We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Flavio Romeo a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Flavio, thanks for joining us today. Can you tell us a bit about who your hero is and the influence they’ve had on you?

Certainly! Here’s a refined version of your story: — My father, Giuseppe Romeo, is my hero. As the youngest of 13 children, he grew up in poverty in southern Sicily, where he began working at a young age. It wasn’t a choice, but a necessity to help support his family. He started by sweeping floors at a tailor shop just a short walk from his home in Santa Croce di Camerina, a fishing village where he cherished time by the water with friends whenever he could.

In the mid-50s, when he was in his late 20s, he moved to Milan, bringing his skill as a tailor and setting out to become a master of his craft. It was there that he met my mother, had two children—my older brother and me—and soon realized that his salary wasn’t enough to raise a family. So, he moved to America. For 18 months, he lived on the couch of his eldest sister, a woman he had never met before. He worked seven days a week, saving every penny until he could afford to bring us to the States. We settled in a modest apartment, and after a few years, with the help of his nephews, he was able to buy a house.

In the mid-70s, he opened his own business, working six days a week. On Sundays, he’d take me fishing, then work at home later in the evening. In the late 80s, my parents purchased a vacation home in Florida, where they retired in 1993. For the rest of his life, my father fished every single day.

As an immigrant child, there were several important lessons I learned from him. Hard work is the key to enjoying the things you love. There are no handouts; you have to earn everything you desire. Never be ashamed of who you are, what you have, or what you don’t have. Everything you own is yours because you worked for it—and you should be proud of that. Though we didn’t get to spend much time with him during the week, every moment we did share was cherished.

From this, I learned the importance of perseverance. The only way to achieve your dreams is through hard work and resilience. People don’t fail—they simply quit before they succeed. I also learned that when I had my own family, I would do whatever it took to ensure I spent time with them. Growing up, I wanted to be an actor. I began performing on stage in 1989, and later expanded to TV and film. I also wanted to work in voiceovers, and I did—building a resume of commercial and animated credits. I wanted a family, and today, I am blessed with two successful daughters, a married son who is looking to start his own business, and a wife who supports me wholeheartedly.

When I could no longer afford to pursue acting while raising a family, I turned to sales. I became a sales manager, then a regional manager, VP of sales, and eventually, in 2014, started my own business. During the pandemic, I had a desire to start a podcast—and I did. As a result, I became a three-time Communicator Award of Distinction winner and a Silver Anthem Award recipient. Now, in my early 60s, my children are all living independently, and I enjoy traveling with my wife and vacationing with my children to places I once only dreamed of. Through my podcast, I also give back by supporting local businesses, organizations, and communities.

In 2024, while interviewing a new business in my area, I struck up a conversation with one of the employees who was married to a friend of mine. During our chat, I shared my father’s story. As it turned out, she had worked at one of the high-end tailor shops where my dad had worked. She remembered him fondly. She said the owners adored him, describing him as the most gifted tailor they’d ever had and noting that he never spoke a harsh word. He was always friendly, and they were sad when he left to open his own shop. To me, that’s a true hero. It’s the legacy I hope to leave behind for my children, my grandchildren, and generations to come. My dad…my hero.

Flavio, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I started my career in sales in 1986 as a manufacturer’s representative. With no prior experience, I quickly learned the importance of being friendly, open, and honest with my customers. I later transitioned to working for an emerging company in the U.S. To be successful in sales, I realized it was not enough to just understand the products I was selling; I had to understand why my customers needed them. If I didn’t believe in the products, how could my customers believe in me?

Attending art school after high school, my creative background as an artist and designer played a key role in expanding my career opportunities. There were times when I faced opposition within my own company regarding some of my ideas or the direction I wanted to take. I didn’t let that stop me. Instead, I persevered, succeeded, and moved on to more entrepreneurial roles in companies where I could implement my vision. In the mid-2000s, I joined an international sourcing company, which opened my eyes to limitless opportunities. Working with product development teams at major retailers gave me the chance to visit and collaborate with factories in China, Southeast Asia, and India. I gained a deeper understanding of product development and was instrumental in creating successful programs for well-known clients like Bed Bath & Beyond, Linens ‘n Things, QVC, and many others.

In 2014, I fulfilled a dream that my father had and passed down to me: I started my own business. I partnered with friends I had made over the years in China and India, and began developing, sourcing, and selling products from Italy, China, Vietnam, and India. Establishing strong relationships with overseas partners was critical. I visited factories, got to know how products were made, but more importantly, I took the time to connect with the owners and their families, building long-lasting relationships. I knew I couldn’t do it alone. The friendships I cultivated in the mid-2000s have grown stronger over time, and our business has become more successful than I ever imagined.

My desire in my career was not to be a millionaire, it was do create something of which I could be proud. To me, success is not how much money you have in the bank, it’s based on the relationships you have made along the way. Providing for and having a family who is proud of what I have achieved and while we don’t own the biggest house or drive the fanciest cars, I can look back at my career proud of what I’ve achieved, proud of the family we were able to raise, and excited about the future that is still ahead of me.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

This is the best advice I can give for managing a team and maintaining high morale.

Having worked for many different bosses, some great, most not, I learned that the secret to managing a team and maintaining high morale is very simple. Listen to your team. Engage with them. Don’t belittle or undermine them.

In 1989, working for an Italian company that was growing in the US, the president was exactly this type of manager. He would encourage us to do things together. Team members would jog together in the mornings. We would have lunch together and share stories, jokes and laugh together. When we went to trade shows we would hold events as a team. If one of us had an idea, we explored it. He flushed out ideas and worked together with his team to make them great. We wanted to work for him. We wanted to succeed for him…and we did. The business grew tremendously over the years and in 2024 the US division is well over $500,000,000.

Remember the three Es, engage, empower and encourage.

Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?

When I had started my own business in 2014 I was on my own. I had reached out to my colleagues in China and we started building a business. They introduced me to factories overseas who had hired to build their business in the US. This usually takes a minimum of 6 months to gain some traction and another 6-12 months to start shipping products. They did not have that kind of patience.

Contracts that I had secured for 6 months was resolved in 3. Other development work was taking much longer than anticipated and the income was not incoming. I started driving for Uber at night to help bring in some money for the family while building the business. Other factories came on board only to have the same thing happen. I was hired by a domestic company importing goods from China and, while my experience was with larger accounts, the owner had me calling on small independents. When I did finally have one of my large accounts agree to meet with us and develop a program, the owner took over the account, preventing me from making the commission that would have come to me.

This was a very scary time in my life because I really didn’t have a parachute, no safety net. I had to keep pushing, keep trying, keep working and keep driving for Uber until I finally started to gain some ground. Programs were starting to be developed, buyers were committing to products, we were shipping from China and India and I didn’t have to drive for Uber every again.

Work, don’t quit. There is not quitting. Failure was never an option. All things I learned from my father, my hero.

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