Somewhere back around 2002 or there abouts my father and I both worked for a local brick and mortar store. I was in service and my father was the general manager. My father had always been into computers and would actually consider himself somewhat of a computer geek. Anyway he proposed the idea of designing an e-commerce web site for the business we worked for. They agreed and sent him off to build the site.

He had never built a web site before but he is a very smart guy and was able to figure it all out and after several months came the launch day…the company gave the site 2 full weeks before they decided the idea was a flop and shut the site down. My father was upset as you can imagine. He was so certain that this was a major opportunity that he decided to build his own web site. He called me asking if I wanted to join him and although I had no computer skills whatsoever I agreed and we went to work. Every day after work we would meet at his house and work on the web site. After several months we were ready to launch our very own web site.

We launched the site, started making sales, and we were extremely excited…and then we got the letter. Unfortunately we had a lot to learn about “policies” and this letter notified us that that we had broken a major rule in e-commerce and were sent a cease and desist notice from the manufacturer that we were selling product for. We broke the dreaded MAP (minimum advertised policy) and they shut us down and took away our distributorship. I was disgusted, after all that work to just be shut down like that and decided I was finished. We failed, it didn’t work, and I was done.

My father on the other hand saw the opportunity and pressed on in silence. He didn’t tell anyone but he secretly was working on another web site. This is where the story gets interesting.

As he got the web site near ready to launch he made a very serious decision and took a major leap of faith. He put his house up for sale, bought a second home in a different part of the state where he felt he would be able to run the business low key, and quit his high paying job!

I was shocked, I was still working for the company at this time and hadn’t heard anything about this. But he went for it 100%. The company was literally started out of my childhood bedroom and moved to an upstairs bedroom in his new home.

Within 1 year he had a 4 person staff, himself, my mom, and Sue, his hired accountant. He was doing customer service, web site design and maintenance, marketing, you name it and my mother was shipping the product in the “warehouse” which was actually a garage. That was back in 2003.

Near the end of 2004 he called me and said he really thought this was going to work and he wanted me back to help him build the business. I accepted and moved to a home near by in Northern Michigan.

Over the next 5 years we built the company from ZERO to over 15 MILLION in sales and growing. We have a current staff of between 20-30 annually and operate out of a 25,000 sq ft office/warehouse. We ship over 1,000 packages a day in peak season.

It’s been a hell of a ride and we’re still going. When I look back to the days where we used to deliver the orders to the warehouse via a clip and a rope hanging out the window of the second story of their home to now it’s pretty remarkable.

The name of our company is NorthlineExpress.com. We specialize in selling hearth and home products online. We are still family owned and operated.

Frank Kern Internet Marketing

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