Owen Larson is a successful entrepreneur, business owner, and inventor. Was he a dreamer? Yes. Was he a goal-setter? Absolutely. He was a young man who set out to build his dreams. Owen was raised in a rural town about 50 miles west of Chicago. His dad was a business owner and instilled in him the importance of being your own boss.
From a young age, Owen had that entrepreneurial spirit. He was the young man selling garden and flower seeds door to door, selling pumpkins out of a wagon, and selling balloons during the town’s festivals. He was the school photographer and worked along side a professional photographer in town. He sold and installed water filtration systems in homes; owned and operated his own automotive alarm and audio installation business in his teens along with conducting an automotive repair business with a partner. His interests grew in computer technology. Even the computer science teacher at school asked for his help.
Owen pursued an education in computer science but never lost interest in being a business owner. In 1987, he started his own vending company out of a rented house next door to where he grew up. His parents were instrumental in helping him get started; the lessons his father learned were now being passed on to his son. Owen realized he had the best business model available. His new goal was to purchase land and build a warehouse.
In 1989, Owen and his wife purchased 6 acres of property containing a home, office and warehouse. Over the course of the next 3 years the business grew to 1500 customers. Tragically, in April of 1992, their warehouse was struck by lightening and burned to the ground. Thankfully, no one was in the building or injured during the fire. Owen, never letting obstacles get in the way, had his business running again in 4 days.
His next goal was to build a new building for the vending company. Over the course of the next year, he designed and built a 7500 square foot building. This project was not without its obstacles. He successfully petitioned the city of West Chicago to change the status of the property from Estate Residential (i.e. “farm”) to I-2 Industrial. He acted as the general contractor on both the land development along with the building itself. He gained a great deal of experience during this time.
Over the course of the next 3 years, his business grew to over 3,500 customers becoming one of the largest vendors in the Chicago-land area. At this time Owen and his wife started a family and dreams were becoming a reality. Owen was able to run his business and be a full time Daddy. Yes, life was busy but he was able to see his children throughout the day.
Owen became a master at using his vending customer base to provide other services to his customers. He developed new programs to provide other streams of income in addition to the vending industry. He also was a leader in his industry, helping other operators with computer and customer service training.
In 2001, he took on the role of inventor. After years in the vending business he saw a need in the small location vending market. He went on to design and engineer the Clear Choice Revolution.
Owen can be contacted at: owen@larsonresearch.com
“We all have two choices: We can make a living or we can design a life.” ~Jim Rohn
