The Root Keeps Growing

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screen-shot-2016-10-01-at-9-18-25-amhttps://tonywalkerpost.com/root-philosophy/

Originally Posted: January 1, 2017
Last Updated:  September 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. [181 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 40 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 Besaw & 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. Logix Archiving
  76. M&L Devine Resources
  77. Manzella Productions [support only]
  78. My Personal Advisor
  79. Mode*
  80. One Global Culture
  81. Outback Paging [AdTel Worldwide]
  82. Pacific Data Resources
  83. Panther Data Solutions
  84. Phroket
  85. Pizza Shoppe
  86. PremCloud Resources
  87. Ragusa Executive Solutions
  88. Real Properties Services
  89. Sceven
  90. SmartGov Data Technologies
  91. SmartLink [Bailey & Kensington]
  92. SmartLink [Main Place Mall]
  93. Sozae
  94. Stereo Advantage [Phoenix]
  95. Stereo Shops [3 Rochester stores]**
  96. Strategic Finance
  97. Taplin Design
  98. Tony Walker Golf Club [4 locations nationally]
  99. Total Health & Fitness
  100. Trend Depot
  101. TW Charter Stores [92 Aussie Outfitter stores nationally]
  102. UnBiasIt
  103. UnCarbonIt
  104. Walker Sports Audit
  105. Watch Commander Data Resources
  106. Watch Commander Staffing
  107. Wellingtin Resources
  108. White & Co
  109. Wynnovation Labs
  110. Zantaz EAS [formerly Capax Discovery LLC]
  111. ZiDOL Resources
  112. Z Legal Data Resources
  113. ZNZ Resources
  114. Zovy Cloud

Coming Sooner or Later or Never

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

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