messages.

Who is your industry role model?
Not directly in our industry but in the B2B space, Paychex. My goal is to make The Purple Guys the Paychex of the IT services industry.

How do you try to differentiate your business from others in your industry?
With all the technical change, buzzwords and mystery, we make doing business with The Purple Guys simple. A simple model with simple pricing that any business owner can understand.

What’s the hottest trend in your industry, and are you going to jump on board?
Cloud. Everyone has heard of it; most people don’t know what it is, but they know they need to figure out how to be part of it. We are helping our customers move to the cloud, one application or process at a time. Keeping things secure and simple.

What’s the hardest part of your job?
Our business is a service business that happens to focus on technology. The hardest part of growing is finding talented service-focused professionals who have the necessary technical skills.

What’s the best part?
The comments that come in from our happy customers every day. When we do our job well, thousands of people will have a better day, be more productive in their companies, happier when they go home. We positively impact our community every day!

What best advice would you share with new entrepreneurs?
Success comes one step at a time. It’s not about hitting home runs. It’s the singles, one at a time, that move the needle over time.

What’s your favorite place in St. Louis?
John Mineo’s on Clayton Road. Outstanding Italian. I prefer to eat more causally in the bar.

What book is on your nightstand?
“Brainstorm: The Power and Purpose of the Teenage Brain, by Daniel Siegel.” Can you tell I have teenagers?

What has made you successful in your industry and in St. Louis?
The golden rule is our guiding principle. We focus on serving one customer at a time. Our Midwestern work ethic is critical to our focus on customer service. We serve others to improve each person’s daily life.

What do you like to do in your free time?
Play games with my family and friends. If it can be at the beach, even better.