About this item
In 2000, Chris Cicchinelli was twenty-five and at a crossroads. He had just been forced to leave a promising position at a large retail franchise when his mother, Patty Brisben, called. She wanted her son's help in growing her women-only, in-home party business featuring relationship enhancement products. Cicchinelli had been earning well over $100,000 annually at his previous job. Patty said she could pay him just $24,000. Still, he said yes, planning to stay just a few months to get the company - which would soon be rebranded as Pure Romance - on its feet. But after recognizing its potential, he never left. Long hours on the road and a restyled business model initially led to financial struggles, and more questions than answers. But their strategy ultimately paid off in explosive growth that swelled the company's revenues from $3 million in 2001 to $350 million today.
About the Author
Few people possess the extraordinary skills to grow a small, family business in Cincinnati into the world's largest in-home party company specializing in relationship enhancement products. As CEO and President of Pure Romance, Chris Cicchinelli has achieved just that - not only as the strategist and engine behind one of the most successful woman-to-woman, direct-sales brands, but as an educator and motivator of its independent consultants around the globe, a passionate advocate for aspiring female entrepreneurs everywhere. Cicchinelli leads business development, operations, sales and marketing for Pure Romance, as well as product development and distribution, overseeing more than 200 corporate employees worldwide. Hard work and strategic risk-taking have been at the core of his success across the nearly two decades since he joined his mom's venture in 2000. He says that anyone who wants to become a Pure Romance consultant needs to know how to tell a story. Cicchinelli's own has been a rugged switchback journey ... Born in Naperville, Illinois, Chris Cicchinelli grew up in Milford, a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio, the first of four children raised by a single mother. As the oldest, he often bore responsibility for taking care of his siblings, especially when his mother, Patty Brisben, then a pediatrician's assistant, decided to launch a home-based intimacy product venture in 1983. Inspired by his mother's perseverance as she slowly built her business while raising four children on her own, Cicchinelli was himself motivated by athletics: baseball, basketball, and especially football. While studying business at Mount Union College, Cicchinelli found his critical thinking and leadership skills honed not in the classroom, but on the gridiron. An All-American defensive back, he played NCAA football for four years and led his Purple Raiders to two back-to-back national titles in '96 and '97. The crucible of college football taught him to be self-disciplined, to perform a specific role on a team, and to study and conquer an opponent. Driven to teach these essential life skills as a high school football coach, Cicchinelli took a job in merchandizing after college to pay the bills, but soon became drawn into a new field. Working for the Atlanta-based Maxim Group, the largest publicly traded retail floor covering franchise in North America, he swiftly tacked into management and a senior position as a regional manager. Still in his early 20s, he embraced the learning curve that came with it, working to create trust with his team as a young manager. He ran a $29 million region for Carpetland USA, then took his skills to an early web commerce site, EverythingDecor. com. At age 24 Cicchinelli got a call from his mother. She knew his expertise and needed him to help catalyze her company to the next level, developing longer-term brand marketing and business development strategies. Cicchinelli was earning well over $100,000 a ye
