What do you do when you sell your first business at age 9 and retire at 35? Other than become a consultant and frequent contributor to Know-How Exchange? Read on to learn more.

Where are you based?

I'm based in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada

What do you do in real-life?

Data mining, CRM strategies, multi-media communications, online research, and a little CMS integration into marketing/communication processes (okay, a lot).

Tell us about your company.

The Customer Loyalty Network grew out of customer relationship management systems I developed in my little dry cleaning shop. Over a period of years I refined direct mail, email, telemarketing and web communication techniques combined with point of sale systems data to build an effective CRM system that drives customers up the sales and loyalty ladder. These very same techniques have proven to be powerful and successful in other companies regardless of sector and size.

Today, the Customer Loyalty Network incorporates research and reputation management consultants, brand development and design specialists, provides systems and software tools to empower small, medium, and even billion dollar a year companies fuse multi-media communications into marketing, sales, research, quality assurance and business development processes enterprise wide.

How did you find KHE?

I found KHE by accident, mentioned in an email article. Our meeting couldn't have come at a better time. I was looking for a new outlet outside of the dry cleaning niche. Answering questions from KHE members and receiving points for answers confirmed that my concepts and ideas were applicable in many other businesses and industries. The KHE community provided a springboard into new industries on the world stage and has added a dimension of credibility and reputation in my home market as well.

Explain your Community Name and why you selected it.

My community name is Darcy.Moen. Has been since 1965.

What kinds of KHE questions do you enjoy most?

I enjoy questions from small businesses seeking the next big idea or solution to a problem that will help propel them to the next level. I really enjoy assisting small businesses win one over a larger competitor. The biggest thrill for me is exposing the inefficiencies of big business, and exposing poor customer service practices while offering simple solutions that could be easily implemented.

Questions from students are fun, as are questions from new or about to be new entrepreneurs. I tend to stick within my main areas of interest such as Strategy, E-marketing, Web Site Critique and Advertising/PR. Recently I've been picking up a lot of points in the Tagline/Names category, and I figure it’s because I've been on a hot streak with some rather glib and fun brands/names. I've also noticed that I've struck a chord with questioners in the Copywriting category. Those points come as a bit of a surprise as I've no formal training as a writer, I simply share what the real world has taught me works best. I've been contemplating writing a book, so perhaps the community is telling me the time is right to get it done.

Describe a specific KHE discussion you learned something from.

Only one? There have been so many! For all the answers I've posted, reading other responses usually drops a nugget of thought or time saving idea back in my pocket. Recently, there was a fantastic discussion with respect to permission based email, email systems, and spam. There must have been about 20 replies. I gave out 600 plus words of advice, and picked up 8 great tips from fellow respondents and two fantastic online tools that I use at least twice a week now in my own business. I would say almost every expert participating in the discussion walked away with a new idea, thought, technique or tool from that discussion, and I can only imagine what the question asker thought! Information OVERLOAD! :-)

What is your favorite marketing book? Why?

How to Find, Capture and Keep Customers by Stan Golomb (Raphel Publishing). The concepts and theories Stan wrote about are so simple, so utterly easy, and yet so devastatingly effective. Yes, business can be that simple!

What networking or professional organizations do you belong to?

Linkedin.com; IFI.org; NCA-I.com; International Drycleaners Congress; Fabricare Forum; and my own networking group and private contacts and email list (wanna join?)

How many years have you been in marketing? How did you get started?

Well, I guess I'd have to say 32 years in marketing. I started out in marketing advertising my lawn care services by calling door to door to the little old blue haired ladies that lived on my block, asking them if they needed me to cut their lawn. Eventually, I diversified into word of mouth, print, email, web, etc. :-)

The real fun began when I started my dry cleaning business. I began using direct mail, telemarketing, email, web sites, data mining, you name it. The entire time, I documented every marketing attempt in a three ring binder and tracked how each change to a program translated into a change in response rates or return on investment. Over 16 years of experimenting and documenting, a simple but effective system began to emerge.

Did you study marketing in college? Or have you learned on the job?

I'm proud to say I've been a lifelong student at the U of H.K. Yes, the University of Hard Knocks, self taught by trial and error. Sure, the tuition can be horrendous, but the lessons stick and stick goooood!

When I wanted to go to University, the Dean refused to waive the course prerequisites and denied me entry as a student. A year later, and I caught him observing me teaching a class in his faculty. The irony has not been lost on me.

Have you had a mentor? What have they taught you?

I have had many mentors. Jay Abraham. Gary Halbert, David Ogilvy, Claude Hopkins, Joe Sugarman, Jim Novo, Sid Tuchman, Brian Kerr, Irving Berlin, Bill Bishop, Stan Golomb, Dean Gagne, Roger Francis, Kelly Galvin, my father Harold Moen and my mother Renetta Moen, and many more. I stand on the shoulders of giants. Some of these people, I've had the privilege of knowing personally, others, only by their work or writing. Each and every one has contributed in some way to make me who and what I am.

I remember my parents teaching me to love the work I do, so it never feels like I've worked a day in my life. I'll be grateful to Stan Golomb for encouraging creativity, and the gentle push towards independence and leadership.

My father is most likely my greatest mentor. When I was still very young, he saw an opportunity for us to spend time together running a moonlight small business called Yard Maintenance Service. Harold saw this as a great opportunity to teach me and other youth the ways of business, express his own entrepreneurship tendencies, and earn a few dollars in addition to his working a full time job. Harold took many young folks into the Yard Maintenance business, and gave them an education that no business school could ever teach.

Many of my friends who came to work with my father and I, spent many afternoons and weekends cutting lawns for 250 customers as a junior and high school part-time job. Many returned as summer laborers during their university studies. All told, I think we employed 6 engineers, 4 doctors, two dentists and a plethora of arts and business degrees through the years of running the yard maintenance business. Recently one of my high school buddies emailed me to say that the business lessons he learned working the lawn mowing crew were of more value to him in his position at a Fortune 500 company, and he was a heck of a lot happier working for minimum wage plus a few quarters way back when with us than he is for a six figure salary. Those lessons I learned about customer service, quality control, customer satisfaction, sales and marketing the yard service are the same education I draw upon in my answers to folks in the KHE.

What is your next career objective?

I have the overwhelming urge to write a book. There is a marketing book inside me that has been coming out one response at a time on the KHE forum and through various articles and rants I've wrote. Its time to bind all my ideas an comments into a binder, even if its just to say I had it all in one place at one time.....once.

Do you have a favorite gadget/tool that helps you do your job?

Yep....my laptop and one very big hard drive (I'm a software pack rat!)

Describe one of your non-marketing hobbies or interests.

Coulee Picking ... My father and I inherited the family homestead over a decade ago. Farming being what it is today, we still haven't figured out what we said to my Uncle to make him so mad to leave us the family farm :-).

One weekend, as we were working the land, my father came up with the idea of finding alternate ways to make the farm pay. Little did I know that it would take the family into a wonderful journey into pharmaceutical, dermacutical, nuetracuetical supply, as well as into supplying the floral industry and the herb and spice industry with innovative new products. The farm has been a weekend retreat as well as a spring board into some very interesting world markets. Who would have thought one could make weeds pay?

What is the value KHE provides to you personally?

KHE has allowed me the opportunity to interact directly with a pool of experts, amateurs and potential clients without a buffer or safety net. Every opinion and response stands or falls on its own merit. KHE is probably the best proving ground I've found to test theories or have a few thousand bright minds pick your ideas apart. This jury of peers is simply a priceless resource and wealth of information.

Have you made any offline connections with people you met in KHE?

Yes, lots. Deremiah was the first with an unexpected and appreciated surprise via mail (thank you for the tapes!). Vevolution and I have passed a few emails, as well as numerous other KHE question askers and answerers. It is a very vibrant community, I love it! I'm always pleasantly surprised to receive words from KHE fans, or words of thanks from strangers who have benefited from one of my responses to a question, and I'm always very appreciative of being able to help others simply by investing a little of my time, experience and advice to others.

Recently, I was at a party hosted by one of my associates. One of his fellow guests was raving about this wonderful web site forum he had found, and was so impressed he had bought seats for all his employees so they too could share in this wonderful resource. At that moment, I wish I had my experts point standings printed on my business card ... it would have been so sweet!

Do you have any advice for new members of KHE?

“The only dumb question is the one not Asked”, and “Remember, the search button is my friend”.

Do you have a favorite quote you want to share?

“Pride: is a renewable resource”

Is there anything else you would like to say to the community?

To everyone who has ever asked, or answered a question in the KHE forum, thank you. Keep those questions coming. It’s not just about the points, its about what the points can do for you!