James Lawrence

President/Founder

Power Automedia

CEO of Digital Media company in the Automotive Aftermarket.

Chief Executive Officer

Happy Companies

In the new era of work, building effective teams is more important than ever to organizational performance. Happy enhances organizational culture, communication and manager effectiveness at scale – making your people your competitive advantage. Happy is a coaching platform that uses behavioral science & AI to build a user manual for your entire team in less than 10 minutes.

CEO & Cofounder

Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA)

As SEMA's Chairman of the board, I worked with the SEMA Board of Directors, provide leadership to the SEMA's CEO and SEMA Executive Management team, and helped lead the SEMA Association toward the future. SEMA is the #1 automotive aftermarket association in the world representing more than $50B of revenue.

SEMA Chairman of the Board

SpeedVideo

CEO of subscription-based Live Streaming Motorsports Network. Sold to FloSports in 2021.

Select Council Leadership, FLN/Young Executives Network (YEN) at SEMA. Responsible for helping lead the Young Executive Network/FLN within SEMA along with the select council and Chairman.

Select Council Leadership, SEMA Future Leader Network

ProMedia Publishing LLC

Founder of event production/media business. Also I was responsible for charting the strategic direction for the company, new business development, acquisitions, financial operations, marketing including digital, print, radio, TV; and also oversaw media/publishing/content.

MotorTrend Group

As an editor for the Ford Media Group within Petersen Publishing (now TEN/Discovery/Motor Trend). I planned, coordinated, and developed a wide array of content.

Editor

I believe in PEOPLE.. and believe a great TEAM is the most important competitive advantage.

🌟 I'm focused on reinventing the future of work and how technology and people can work together to improve organizational culture. 🌟

I'm currently the Cofounder of Happy, a coaching platform that enhances organizational culture, communication and manager effectiveness at scale – making people a true competitive advantage. Happy uses behavioral science & AI to build a user manual for your entire team in less than 10 minutes.

💌 Want to chat? Send me a message or reach out to me at james@happycompanies.com

My journey to leadership wasn't straightforward. Early in my career, I learned the hard way that authority doesn't come from a title; it comes from genuinely understanding and connecting with your team. 

I've got an interesting background:
-launched four startups
-former CEO of Power Automedia
-former Chairman of the Specialty Equipment Manufacturing Association
-Earned two national championships in auto racing
-Earned two youth football championships as a head coach

I'm married to my amazing wife Melissa, and father to three kids–Bradley, Jordan and Taylor. 

When I'm not leading our team at Happy or spending time with my family, you'll find me:

-coaching youth football
-driving a race car faster than 200 mph
-diving into one of my favorite books, which range from "The Hard Thing About Hard Things" by Ben Horowitz to "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen Covey.

I love public speaking on topics like innovation, leadership, organizational culture, and technology. 

I believe the cornerstone of every successful organization is its people. 

My mission is to unlock the power of human connection and happiness at work, using disruptive technology and innovative thinking. I love the process of creating things and collaborating with entrepreneurs, executives, and visionaries to solve real problems and improve the quality of work relationships.

AM Professional Consulting

Sales Growth and Business Development Cosultant

AYUCELL

As the VP of Sales at Ayucell, I consult the dynamic team with a strategic vision and a relentless focus on creating and executing effective sales and marketing campaigns, trainings, systems, and business processes in the network and affiliate marketing. With a deep understanding of the direct sales industry, I focus on driving the growth through innovation, market expansion, and fostering strong client relationships.

➟ Develop and execute comprehensive sales and marketing campaigns that align with the company’s goals and objectives.

➟ Design and implement efficient systems and business processes to enhance operational effectiveness and drive scalability.

➟ Lead, mentor, and motivate a high-performing sales team to deliver exceptional results.

➟ Identify and capitalize on new market opportunities to fuel growth across various sales channels.

➟ Utilize data-driven approaches and cutting-edge technologies to optimize sales performance and marketing impact.

➟ Cultivate long-term relationships with Pillars Club members and key partners, ensuring a high level of customer satisfaction and retention.

➟ Continuously analyze and refine strategies based on performance metrics to achieve optimal outcomes.

➟ Build the Pillars Club team of 12 members through targeted recruiting and training programs.

➟ Launch successful marketing campaigns that increased brand visibility and customer engagement by 75%.

➟ Utilize the comprehensive customer loyalty program and marketing strategies resulting in a 40% increase in sales and repeat business.

➟ Advise and collaborate with Operations Manager to ensure the best CRM systems and training, improving customer service response times by 50%.

➟ Foster a culture of continuous improvement through regular performance reviews and professional development opportunities.

VP of Sales

Celesty Official

As part of the global leadership team for a direct-to-consumer (D2C) beauty and skin care start-up business, I directed all aspects of marketing, business growth, distributor training and sales optimizations for a team of 50+ sales directors. As part of the executive team, I established strategic objectives and operational policies.

➟ I established and communicated policies and procedures for customer service, returns, refunds, marketing, communication and social media parameters, sales challenges and rewards. 

➟ Under my leadership, monthly sales skyrocketed by 556%. This was a direct result of my revising compensation plans, creating a customer purchase rewards system and introducing sales incentives.
Through my sales leadership training programs, systems and marketing incentives, I increased sales leaders from 15 to 50+.

➟ Overseeing all recruiting efforts and support programs, I added 3,500 new US distributors YTD in 2023. 

➟ With a focus on business development, I increased the number of sales consultants from 1,000 to 4,500. In addition, active consultants increased by 20%, customer base grew 65%+ and sales from customers went from zero to 16%.

➟ I created and lead onboarding and training programs that educated distributors on products, sales strategies and marketing initiatives. After I introduced programs in both Spanish and English, business opportunities increased.

➟ Managing independent distributor relations, I standardized enrollment kit procedures that reduced kit refunds and exchanges by 5-10%. I introduced affiliate hybrid programs to build a customer base and expand marketing opportunities.

➟ Using Zendesk CRM, I oversaw the customer relationship management program. I trained the customer service team to handle escalated issues and protect positive client relations.

VP of Business and Field Development

I provided professional consulting services to both start-up and established direct sales and network marketing businesses and independent representatives. My structured and customized business evaluation and data analysis tools optimized omni-channel marketing, sales, training, recruiting, client relations and operations. 

➟ I led two beauty companies to achieve a 25-50% growth in quarterly sales while improving retention 18-42%. After assisting with compensation plan revisions, recruiting efforts increased. I used social media marketing and reputation management to generate leads.

➟ The standardized operations, systems and processes I created enabled consulting clients to duplicate efforts. As a result, clients achieved 55-85% overall gains for 3 consecutive quarters.

➟ I conducted training sessions and provided motivational coaching that positively impacted sales for multiple direct sales beauty programs.

Sales Growth and Business Development Consultant

I developed and executed field sales and business growth strategies that supported the company’s launch. I created sales and marketing plans while overseeing social media marketing programs on Facebook and Instagram. Supporting the operations team, I defined sales goals and established policies and procedures. I interviewed, hired, trained and managed the new sales, business development and training team. 

➟ Within 6 months, I led product distribution in the US, Puerto Rico and Canada from zero to nearly 6 figures in monthly revenue. I established a quality recruiting program with effective onboarding systems that grew distributors to 1,200 with 400 online customers.

➟ As part of the leadership team, I established IT infrastructure, created website, developed compliance standards and defined customer service processes. 

➟ I created a non-exclusive, omni-channel marketing plan that focused on the customer while building a strong company brand message.

National Field Development Director

Farmasi

I led, trained and mentored a high-performing sales team while developing and leading multi-level marketing growth and expansion plans. I directed all sales and marketing operations for the 12-state West Coast region for a start-up network marketing beauty and wellness brand. 

➟ During my first 60 days, I achieved $250K in sales. Within 18 months, the sales revenue grew 10X, we increased to 40K distributors and added 2 sales managers to the team. 

➟ The marketing strategies I created not only enhanced brand awareness but also ensured the team consistently exceeded their revenue targets. I planned and managed all aspects of marketing, sales and recruiting events that averaged a 40% conversion rate.

➟ Providing sales leadership, I identified opportunities to improve enrollment kits to better align with compensation plans. The onboarding systems, distributor training and customer service systems that I created optimized sales growth. 

➟ I was part of a senior leadership team that shaped the policies, procedures and standardizations that directly impacted customer service, marketing, communication, business operations and sales incentives.

Regional Sales Manager - West Coast

CHANEL

I delivered exceptional customer service and implemented sales and marketing programs to effectively promote and sell CHANEL beauty products in retail locations such as Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue, Dillard’s, Macy’s and Sephora. I was recognized as a top seller and closer who exceeded daily sales targets by as much as double. 

➟ After I created and implemented effective sales systems, store sales exceeded $1M in CHANEL product sales. I analyzed performance metrics and identified target areas that drove positive results.

➟ I was selected to lead sales and customer relationship programs. Using personalized customer service and sales methods, I optimized beauty sales for the luxury brand. 

➟ The cross-departmental sales strategies and customer relationship training programs I created and implemented became best practices across the region. I was selected to lead training programs at multiple store locations.

Retail Sales Specialist

Belcorp

As the leader of a dynamic team that drove sales for L'bel/BELCORP beauty products, I oversaw recruitment, training and performance management initiatives. I was personally honored as the #1 sales performer and recruiter. I consistently exceeded targets by adding more than 200 distributors annually, surpassing goals twofold.

Additionally, I contributed valuable insights as a member of the advisory board in collaboration with executive leaders. As part of this lead that led innovations, I played a pivotal role in transitioning the company from direct sales to a highly successful multi-level marketing (MLM) model with a hybrid party plan. These changes nearly tripled our sales results.

Area Sales Manager

Parfums Christian Dior

Reatail Sales Specialist

Relationships are the key to sales success. As a sales leader, it is the relationships that I have with my field sales team, the way that I communicate with them, the incentives and recognition programs I offer them, how well I onboard, educate and motivate them. It all comes back to relationships. As a sales expert, I know that personalized relationships and demonstrated value are what not only make a sale, but keep the customer coming back again and again, especially in the beauty industry where there are so many choices.

I have been both a leader and an individual sales producer in my sales career. I have led teams of up to 50 sales managers and created programs that guided the success of up to 40K direct-to-consumer (D2C) distributors to strategically market and sell a variety of products. I believe that a sales leader should be a mentor and coach who develops the overall strategy and defines the sales goals. However, once you prepare your team to represent your product and company, you need to be willing to get out of their way and give them the autonomy and accountability to achieve their own success in the way that works best for that individual. Using this philosophy in the senior leadership role, my team achieved amazing results – growing revenue of a start-up beauty and skin care brand to more than $2.5M within 18 months.

I have also enjoyed several individual contributor roles where I honed my customer relationship building and targeted sales presentation skills. I know the value of hard work, as beauty legend Estee Lauder said, “I never dreamed about success, I worked for it.” 

One of the reasons I have enjoyed working for start-up businesses is that I never shy away from a challenge. I enjoy seeking innovative solutions while also creating standardized processes and policies that guide the company toward growth. I enjoy finding the balance between analyzing performance metrics and building relationships with my field sales teams. I approach every day with a positive attitude, with gratitude and with the optimism to believe that I can and will achieve my goals because I have taken the time to create a plan, to define a strategy and have the drive to see it through to completion. 

My areas of key expertise: Team Leadership & Collaboration | Strategic Planning & Execution | Operations Management | Product Marketing | Recruitment & Selection | Training & Development | Revenue & Profit Maximization | Business Development & Sales Growth | Performance Optimization

Let's connect and discuss how I can advance the shared goals of your company!

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The Battle

James Lawrence

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