This past September marked eleven years of Baer Performance Marketing (BPM). It’s surreal to think about it, and there’s more people than you can imagine whom I should thank. There’s been many bumps in the road, but overall, I’ve been beyond fortunate to be blessed with good people surrounding me with relentless support. I’d like to focus on two individuals who have helped mold BPM into what we are today: Molly Behnke and Jake Sleger.
Some of you may know the back stories, but most do not, so here we go. BPM was started with a dream, out of my house, on Green Bay’s east side. I was familiar with the intern program at Cumulus radio, so when my workload from my initial handful of clients got heavy enough, I put out an ad at UWGB for a marketing intern. This is where an eager, incredibly smart Molly Lubinsky entered my world. She gleamed intelligence and pride while exuding a fierce work ethic. She was hired! We had our weekly intern meetings at various coffee shops around the east side of Green Bay. I added a couple more, Josh and Tony, who were very helpful to BPM in the early years as well.
When graduation was coming up for Molly, she inquired about me taking her on as BPM’s first paid employee. I was not at a point to hire her full-time then, but I knew what I had in Molly, so I took a leap of faith and committed to pay her part-time until we got enough consistent business to bring her on full-time. She worked at Express during the fall and did what she had to do to make ends meet. I eventually hired her on full-time, and without a doubt, it was the best decision I’ve ever made in my professional career! As many of you know, Molly works her tail off at all times, gives everything she can to our clients and her team, and is an all-around fantastic person! She’s been dealing with my crazy ideas and dreams ever since, which is now about 11 years!
The other integral part of the BPM story is Jake Sleger. Jake and I worked together in radio. Jake always had a knack for technology. When social media was in its infancy, and online advertising was a budding new advertising option, I knew who would be a perfect addition to the BPM team. Luckily, the stars aligned and Jake started our digital advertising department to accompany his new-found passion, photography. Jake has invested countless hours fine-tuning his craft, becoming Google Certified, and has become quite the talented photographer. He’s been with us through the ups and downs and has been along for the ride for the last seven years or so. We’ve all grown up together, celebrated weddings, birthdays, new houses, and even some kiddos!
We’ve added Katelin to the mix almost two years ago, and it’s hard to imagine her not in our close-knit team. She was the fourth perfect fit in our BPM “wolfpack!” Kendra is the newest addition to the bunch and interjects her quirky personality and youthful perspective to our office, a very welcomed addition coinciding with her tremendous content creation and social media skills.
In closing, whether you’re an existing client, friend or family member of someone at BPM, potential client, business associate, or simply someone who stumbled on this blog, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. I appreciate your involvement in our lives here at BPM, no matter how big or small, and I encourage each and every one of you to “perform” for the people who you are blessed to have in your life.
Enjoy overeating, taking a nap, laughing with friends and family, and watching football! Go Pack Go!
-Aaron
