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    Gift Card Guy
    Gift Card Guy
    Gift Card Guy
    Ebook153 pages2 hours

    Gift Card Guy

    By Gary T. Dinkin

    5/5

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    About this ebook

    Gift Card Guy reads like the business version of Rocky vs. The Wolf of Wall Street in this new blockbuster book.

    In his debut book, Gary T. Dinkin, founder of the world's largest closed loop self-hosted gift card software company chronicles his journey about becoming an entrepreneur.

    Often humiliating and downright painful his sincere accounts are frequently humorous, insightful and inspiring without sounding preachy. Dinkin is on a quest to help the underdog and would-be entrepreneur succeed and doesn't mind exposing himself in the process.

    Gift Card Guy is a "Four-Star...Engaging Read...an education for any one with a desire to start a business. Gary Dinkin is nothing if not a born storyteller...The Fifty-Nine 'LIFE LESSONS' Dinkin sprinkles throughout the text are what make the book particularly relevant to would-be entrepreneurs... everyone should find Gift Card Guy very enjoyable to read." Foreward Clarion Review

    Kirkus Reviews writes, "A light breezy record of one entrepreneur's rise to fortune and the crazy ways of American business"

    As Dinkin explains, "There are no get-rich-quick strategies in my book—just some life lessons that I learned the hard way." His life lessons in the book will inspire and encourage anyone to take that first step toward success and happiness or make sure they don't quit their day job. Dinkin became an entrepreneur to prove that he could accomplish anything he wanted, every time someone told him he couldn't.

    He is the owner of multiple companies including SmartClixx, LLC (www.smartclixx.com) and is a sought-after speaker at industry events and an acknowledged expert in the software industry. He is a past winner of Transaction World's "Movers and Shakers" Award. Gary has two daughters, and his wife and their dogs split their time between the coasts.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherGary T. Dinkin
    Release dateOct 23, 2013
    ISBN9780988775312
    Gift Card Guy
    Author

    Gary T. Dinkin

    Gary Dinkin is a serial entrepreneur with numerous failures and successes under his belt. No stranger to life’s obstacles, he has persisted through the highs and lows of everyday life, even when the lows were frequent and the brass ring of fame kept slipping from his grasp.Since 2000 he has been CEO and founder of SmartClixx, the world’s largest self-hosted, closed-loop, stored-value gift card software company. His clients produce billions of dollars annually in gift card sales and merchandise credits in their stores and over the web. His unique financial model revolutionized the gift card industry.Dinkin’s commitment to customer satisfaction, his penchant for micromanagement, and his “boot-strapping” mentality made him successful in a “David vs. Goliath” industry. He is a past winner of Transaction World’s “Movers and Shakers” Award and holds numerous patents.Dinkin sold his company in 2 parts in 2018 and 2019 for an undisclosed large sum to two large entities. He currently is retired but still consults to the FinTech industry.

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    • 5/5
      Honest and gutsy portrayal of what it takes to become an entrepreneur.

    Book preview

    Gift Card Guy - Gary T. Dinkin

    Chapter 1

    Hey, kid, his voice echoed in my ear. See that pile of dog shit?

    I nodded with a terrified expression.

    Lick that shit or we're going to beat you up!

    That's pretty much how I remember growing up.

    The question is: why me? The answer is: why not? I'm probably not much different from you, except that I became a successful software entrepreneur and millionaire and you probably didn't, or you wouldn't be reading this book. No, I'm not Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, or Mark Zuckerberg rich, but I'm comfortable—just your average millionaire entrepreneur.

    Now, you're probably thinking to yourself that the guy writing this book is just another arrogant asshole who's writing a book about himself to show the world that he's just an average guy when he's really not. The truth is, I am just an average guy. In fact, everybody I meet always thinks I remind them of somebody else that they know, like, and trust. Not a great-looking guy, not a frat boy, not a captain of industry...just an average nice guy.

    Why did I become an entrepreneur? It wasn't the money or the fame (although that's great if you can get it). I became an entrepreneur because I was tired of eating shit and getting dumped on. I needed to prove to everybody that I could accomplish anything I wanted every time somebody told me I couldn't.

    You don't recognize my name, but you've probably bought my product. In fact, my software generates billions of dollars per year for my clients. There's no fanfare, motivational speeches, or get-rich-quick strategies in my book—just some life lessons that I learned the hard way.

    I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth, and I've had numerous failures and successes along the way. I literally ate dog shit. I went from loser to winner—multiple times. I didn't graduate from a top university; in fact, I didn't graduate at all (although I probably had more majors than the army).

    Everything in this book is true except for some of the names.

    However, there are always at least three sides to every story (yours, theirs, and the objective version) and I don't wish anyone any harm from this book. Some of the people mentioned here might have a different version and that's okay. But, this is the way I remember it and this is my book!

    Let me start at the beginning...

    Being born the middle child of a lower-middle-class Jewish family in Toronto, Canada, does not exactly make you a popular leader. In fact, if you're the middle child born into any family, you pretty much have to fight for everything. And believe me, I wasn't a fighter.

    My father and older brother were my heroes growing up, and they still are. My father worked from the age of five (a paper route at first), and he continued to work while going to school. Unfortunately, he had to drop out of high school when he was sixteen in order to fully support his mother and two brothers, because his father had left them when he was quite young.

    My older brother was the complete opposite of me growing up. While I was quiet and shy as a child, he was gregarious, smart, hyperactive, and very mischievous. How I longed to be just like him! Our old 8 mm home movies always show my father chasing and yelling at my brother. He always got my father's attention—good or bad.

    My mom was always the anchor of our family. She was only eighteen when she met my dad. They started dating and fell in love quickly. When they were to be married, they didn't have much money; my father's earnings went to his mother to help support her and my dad's two brothers, as I mentioned earlier. As fate would have it, just before they were to be wed, my parents attended a baseball game, and my father was randomly chosen to enter a contest at the game. He was the only contestant to know all three answers to some very difficult baseball trivia, and he won a thousand dollars. This gave my parents the start they desperately needed!

    Life Lesson #1

    SOMETIMES YOU JUST NEED A LUCKY BREAK!

    From the time my parents married, my father and mother began to mold their lives together as life partners and raise a family of their own. My dad returned to school to better his life, and my mom was there cheering him on while she continued to work. About this time, my older brother was born, and three years later, in 1960, I appeared on the scene.

    My mother often tells the story of how I was an incubator baby and had to spend the first couple of weeks in the hospital in order to gain some weight. I wasn't born prematurely, just small, under five pounds. When my parents drove home from the hospital with me, they heard a small squeak every time my dad took a corner. They thought they would have to get the car fixed, until they realized that the squeaking was me.

    Life Lesson #2

    IT'S OK TO BE A SQUEAKY WHEEL IN ORDER TO GET NOTICED.

    Chapter 2

    In 1964 my family moved from Toronto (a thriving metropolitan city with several million people) to London, Ontario, which was about one hundred miles to the west. London at the time was a small city of about fifty thousand residents, primarily Protestants and Catholics. Its big claim to fame back then was being home to the University of Western Ontario; it's bigger claim to fame was naming everything after the city in England.

    My father had received a full scholarship to the medical school at Western after receiving his bachelor's degree with honors. When we first arrived in London, we rented a townhouse in the middle of other row houses. There were lots of young lower-income families, and the kids would often play together by the swing set, in the streets, or at the clay mud pits (which we later found out was a sewage outlet).

    Some kids are vicious little bastards who grow up to be vicious big bastards, and to me at the time they all lived in London. I was only four, but certain events become etched in your mind forever. In Toronto we'd lived in a predominately Jewish neighborhood. But in London it felt to me like my family were the only Jews—and believe me, the other kids made sure I knew it.

    I was playing in a field one day when a gang of small children surrounded me.

    Hey, kike! they called out.

    I didn't know that they were talking to me, because I'd never heard that epithet before. Then they repeated it again and started walking closer to me. Now I knew who they meant, and I felt a sudden urge to hide and pee at the same time.

    The biggest kid—probably about two feet tall at the time, but still obviously the little Hitler youth gang leader—grabbed me by the arm.

    Hey, kid, his voice echoed in my ear. See that pile of dog shit?

    I nodded with a terrified expression as I looked on the ground and saw a big heaping pile of white dog shit.

    Lick that shit or we are going to beat you up!

    They forced me to the ground.

    The way I saw it, I had two choices. I could lick the shit and hope that they didn't beat me up, or I could try to fight them all. I chose to lick the shit. They laughed hysterically and walked away. I got pinworms but survived to live another day.

    Life Lesson #3

    IN THE WORDS OF THE IMMORTAL JOHN WAYNE, A MAN'S GOT TO DO WHAT A MAN'S GOT TO DO.

    After realizing that he didn't like the sight of blood, my father dropped out of medical school and went back to sales. He took a job with a home improvement company and became extremely successful. We soon moved to a new upscale middle-class neighborhood in the suburbs. Life was great!

    About the time I was five years old, my brother Joel decided to put on a magic show for the neighborhood kids. He asked me to collect two pennies from anybody who wanted to watch. I remember thinking to myself that two pennies would be good, but a nickel or dime would be better, and a quarter would be a fortune.

    Rather than tell the kids how much it would cost to secure a seat at this fabulous magic show, I reversed it on them. I told them to pay me whatever they had on them if they wanted to watch the performance.

    This was my first time being an entrepreneur.

    My brother was shocked and split the money with me afterward. Truth be told, I would have done it for free, because I just wanted him to be proud of me for helping him. And the lesson I learned was priceless.

    Life Lesson #4

    YOU NEVER KNOW HOW MUCH MONEY IS IN SOMEBODY'S WALLET, SO DON'T ASSUME THEY CAN'T AFFORD SOMETHING WITHOUT ASKING THEM.

    I excelled in school but watched as my older brother skipped fourth grade and went directly into fifth from third. Wow! How cool! I couldn't have been more proud of him. I would tag along with him wherever he went. He was extremely popular and had tons of friends.

    One Saturday he was playing softball in the field at school with a bunch of other kids. I kept running up to him, but he said I couldn't play with them because the game was only for older kids. I was a persistent and tenacious child who didn't like giving up, so I kept running on the field to be with him.

    As fate would have it, one of the times I ran onto the field he was at the plate up to bat. Joel told me to stand back, but I couldn't resist running toward him as the ball was pitched to him.

    It was a line drive—to my head.

    My brother thought he'd killed me with the bat and started crying, but I was only knocked to the ground and startled. It had scared him more than it scared me.

    I was very young when I learned this very important life lesson that could have cost me my life and changed the life of my brother forever.

    Even though I got hit hard in

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