Curriculum Vitae of Founder John “Sebastian” Ragazzo
The founder of Offer in Compromise has been a successful negotiator since the mid 80’s. As an aggressive east-coaster, John Sebastian Ragazzo was born in New York, and raised in New Jersey. By the age of 18, Sebastian had amassed $100,000 in savings, which was derived mostly from accumulated referral fees and commissions. His best moneymaking technique was negotiating against auto dealerships on behalf of car buyers throughout New York and New Jersey. Sebastian learned from the get-go that you never have a second chance to make a first impression, and so he has always placed his best foot forward.
In 1985, Sebastian relocated to California to grow his auto referral business. Almost immediately, Sebastian nurtured a relationship with the operators of major auto dealerships throughout southern California. Eventually, Sebastian found a niche to unite car buyers and Southern California auto dealerships, not by advertising, but through advertising. Sebastian created his own unique vehicle for bringing buyers and sellers together by creating the Auto Directory Magazine.
.
Sebastian realized that the dilemma was not necessarily what buyers were looking to buy, but whom they were looking to buy from. Hence… the Auto Directory was born.
The Auto Directory was initially introduced as a free-of-charge, black and white newspaper-type publication. It grew into a 190+ page full-color, glossy magazine, introducing auto buyers to auto sellers. The Auto Directory presented to its readers a unique auto-selling strategy, coupled with auto-buying experiences.
Rather than inviting auto dealers to advertise within the publication, Sebastian, armed with writers and a full camera crew, would [personally] go out and visit auto dealers, and photograph auto dealership showrooms, service and parts departments. He would collect information and publish full page reviews incorporating every aspect about the dealerships services, and convey to buyers why they would want to purchase their next new car from a particular dealership.
The Auto Directory even incorporated a consumer feedback questionnaire which invited consumers to provide their feedback on a particular auto dealership car buying experience.
The Auto Directory’s published opinions were unbiased, and no auto dealership could ever purchase a review within the Auto Directory.
Any business that wished to advertise within the Auto Directory was qualified by the Auto Directory’s staff, pulling business licenses, and investigating consumer complaints lodged with local Better Business Bureaus. If and when a merchant passed a preliminary screening, staff members of the Auto Directory would create and publish a combination of an editorial, identifying the most important highlights of the merchant, coupled with a brief advertisement. Hence, the winning combination created an advertorial. In 1992, Sebastian appeared on the front cover of Automotive Outlook.
.
Then came Karmac… the mall kiosk that Sebastian designed to provide car buyers with a user-friendly automated experience. He created a friendly character named Karmac who would guide car buyers with an interactive kiosk to help narrow down the vast selection of automobiles. Upon completion of the session, Karmac would provide a hot-off-the-press edition of the Auto Directory magazine.
In fact, when cellphones were first invented, Sebastian figured out a way to fit that huge, bulky phone into a briefcase, so it was less conspicuous. Hence, he created and manufactured the very first briefcase cell phone.
.
By 1988, Sebastian began [personally] fueling a private-labeled automobile dealership credit card to assist auto dealerships with increased customer retention and loyalty.
Sebastian’s appeared on the front cover of Entrepreneur, a high profile magazine that illuminated successful entrepreneurs.
.
The Service Express card was then introduced to car buyers at the time of purchase of their new automobile. Since banks only approved car purchases based upon a limited credit amount, the Service Express credit card invited car buyers to purchase aftermarket accessories, like a sun roof, or the opportunity to upgrade their tires and rims, and even purchase extended warranties.
The Service Express credit card incorporated each specific auto dealership’s name on the card, and the card could only be used at that particular dealership. However, rather than attempt to sell the Service Express credit card concept to the auto dealerships door-to-door, Sebastian advertised the Service Express card within his own Auto Directory publication.
This strategy prompted auto dealerships to contact Service Express directly, and invited them to integrate the Service Express credit card program at their dealership. Within twelve short months, Service Express Card applications were found throughout automobile dealerships across the entire United States.
By 1990, the participating lender purchased controlling interest of the Service Express program, and eventually acquired the entire operation.
Sebastian pursued his lifelong vision, and set out to design his own line of clothing. He manufactured overseas and branded his own label.
By 1997, Sebastian had opened his own clothing boutiques, selling his own (very) popular clothing lines within his boutiques.
Carefully plotting a unique retail sales plan, Sebastian appeared on the front cover of Metropolitan magazine, echoing his plan to set out and attract the most relaxed buyers into any one of his twenty-two Geneva of Beverly Hills Boutique locations… tourists.
Under the brand (and his last name) Ragazzo (meaning “boy” in Italian) and Ragazza (meaning “Girl” in Italian), Sebastian introduced his top-selling 3-piece washable silk walking suit Collection to the United States, consisting of a fashionable jacket, pants, and matching shorts. Sebastian sold the collections throughout his Boutiques.
Other product inventions and designs that Sebastian spearheaded or shared in its success includes the E-Tak Navigation system, a uniquely designed Tracking System that guided driver’s door-to-door, safely landing them at their final destination.
At the time, the highest level of technology available provided only county by county mapping elements of this tracking system to be created and stored on multiple cassette tapes.
By incorporating today’s modern technological advancements, E-Tak was acquired by General Motors, and has since been redesigned and licensed to automotive manufactures throughout the world, conveniently and optionally integrated into the dashboard of all new cars. The mapping elements have since been upgraded with today’s latest technology, and the entire country’s maps are now retained on a single CD ROM.
Sebastian’s business ventures continued with the development of a 900 telephone hotline system, which allowed callers to retrieve instant medical information, and the opportunity to speak directly with Physician Assistants to aid in their medical ailments.
Health Fone Care was manned by Physician Assistants and accessible to caller’s 24-hours a day. First-time callers received by mail, a free brochure to help guide them through an array of medical topics, and telephone assistance during their next calls to Health Fone Care. Callers were also received a magnet to be placed onto their refrigerator door to conveniently remind callers of the 900 telephone number to call, and the extensions to each medical topic. Most importantly, Health Fone Care helped minimize unnecessary trips to hospitals, emergency rooms and medical centers. Eventually a major health care provider acquired Health Fone Care’s to help reduce unnecessary insurance claims.
Onward… When you are at a lunch meeting, have you ever wished you could exchange notes with everyone at the table so you didn’t have to wait for your copy to come by mail? Introducing… the KopyKat Notepad.
This uniquely-designed, multiple carbonless copy notepad allows users to inscribe (up to) six multiple (original) copies at the time of the actual inscriptions. An International Patent License ensued and was granted in 1991.
The KopyKat notepad was eventually licensed to a major paper products distributor, who acquired them shortly thereafter.
This leads us to Offer in Compromise.
Sebastian lives by one motto… “Opportunity lends itself.” Each venture that Sebastian evolves with opens new adventurous doors to bolder, more creative and lucrative opportunities. Sebastian is an achiever; a motivator; a leader; and an inspiration to his followers. This isn’t to say that Sebastian is perfect. He cautiously shares his missteps with his ginormous team of nationwide negotiators, to ensure that his mistakes are never emulated. Sebastian is best known as a go-to guy to all of his clients; associates; and friends. Sebastian certainly makes many friends along the way. He glides through life with a perception that everyone wishes to achieve what they set out to accomplish. His charisma energizes and marries enemies, and he cherishes his ever-expanding portfolio of successful ventures, and newly-created friends along his journeys.
There are countless other business ventures that have propelled Sebastian’s career, including his team’s successful negotiations of large ticket purchase items; renegotiation of professional athlete contracts; and merges and acquisition.
In 2010, Sebastian was inducted into the California Frontrunner business magazine, voting him #7 of the top 50 smartest people in business.
SO where is Sebastian headed now? Introducing the long anticipated Plastic Coupon.
Ecologically speaking… the entire world is finally going green. Imagine how many trees would be saved if we put an end to coupon mailers? Nowadays, we practically pull a tree out of our mailboxes every day. It’s junk mail; we don’t ask for it; we don’t want it; it’s a waste of retailer’s money; and the process is destroying our forests! Everyone appears to be going paperless… so why not paperless coupons? Retailers anxiously create; design; print; postmark; and bulk-mail paper coupons to millions of customers. Those coupons offer various discounts if they are presented by or before a certain date. When those coupons expire, they become worthless volumes of useless, wasted paper.
PlasticCoupon is in the process of placing a period on such time consuming; costly, and wasteful practices by creating an instant-gratification, and cost-productive way of reaching millions of shoppers, through their wallets, not their mailboxes. And while we certainly agree that coupons are somewhat effective, grasping at a two-percent average mailer return hardly seems worth the slaughter of so many of our precious trees, for such a minimal expectation. PlasticCoupon will soon be enrolling retailers into the PlasticCoupon program. Our portfolio of retailers will join our mission, converting their mailer coupons from paper to plastic.
In a world bursting at the seams with coupon incentives; cash back rewards and fine-print come-on’s, none offer the true incentive of instant gratification, like the PlasticCoupon.
While the PlasticCoupon is a discount club-membership card and not a credit card, the PlasticCoupon will revolutionize the way retailers reach out to, and reward their shoppers.
The mission of Plastic Coupon is to help save trees by providing shoppers with a PlasticCoupon that never expires, and will forever remain in shopper’s wallets, not in their trash cans like unwanted, expired paper coupons. Soon, PlasticCoupon cardholders will be able to visit their favorite retailers, swipe their PlasticCoupon at the register, and receive whatever instant gratification that paper coupons were intended to offer its shoppers.
Be sure to look for the Plastic Coupon’s new beginnings as they progress with high hopes, and even greater expectations.
You are invited to surf our website, e-mail or call whenever you are ever in need of a personal negotiator on your side, seeking a profitable resolution.
I’m truly enjoying the design and layout of your site. It’s a very easy on the eyes which makes it much more enjoyable for me to come here and visit more often. Did you hire out a designer to create your theme? Fantastic work!
Excellent blog you have here but I was curious about if you knew of any user discussion forums that cover the same topics talked about in this article? I’d really love to be a part of community where I can get comments from other experienced individuals that share the same interest. If you have any suggestions, please let me know. Appreciate it!
Today, I went to the beachfront with my children. I found a sea shell and gave it to my 4 year old daughter and said “You can hear the ocean if you put this to your ear.” She placed the shell to her ear and screamed. There was a hermit crab inside and it pinched her ear. She never wants to go back! LoL I know this is completely off topic but I had to tell someone!
I’m not sure why but this blog is loading very slow for me. Is anyone else having this issue or is it a issue on my end? I’ll check back later on and see if the problem still exists.
http://blog.conektia.com/?attachment_id=177
http://www.khmer-note.com/news/129173
Hello there! I know this is kinda off topic but I’d figured I’d ask. Would you be interested in exchanging links or maybe guest authoring a blog article or vice-versa? My blog goes over a lot of the same subjects as yours and I think we could greatly benefit from each other. If you might be interested feel free to shoot me an email. I look forward to hearing from you! Great blog by the way!
I’m not that much of a internet reader to be honest but your sites really nice, keep it up! I’ll go ahead and bookmark your website to come back in the future. All the best
Hello just wanted to give you a brief heads up and let you know a few of the pictures aren’t loading properly. I’m not sure why but I think its a linking issue. I’ve tried it in two different browsers and both show the same outcome.
Incredible! This blog looks just like my old one! It’s on a completely different topic but it has pretty much the same page layout and design. Excellent choice of colors!
I really like what you guys tend to be up too. This kind of clever work and reporting! Keep up the awesome works guys I’ve included you guys to blogroll.
Please let me know if you’re looking for a writer for your blog. You have some really great posts and I believe I would be a good asset. If you ever want to take some of the load off, I’d really like to write some content for your blog in exchange for a link back to mine. Please send me an e-mail if interested. Regards!
First off I want to say terrific blog! I had a quick question which I’d like to ask if you do not mind. I was interested to know how you center yourself and clear your head before writing. I’ve had a tough time clearing my thoughts in getting my ideas out there. I truly do enjoy writing however it just seems like the first 10 to 15 minutes are wasted just trying to figure out how to begin. Any recommendations or tips? Cheers!
I was curious if you ever thought of changing the structure of your website? Its very well written; I love what youve got to say. But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people could connect with it better. Youve got an awful lot of text for only having 1 or two images. Maybe you could space it out better?
Do you have a spam problem on this site; I also am a blogger, and I was wanting to know your situation; many of us have created some nice methods and we are looking to trade strategies with others, be sure to shoot me an e-mail if interested.
Hey! Do you know if they make any plugins to help with SEO? I’m trying to get my blog to rank for some targeted keywords but I’m not seeing very good success. If you know of any please share. Appreciate it!
I am curious to find out what blog platform you have been utilizing? I’m having some minor security problems with my latest blog and I would like to find something more safe. Do you have any suggestions?
I’m really enjoying the theme/design of your web site. Do you ever run into any web browser compatibility issues? A couple of my blog visitors have complained about my website not working correctly in Explorer but looks great in Chrome. Do you have any solutions to help fix this issue?
Today, I went to the beachfront with my children. I found a sea shell and gave it to my 4 year old daughter and said “You can hear the ocean if you put this to your ear.” She placed the shell to her ear and screamed. There was a hermit crab inside and it pinched her ear. She never wants to go back! LoL I know this is completely off topic but I had to tell someone!
Today, I went to the beach with my children. I found a sea shell and gave it to my 4 year old daughter and said “You can hear the ocean if you put this to your ear.” She placed the shell to her ear and screamed. There was a hermit crab inside and it pinched her ear. She never wants to go back! LoL I know this is totally off topic but I had to tell someone!
Have you ever thought about creating an e-book or guest authoring on other websites? I have a blog based on the same information you discuss and would really like to have you share some stories/information. I know my readers would value your work. If you’re even remotely interested, feel free to send me an email.
Hey there! I’m at work surfing around your blog from my new apple iphone! Just wanted to say I love reading through your blog and look forward to all your posts! Carry on the superb work!
Hi are using WordPress for your site platform? I’m new to the blog world but I’m trying to get started and create my own. Do you need any coding expertise to make your own blog? Any help would be really appreciated!
I’m not that much of a online reader to be honest but your sites really nice, keep it up! I’ll go ahead and bookmark your site to come back later on. All the best
Thanks on your marvelous posting! I quite enjoyed reading it, you are a great author.I will ensure that I bookmark your blog and will come back later in life. I want to encourage continue your great work, have a nice morning!
Do you mind if I quote a few of your posts as long as I provide credit and sources back to your blog? My website is in the very same area of interest as yours and my visitors would truly benefit from some of the information you provide here. Please let me know if this ok with you. Thanks a lot!
Good day! This is my 1st comment here so I just wanted to give a quick shout out and say I really enjoy reading through your posts. Can you suggest any other blogs/websites/forums that go over the same subjects? Many thanks!
Fantastic blog! Do you have any hints for aspiring writers? I’m hoping to start my own website soon but I’m a little lost on everything. Would you recommend starting with a free platform like WordPress or go for a paid option? There are so many options out there that I’m totally confused .. Any suggestions? Thanks!
Have you ever considered creating an e-book or guest authoring on other sites? I have a blog centered on the same ideas you discuss and would really like to have you share some stories/information. I know my audience would value your work. If you’re even remotely interested, feel free to send me an email.
I’m not sure exactly why but this site is loading extremely slow for me. Is anyone else having this issue or is it a problem on my end? I’ll check back later and see if the problem still exists.
Hey there excellent website! Does running a blog similar to this require a lot of work? I’ve no understanding of programming however I was hoping to start my own blog soon. Anyway, if you have any recommendations or tips for new blog owners please share. I know this is off topic however I just needed to ask. Thanks a lot!
Hi superb website! Does running a blog similar to this require a massive amount work? I’ve very little knowledge of programming however I was hoping to start my own blog in the near future. Anyway, if you have any suggestions or techniques for new blog owners please share. I understand this is off topic nevertheless I simply wanted to ask. Thank you!
Greetings from Carolina! I’m bored to death at work so I decided to browse your website on my iphone during lunch break. I love the info you present here and can’t wait to take a look when I get home. I’m shocked at how fast your blog loaded on my phone .. I’m not even using WIFI, just 3G .. Anyhow, great site!
Heya! I understand this is sort of off-topic but I had to ask. Does running a well-established website like yours take a massive amount work? I am brand new to blogging however I do write in my journal daily. I’d like to start a blog so I will be able to share my own experience and views online. Please let me know if you have any recommendations or tips for new aspiring bloggers. Thankyou!
Currently it appears like Expression Engine is the top blogging platform out there right now. (from what I’ve read) Is that what you’re using on your blog?
Hey there, I think your blog might be having browser compatibility issues. When I look at your website in Firefox, it looks fine but when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping. I just wanted to give you a quick heads up! Other then that, fantastic blog!
Have you ever considered about including a little bit more than just your articles? I mean, what you say is fundamental and all. Nevertheless think of if you added some great images or videos to give your posts more, “pop”! Your content is excellent but with images and clips, this site could certainly be one of the most beneficial in its field. Wonderful blog!
Hi there! I just wanted to ask if you ever have any issues with hackers? My last blog (wordpress) was hacked and I ended up losing a few months of hard work due to no data backup. Do you have any solutions to prevent hackers?
I’m not sure exactly why but this weblog is loading very slow for me. Is anyone else having this problem or is it a problem on my end? I’ll check back later on and see if the problem still exists.
Hello there! Do you know if they make any plugins to protect against hackers? I’m kinda paranoid about losing everything I’ve worked hard on. Any suggestions?
Hi there! Do you use Twitter? I’d like to follow you if that would be ok. I’m definitely enjoying your blog and look forward to new updates.
This design is wicked! You most certainly know how to keep a reader entertained. Between your wit and your videos, I was almost moved to start my own blog (well, almost…HaHa!) Great job. I really loved what you had to say, and more than that, how you presented it. Too cool!
Hi there! Would you mind if I share your blog with my myspace group? There’s a lot of folks that I think would really enjoy your content. Please let me know. Many thanks
Hey there would you mind letting me know which hosting company you’re using? I’ve loaded your blog in 3 different internet browsers and I must say this blog loads a lot quicker then most. Can you suggest a good hosting provider at a fair price? Thank you, I appreciate it!
I was wondering if you ever considered changing the structure of your site? Its very well written; I love what youve got to say. But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people could connect with it better. Youve got an awful lot of text for only having one or two images. Maybe you could space it out better?
Hmm is anyone else experiencing problems with the images on this blog loading? I’m trying to figure out if its a problem on my end or if it’s the blog. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Hey! Do you know if they make any plugins to safeguard against hackers? I’m kinda paranoid about losing everything I’ve worked hard on. Any recommendations?
Incredible! This blog looks just like my old one! It’s on a totally different subject but it has pretty much the same layout and design. Wonderful choice of colors!
Hi! I’ve been following your blog for a long time now and finally got the bravery to go ahead and give you a shout out from Austin Tx! Just wanted to say keep up the excellent job!
Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems as though you relied on the video to make your point. You definitely know what youre talking about, why waste your intelligence on just posting videos to your weblog when you could be giving us something enlightening to read?