Today we’d like to introduce you to Brandon Dempsey.
Brandon, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I cut grass, worked at McDonald’s and became a part time janitor in high school to help pay for highschool.
Young entrepreneur straight out of college- First company was a work from home consulting company back in 2006- SuiteCommute.
Sold SuiteCommute then ran a Professional Employers Organization (PEO) up in Chicago for 1 year.
Started building websites on the side as a favor for friends and launched Expert Status Online, eventually merged with goBRANDgo!.
Have worked to build goBRANDgo! into a company run by professionals and not the owners. Owners have roles just not day to day responsibilities.
Published a book in 2016- Shut Up and Go- A Millennials Guide to Getting What you Want
goBRANDgo! rebranded in 2024 to GBG under the direction of the management (non-ownership) team.
In 2016 I got into buying dilapidated properties in St. Louis city and started fixing them up.
Today we have a portfolio of several multi-family buildings.
Bought the oldest (still standing) ST. Louis City Public School and launched Conflux Co-learning- a non-profit that serves leaders of Industrial Companies. We hosted over 1000 leaders in 2024 and have grown the non-profit to be a voice for mid-market industrial companies.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
So many struggles.
We ran out of cash, maxed out credit cards, and had to get a line of credit to make payroll with 3 days notice- all becuase we didn’t understand the difference between cash flow and profitablity.
We had a client sue us after 6 months of their website being live because they decided they “didn’t like it anymore.”
We’ve had numerous employees leave and then recruit clients directly for a business they are running or go work for clients and then try to move the business away from us.
Covid thrust us into figuring out how to deliver our services virtually when we were used to meeting with clients in person.
We’ve been robbed during construction more times than we can count- donating 8 generators on one building to the neighborhood we were rehabbing in.
We had a construction team held up at gunpoint during the day.
Fired an employee and then walked him while I carried his gun he brought to work.
Struggled through hiring and growing when we couldn’t pay what companies were paying.
Determined never to do a layoff and cut my salary in half so that we could keep people on staff.
Had to manage 7 insurance claims at one time due to wind and rain damage.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
GBG is a marketing firm specializing in B2B industrial companies. We are experts in selling complex, high cost/value machines, tools, and services to engineers and technical buyers. This requires a high level of understanding and research to be able to be experts in all sorts of fields.
I’m most proud of our ability to be professionally operated vs. founder operated. This has allowed us to grow and scale with people who understand how to lead and grow a company.
Our brand is all about meeting people and companies where they are and then GROWING BETTER TOGETHER. We see every company we work with as an opportunity to Learn and Grow together. It’s about us bringing best practices and marrying those proven frameworks with client’s deep understanding of their business.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
Boy Scout Camp at S-F in Potosi, MO. IT was a week where boys were in charge and we got to play in the woods, work togehter to accomplish tasks, and have a lot of fun fending for ourselves.
Boy Scouts was foundational for my leadership skills and feeling that I could care for myself. It taught me a lot in how to get along with others and work with others.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.gbgmarketing.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gobrandgo/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gbg.b2b.marketing/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gbgmarketing/posts/
