Bill Bishop is an American-born entrepreneur, philanthropist, and public speaker, whose personal mission is to inspire others to see their talents, and to set a path of entrepreneurism while working to always make a positive impact on their surrounding communities. He is married to Laura Kate Bishop and firmly believes his most important job is being a father to his two wonderful children – Katie Grace and Calvin.
Mr. Bishop was born in a small farm town in central Pennsylvania. He spent his formidable years following the example of his father who was a member of Seal Team 1. His father, Bill Bishop Sr. came home to work on the family farm after serving 2 tours in Vietnam. Bill Sr. spent his entire life instilling work ethic and discipline into Bill Jr. The Bishop family honors Bill Sr. in remembering him as the driving force of progression in business, entrepreneurship and independence to this day.
In high school, Bill was a 3-sport athlete and a leader in his local community. In 1999, Bill Jr was awarded one of the state of Pennsylvania’s appointments to the United States Naval Academy. He went on to accept other opportunities, yet still states the appointment was one of his greatest life achievements.
Bill attended Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania where he was a dual major in Spanish and International Business. He was a 2-time captain on the football team and was always viewed as one of the leaders on campus at the small private school. Because he was a NCAA athlete, he was never able to study abroad. So, after graduating he accepted a positon working with La Universidad de Las Americas (UDLA) in Orizaba, Mexico.
After living abroad, Bill came back to Pennsylvania to be near his family and became a Spanish teacher. “I know teaching may not be a glorious position to many people; however, the impact that my teachers and coaches had on me is a favor I always wanted to return. If you ask most people to name the 5 most influential people in their lives, almost everyone includes a teacher or coach. I wanted to be that for other kids,” states Bill.
After three years of teaching domestically, Bill’s passion began to shift. He loved all aspects of teaching except for the growth and lack of upward mobility. It was at this point that he decided to reach beyond his comfort zone and take a swing at marketing and sales.
Bill opened his first marketing company in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in 2006. He created and promoted grassroots campaigns for local mom and pop business to help drive foot traffic into their establishments. While growing his client portfolio, he made many connections in the local market and soon thereafter began to work with companies like Home Depot and Sears Home Improvement. At this point and time, he evolved his business strategy from simple direct sales to new customer acquisition.
He expanded his business to Allentown, Pennsylvania, Hartford, Connecticut and Cleveland, Ohio. When asking Bill what the biggest hurdle was in going from a small local marketing firm to representing much larger clients and having a business that now covers multiple states, he states it quite simply, “All companies have the same struggle when trying to scale their business. How do I become a multiple-location-business while still maintaining the same quality control that I had when we were a single location? It’s a hard fight because having a culture that teaches your employees to respect your brand like it’s their own, poses a challenge.”
To overcome this challenge, he began to offer franchising opportunities. By allowing individuals to oversee their ‘own’ business with his model, he was able to expand. Under this model, each location could still maintain the local business pride in which most sole-proprietors approach their job.
Since then, Bill has opened over 75 different franchise locations through North America and has plans to open another 75 more in the next 5 years before starting his international venture. He has diversified his business portfolio and has helped as an angel investor for local businesses in other industries such as restaurants, retail, and educational services.
Through his path of entrepreneurship, Bill has been able to focus on what his dreams and aspirations always were –to help make the world a better place.
“I did not get into business for the ability to buy the coolest cars or clothes,” says Bill. “For me, the focus was getting my life in a position where I could provide for my family, as well as be fortunate enough to help the world be a better place.”
In 2014, Bill made his first trip to Africa to visit the Tumani Junior School in Tanzania. There, he delivered supplies on behalf of his company. As he tells it, aside from raising his children, the month-long trip through Africa was the most impactful journey of his life.
The journey began as Bill and his wife went on safari for their honeymoon and were exposed to, not only the beauty of Africa, but some of the tragedies of the continent as well.
Trough their travels, it became remarkably apparent that Africa’s educational system had major flaws. Before a student could move up in the school system, they had to pass a standardized test. Standardized tests were often in English, and unfortunately, only the wealthiest of families were taught how to read and write in English.
Tumani Junior School is one of the first non-private schools to have a full immersion English curriculum for children. They house, feed and supply materials to over 400 local kids.
Always remembering his experience in Africa and finally reaching a point in his career where he had the means to assist a local initiative, Bill reached back out to the school and was instrumental in helping provide supplies to the students and the school library.
Bills philanthropy outreach has grown significantly. He now requires all franchise owners to be involved in a community improvement program as part of their local duties. He’s organized food drives in Las Vegas, catered and hosted events at tent city in Anaheim, California and participated in countless local events throughout the region.
He explains, “If you are going to be stimulated long-term in a career, it has to touch your heart. Money only matters until you have it. Once reach a point of financial stability, it no longer motivates you. It is incredibly important for you job to touch your heart to truly be passionate long term.”
As he looks forward to the future, Bill is inspired by the shift in consciousness he is seeing in our society. “I believe after the industrial revolution, with such an increase in domestic production, our parents and grandparents grew up in a world where you went to college, got a job and stayed at that job for 40 years until you retired. As we have now turned into an importing country rather than a producing country, a lot of those stable, long-term career paths have disappeared. Combine this transition with the growth of the digital age and access to information and it’s a recipe for a change in the work place dynamic.
Today we are not in the industrial age; it’s the age of entrepreneurism. More people are looking at owning a business as the most secure way to guarantee your future. For me to be in a position where I can help young entrepreneurs train and acquire the skills and mentality needed to run a successful business is such a blessing. When I think of all the jobs that are created and all the families that are taken care of by the jobs we provide, it truly humbles me. When I started on this journey, I didn’t know that it would lead to this vastly national footprint, but that is the true beauty of entrepreneurism.”
Because Bill was a young, inexperienced entrepreneur that others took the time to impact and help, he has created the Bill Bishop Institute of Entrepreneurism and Leadership to help other inexperienced men and women take their business ideas and turn them into reality.
He explains, “I know what it felt like to know I was an ambitious, talented young man but to not have the doors opened for me. I hope that this endeavor can be used as a resource for others that may need some encouragement, advice, or education on how to turn business plans into thriving businesses.”
