My 37th Anniversary Memo to Myself, and maybe a little advice for the next generation

I did not set out to become well-known.

I started Amtower & Company because it became very apparent that I could not work for anyone, or at least those I chose to work for before I started my company.

For those of you who know me, you know that my mouth often operates independent of my brain. Or, in the words of Ron White, I have the right to remain silent, but I lack the ability.

When I worked for others, I was invited, then dis-invited to client meetings. They learned not to ask my opinion when they really wanted a tacit agreement to what was being said.

Needless to say, my employment was never long-term…

I needed to create a venue where I could share my opinions whether or not someone asked, but I still needed to make a living. So 37 years ago I started Amtower & Company.

I started writing for the government contracting market in the early 1990s with a newsletter, The Amtower Report. What caught the attention of many was not the radical ideas that were forthcoming (they were not radical), but the fact that someone was saying out loud and in public what many were already thinking, but for various reasons could not state openly. I could, and did so often.

My mentor, Lynn Bateman , taught me to speak my mind regardless of the venue. That was an easy business lesson for me to embrace. It had already been getting me in trouble since middle school.

The Amtower Report started in the early 1990s. My column “Amtower Off Center” gave the newsletter an edge that became somewhat infamous.

The newsletter was fairly popular, especially as there was much less competition back then. Sharing my opinions was largely based on what others were doing, so I started “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” to go along with Off Center.

It was edgy, and occasionally pissed off a few people. I tried not to be mean, just honest and offer my unvarnished opinions.

Based on my observations I started hosting a three hour seminar around 1996, Government Marketing Best Practices. The seminar featured projects that I had both observed and worked on. It actually toured the country twice in the early 2000s, visiting Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Seattle, San Jose, Los Angeles, Austin, Atlanta and elsewhere, wherever I could find an audience and a sister club to the Tower Club in Northern Virginia.

The seminar led to my first book, Government Marketing Best Practice s. You’d figure in a market this big that books would abound, but GMBP was the first book in the 2000s regarding government contracting. Other books would follow, including Jimmy Baker’ s How to Win Business From the Government .

In July, 2005 I gave the luncheon speech at the Merit Direct Coop to about 200 B2B marketers and catalog companies. Writing and delivering the speech, “Amtower’s Laws of Survival and Success” led me to reevaluate what I did and how I did it, and I think it made me a better, more cognizant person.

The speech also led to my second book, Why Epiphanies Never Occur to Couch Potatoes (2007). David Powell , now CEO of the Federal Business Council, was at the conference and suggested it as my next book.

Oh yeah, before I forget, staring back in the early 1990s, people started inviting me to speak at various conferences. It is quite flattering to be invited so I accepted most. I have been a presenter, panelist or keynoter at over 300 GovCon events since Judy Bradt invited me to do my first speech back in 1989. You know you’ve hit a nerve when you get invited back…so many thanks to APMP , AFCEA , immixGroup (Rita , you ROCK!), GAIN and many others for the opportunities.

Back to the newsletter. The newsletter also led to me getting a radio show.

In late 2006, Federal News Radio (FNR) reached out to discuss a show. At that time the station only provided news and information for federal employees. An advertiser having lunch with WTOP (parent of FNR) GM Joel Oxley said FNR needed a show for contractors. Apparently my name came up. Thank you Mr Meudt .

During my discussions with Federal News Radio program director Lisa Wolfe , she and I agreed I would do a weekly show. Then I asked what we should call it. With no hesitation she said, “Amtower Off Center. That’s how people know you.”

So early February, 2007, my show aired for the first time. I am now in year 16 and the Federal News Network (no longer just radio) is keeping me around. I viewed the show (then and now) as a showcase for the talented people in the market. I simply provide the venue and the questions.

I was quite fortunate at this point as I was known in two communities, the government contracting community and the business-to-business marketing community. In 2008, BtoB Marketing (an Advertising Age publication) named me one of the top 100 business marketers in the country. I was truly flattered but equally stunned.

I was having a conversation with Nick Wakeman , editor of Washington Technology (also an early guest on my show) in early 2008, and I ended up becoming a contributor to WT, now approaching my 15th year in that role. My first article was about how to become one of the elite WT Top 100.

Nick saw value in my opinions and pretty much lets me submit anything I find germane to our market. I’ve contributed well over 100 columns so far.

In 2009, my friend David Meerman Scott was in a meeting with his publisher, John Wiley & Sons. For some reason, it was mentioned that Wiley needed a government contracting book. David suggested me.

In late 2010, Selling to the Government came out. It did well on Amazon, breaking into the top 10 in “Marketing and Sales” a couple times. People also sent me pictures of the book in Barnes and Noble from around the country. That was fun.

Also in early 2009, social media gurus Mike O’Neil and Lori Ruff reached out to ask me to submit my LinkedIn profile to their contest, Rock the World with Your Online Presence . So I did, told a few people, then forgot about it. Forgot until November when the contest results came out in Mike’s book of the same name. My profile was selected as one of the seven best on LinkedIn. At that time there were over 40 million members on LinkedIn. As of 2/11/22, I start my 18th year on LinkedIn.

This was one month after my first presentation on how to use LinkedIn (10/8/09, see photo above). It was to the Virginia Beach Chapter of the American Marketing Association, and it was called Locked Out of LinkedIn? You may have noticed I have not stopped speaking and writing about LinkedIn ever since…I'm also still connected to some of the people who attended.

In March 2014, LinkedIn offered to let me be one of the betas for LinkedIn Pulse, the initial venue for publishing on LinkedIn.

No brainer, I became a beta in March 2014. My first post was on the elements of Thought Leadership , a topic that continues to intrigue me. Now I have almost 180 articles on LinkedIn, several on thought leadership.

So when Mike Lisagor called a few months back to ask if I want to do a book with him using articles we had each previously written, I of course said yes.?And on January 26, 2022, How to Win in the Government Marke t came out on Amazon.

I am just a marketing guy and I did not set out to become well-known. It just happened.

I observe, cogitate, and regurgitate. I develop opinions based on both participation and observation. Then I choose a venue to share those opinions.

I also write this to show others, the next generation, that it can be very worthwhile to develop and share opinions in our market. But do so with the idea of adding value.

If you add enough value over time you will become well-known.

However, don’t do it for the fame, do it from a love of what you do and what you bring to the government contracting community.

Do it for the pure fun and enjoyment of sharing good ideas.

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