improvise. There’s really no other option; you make it work,” says Flaughers. He also says selling was a big part of farm life. “Growing up, that’s all we did. We bought and sold livestock animals. We would acquire, frankly, junk and set up roadside stands to sell stuff. Bartering and selling was a part of the program; it was a revenue stream. It was just what I knew.” After starting his undergrad degree at University of Akron in Ohio, Flaughers went looking for more structure. “I had a lot of fun. Thankfully, I didn’t get kicked out. But I had one more shot, and I needed more discipline. I walked out of the Dean’s office and went to the army recruiter and said, ‘How fast can you get me out of here?’ I was surprised by how fast he did.” When Flaughers came back from the military, he learned one of his fraternity brothers was in flight school. “I was still pretty wild. Normally, I wasn’t a fan of flying, but he’s my best friend and I didn’t think he was going to kill me. We rented an airplane from Kent State a few times, and we went on some flights and he let me fly. I thought, ‘This is it! This is amazing!’” Flaughers transferred to Kent State, majored in aviation and got through flight school. He was ready to become an airline pilot when 9/11 happened. “I just took another path,” he says. Throughout his life, Flaughers admits he runs “100 miles per hour” into every new opportunity. His enthusiastic go-with-the-flow attitude landed him in an unexpected role while at Kent State—as the university’s mascot. He was invited to try out by a friend who was the university’s cheer coach. He landed the role and served as the Kent State mascot for four years. At one point, Flaughers was ranked third in the nation for collegiate mascots. He went on to be a mascot for minor league teams and accomplished his dream of going pro, as the mascot for the Cleveland Browns during the 2008-2009 season. “If you have goals and aspirations to do it big or on a bigger level, or that ‘mascot level,’ you just got to go hard. I think a lot of people’s problem is they sit and think about stuff. I’m going to go forward, and I’ll let you know how it goes,” he says. Ultimately, Flaughers’ willingness to try new things led him to the promotional products industry. During college, while working in delivery for a gourmet salad company, called Gourmet Greens, he became friends with a customer, Brett Smiley. “Brett got into the promotional products industry with his dad. One day, he said, ‘I know you’re in the athletic department,’ and ‘They usually buy things we sell.’ He said if I could hook him up or start the conversation, that I’d get a commission on anything I sent their way. I didn’t know anything about the industry, but I knew that everything we hand out at football games has the Kent State logo. So, I was great friends with all the marketing people [at Kent State], and I referred a few things over, and I got a commission. I was like, ‘Wow, that was really easy.’” The two friends kept in touch, and when the market crashed in 2008, Flaughers left his job in real estate technology to join Smiley in promo product sales. Flaughers has been in the promo industry ever since and two years in, he opened his distributorship, Proforma 3rd Degree Marketing in 2009. All of Flaughers’ life experiences have given him confidence and direction. “Right “You’ve got to find a mastermind group of your industry peers. I don’t care if you are by yourself; get a board of advisors. Find somebody, frankly, better than you, and meet with them once a month. You don’t want to go at this alone. It’s going to be a long, lonely road. It’s good to have a trusted group of friends and advisors to talk to.” Steve Flaughers Flaughers on his family’s farm in Chloe, West Virginia. | JANUARY 2022 | 69 CONNECT
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