Meet Brent Hamachek of Segueway

Today we’d like to introduce you to Brent Hamachek.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Brent. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
My story features a real-life journey through the looking glass. I was born and raised in Sault Ste. Marie. A small, Frank Capra-type town located in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and right across the river from Canada. My dad ran the local Woolworth store and my mom stayed at home and did all the things stay-at-home moms do. We didn’t have much, but we had plenty. I’m old enough to remember party lines, outhouses, and actually using a fireplace for heat.

I stayed in my hometown right through college. In May of 1984, I graduated with high honors and a degree in finance and economics. I thought I was going to change the world. Doesn’t everybody?

Instead, I got a job, got married, had kids, got drunk, got fired, got another job, got divorced; the usual story of a life misplaced. Change the world? I couldn’t even change my own life. I spent 15 years in the banking industry bouncing around between seven different jobs. People would tell me I wasn’t a typical banker and I should do something else. I lacked the courage and confidence to make a change. Then I got what everyone needs to be ready for in life; I got a break.

In 2000 I had a client offer me a chance to leave my job and help him oversee the five different companies he owned. I had an opportunity to merge into the “outside” world. I soon-after formed a corporation and what is today called “Segueway” was born.

It turned out that I found my talent. Free to operate without the constraints of banking rules, I discovered I had a gift to be able to see and solve business problems that other people couldn’t. Not just that, I could solve them on the sales side, the finance side, the management side, any side really.

Since 2000, I have led a life that has brought me non-stop challenges, opportunities, successes, and, yes, failures. I have worked on well over 150 engagements in more than 70 industries. I have helped business start up, grow, and turnaround. I have sat at the desk of CEO, CFO, head of sales, and head of business development on a contract basis. I have raised debt and equity, closed national sales deals, negotiated business acquisitions & sales, and negotiated clients out of complex problems. There are people today who have a job, in part, because I had a chance to use my abilities to help create it or preserve it. I have been blessed.

Today Segueway sits alongside a law firm, Fisher-Cohen Waldman Shapiro, and a turnaround and funding group, SK Partners, in Glenview. Together each day we help privately owned companies survive and thrive in a challenging marketplace.

That’s only half my story. In 2013, through another stroke of good fortune, I was introduced to a new, youth-based, political activist group that was focused on free markets and First Principles. These are things that have mattered to me since I was 17 years old. Out of nowhere, I was suddenly writing publications that were being distributed on campuses across the country. My words, my ideas, changing the lives of thousands of young people. The writing ultimately led to my being given the chance to co-author an Amazon bestselling book on political science, economics, and social science in 2016. Also, that year I was able to make a very significant and impactful contribution to the Presidential race.

The kid from Sault Ste. Marie had played a part in changing the world.

So, from small-town beginnings, back when TV’s had rabbit ears with tin foil, to living in Chicago’s North Shore suburbs with a large family and in a profession that is more about making things come alive than it is about making a living, I have made it to Wonderland. I am part Walter Mitty, and part Forest Gump. I have been fortunate to have been presented with opportunities and lucky to have taken just enough of them to have made a difference in the lives of others.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
My journey has not been smooth, but what makes my story different is that most of the obstacles I have faced were actually laid in front of me by me. I have been my own worst enemy.

I was once asked if my current self could meet my 20-year-old self, what advice would I give me? The answer was easy: Sober up! Virtually every bad decision I’ve ever made involved alcohol. Finding sobriety in mid-life unchained me. I can’t help wonder what I might have accomplished if I’d broken loose from Jack Daniel’s shackles sooner in life.

I also was slow to come of age in terms of self-confidence and having the willingness to take risks and believe in my abilities. Unlike the “engine who could,” I spent years saying “I’m sure I can’t. I’m sure I can’t.” I envy young people who are bold enough to take risks, even when they are sometimes not the wisest of risks. I couldn’t do that.

It also hasn’t been easy moving to an affluent area in the major metropolitan market without any connections or a pedigree. Everything I’ve ever accomplished I’ve had to work for without the benefit of a net or a rich uncle. When I first moved here, I lived in the health club parking lot, inside my Ford Tempo, with everything I owned packed in the back. I’ve been competing with Northwestern degrees and legacy hires ever since.

I regret nothing. Every choice I made was mine; the good ones and the bad. Everything I have, I earned. Every mistake, I’ve owned.

I’ve had a lot of personal business success and I’ve given away a lot of business help and advice. The two are related. I don’t think there’s a science to it, but I do believe there is an art. I’ll keep painting as long as life gives me a canvass.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Segueway – what should we know?
Segueway is a full-service consulting company that helps privately owned companies get from where they are to where they want to be. We work with start-ups, growth companies, mature companies, and turnarounds. We work both sides of the balance sheet and we help drive up top-line revenue and drive down costs below the line.

We put together plans of all types (strategic, business development, sales, marketing, business). We also can get any type of business funding from private equity to AAA bank debt, and everything in between.

Because of our affiliation with a law firm filled with brilliant minds, we are able to solve any situation holistically and cohesively. The strongest geometric shape is a triangle and we have all three business legs; money, legal, consulting. We have everything a privately owned business needs under one roof in Glenview.

What sets us apart is our non-linear approach to problem-solving. When I see a situation that other people have been looking at for awhile, I don’t see what they see. Neither do my colleagues. To us, the business world is Dali painting. Symbols, hidden images, things not being what they appear at first glance. We figure out what story the painting is really trying to tell.

I love to say we are like the old cast on the TV show M*A*S*H. We are eccentric, a little crazy, not too concerned with maintaining appearances, but when somebody yells “Choppers” we get incredibly focused and incredibly good at what we do.

Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Above all, especially over the last decade, I always try to apply reason over emotion in analyzing situations and making business decisions. I believe emotion, especially optimism, is the biggest reason businesses develop problems and ultimately fail. I’m a fan of the philosophy of Ayn Rand (but not a disciple… I’m also Roman Catholic) and as a result, I place reason at a premium. In my most successful client engagements over the years, almost all contain a moment wherein I prevented them from acting out in an emotional manner and led them to coldly analyze and assess their circumstances and options before taking action.

A reasoned choice doesn’t always mean it will be successful. It does mean you will be less likely to regret it if it doesn’t work. Regret is wasted time (and an emotion). Nothing should ever get in the way of making the next reasoned choice.

While I consider reason to be the most important learned skill I have ever acquired, I’m human and am therefore emotional by nature. Emotion has been called the lubricant of reason. I’d like to think my emotions make me better, but don’t get the better of me. I want my clients to embrace that idea, as well.

Contact Info:

• Address: 1247 N. Waukegan Road, Suite 100, Glenview, IL 60025
• Website: www.SeguewaySolutions.com
• Phone: (847) 778-9474
• Email: Brent@SeguewaySolutions.com
• Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brent-hamachek-719059136/

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