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.
http://www.tech1performance.co.uk/renault-clio-supercharged-beast-at-tech1/
Hello there! I could have sworn I’ve been to this site 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!
Howdy! I know this is somewhat off-topic however I had to ask. Does building a well-established website like yours require a large amount of work? I’m completely new to running a blog but I do write in my diary every day. I’d like to start a blog so I can easily share my personal experience and thoughts online. Please let me know if you have any recommendations or tips for new aspiring bloggers. Thankyou!
http://blog.mikelarson.com/2010/12/a-day-in-paris/
Greetings from Los angeles! I’m bored at work so I decided to check out your website on my iphone during lunch break. I enjoy the knowledge you provide here and can’t wait to take a look when I get home. I’m surprised at how fast your blog loaded on my cell phone .. I’m not even using WIFI, just 3G .. Anyhow, very good site!
Do you have a spam problem on this blog; I also am a blogger, and I was wanting to know your situation; we have developed some nice practices and we are looking to swap techniques with others, be sure to shoot me an email if interested.
Greetings! I know this is kind of off topic but I was wondering if you knew where I could find a captcha plugin for my comment form? I’m using the same blog platform as yours and I’m having trouble finding one? Thanks a lot!
This design is wicked! You 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!) Excellent job. I really enjoyed what you had to say, and more than that, how you presented it. Too cool!
http://www.maristeslleida.cat/esports/calendari-activitats-festa-esportiva-dissabte-mati/
http://www.ksmcradio.com/home/nnpc-says-fuel-queues-over-with-one-cargo-per-day/
My coder is trying to convince 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 WordPress on a number of websites for about a year and am nervous about switching to another platform. I have heard excellent things about blogengine.net. Is there a way I can import all my wordpress posts into it? Any kind of help would be really appreciated!
My partner and I stumbled over here by a different web page and thought I might as well check things out. I like what I see so i am just following you. Look forward to checking out your web page yet again.
I’m really enjoying the theme/design of your website. Do you ever run into any internet browser compatibility problems? A small number of my blog audience have complained about my blog not working correctly in Explorer but looks great in Opera. Do you have any recommendations to help fix this problem?
Hello! Do you know if they make any plugins to assist 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. Kudos!
With havin so much content and articles do you ever run into any problems of plagorism or copyright infringement? My site has a lot of completely unique content I’ve either authored myself or outsourced but it looks like a lot of it is popping it up all over the internet without my authorization. Do you know any methods to help prevent content from being ripped off? I’d certainly appreciate it.
Hey! Quick question that’s totally off topic. Do you know how to make your site mobile friendly? My web site looks weird when browsing from my iphone 4. I’m trying to find a theme or plugin that might be able to resolve this issue. If you have any suggestions, please share. With thanks!
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 throw away your intelligence on just posting videos to your blog when you could be giving us something enlightening to read?
Hello there! Do you use Twitter? I’d like to follow you if that would be okay. I’m definitely enjoying your blog and look forward to new posts.
I’m not sure why but this website 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.
Today, I went to the beachfront with my kids. 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 put 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!
Please let me know if you’re looking for a article author for your site. You have some really good posts and I believe I would be a good asset. If you ever want to take some of the load off, I’d love to write some articles for your blog in exchange for a link back to mine. Please blast me an e-mail if interested. Thanks!
Howdy! This post couldn’t be written much better! Looking at this article reminds me of my previous roommate! He constantly kept preaching about this. I am going to send this post to him. Pretty sure he’s going to have a great read. I appreciate you for sharing!
Have you ever considered about including a little bit more than just your articles? I mean, what you say is important and all. But imagine if you added some great visuals or videos to give your posts more, “pop”! Your content is excellent but with pics and video clips, this website could certainly be one of the best in its field. Terrific blog!
Hi just wanted to give you a brief 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 web browsers and both show the same outcome.
When I originally commented I clicked the “Notify me when new comments are added” checkbox and now each time a comment is added I get several emails with the same comment. Is there any way you can remove me from that service? Cheers!
I was wondering if you ever thought of changing the layout 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 2 images. Maybe you could space it out better?
Right now it seems like WordPress is the top blogging platform available right now. (from what I’ve read) Is that what you are using on your blog?
Hmm is anyone else experiencing problems with the images on this blog loading? I’m trying to find out if its a problem on my end or if it’s the blog. Any feed-back would be greatly appreciated.
Superb post however I was wondering if you could write a litte more on this topic? I’d be very thankful if you could elaborate a little bit more. Many thanks!
I am curious to find out what blog system you are using? I’m experiencing some small security problems with my latest website and I would like to find something more safe. Do you have any suggestions?
I am curious to find out what blog system you have been utilizing? I’m experiencing some minor security issues with my latest site and I’d like to find something more safe. Do you have any suggestions?
This design is incredible! You 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!) Wonderful job. I really enjoyed what you had to say, and more than that, how you presented it. Too cool!
Thanks for ones marvelous posting! I actually enjoyed reading it, you’re a great author.I will always bookmark your blog and may come back later on. I want to encourage that you continue your great writing, have a nice holiday weekend!
Hey! This post could not be written any better! Reading through this post reminds me of my good old room mate! He always kept chatting about this. I will forward this post to him. Pretty sure he will have a good read. Thanks for sharing!
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 user friendliness and visual appearance. I must say you have done a great job with this. In addition, the blog loads very quick for me on Chrome. Outstanding Blog!
I was curious if you ever considered changing the layout of your blog? 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?
Have you ever considered creating an e-book or guest authoring on other blogs? I have a blog based upon on the same ideas you discuss and would really like to have you share some stories/information. I know my subscribers would enjoy your work. If you’re even remotely interested, feel free to shoot me an email.
Thanks on your marvelous posting! I quite enjoyed reading it, you’re a great author.I will be sure to bookmark your blog and will eventually come back in the foreseeable future. I want to encourage you to ultimately continue your great posts, have a nice day!
Today, I went to the beachfront with my kids. 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 put 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!
Excellent blog you have here but I was wondering if you knew of any forums that cover the same topics discussed in this article? I’d really like to be a part of online community where I can get feedback from other knowledgeable individuals that share the same interest. If you have any recommendations, please let me know. Kudos!
Hi there this is kind of of off topic but I was wanting to know if blogs use WYSIWYG editors or if you have to manually code with HTML. I’m starting a blog soon but have no coding know-how so I wanted to get advice from someone with experience. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Hello, 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, amazing blog!
Wow that was unusual. I just wrote an really long comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn’t show up. Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again. Anyway, just wanted to say wonderful blog!
With havin so much written content do you ever run into any problems of plagorism or copyright infringement? My website has a lot of completely unique content I’ve either created myself or outsourced but it appears a lot of it is popping it up all over the web without my authorization. Do you know any methods to help prevent content from being stolen? I’d truly appreciate it.
Do you have a spam problem on this website; I also am a blogger, and I was wondering your situation; many of us have developed some nice practices and we are looking to exchange strategies with others, be sure to shoot me an email if interested.
Hey there I am so glad I found your blog page, I really found you by error, while I was searching on Askjeeve for something else, Anyhow I am here now and would just like to say thank you for a tremendous post and a all round thrilling blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to look over it all at the moment but I have bookmarked it and also added in your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read more, Please do keep up the excellent work.
With havin so much written content do you ever run into any issues of plagorism or copyright violation? My site has a lot of completely unique content I’ve either authored myself or outsourced but it looks like a lot of it is popping it up all over the internet without my agreement. Do you know any techniques to help prevent content from being stolen? I’d certainly appreciate it.
Do you mind if I quote a few of your articles as long as I provide credit and sources back to your website? My blog is in the very 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 okay with you. Thanks!
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 completely off topic but I had to tell someone!
I am curious to find out what blog platform you’re using? I’m having some minor security problems with my latest blog and I would like to find something more safe. Do you have any solutions?