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CoverStory

My vision was to build independent sales offices throughout
the United States. With the signing of our five-year contract

with Citicorp Bank, we began to do just that, selling $1.5 billion

(with a "b") of new bankcard business our first year.

and remains true today. Our mission at The Green Sheet Pulling together the information for this anniversary issue,
continues to be that we actively participate in the process. I realized that the readers have had as much to say about
As we have always said, knowledge is power, and we this 20 years as any of us at The Green Sheet might. So here
continue to bring our readers the information and tools are selected comments from you, as well as my thoughts
necessary for their success. about The Green Sheet's journey.

What follows is an article I wrote 10 years ago, at our 20th
anniversary. We have chosen to include the majority of Why The Green Sheet?
this article (we excluded staff comments), as it not only In 1982, after a seven-year career as the President of
addresses how we have seen ourselves over the years, but Telecredit Check Services, I became a third owner in
also how our readers, supporters and detractors have seen Unlimited Marketing Services Association and then
us. founded American Marketing Corp. (AMCOR), the
nation's first ISO.
If you have worked in the industry for some time, you will
recognize people and companies, both current and gone My vision was to build independent sales offices
from the industry, and we hope that you enjoy this trek throughout the United States. With the signing of our five-
through time with us.
year contract with Citicorp Bank, we began to do just that,
selling $1.5 billion (with a "b") of new bankcard business
our first year.

While working first to build AMCOR and then for the next
18 years to build CrossCheck, my other job was always
The Green Sheet. People inside the businesses, as well as
industry people whom I met on the road, would always
say, "It seems like you are always writing." This was my
life for over a decade, writing every word that The Green
Sheet published.
From our archives: The important thing that I would like to remind our
readers is that The Green Sheet has never been a business
Is it 20 years already? to me; it has always been a mission. Our mission is to help
the sales individuals on the street to know what they need
to know to make a livable wage. For this reason, for more
than half of The Green Sheet's life, it had no advertising and
There is an old saying about time really flying when was financed by my other business ventures.
you are having a good time, and it would certainly be
appropriate for The Green Sheet. It is hard to believe that Given a large and growing national sales force, all made
the crazy idea that I had in 1983, to create an information up of independent companies and salespeople, AMCOR
resource designed just for salespeople in the financial needed a way to communicate regularly with the "feet on
services industry, would still be alive and growing in 2003, the street." With this realization, The Green Sheet was born.
but it is.
The first issues bore a hand-drawn banner head that I
Perhaps because we have always had a good time creating thought gave it an old world feel; in fact, the very first
The Green Sheet, the time has gone unnoticed. I am proud newsletters weren't green. With the adoption of the green
to say that, today, the GS staff continues to find new and paper and a four-page format (produced in Microsoft
even better ways to meet the varying needs of our readers Word and printed at a local copying business), The Green
– while having fun. The Green Sheet reaches 15,000 print Sheet began to take shape.
readers and 1.5 million electronic readers each month, and
we are continuing to add new services and information.

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