Shane Angus – Online Strategy Consultant

In addition to being an online strategy consultant, I also find my myself filling other important roles as a husband, father, son and friend. On occasion this means I wear one or more hats at the same time. For example, my first client, is also my brother-in-law, friend and now client (Black Rock Charters).

One of the roles I cherish the most is being a father to my two children. Just by seeing Mason & Izabelle on a daily basis I am reminded that stress over work is short lived and under appreciated, but the attention I provide them lasts a lifetime. They are constant reminders of why started my own business.

Business Experience

My working career started in the hospitality industry where I have worked nearly every position imaginable from dishwasher to general manager. It was out of my experience working in restaurants and hotels that I started my first business, Hakuna Employee Scheduling Software. Building my own online business taught me how every dollar counts when creating a start-up; furthermore, it taught me the incredible opportunities available using Organic and Pay-Per-Click search engine optimization.

Beyond the hospitality industry, I also spent five years working as the Director of Project Management for Net Solutions North America. This position allowed me to work very closely with start-up companies of all sizes as well as successful businesses, both looking to grow their online presence. I have directly impacted the development, marketing and growth of over 200+ websites and software development projects.

Currently I am working at the Oregon Department of Revenue (DOR) as a Project Manager working to replace their tax systems. The project when complete will replace many of the three hundred plus tax systems/programs in use today with a single integrated tax system and data warehouse. The end result is the employees at DOR will have access to all taxpayer data in one pace, and be better able to serve Oregon Tax Payers. The project is expected to cost approximately $92 million dollars and take 3-5years to fully integrate. The end result is an estimated increase in tax revenue in the range of 300 million dollars over five years. Imagine the benefit to the citizens of Oregon when that benefit is fully realized!

Life Experience

Certainly, my experience in software development and hospitality management taught me a great deal, but I also gathered valuable knowledge as a line level employee and world traveler. I credit a great deal of my life experience to the five years between graduating high school and attending college, when I traveled the world as a bartender and ski bum. These experiences taught me about what people want in life and what motivates them, and let me say, trying to find what motivates ski bums (besides fresh powder) can be a challenge.

Personal Interests and Motivation

Still looking to get inside my head, here is what keeps me busy and provides me personal motivation.

• Family – spending time with my wife and children
• My desire to make a difference in small businesses
• Ability to manage my business from any internet connection in the world
• Research – I am motivated by challenges
• Playing poker
• Skiing
• Triathlons
• Yard maintenance (Yes, I like cutting my grass in the summer!)
• Building and promoting online businesses!

Hopefully, by giving you an idea of what my history, experience, and motivations are, you will have a better understanding of why I regard myself as a professional online consultant. Building online businesses takes time, knowledge, energy, perseverance and more. I understand that the internet world is a scary place for most, and having someone “watching your back” helps go a long way towards a successful internet venture.