Presenter Bios

Get to know the partners before they know you and you'll quickly notice it's proof positive this is one of the most powerful business seminar you'll ever attend. With 7 of the Wizard of Ads partners in one room, you're bound to leave with practical and proven knowledge you can use in your business.

Presenters - Alphabetically:

Mike Dandridge

Mike took a failing Electrical Supply company, losing $10K a month, and within one year that store was pulling in $12 Million in sales and $1.2 Million in Gross Profit. And that was just the start. At the end 5 years, the store had 35% of the market share for Central Texas – grossing $70 Million in sales. And that’s without an advertising campaign, other than word of mouth. And – most importantly - he did this while competing against both Home Depot and Lowes. He took on the big box stores and kicked their ass in his market.

When the rental industry – a $42 Billion industry - faced increasing competition and pressure from Lowes and Home Depot, Mike is the guy they turned to.

He is the author of three books, one of which details the exact processes and techniques he used in his one-year turnaround, and is oh-so-surprisingly titled, The 1-Year Business Turnaround and available from both Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

He’s also been a featured speaker for national wholesale organizations and is a featured columnist in several industry magazines. To sum up, he’s a nationally recognized expert on competing against category killers. He and Tom Wanek teach Fight the Big Boys and Win.

Peter Nevland

Having left his engineering job at Motorola to perform as front man for the act known as Spoken Groove, Peter has literally seen the world. For the last 5 years he's traversed nearly every continent, delighting audiences with his energetic performances and mind blowing writing skills. His ability to connect with diverse crowds seems to know no bounds.

So how does that translate into effective business consulting? What could an artist possibly contribute to a company trying to improve their bottom line? Behind every poem, song or CD he's created churns the never ceasing mind of an analytical engineer with a Master's in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.

Add the creative ability to see possibilities others miss with an extraordinary talent for making words come to life, and you get the kind of ideas that make you remember why you started business in the first place. Peter's constantly looking for ways to make stories come to life. Think he can help you find the story your customers are longing to buy?

Steve Rae

Steve Rae loves being in front of a crowd, whether it's toting his guitar or as a speaker at conferences and speaking venues around the world or as a charity auctioneer.

As a speaker, Steve has addressed groups in Canada, the US, Australia and Great Britain. His particular specialty is radio station groups and their customers, but he has also addressed Ad and Sales Clubs, TV stations, Chambers of Commerce, the oil and gas industry, University, college and high school level advertising and marketing programs and the toughest of all, Mrs. Wilkinson's grade three class.

He's also President of Raedio Inc., a communications company that owns radio stations in Canada, a member of the Board of Governors of the Stratford Festival Theatre of Canada and a Wizard of Ads partner.

His book, Exercising Your Imagination was published in November 2003 and his first CD of original songs entitled Steve Rae - Live at City Hall was released in July, 2006. He teaches Public Speaking 101 at Wizard Academy. and is a contributor to the American Small Business website.

Ray Seggern

As a member of the worldwide Wizard Of Ads partner network, Austinite Ray Seggern brings with him a decade of experience in the broadcasting industry, as well as diverse background in the "real world," ranging from humble beginnings as a concert promoter to a stint as editor/publisher running a weekly newspaper. It also doesn't hurt that he spent the last two-and-a-half years inside the Wizard's castle as a client consultant, working directly as the key liaison with the Wizard's long-term clients, before launching his own division of the company back in 2006. Since then, Ray's clients have enjoyed exponential growth stretching from the Maritimes to Southern California and all points in between He has presented his One Man Brand seminar in English and Spanish across the US, Canada and Latin America

Ray will be presenting two of his more popular sessions, each culled from his One Man Brand curriculum: 1) Branding 2.0: What are the key components to waging a successful branding campaign in the post modern business climate; and 2) Recession Busters: What can you do to help your business survive (and thrive) in the face of dire economic news.

Tom Wanek

Entrepreneurship tugging at his heart, Tom Wanek's spent the past eight years growing his successful retail-clothing store. Dealing with his fair share of growing pains, skinned knees and all. Just like you.

Today, as a Wizard of Ads partner Tom’s passion and commitment is helping owner-operated businesses in North America with their marketing and advertising.

As an adjunct faculty member of the Wizard Academy in Austin, TX, he co-teaches the workshop, “How to Fight the Big Boys and Win”. Tom’s an international speaker - presenting his pioneering ideas on marketing communications.

Dave Young

For the past 6 years, Dave has consulted business owners in online and offline advertising and marketing strategies. His clients include brick and mortar companies as well as online businesses. Categories include service businesses, medical, retail, tourism, banking, writers and more. He has clients in the United States, Canada and Australia.

An adjunct instructor at Wizard Academy, David has a Broadcast and Documentary Film degree, which he ignored in order to spend 20 years in the broadcasting business in management and ownership.

A 2-day seminar with this line-up should cost you at least $2,200. Why are we only charging $149? You're thinking that you're going to continuously hear a sales pitch, right? Nope. Nothing of the sort.

Tough economic times equate to the equilibrium helping us stay upright. The Wizard of Ads Partners see this seminar as a way to grow the engines that make the economy run. Want your sales to rev?