Upon turning 21, Phil found that his site traffic research in high school had a useable application. He discovered that certain keywords trigger Facebook groups to rank higher than their competitors. He came up with a plan to create multiple Facebook groups that targeted incoming college freshman within the Washington Metropolitan Region. By the end of his experiment, Phil had amassed an online network of nearly 15,000 people.
With a sizeable community under his control, Phil negotiated deals with two music venues in Downtown Washington. He planned to host nightlife events while utilizing his network as a lead funnel. His first event drew in over $4,000 in net profit.
During the initial shutdowns caused by the pandemic in 2020, Phil noticed a disruption within the manufacturing industry. Many companies had relied on Chinese based manufacturers for their products. The shutdown of Chinese factories resulted in mass shortages of goods. After studying the market, Phil decided to take on another experiment to see if he could provide import alternatives. Phil’s solution was to create a network of South American manufacturers who could utilize Free Trade Agreement exports to the U.S.
Although the start-up failed, he was able to draw several successes: he established manufacturing partnerships with 5 factories and workshops within Peru, he inaugurated a distribution hub within Bahrain, he secured the cast of a major ABC hit television series as a client, and he was twice considered as a Retail and E-Commerce category candidate for the Forbes 30 under 30 list.