About Us
Brian Gibson
Entrepreneur, Marketer, Adventurer,
Musician/Songwriter, World Traveler
Not many people can claim to have helped free a trapped cruise ship from underwater entanglements off the coast of Grenada – especially when your primary job was being the drummer of the ship’s onboard rock band!
As he has done all his life, the young Brian Gibson dove in, got to the source of the problem, worked out a solution, and with the help of others, was able to “right the ship” toward its intended course.
Born in England but being a world-traveling adventurer, Brian Gibson moved to the USA in the mid-1980s after several cross-Atlantic trips showed him appealing opportunities that could not be realized elsewhere. Soon afterward, when Brian was asked to train the customer service staff of a growing company, he discovered the value of this simple yet profound philosophy – treat others as you would like to be treated – and it has guided everything he has done the rest of his professional life.
For 32 years, Brian has advised many organizations about customer service and online marketing. His approach to treating customers and co-workers with respect and educating companies on how to conduct business in that manner has proven successful in everything from small family startups to Fortune 500 enterprises. Brian has traveled to 96 countries while helping companies through huge social and technological changes. While doing so, he has proven that this simple philosophy, when applied correctly, can build a special kind of loyalty that businesses need to sustain growth.
From freeing a cruise ship in the 1970s to building successful business relationships throughout his career, Brian has helped improve the courses of countless peoples’ lives. Now at the helm of a company that he co-founded and which has quickly become a market leader, Brian continues building on that core philosophy. By delivering premium products that keep people comfortable while using limited electrical power– in situations such as camping and full-time RVing to home emergencies caused by storm damage or power grid blackouts – Brian and his co-partner are treating new generations of adventurers, families, communities and businesses to the best, most innovative products to help keep their lifestyles on course.
Doug Curtis
Adventurer, Storyteller, Marketer, Entrepreneur
Imagine journeying by bus, Land Rover, train, sailboat, powerboat, and single-engine plane from Guadalajara to Machu Picchu to Nairobi to Kealakekua.
The life and adventures of Doug Curtis include backpacking, tent camping, and van camping through 67 US state and national parks – and scaring himself by canoeing in an early October blizzard in the Grand Tetons. Kayaking 86 miles through the Sea of Cortez with the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), and naively cross-country skiing into a herd of wild Buffalo in Wyoming.
After all those experiences, Doug finally realized that burning the candle at both ends, and enjoying bizarre conversations with wonderfully peculiar storytellers at more than 1,000 campfires, failed to produce the next great American novel!
Transforming from nomad to filmmaker, to TV producer and direct-response TV marketer, Doug came to eventually produce over 800 half-hour TV shows and thousands of commercials. He channeled his driving energy toward successful resultswith advertising agencies, business start-ups and corporate consulting.
During 10 years as the VP of Marketing for one of the largest worldwide brands in the RV, marine and home industries, he launched over 200 international consumer products, generating tens of millions of dollars, achieving 17 industry innovation and best product awards for six global brands, and eventually helping take the company public.
Because people continuously encounter challenges and search for solutions to better enjoy their home life and outdoor lifestyles, Doug co-founded Network RV and SoftStartUSA to manufacture and market smart, innovative products to help homeowners, business owners and their families improve their quality of life. By doing so, Doug has been able to positively affect the lives and adventures of many others by helping them improve their quality of life, of fun, of growth, of choices, of improvement, of beauty, and of their desire to be the best and happiest that they can possibly be.
Sheldon Ramsamooj
Entrepreneur, Business Nomad, Head Listener In Charge, Marketing Scientist
Born in the twin-island republic of Trinidad and Tobago, Sheldon Ramsamooj learned about the power of stories in moving people from a blind man named Eric Mitchell.
Indelibly impressed by “Mr. Eric’s” stories daily at the village water spigot, a 7-year-old Sheldon developed a deep curiosity about the mechanics of messaging to persuade people to act.
A career in Marketing was not just a perfect fit, it became a mission. One that easily compelled him away from academia to apprentice under a handful of sales and marketing masters. Each of whom presented opportunities that stretched and molded him into a rainmaker in the digital marketing world.
His career started at 14 years old as an entry level bag boy at a well-known grocery store chain in Florida. Here, he quickly found himself routinely earning twice as much per week from customers’ tips than from his hourly paycheck.
This experience taught him the immeasurable value of delivering high touch service to the customer, and how strategic, authentic conversations with customers could mean the difference between a positive or negative experience with a brand.
More importantly, he discovered that serving customers meant listening more than responding. And every response was only useful after understanding clearly what the customer really wanted.
These lessons became a part of his professional DNA, and the core tactics inhis marketing and sales projects – on and offline.
Applying these marketing fundamentals at a “black-belt” level led to record speed ascent from a data entry position to the first ever SEO Manager position at one of Ebay’s earliest and largest PowerSellers.
This position opened the doors for recruitment to similar jobs at a few Fortune 500 companies and a handful of ecommerce startups. The most exciting of these opportunities was being recruited by an elite, invitation-only direct response marketing agency in 2002.
As the youngest consultant in the agency, he was excited to learn from the diverse roster of agents from virtually every business niche. They had systemized several of the marketing tactics he previously used into a step-by-step protocol that reliably produced results for any business model.
A driven Sheldon quickly found himself developing digital implementations for the offline tactics he was taught. He absorbed and communicated the strategies so well that the Miami Herald invited him to teach small business advertisers a few of the tactics in a series of workshops.
A string of ecommerce client successes followed. In each, he executed digital marketing efforts for:
* Startup projects where he grew their web traffic and sales from less than 4 figures per month to millions in sales per year, and…
* Fortune 500 companies where he re-designed their digital marketing S.O.P.s to generate over 1100% more sales within 3 years, across multiple website domains and niches.
These career homeruns led to his current position with one of the fastest growing RV industry brands
* SoftStartUSA.
Here, Sheldon enjoys the role of SEO and VP of Content & Digital Marketing.
He loves working with a very driven team who is hyper-focused on the fundamentals he started his career with:
Listen to the customer closely. And give them exactly what they want, in the ways they expect it.