https://tonywalkerpost.com/root-philosophy/

Originally Posted: January 1, 2017
Last Updated:  March 28, 2023

From the very beginning in 1978, it has been my goal to provide the vision, resources, and confidence necessary for the development of the Advantage Co as a business experience for those willing to take the full measure of the challenge.  This approach has energized our Root Philosophy for over 40 years, and it has been our good fortune to build a number of world-class businesses.

Note:  The Advantage Co is not an operating entity; it is simply an informal name that has evolved over 40 years to reference the eclectic mix of independently owned and operated businesses and partnerships that I am involved with in some manner.  Likewise, there is no Tony Walker.  It is also a legacy name that has evolved over the years as my nom de plume, starting with my authorship of The Third Factor [The Advantage Co Handbook].

Here is a short list of the independently owned and operated businesses we have started or helped to start over the years. [180 and counting].  The businesses in italics are partnerships. The businesses in bold are currently operational.  Each one has been visited by success and failure.  Some businesses never really got off the ground, while others have been thriving for decades.  One of these nights, I’ll start filling in the stories.   The really good news is that over 50 of the businesses we have helped to launch are thriving enterprises.

All told we estimate there have been over 8,000 participants in the building of these opportunities.  If you have a backstory for any of them, why not share it with us?  I’ll take the good with the bad [they all have their share].  It is never meant to be easy, but it is always meant to be rewarding.

A man who says he never had a chance is a man who never took one.  Be big, be a builder.

Advantage Co Businesses

1. Advantage Brands Group
2. Advantage Catalog
3. Advantage Computer Co.
4. Advantage Global Resources
5. Advantage Home Theater
6. Advantage Outlet
7. Advantage Properties
8. Advantage TI
9. Advantage Trade Group
10. Advacovery
11. Aussie T Co
12. Beautiful Business Life
13. Bogavia
14. Brinkley Builders
15. Chuggs
16. Computer Head Start
17. Giancarlo’s Sicilian Steakhouse & Pizzeria
18. Giancarlo’s Cafe & Patisserie
19. Gift Giving Registry
20. Grivani
21. Grivani Wine Cellar
22. Grivani Wine [Distributing]
23. House of Cotton
24. Forrestel Clothing Co
25. iFul
26. iSport
27. iWorldFundraising.org
28. iWorld Shopping Center
29. King Finley
30. Lab to Beauty
31. Leave It To Alison**
32. Lifetime Service Trust
33. Love Pink & Green
34. Luxuri Link
35. Merwin & Payne
36. Modern Luxuri
37. MyWarehouse.org
38. Nantucket Clothing
39. Naples Properties
40. Osaka Speakers
41. PALM Investments
42. Piece Apparel
43. Pioneer Home Theater
44. Prato Way Management
45. Pure + Fresh
46. Scotch Boots of Holland
47. Smart Car Store
48. Smart House Cafe**
49. Smart Squad Design
50. Smart Squad Install
51. SmartLinks
52. Sneaker Advantage
53. SONY Home Theater
54. Stereo Advantage
55. Stereo Advantage [Olean]
56. JVC Home Theater
57. Taplin Marketing
58. Tiny Walker
59. Touche’
60. TW Outlet [Niagara Falls]**
61. TW&Co
62. Walker Center
63. Walker Kids Trust
64. Walker Global Parts
65. Walker Global Solutions
66. Wehrle Properties
67. White Box Services

Advantage Co Partnerships

1. ABX Professionals
2. Advantage Business Exchange
3. Advantage Investment, Development & Oversight
4. Advantage Legal & Fiduciary
5. Advantage Marketing & Incentives
6. Advantage Systems Professionals [now iWorld Professionals]
7. Advantage Woodshop
8. American Wireless
9. AP Charlotte
10. AP Cincinnati
11. AP Cleveland
12. AP Denver
13. APHQ 
14. AP Metro**
15. AP Phoenix
16. AP Rochester [sold to Matt Taylor]
17. AP Solutions
18. AP Syracuse
19. AP Tampa
20. AP Washington DC
21. AP WNY
22. Arcivium for Azure
23. At Your Service
24. Aussie Outfitters
25. Autonomic Resources [sold to CSC]
26. Beacon Global Resources
27. Bellus Development
28. BFSI Data, Inc.
29. BizHop [support only]
30. Black Progress Matters
31. Black Progress Executive Resources
32. BPX Executive Staffing
33. BPM Minority-Owned Business Incubator
34. BP College Advisors
35. BP Alliance
36. Butler Chemical
37. Cascade Point**
38. c1 Advantage
39. c1 Secure
40. Carolina Clothing Co
41. Capax Alpha 
42. Capax Global [sold to Hitachi Data Systems]*
43. Capax India
44. Capax Resource Management*
45. CARES Act ADVISORY
46. Chiampou Travis & Kershner*
47. Christeus
48. Cleary & Sullivan
49. Cleary Travel
50. Cocoa by CeCe
51. Consilium1 
52. Cross Pointe**
53. DACKS
54. Data Detect + Connect
55. Delta Road Properties
56. Duke Fund**
57. FedCLOUD Resources
58. Free Trade Consultants
59. Gauntlet Design
60. Greenview Landscaping*
61. GRW For Hair
62. Hudson Walker
63. Images & Graphics
64. Inspired Global Resources*
65. Irwin Lazarus
66. iWorld Professionals
67. JALMAR Graphics
68. JNorman & Co
69. KATINI Skin
70. King Finley
71. Kizer Data Solutions
72. LeCleanse Officiel
73. LD World Resources
74. Lifetime EndPoint Resources
75. M&L Devine Resources
76. Manzella Productions [support only]
77. My Personal Advisor
78. Mode*
79. One Global Culture
80. Outback Paging [AdTel Worldwide]
81. Pacific Data Resources
82. Panther Data Solutions
83. Phroket
84. Pizza Shoppe
85. PremCloud Resources
86. Ragusa Executive Solutions
87. Real Properties Services
88. Sceven
89. SmartGov Data Technologies
90. SmartLink [Bailey & Kensington]
91. SmartLink [Main Place Mall]
92. Sozae
93. Stereo Advantage [Phoenix]
94. Stereo Shops [3 Rochester stores]**
95. Strategic Finance
96. Taplin Design
97. Tony Walker Golf Club [4 locations nationally]
98. Total Health & Fitness
99. Trend Depot
100. TW Charter Stores [92 Aussie Outfitter stores nationally]
101. UnBiasIt
102. UnCarbonIt
103. Walker Sports Audit
104. Watch Commander Data Resources
105. Watch Commander Staffing
106. Wellingtin Resources
107. White & Co
108. Wynnovation Labs
109. Zantaz EAS [formerly Capax Discovery LLC]
110. ZiDOL
111. Z Legal Data Resources
112. ZNZ Resources
113. Zovy Cloud

Coming Sooner or Later or Never

1. Ana Blu Mediterranean Kitchen
2. Aussie T Co [Retro]
3. 2 Girls 1 Deal
4. 2×4 Office Anywhere
5. Bambini Beauty
6. Balance Bra
7. Beach to Beauty
8. Bedtime Monster Spray
9. Christian Coop
10. Church of the Good
11. Clean Your Closets For Kids
12. College Rep Program
13. CopDrop
14. The Fantasy League
15. FedDrop
16. FedSecure Data Centers
17. FedCloud Vault
18. Forrestel Clothing Co [Retro]
19. Giancarlo’s Boutique Hotel
20. GoToCloud Express
21. Greenskeeper Coop
22. Grivani Golf
23. International Transfer Pricing
24. iWorld Auto
25. iWorld Banking
26. iWolrd Accounting
27. Life Source Insurance
28. Meta Data Stack
29. OffShore Secure
30. Scrubs
31. Walker Global Mergers Acquisitions & Review
32. Walker University

* No longer involved in this partnership.
**Ended successfully.

There are three worlds: the one we are given, the one we are stuck with, and the one we bend to our will.

Theodore Roosevelt’s famous Man in the Arena speech.  ‘It is not the critic who counts, not the one who points out how the strong man stumbled or how the doer of deeds might have done them better.  The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred with sweat and dust and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause and who, if he fails, at least fails while bearing greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.’