© 2024 Iron Forums
Menu
Mentor
North Gwinnett
Phone
404-558-0089
gary@ironforums.org
Video Introduction
About Me
Hello! My name is Gary Smith and I’m the founder of Iron Forums. I’ve been married to my beautiful wife Margaret since 1982. Together, we have four adult children—one daughter and three sons. We’ve also been blessed with four granddaughters and one grandson.
Margaret and I really enjoy hospitality and entertaining others and love to have people come over to our house. We also enjoy traveling together, in fact, we recently spent time in Portugal to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary. Margaret enjoys playing tennis, while I enjoy golf. One thing that is important to us both is our service with ADF (Alliance Defending Freedom).
I started Iron Forums because I knew the pain of being isolated as a business owner. I’d seen how this impacted individuals in their faithwalk, the health of their marriage, and how they led and invested in their family. I knew I needed to be around other men walking with Christ to build healthy relationships and strong leadership.
One of the things I love about Iron Forums is the ability to gain and share wisdom, have opportunities to connect with other men in the same position as you, and create a place to thrive and grow. As the Bible says, three strands form a strong rope and I believe that more heads together are better than one. When the men who are leaders in the body of Christ work together, we can make a huge difference in our businesses, our families, and in the world.
Business Expertise
My current business is called Quarry TIckets Direct (QDT). We provide more than 50 million scale tickets that go with the quarrying industry. I ran a small business for 33 years, and when I sold off the main business, I kept this division and turned it into a standalone company. We average around $1.3 million in sales.
I hold a Business Degree from Chapel Hill. When I graduated, I spent seven years in corporate America in the computer industry. I specialized in computer forms that went to manufacturers and then onto independent wholesalers. I became one of those independent distributors for printed forms, labels, and computer supplies. This was my niche within a niche. Eventually I moved from the corporate side to the entrepreneurial side.
My skills are all those you might expect from an entrepreneur. Over the years I’ve learned to build teams—including hiring, training, managing, and firing people. I have diverse sales and marketing experience as I’ve built and run my companies. I learned how to build an outsourced manufacturing & distribution network; grew through acquisitions; and experienced a full life cycle of an industry (from print industry to digital) while continuing to serve client’s needs. Along the way, I managed a team that grew to forty people across five states. We started the business in 1977 and it was sold in 2018.
I love to help people think about taking something and morphing it into something new and different that will work better. In the KOLBE profile, I’m wired to start things, to take an idea and get it to market. In the DISC, I’m a high D and high I.
If I struggle, it’s because only 5-10% of the world is wired like me, so I’m misunderstood by 90% of people who may see me as an intense personality. But my sweet spot is this: I lead leaders! I don’t manage people, I work with people who manage.
In this season of life I want to mentor people, specifically someone who is completely dedicated and willing to give time to the process. I want to help people who are hungry, not casually interested, someone who wants to mentor others—not takers, but reproducers. I want to create branches on the tree God’s given me!
Fun Facts
• “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” James 1:5
• “…this is the lesson: never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never-in nothing, great or small, large or petty — never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense.” Winston Churchill
• The True Vine, by Andrew Murray
• Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant, by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne
• Organizational culture—how to build one effectively.
• How to fully develop an idea from general to special to become unique.
• Learning to be a more disciplined person—every season requires more discipline.
• The value of intentional relationships and networking effectively.
• My faith—I’m working to constantly die to self so Christ can live through me by spending more time in the Word. My goal is less of me, more of him.
• My marriage—I’m working to be intentional and spend well-managed, quality time together to build “oneness.”
Golf, board games (we usually play a game of cards or a board game every night), being outdoors. We have 4 acres, and I enjoy managing that, growing, maintaining, the pond, the woods, the creek, and my yard art collection. Georgia football.
I’m proud of my ability to build relationships that are exponential, where one relationship takes you to 100 relationships; all finding common ground. This moves you into “niches,” these are the vertical markets that help you become the biggest fish in a small tank and experience great success.
• My main calling in this season is Iron Forums, but I’m also called to encourage others to help them seek and understand God’s plan for their lives so they can do great things.
• It’s an interesting time to be alive and there are so many things God’s doing to prepare for Christ’s return. I’m expecting renewal and revival and a lot of spiritual growth.
Reach Out if I Can Serve You
© 2024 Iron Forums