04/06/2024
What a Year I'm having !!!!
This month I was selected as the Ipromoteu Affilate of the Month (below is a summary of the story they published & my life history haha)
April 2024 Affiliate Spotlight – Duane Chase
Duane Chase from Sir Logo has traversed an eclectic career path, marked by serendipitous moments and his entrepreneurial spirit. His parents met in the parking lot of a local drive-in called Pat’s Twin Cronnie in Portales, NM, Duane was born in Goldsboro, NC, and lived all over the U.S. due to his father’s service in the Air Force.
After graduating from Clovis High School in New Mexico, Duane worked at Safeway, a local bank and then SPS (now XCEL Energy) as a meter reader. In 1988, he ventured into entrepreneurship by opening a Pack N Mail franchise.
His foray into the promotional products industry began unexpectedly when he introduced a trial add-on mailer service to his business, which garnered significant interest from local & regional businesses throughout eastern New Mexico. As requests for promotional items increased, Duane seized the opportunity to expand his offerings, leading him to acquire a distributorship for $100 from a Kaeser & Blair representative
After a year of fulfilling $200-$300 orders, a woman from BNSF railroad wanted to place an order for 800 $6 mugs (ding!). Kaeser & Blair couldn’t meet the deadline, so Duane recalled seeing an ad for Adventures in Advertising and contacted Rick Badiner, who processed the order. Two years later Rick moved to a spunky new start up, iPROMOTEu, and Duane went to Boston to meet Ross, Mark Aseltine, Brian Flynn, and others. In 2003, Sir Logo moved from AIA to become an iPROMOTEu Affiliate and the rest is history.
Parallel to his entrepreneurial endeavors, Duane also stumbled into a broadcasting career through a chance encounter at a local football game. His involvement in supplying mini footballs to a bank led to an invitation to become a sideline reporter for a radio station along w a broadcaster havng to go to the potty & handed the broadcast duties to Duane for half time, marking the beginning of a remarkable 21-year journey in sports broadcasting covering football, basketball, and baseball in New Mexico & West Texas.
Duane married his wife, Lisa Smith, in 1980 and they have three of the best kids a man could ask for. Jared is a realtor living in San Antonio, TX, Derek is a professor of animation & visual effects at NMSU in Las Cruces, NM, and Lauren is a surgical nurse who lives in Corpus Cristi, TX. She is current being full time mom of Duane’s two granddaughters, Gemma (3) and Isla (11 months)
All adult kids have wonderful spouses & a fiancee for which Duane is equally thankful & proud of!
Today, the story of Duane and Sir Logo stands as a testament to the power of seizing unexpected opportunities and embracing change. From meter reader to successful entrepreneur and seasoned broadcaster, Duane Chase’s multifaceted career embodies the resilience, adaptability, and willingness to take a chance that earned him a place in the inaugural class of iPROMOTEu’s Hall of Fame.
PCNA 2024 Benefits
April 2024 iPROMOTE Staff Spotlight – Nick Vaudrain
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