Born and raised on a farm in northern Indiana, Bert Miller raised himself up through the brands of E. & J. Gallo and Revlon, to then start Protis Global and recently acquired Management Recruiters International Inc. An athlete all his life, from baseball to football, and now mind-numbing, soul-building marathons, Bert takes the competition, the drive, the sweat and the brutal determination of a sportsman and plows it all into his work. From farm to founder, he knows better than anyone else that the underdog can take on the mighty. It’s one of the reasons he owns three companies; the absolute, all-consuming belief that anyone can choose a path less traveled and fulfill their dreams. His ethos is why we all hustle every day, to build companies and put talented individuals in their dream roles. If you ask Bert anything, his answer will always be bourbon.
Entrepreneurial Role Models:
Bert’s Father
When business started difficulties overcame:
“there was a lot of doubts… I had an awesome awesome job with Revlon the cosmetic giant and I really enjoyed that work. And so I had a lot of my friends and family saying I was really crazy to really walk away from an amazing job where I had had a lot of success and I was only 32 years old and starting to make a little bit of money. But even at that time near we weren’t as financially ready as maybe some more seasoned people are to start a business from scratch. Secondly I didn’t really have any experience within the industry. We started a business in an industry that I didn’t really know a lot about and so my wife and I worked together for the first time, that was interesting in itself as you can quite imagine”…[Listen for More]
Favourite Books:
- The Godfather Book by Mario Puzo
- Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…And Others Don’t Book by Jim Collins
Favourite Quote:
- “I took the road less traveled by and that has made all the difference.” Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken and Other Poems
- “You have got to be fearless and bold”
- “you really have to have great mentors and listen and be humble and listen to others”
- “you had better be willing to have fun because the rest of it doesn’t matter unless you are enjoying the ride”
Recommended Online Resources:
- LinkedIn – 500 million+ members | Manage your professional identity. Build and engage with your professional network. Access knowledge, insights and opportunities.
- Facebook, Inc. is an American online social media and social networking service company based in Menlo Park, California. Its website was launched on February 4, 2004, by Mark Zuckerberg, along with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes.
- Twitter, Inc. is an American online news and social networking service on which users post and interact with messages known as “tweets”. Tweets were originally restricted to 140 characters, but on November 7, 2017, this limit was doubled for all languages except Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.
- Instagram – A simple, fun creative way to capture, edit share photos, videos messages with friend’s family
- Flipboard curates the world’s stories so you can focus on investing in yourself, staying informed, and getting involved With curated packages that offer insights and inspiration for any interest, Flipboard will make you feel like you’ve spent your time well
Best Advice to Other Entrepreneurs:
“take the road less travelled, out work the others (you have got to outwork folks), be present with people, and you have got to show up. And when you show up and you have those other attributes, you give yourself a chance to win… If you just make all of the ordinary plays… Make the ordinary plays and not try to be extraordinary you will always give yourself a chance to win”…[Listen for More]
More About Bert Miller:
- MRI Network
- Protis Global
- Management Recruiters International, Inc
Neil’s Quote at the Beginning:
“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” Charles Darwin
Other Quotes From the Chat with Bert Miller:
- “I love building something into everything it actually can be”
- “I did like the position of kind of being the underdog and proving ourselves against the odds”
- “I’ve talked to so many business owners within our industry and others and I really try to learn from those folks as well”
- “make sure you hire well”
- “the journey was one of learning and growing”
- “generally, shortcuts that’s not a methodology that leads to greatness often… I think the journey builds solid foundations”
- “it requires tough decisions and the willingness to make them even in the face of criticism”
- “it’s really about the willpower and the grit… not letting doubt cloud your vision about what where you are going. Do not let criticism overwhelm you. Stay true to where you are heading knowing that you have a team behind you”
- “understanding your why. Why are you doing this? And communicating those kind of things to others. Because when you do that others will follow you because you start to build credibility. And when you have others in your corner you can accomplish almost anything”
Leave a Reply