What I learned at Fred's School of Business: A Tribute to My Dad
I recently lost my Dad, Fred Allagrezza, to ALS. After the shocking, almost unbelievable diagnosis, our family walked a grueling 13-month journey with the disease. Like most people, I did not know much about ALS before it was part of our daily life. ALS is a fatal condition that destroys the nervous system and disables a person’s muscles to the point of no longer being able to move, eat, or breathe.
My Dad was an engineer by education. But in reality, he was a serial entrepreneur, angel investor, and quite frankly, a brilliant businessman. There is a stereotype that engineers are not always so great with soft skills. My Dad never fit that mold. His incredible intelligence and technical acuity were matched in every way by his ability to communicate and manage people. This combination of talents, paired with his amazing energy, led him to successfully launch many projects over the years. You can read more about them here, if you'd like. As a member of the millennial generation, one particularly interesting initiative to me was his role in pioneering video-on-demand technology, which helped make businesses like Blockbuster obsolete.
Between childhood, living with my parents as a young adult, and then working for my Dad (and my Mom) in one of his companies, I learned quite a few valuable business lessons. Some were taught directly, while others I picked up just by watching how he approached his work, solved problems, and treated people.
As I endeavor to be part of my Dad’s legacy, I’d like to share nine lessons I learned at what I like to call Fred's School of Business.
1. People Connect with People
I learned this lesson a little bit the hard way when I was working with Dad at Telikin, the company I mentioned above. I had come on board to help with marketing and sales, and I was in the process of setting up the company's social media channels. My Dad insisted that instead of using the company logo as the profile picture, we should use a picture of me. My face would be the face of Telikin on social media.
As a young professional, I wasn't particularly excited about that idea. But his reasoning was succinct: People connect with people.
This is something that has stuck with me over the years, and it's a principle I see play out regularly when evaluating social media and other marketing content for small businesses.
The best content you can share is almost always that which shows the real people behind your business and the real people you help. Even when using stock imagery, I typically recommend choosing images of people, preferably ones that look natural, realistic, and authentic.
And today, as AI-generated content enters the picture (which isn't necessarily a bad thing), I think this principle is more important than ever. People want to know that there's a real person behind the article they're reading, the company they're considering hiring, or the content they're engaging with.
At the end of the day, people connect with people.
2. Look at the Trends, Not Just the Numbers
My Dad taught me how to track and evaluate business and marketing data using a methodology that I still rely on these 14 years later. Any single metric, viewed in isolation, is relatively meaningless.
Think about all the automatically generated reports available through your social media platforms, accounting software, website analytics, and other business tools. They tell you how many people visited your website this month, how much revenue you generated, or how many people engaged with your social media content.
But without knowing what those numbers were last month, last quarter, or last year, how do you know whether they're good or bad? You need context. My Dad taught me to track data over time so that I could identify trends.
Are we trending up? Are we trending down? Are things staying relatively consistent?
Any individual day, week, or month might be unusually good or bad. There are countless external factors that influence consumer behavior, from the weather to the economy to the time of year. What matters is understanding the bigger picture.
I still use this approach for Marketing to Mission and with my clients’ businesses today. Rather than getting too excited or concerned about one week or month, I want to see what's happening over time. The trend tells a much more useful story than any single number.
3. Keep Meetings on Track Without Dismissing Ideas
This might seem like a relatively minor lesson, but it's one I've found incredibly helpful over the years.
We've all been in meetings where someone brings up an idea or question that sends the conversation down a completely different path. Sometimes those tangents are interesting, productive, or even important. But they also eat up time, and time is valuable.
My Dad taught me to provide a visible place to write down the ideas or topics that come up but don't need to be addressed right now. If you're meeting in person, that could be a whiteboard or a big Post-it note on the wall. If you're meeting virtually, it could be a shared document or meeting notes displayed on the screen.
When someone brings up an idea that doesn't fit the current agenda, write it down where everyone can see it. This accomplishes two important steps at once:
The person who spoke feels heard. You're acknowledging the idea and preserving it for the attention it should receive later.
Because you recorded it, you can now redirect the conversation back to the agenda and stay focused on the topic at hand.
You can always revisit the idea at another meeting, discuss it offline, or address it at a more appropriate time. It's a simple technique, but it's incredibly effective for respecting everyone's time while still encouraging people to contribute.
4. If It's Not in Writing, It Wasn't Really Said (or Done)
This was one of Dad's favorite principles, and one that was thoroughly drilled into me. In business, we have conversations all the time with clients, vendors, employees, coworkers, and business partners. And because we're human, we don't always communicate perfectly. Two people can walk away from the same conversation with slightly different understandings of what was discussed, decided, or promised.
That's why Dad taught me the importance of following up important conversations in writing. It doesn't have to be complicated. Sometimes it's just a quick email that says something like, "Following up on our conversation today, here's what we agreed to..." Now both people have a written record of what was discussed.
Of course, this helps protect you if there's ever a disagreement later. But I think the bigger benefit is that it creates clarity for everyone involved. I once heard the phrase, "To be clear is to be kind," and I believe that's especially true in business. Being clear about expectations, decisions, and responsibilities helps everyone work together more effectively and prevents unnecessary misunderstandings.
Although Dad primarily taught me this lesson in a business context, I've found it incredibly helpful in my personal life, too.
5. Before Paying for Something, Consider Whether You Can DIY
My Dad was basically a genius. With his engineering background and technical abilities, he could build tools and systems for his businesses that other companies would have to pay someone to create or purchase expensive software to accomplish. His ingenuity saved his businesses a considerable amount of money over the years.
His DIY mentality certainly wasn't limited to work. He loved taking on projects around the house and yard. I’m sure this was partly to save money, but I could tell that he genuinely enjoyed figuring out how to do things himself.
Now, I definitely did not inherit his engineering brain. But I did inherit some of that proclivity for figuring out if I could create a solution. In my own business, I frequently find myself asking whether there's a way I could accomplish something myself rather than purchasing another software subscription or hiring an outside vendor.
Could I create a simple process or tool that accomplishes what I need? Could I set something up once and then have my team replicate it easily? Do I really need to pay for an entirely new platform to solve this problem?
Of course, there's a balance here. As a business owner, your time has a cost. Just because you can do something yourself doesn't necessarily mean you should. If a task distracts you from your core responsibilities or requires hours of ongoing work, then hiring someone or purchasing the right tool might ultimately be the more cost-effective choice.
The real value in what I learned is not to automatically assume that paying for something is the best or only option. Sometimes a little creativity and effort is exactly what you need.
6. You Can Probably Figure It Out
Closely related to the DIY mentality was my Dad’s way of challenging me that just because I don't know how to do something right now doesn't mean I can't figure it out.
This way of thinking has been incredibly valuable to me as a business owner. Marketing has changed dramatically over the years. New technology, tools, platforms, and strategies are constantly emerging. If I had limited myself to only doing the things I already knew how to do, I wouldn't have gotten very far. I've also encountered plenty of situations where a client needed help with something that was tangentially related to marketing but not exactly within my typical scope of services.
Often, instead of immediately saying, "That's not something I do," I've thought, "Well, I could probably figure that out." And many times, I have.
Just like DIY, a word of caution is needed here. The “figure it out” mentality can absolutely come back to bite you! It's easy to end up with scope creep, take on unpaid responsibilities, or spend too much time learning something that isn't really your area of expertise. But I still think it's a valuable way of thinking.
Before assuming something is beyond your abilities, stop and ask yourself whether it's something you could learn. Maybe it's an opportunity to expand your skills, improve your services, or find a new way to help your customers.
Just because you haven't done something before doesn't mean you can't do it in the future.
7. There's Almost Always a Creative, Yet Reasonable, Solution
One of the things I admired most about my Dad was his ability to remain calm when things got stressful or complicated. And as someone who owned and operated multiple businesses throughout his life, he certainly dealt with plenty of stressful situations. But he rarely seemed to let the stress of a problem lead him to make panicked or emotional decisions.
Instead, he had an incredible ability to look at a complex scenario, think through the options, and identify a creative but reasonable path forward. It was almost as though he could see through the chaos and say, "Okay, here's what we need to do next."
I try to remember his example when I encounter overwhelming circumstances in my own business. Sometimes the problem feels much bigger or more complicated than it actually is, especially when I’m right in the middle of it.
With intentional practice, it eventually becomes natural to recognize heightened emotions and set them aside. Then it’s possible to be objective and figure out the next reasonable step. You don't necessarily need to have the entire solution figured out right away. Sometimes you just need to know the next step in order to make the overall situation more manageable.
8. Stop Complaining, Stop Making Excuses, and Just Do It
I think the lesson I hear in my Dad's voice most often is, "Just do it."
Stop complaining. Stop making excuses. Stop making it more complicated than it needs to be. Just get it done. I think about this frequently when I'm working on tasks that I don't particularly enjoy. For me, that might be bookkeeping, finances, or some tedious administrative responsibility that certainly wasn't the reason I decided to start a marketing business. Sometimes I find myself putting something off simply because I don't feel like doing it.
In the middle of my procrastination, I can practically hear my Dad saying, "Just do it. Stop complaining and get it done." Of course, once I actually focus and do the thing, it's usually not nearly as terrible as I anticipated. And then it's done!
This applies to more than just tedious administrative work. It also applies to having difficult conversations with employees, clients, or business partners. Those situations can be uncomfortable, and it's easy to spend more time worrying about them than it would take to actually address them.
While there is certainly value in thinking things through and being intentional, there comes a point where you just need to take action. I probably remind myself of this lesson almost daily.
9. Keep Improving
When I was in elementary school, I had to build a mousetrap car for a school project. Anyone who knows me knows that I did not inherit my Dad’s engineering brain, so of course the project was difficult for me. Dad certainly had way more fun with it than I did. He kept me up past my bedtime refining and perfecting that car until it would go as far as possible. And if my memory is correct, I think it ended up going the farthest in my class.
As reluctant as I was to accept it at the time, the lesson was much bigger than a mousetrap car. Just because something works doesn't mean it can't work better.
I've carried this truth into many aspects of my business. Sometimes that means refining an internal process so it's more efficient. Other times it means rethinking how we deliver a service, communicate with clients, or approach a marketing strategy.
There are times when this approach can feel a little exhausting because nothing ever seems completely finished! But I also think that running a successful business requires an awareness that there is always room for improvement.
Businesses don't stand still, and neither does the world. There's almost always an opportunity to improve upon what you're already doing, whether that's making something more efficient, more effective, or more valuable to the people you serve. If you’re passionate about your mission, that process of continually learning, experimenting, and improving can be one of the most enjoyable parts of business ownership.
The Most Important Lesson: Make Time for People
I have one more lesson that is too important to be part of a list. Ultimately, it's the defining lesson of Dad’s legacy. If you looked at his professional accomplishments, you might assume that my Dad was someone who spent all his time working.He started businesses, developed technology, invested in companies, and pursued new projects throughout his entire career.
But he was never so busy working that he was absent at home. Dad was at our baseball games and dance recitals. He helped us with homework. He made time for family vacations and everyday activities.
And that didn't stop when my brother and I became adults. He was still there to talk through problems, help us with projects around our houses, offer advice, or spend time playing with his grandchildren.
He also made time for his extended family and friends. He loved going out to lunch or dinner with people, taking vacations with friends, and bringing family members together. He maintained relationships with his siblings, nieces, nephews, and their children, and made an effort to stay connected with people throughout his life.
Despite all of his ambition and professional success, he didn't allow his business pursuits to crowd out the relationships that mattered most. That's something I think about often as I navigate my own career and business ownership.
There will always be more work to do. Another project to finish. Another opportunity to pursue. Another goal to accomplish. And there will certainly be seasons of life when the balance between work and personal responsibilities shifts to focus on one more than the other.
No matter what is going on in business, though, the people in our lives matter most. Making time to build deep, meaningful, long-lasting relationships with our family, friends, and the people around us should always be a priority.
I believe that to be the most valuable thing I learned at Fred's School of Business.
Dad never formally set out to teach me all these lessons. Most of them came simply from working alongside him, watching how he handled situations, and listening to the advice he offered over the years.
I certainly didn't appreciate all of them at the time. And there are still plenty of days when I have to remind myself to put them into practice. But as I reflect on his life and the influence he's had on mine, I'm increasingly grateful for everything he taught me.
His legacy isn't just in the businesses he built, the technology he developed, or the professional accomplishments he achieved. More than any of those things, it’s the people he influenced and the lessons that continue to shape how they live and work.
I'm so blessed to be one of those people. While I wish I had many more years to keep learning from him, I will always be grateful for the education I received at Fred's School of Business.
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