One Sign Spinner's Journey to Entrepreneurship and Education
Greg Hakanson will receive a college degree through AArrow Inc. and work toward owning a franchise.
- (1888PressRelease) November 23, 2017 - Greg Hakanson has been an AArrow Sign Spinner since 2009. By 2012 he was recognized as one of the best sign spinners in the world and placed in the Top 10 as a competitor in the 2014 World Sign Spinning Championships. His mixed martial arts background has allowed him to hone the craft, mastering more than 200 sign spinning tricks from the company’s proprietary ‘tricktionary’, while his ambition and intelligence have allowed him to add his own creative spin to climbing the company ladder.
In just eight years, Hakanson has filled virtually every position within the AArrow business. After starting as a sign spinner, he quickly got into sales, became the assistant manager in San Diego, the general manager for the San Francisco Bay Area, and in 2015 was the leading sales representative for the entire company, generating more than $1 million in sales. That year, he took home the company MVP award. Hakanson also designs and creates corporate sales and marketing material and recently helped AArrow open its newest international location in Germany.
“We are extremely proud of Greg’s accomplishments as they continue to validate our social missions to create jobs for young people and to combine education with entrepreneurship,” said Max Durovic, chief executive officer of AArrow Inc. “Greg has taken classes that have not only helped him grow within our organization, they have helped our organization grow. His passion for education is contagious, and he has encouraged other members of our organization to further their own degrees. He has served as a role model to so many of our employees, giving them a glimpse of what is possible if they combine their career with their education. We are lucky to have him as a valued member of the team and look forward to working with him to build the business moving forward.”
As part of the company’s commitment to hiring youth between the ages of 16-24, AArrow offers educational assistance to some of its 2,800 sign spinner base across the globe. AArrow has provided Hakanson with tuition assistance through the “A is for AArrow” Scholarship Program. As a result, he received an associate’s degree in marketing from MiraCosta College in 2012 and will graduate with a bachelor's degree in business administration in March of 2018 from California State University, East Bay.
“AArrow easily saved my life and stopped me from being another statistic,” Hakanson said. “The company has helped me succeed not just on-the-job, but has supported me in academics and in my personal life. I have a tremendous amount of gratitude for all the company has done for me, including the personal time invested by members of the senior team. I never imagined the CEO would tutor me in derivative calculus, or that spinning signs would take me to Europe and pay for my schooling.”
During his journey with AArrow, Hakanson has developed the entrepreneurial spirit and is excited about what’s ahead after he receives his college degree in the spring. From there, he looks to either open his own AArrow franchise and/or take a position on the corporate team.
For more information on becoming a sign spinner or
AArrow franchise owner, visit aarrowsignspinners.com, e-mail sarahfrye ( @ ) aarrowads dot com, or call 323 dot 944 dot 2002 dot
About AArrow Advertising
AArrow is the leading global sign spinning firm, known for its signature creative spin on advertising and more than 40 locations across the world. The rapid expansion since its startup in 2002 has made sign spinning a popular sport and the firm a household name, being seen in everything from feature films, to popular music videos, to television commercials, to appearances on popular shows such as Steve Harvey, Ellen DeGeneres and Tosh.0.
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