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 really enjoying the design and layout of your website. It’s a very easy on the eyes which makes it much more pleasant for me to come here and visit more often. Did you hire out a developer to create your theme? Superb work!
Hi! I could have sworn I’ve been to this blog before but after browsing through some of the post I realized it’s new to me. Nonetheless, I’m definitely happy I found it and I’ll be book-marking and checking back often!
Hi there just wanted to give you a quick heads up and let you know a few of the images 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 results.
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 curious to find out how you center yourself and clear your thoughts prior to writing. I have had a hard time clearing my mind in getting my thoughts out. I do take pleasure in writing however it just seems like the first 10 to 15 minutes are usually lost simply just trying to figure out how to begin. Any ideas or hints? Kudos!
Hi! This is my 1st comment here so I just wanted to give a quick shout out and tell you I really enjoy reading your articles. Can you recommend any other blogs/websites/forums that deal with the same subjects? Thanks!
Hmm is anyone else having problems with the images on this blog loading? I’m trying to determine if its a problem on my end or if it’s the blog. Any responses would be greatly appreciated.
Hey, I think your website might be having browser compatibility issues. When I look at your blog in Opera, 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, superb blog!
Greetings from Ohio! I’m bored at work so I decided to browse your blog on my iphone during lunch break. I really like the info you present here and can’t wait to take a look when I get home. I’m amazed at how fast your blog loaded on my cell phone .. I’m not even using WIFI, just 3G .. Anyhow, fantastic blog!
My brother recommended I might like this website. He was totally right. This post truly made my day. You cann’t imagine just how much time I had spent for this info! Thanks!
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 and see if the problem still exists.
Woah! I’m really loving the template/theme of this site. It’s simple, yet effective. A lot of times it’s difficult to get that “perfect balance” between superb usability and visual appeal. I must say that you’ve done a excellent job with this. Additionally, the blog loads very quick for me on Chrome. Superb Blog!
Hello would you mind letting me know which hosting company you’re using? I’ve loaded your blog in 3 completely different web browsers and I must say this blog loads a lot faster then most. Can you suggest a good web hosting provider at a fair price? Thanks, I appreciate it!
Currently it sounds like Drupal is the preferred blogging platform out there right now. (from what I’ve read) Is that what you’re using on your blog?
Do you mind if I quote a couple of your posts as long as I provide credit and sources back to your blog? My blog is in the exact same niche as yours and my visitors would certainly benefit from a lot of the information you present here. Please let me know if this ok with you. Thanks!
Hey, I think your blog might be having browser compatibility issues. When I look at your blog in Ie, 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, superb blog!
I’m really enjoying the design and layout of your blog. 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 developer to create your theme? Excellent work!
My spouse and I absolutely love your blog and find most of your post’s to be just what I’m looking for. Would you offer guest writers to write content for you? I wouldn’t mind composing a post or elaborating on a few of the subjects you write in relation to here. Again, awesome blog!
I am really enjoying the theme/design of your weblog. Do you ever run into any web browser compatibility problems? A couple of my blog visitors have complained about my website not working correctly in Explorer but looks great in Opera. Do you have any tips to help fix this issue?
Everyone loves what you guys are up too. Such clever work and reporting! Keep up the good works guys I’ve included you guys to my own blogroll.
Hey there! This is kind of off topic but I need some help from an established blog. Is it very difficult to set up your own blog? I’m not very techincal but I can figure things out pretty quick. I’m thinking about setting up my own but I’m not sure where to start. Do you have any tips or suggestions? Cheers
Thank you, I have recently been searching for info approximately this subject for a while and yours is the best I’ve found out till now. However, what about the conclusion? Are you certain about the source?
I do not know if it’s just me or if everyone else experiencing issues with your website. It appears like some of the text within your content are running off the screen. Can someone else please provide feedback and let me know if this is happening to them too? This could be a issue with my internet browser because I’ve had this happen previously. Appreciate it
Do you mind if I quote a couple of your articles as long as I provide credit and sources back to your website? My blog site is in the very same area of interest as yours and my users would definitely benefit from some of the information you provide here. Please let me know if this alright with you. Many thanks!
With havin so much content do you ever run into any issues of plagorism or copyright violation? My blog has a lot of unique content I’ve either created myself or outsourced but it appears a lot of it is popping it up all over the internet without my permission. Do you know any solutions to help stop content from being stolen? I’d really appreciate it.|
You could certainly see your enthusiasm in the work you write. The arena hopes for more passionate writers such as you who aren’t afraid to mention how they believe. Always follow your heart.
I really appreciate this post. I¡¦ve been looking all over for this! Thank goodness I found it on Bing. You’ve made my day! Thanks again
Wonderful blog! I found it while browsing on Yahoo News. Do you have any tips on how to get listed in Yahoo News? I’ve been trying for a while but I never seem to get there! Thanks
Hello there! I know this is kinda off topic nevertheless I’d figured I’d ask. Would you be interested in trading links or maybe guest authoring a blog post or vice-versa? My site discusses 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 send me an e-mail. I look forward to hearing from you! Awesome blog by the way!
Do you have a spam issue on this site; I also am a blogger, and I was wanting to know your situation; we have developed some nice methods and we are looking to exchange strategies with others, why not shoot me an email if interested.
Hi would you mind letting me know which webhost you’re working with? I’ve loaded your blog in 3 completely different internet browsers and I must say this blog loads a lot faster then most. Can you recommend a good hosting provider at a fair price? Kudos, I appreciate it!
Hey, I think your blog might be having browser compatibility issues. When I look at your blog in Chrome, 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, great blog!
I’m not sure exactly why but this weblog is loading extremely slow for me. Is anyone else having this issue or is it a issue on my end? I’ll check back later and see if the problem still exists.
This excellent website definitely has all of the information I needed about this subject and didn’t know who to ask. |
What’s up all, here every person is sharing these kinds of familiarity, therefore it’s nice to read this website, and I used to pay a quick visit this website every day.|
Right here is the perfect web site for anyone who would like to understand this topic. You understand so much its almost tough to argue with you (not that I really would want to…HaHa). You certainly put a new spin on a subject that has been written about for many years. Wonderful stuff, just excellent!
Normally I don’t read post on blogs, however I wish to say that this write-up very forced me to try and do it! Your writing style has been surprised me. Thanks, very great post.
Thank you, I’ve recently been looking for info about this topic for a long time and yours is the greatest I have came upon so far. But, what in regards to the conclusion? Are you certain in regards to the supply?|
I keep listening to the reports talk about receiving boundless online grant applications so I have been looking around for the most excellent site to get one. Could you advise me please, where could i get some?
Hello! I’m at work browsing your blog from my new iphone 4! Just wanted to say I love reading through your blog and look forward to all your posts! Carry on the superb work!
I am curious to find out what blog system you have been using? I’m having some small security problems with my latest blog and I would like to find something more risk-free. Do you have any solutions?
I know this if off topic but I’m looking into starting my own weblog and was wondering what all is required to get setup? I’m assuming having a blog like yours would cost a pretty penny? I’m not very web smart so I’m not 100% positive. Any recommendations or advice would be greatly appreciated. Cheers
I have been surfing online more than three hours today, yet I never found any interesting article like yours. It’s pretty worth enough for me. Personally, if all website owners and bloggers made good content as you did, the internet will be a lot more useful than ever before.
Hello there! I could have sworn I’ve been to this blog before but after browsing through some of the post I realized it’s new to me. Anyways, I’m definitely glad I found it and I’ll be book-marking and checking back often!
Great blog you have here but I was curious if you knew of any user discussion forums that cover the same topics talked about here? I’d really like to be a part of community where I can get feedback from other knowledgeable individuals that share the same interest. If you have any recommendations, please let me know. Many thanks!
I know this if off topic but I’m looking into starting my own blog and was wondering what all is needed to get setup? I’m assuming having a blog like yours would cost a pretty penny? I’m not very web savvy so I’m not 100% positive. Any recommendations or advice would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks
I love your blog.. very nice colors & theme. Did you design this website yourself or did you hire someone to do it for you? Plz answer back as I’m looking to design my own blog and would like to know where u got this from. appreciate it
My programmer is trying to persuade me to move to .net from PHP. I have always disliked the idea because of the expenses. But he’s tryiong none the less. I’ve been using Movable-type on a variety of websites for about a year and am concerned about switching to another platform. I have heard very good things about blogengine.net. Is there a way I can import all my wordpress content into it? Any help would be really appreciated!
Amazing blog! Is your theme custom made or did you download it from somewhere? A theme like yours with a few simple tweeks would really make my blog stand out. Please let me know where you got your design. Kudos
Hello! Someone in my Facebook group shared this website with us so I came to check it out. I’m definitely loving the information. I’m book-marking and will be tweeting this to my followers! Fantastic blog and amazing design.
I have been browsing online more than 3 hours today, yet I never found any interesting article like yours. It’s pretty worth enough for me. In my view, if all webmasters and bloggers made good content as you did, the internet will be a lot more useful than ever before.