Sam Maropis

Sam’s Bio (Jen’s perspective)

Sam Maropis is a good one to know. From our first conversation, he stood out from other Internet marketers I was working with at the time by being someone who asked a lot of questions. (I mean A LOT.) And not just filler questions, either; but ones that make you re-examine what you “know” to be true regarding your message and how you communicate it to your customers. He communicated frequently on projects we took on together, and just generally showed himself to be deeply interested in others’ businesses and their successes.

To call him a jack-of-all-trades is probably a bit of an understatement because he’s pretty humble; I’m still not sure the scope of his experience.  Here’s what I DO know about Sam:

• Graduated Wittenberg U. (in Ohio) in the late 70’s with a business/accounting degree.
• Owned a printing company for the first half of the 90’s. Earned Big-time Firsthand Small Business experience.
• National Sales Manager for a national calling card company (remember calling cards?) and Rand McNally, sometime in the 90’s.
• Manager at AT&T for at least the last 10 years. (Dodged a transfer to Dallas because he wanted to keep roots and family in San Antonio, and negotiated a new position within the company.)
• He was awarded a US patent; a “process patent” for a data management system for ATT’s phone numbers; a scary thought, if you ask me.
• Real estate investor who bought and sold properties throughout the early 2000s. Was an active board member of the local real estate investment club.
• Currently owns and operates a 48-unit apartment complex in downtown SA, TX, as well as a couple of other properties.
• Hosted an Investment Radio Show on 930am/KLUP out of San Antonio in 2007: Which leads to his public speaking…
• Spoke before a national audience of 300 real estate investors at two of their annual conferences (NetworthUSA). I’ve seen/heard Sam speak to soon-to-be graduates of the UTSA MBA program on business, where he’s presented programs on aspects of entrepreneurship to students at least a dozen times. I could tell the MBAs in the class saw right away exactly what I saw in Sam Maropis; his personable demeanor, honest experience, and love for business.
• He has a knack for communicating with folks just starting out in business, as well as those who know business inside and out.  It’s rare to find someone who’s as excellent a speaker as he is a listener, but Sam is that guy.