rom high school sweethearts to highly successful sales professionals, Ginger and Walt Hollowell are a true American success/love story. They are partners both in and out of the boardroom. They have eight children, ages 9 to 27. And they run a successful independent sales organization, Electronic Money Co. in Albuquerque, N.M. Its cornerstone is built around a strong work ethic garnered from solid Midwest backgrounds, an ethic that has seen the Hollowells through difficult and challenging times.

Ginger was born and raised in Skokie, Ill., a suburb of Chicago. Her family was conservative, Catholic and Republican. "My dad worked and my mom stayed at home with the kids," says Ginger. "I was taught to study hard, do well in school and get a good job - be successful."

When she was a teen-ager, Ginger's family moved to Connecticut. It was there that she would meet Walt. Walt's family had relocated to New England as well when he was a teen-ager. His family originally was from Kansas City, both parents coming from farming backgrounds. "We had the same work ethic," says Walt. "You show up every day, no matter what, and give it your best."

The two met in high school and have not been apart since. When Walt entered Norwich University, a military college in Vermont, Ginger enrolled nearby at the University of Vermont but transferred to Norwich for her final year. They married in August 1972 and graduated in 1973. "We were the first married couple ever to graduate from Norwich," Ginger says proudly.

Walt earned a degree in business while Ginger received a degree in mathematics. She loved numbers and took her passion to the computer science work arena. Her first job was writing software.

Walt's first foray into the business community was sales - motor freight sales, to be exact. He got involved with trucking, became a terminal manager, even got a commercial license, leaving the office at times to help out on the road.

The newlyweds missed the lifestyle of their upbringing, though, and returned to the Midwest - first Ohio, then Chicago, then Missouri, but then Denver and finally New Mexico. "In the trucking business, you tend to get transferred quite a bit," says Walt.

In 1975, their first child arrived. Seven more followed over the next 18 years. "Every two years, we'd be on speaking terms," Ginger jokes. During that time, Ginger stayed at home while Walt worked hard in the trucking industry.

In 1996, Ginger returned to work. At that time, Walt and his dad had teamed up and formed a private trucking company. Ginger did payroll and then expanded her duties to all administrative work when Walt's dad retired. Walt, as always, handled the trucks and the drivers.

"Our trucking company didn't last forever," says Walt. "We don't recommend anyone leave the credit card business to go into trucking. It's very competitive. The overhead is high and margins are low. We hated it. We got to the point we weren't making money, we hated each other and argued a lot."

The Hollowells realized they had to get out, so they handed the keys back to the bank. They declared bankruptcy and quite frankly didn't know what to do next. Walt was tired of managing people and all the headaches that go along with it, so he took a job driving trucks and went back out on the road full-time. Ginger secured a job as office manager for a small computer tech services company.

"I thought about getting back into writing software, but now with my admin background, I decided to do office management instead," she said.

Ginger soon figured that the money wasn't there, either. While still working her day job, a cousin turned her on to multilevel marketing and Ginger discovered she loved dialing for dollars. "I couldn't wait to get home and start calling," says Ginger. "People liked me, trusted me and I started migrating toward sales."

She started selling computer services for her employer. That first year, Ginger made quite a bit of money for the company but still was hungry for a straight commission structure. Her appetite was sated when she met someone who sold credit cards. She got a sales book, signed up, spent a day in training and hit the ground selling. She worked evenings and weekends, calling on people before work at 7 a.m. and after work at 7 p.m.

"I loved it. I was earning an extra $500 a week just by working an extra 10 hours a week," says Ginger. Working part-time in credit card processing and full-time in software selling, Ginger put $5,000 in the bank in just three months. With barely enough cushion to quit the day job and switch to her dream of straight commission, Ginger took the leap in 1998 and started selling credit card processing full-time for another ISO.

"It fit me like a glove," Ginger says. "I went to the top of the sales chart right away. I got a lot of mindset training from my multilevel marketing background. You become what you think about, and I thought about changing my life, growing rich."

A week after Ginger quit her job, tragedy hit. Walt had a serious injury on the job, and it required surgery and rehabilitation. The Hollowell family went from two middle-income wages to one determined wife and mother relying on straight commission with an injured husband on half-pay and eight children to support - just a little pressure. What's a woman to do? Make a career in the credit card business, what else?

From time to time, Ginger would attend sales-training seminars and conferences and Walt would go with her. "I got to thinking, well, this doesn't sound hard. I saw value in it," says Walt.

While still in therapy, Walt took a sales book and started knocking on the doors of mechanic shops he knew from his trucking network, and he got sales. By the time he had completed his therapy, he figured out he'd never have to go back to trucking.

"I got paid to socialize," says Walt. "Different things are important to different people. Ginger saw value up front while I liked the residual end. Residuals were my hot button. I was reborn and discovered myself. It was awesome."

The first week of cold calls produced no results, but Walt closed three the next week. He ended his first month with 14 sales, all of which were over his buy. By year's end, both Walt and Ginger were consistently selling over their buy. Unfortunately, the ISO they worked for didn't pay them consistently over the buy.

Walt and Ginger were only making money on commissions from the sale of equipment. They learned that the industry paid residuals, and their ISO led them to believe they would earn it but ultimately didn't pay it out.

"We liked the industry, and a few hundred accounts into it we realized we were leaving money behind," says Walt. "Our ISO was telling us they didn't have a recurring residual program; rather, they'd pay us at the end of the year. Finally, I kicked them off the fence and they fell on the wrong side. It was all a lie."

Walt shopped around for another processor and found one. Ginger opted to stay with their ISO, believing they would come around. She continued up their corporate ladder from sales manager to regional manager to, finally, national sales manager.

"The money still wasn't coming back," says Ginger "We figured they owed us over $25,000 in residuals. They told us when they sold the accounts we would get our money. We never got it."

With a different processor, Walt enjoyed successes and setbacks. The residuals were there, and sales were relatively easy. What was lacking was agent support. Walt was selling two days with three days in the office trying to keep what he sold in place. "I wrote 40 to 50 accounts, but none of the downloads were done right," says Walt. "It would take hours and hours for a correct download. I had to take time off the street."

The couple continued to seek out a processor that had a reputation in the industry for prompt and continual payment of residuals plus good support for merchants and agents. They found it in Retriever Payment Systems.

"We both checked out processors and found one that was established," says Walt. "We bought into their program, and it was good. They paid residuals and provided lots of support."

With her expertise in numbers and administration, Ginger opted to incorporate the business early for tax reasons. Electronic Money Company, Inc. was born. From small beginnings, the Hollowells built a foundation of nearly 400 clients that today utilize EMC's credit and debit card processing, check conversion, ATM sales and age verification services.

"We run a regional office for Retriever but plan on becoming an ISO under the Retriever group soon," says Ginger. "We'll still enjoy all the support from Retriever but with a lower buy rate as an ISO under their name by the end of this year."

Accustomed to challenges, the Hollowells recognize what it will take.

"Sales aren't difficult, but two people can only do so much," says Ginger. "We want to bring more salespeople on board. Our biggest obstacle is building a sales group with people who will show up and put in the effort. After a big week or month, most give up. We're looking for sales professionals that are self-driven, that fit the sales personality. We're looking for those 20 percenters, but most of the time you interview the 80 percenters who quit before they get there.

"It's all numbers. So many people call, but only 20% are worth talking to. Of those, only 20% are worth meeting in person. Of those, only 20% are worth hiring, and then only 20% stay with it. You can teach them how to sell, process and close, but you can't teach them to have the drive."

Walt says, "When people answer an ad, they see the money but they don't see the work. When you really get down to it, they haven't done the work and haven't been successful. I've met people who put all sorts of time and effort into sales. The ones who succeed are self-driven with the personality to talk to anyone within three feet of them. They have to be able to think."

Ginger adds, "There's lots of people who have the mentality of wanting a job, but we want those who also have the self drive. It's all in your head. You have to think about becoming rich. Most people haven't learned how to think and create their destiny. I try to teach that."

For the Hollowells, it's all part of a learning game. "A lot of sales reps quit because they've made a mistake and think they have failed," says Ginger. "Mistakes are not failures, they are just learning experiences. I feel we have made mistakes but it's part of the growth experience, and you have to keep your vision and know where you're headed."

The Hollowells are headed toward building a strong organization.

"We're building a nice back end," says Walt. "We're going where we want on the timetable we want. Our goal is to continue to build our sales group under us, building our own ISO within the Retriever Group."

Ginger says, "The best decision I ever made for our family was to get into straight commission. I think this is the greatest industry with money up front for equipment, but it's also about building a business for yourself. Anyone who comes aboard with us can build a retirement residual account."

And of those that are coming aboard, some are more in tune with the Hollowells than others.

"I find I like to hire part-timers because that's how I started," says Ginger. "You're not desperate. You can relax and see how well this business does for you. Pretty soon you find out you're making more money doing this than what you're doing elsewhere. Building a passive income, that's how you grow."

The Hollowells certainly have noticed the growth of the industry. The mergers and acquisition climate of payment processing hasn't had a negative impact on EMC, though. "In one way, we figure we are isolated from a lot of it, being in New Mexico," says Walt.

Ginger adds, "We feel we are offering something that the rest of the industry is not offering. That is personalized customer service. Our merchants know us and we know our merchants. They call about feeding paper as well as money statements. We specialize in providing personal service. We'll run that paper out to our merchants. We will hold their hands. We are into relationship-building."

More from Walt: "That's how we get referrals. In our business, 80% to 90% of our sales today are referrals. We get so many referral letters. We belong to a number of associations and have the highest rating with the Better Business Bureau here in New Mexico."

More from Ginger: "The integrity we have is very high. If we walk in and someone already is leasing a piece of equipment, we will be honest and say you don't need a newer piece. Merchants trust us. They have a tendency to call us first rather than the Retriever 24/7 number. We can offer more immediate help. If you sold them the equipment, you're the person they know. It's like going to your favorite butcher or restaurant. It's all about knowing the people. Merchants are tired of talking to machines."

The Hollowells see other changes in merchant attitudes.

"We get calls from existing merchants who are ready to expand their processing and want us to do it," says Walt. "When we started, it was a struggle to get merchants to see the value of, say, debit cards. Now, that's not even an argument. Part of that is education. A lot of merchants know the value of today's products. But part of that is also our belief in ourselves and our sales ability."

What advice do the Hollowells have for agents striving for success?

"Don't get into it out of desperation," says Walt. "Really research the sales group leader and see if the personalities match. Talk to the people they've trained. See what their highs and lows have been. Apart from that, work in the trenches. We both started in the trenches selling, so we both know the marketplace. We know the objections. We know our product."

Then, of course, there's the secret to a husband and wife successfully working together. "I think that when couples work together, one is in control and one is in support," says Ginger. "In our case, we both have strong personalities, both independent, both compete with each other - but we do it with humor. We also have eight children together, so that has developed really good management skills and teamwork. We have a lot of unspoken things. If one person doesn't get it done, the other person will do it."

Walt says, "We respect each other's space. It is important for your own self and ego to enjoy that adrenal rush from a sale. It wouldn't be a good thing for the other to take it away. You have to let the other person have that. And also realize no one sale is that important. If I walk into an account and I get feedback that Ginger has already been there, it's a given that I bow out."

"We have the same value system with high integrity, high ethical standards, and because of that people trust us both," says Ginger. "We have a strong work ethic and a value system we both respect each other for."