Troy Hoffman

Helping business founders secure the legacy they've worked so hard to build.

After putting 2 companies through Bankruptcy at 24 years of age, I began to think it would be a wise decision to go to college and learn how to run a successful company. However, when I moved to Tallahassee to attend FSU (Florida State University) I realized job opportunities were limited. I grew up around my father's Chiropractic business and went through massage school right out of high school. I worked for him for a while until I switched paths to focus on Encounter Productions, once the company became more substantial. With this experience and educated background, I was able to convince a woman who owned a custom tailoring business to build a day spa with me. For the next two years, I tried my hand at running the company. We hired Estheticians, Massage Therapists, Nail Care Technicians, etc. Thanks to the amazing high-end clientele of my partner, the company was a great success! I sold my share of the company when I decided to move to California to help create the next company.

Encounter Productions was my first real success as a young Entrepreneur. It was what every kid right out of high school wanted to start... a clothing company! With 18 years of brilliance, our first design we made at hand within a few hours, along with $36 for the first t-shirt order, we by sheer luck became an extremely successful company. We had the ability to quickly market to the youth demographic and sell all sorts of designs to the Surfing, Skateboarding, and Christian market places. A creative idea led to including hats and license plates (3-D Holographic Prismatic stickers with funny sayings for the license plates). The attention we received from Conference coordinators took us into even larger markets, doing all the design, promotional materials, t-shirts, stickers, hats for large youth Conferences / Concerts / Amway Seminars/ Church events, etc... It was a lot of fun. Having the opportunity to work with so many friends and travel the U.S. selling at incredible events with amazing speakers, drastically changed my life and taught me that I truly belonged in the Entrepreneurial World for the rest of my life.

Val-U-Web was an early web design firm that I co-founded with Travis Kunce right after he graduated from SCAD (Savannah College of Art & Design). Travis was one of the most brilliant and talented individuals I have ever known in my life. Grateful of his brilliance, the company quickly grew from building small websites, to designing and implementing large back-end systems. We built large scale ordering systems and shopping cart technology for online E-tailers, merchants, and mid-size corporations. It was such a wild ride, however, it was also my first major failure in business. I learned a lot of hard lessons growing and losing on this company. With growth comes expenses, and if you are an inexperienced business owner you always think more cash will come in when you need it. On this one it didn't and the internet bubble popped. Unfortunately, we had to put Val-U-Web through Bankruptcy. Now my passion is for growing and mentoring other leaders, entrepreneurs, and people who want to impact the world!