Molly Crusen Bishop: Finding success swimming with sharks
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- Published on Wednesday, 18 November 2015 15:02
- Written by Molly Crusen Bishop
More than 100,000 people auditioned for ABC’s hit TV show “Shark Tank”. Only two have ever been asked to come back a second time after an unsuccessful first pitch, and one of them is from Peoria.
He is Dave Alwan and he successfully landed a deal the second time around with billionaire Mark Cuban.
Dave Alwan is the owner of Echo Valley Meats Inc. with his wife Dawn. Dave is the third generation in a family-owned meat business and he and Dawn branched out on their own in 1998. They have been incredibly successful in their ventures. They specialize in mail-order and corporate incentives and also have a retail market. And thanks to their success in e-commerce, they now are the online fulfillment center for several other companies.
Dave has the meat business in his blood. He started cutting meat at the age of 11 and purchased his first farm at age 23 to breed and raise Angus cattle. “I know the meat business from conception to consumption,” he says.
He even travelled to Germany and Denmark in 2002 to become an expert in the art of making smoked hams and sausages.
Dave and Dawn have a daughter named Jessica and a son, Jordan, to whom they are teaching the business as a fourth generation family member. Their children are their motivation to pursue their success even further.
In the summer of 2012 Dave decided to fly to Los Angeles and audition for ABC’s hit TV show “Shark Tank.”
He didn’t get the deal the first time around but impressed the “sharks” with his products, genuine enthusiasm, and personality. He believes in positivity and it comes through when he speaks. Dave and Dawn are extremely involved in serving the community and Dave is now a professional motivational speaker, doing venues all over the country, including colleges, corporations, and businesses. His speaking website is DaveAlwanSpeaks.Com.
His attitude is contagious. Even though he didn’t secure a deal in season four, his national airtime helped his company’s online sales to increase more than 600 percent.
Then, Dave was one of only two people to ever get asked to come back for a second chance on the show, and he pitched his business again in season six. I am sure his energy and attitude had plenty to do with this.
Dave was given multiple offers this time around. He is the only successful entrepreneur in the show’s history to get a deal the second time around. He secured a deal with billionaire investor Mark Cuban. Cuban made Dave a deal for $150,000 and 25 percent interest in equity in the mail-order division of Echo Valley Meats Inc. The show aired on March 13, 2015.
Dave and his mail order company are now working with something called Google Rewards, which has incentives like airlines do with flying miles. He is also selling his products on QVC. Several weeks ago he went on QVC with several thousand units of his sausage and cheese gift set. Not surprisingly, he sold them all in less than seven minutes. Dave’s energy apparently follows through wherever he goes and whatever he tries.
Dave was featured in a six page article in the international magazine Meat and Poultry and he has been on two other magazine covers. He was all over the place in national news as well. Locally he was on WMBD radio and on HOI-19 Daybreak with Gretchen Wirtz Primeau and Mark Welp.
“I see Echo Valley Meats Inc. being a $30 to $50 million company within five years,” said Dave.
Dave’s love for his family and community and his business all show loud and clear. His success is extraordinary and is the result of an incredibly positive and passionate attitude. He has followed through on ideas many people have but rarely pursue.
Peoria and Central Illinois are lucky to have companies such as Echo Valley Meats, and Dave and Dawn Alwan deserve to be recognized for their huge success. How often is a man from Peoria on a national hit television show? How often does that man successfully secure a deal with billionaire investor Mark Cuban on the television show? How often does that man become a professional motivational speaker all over the country? Hard work and thinking outside of the box have led him to incredible success.
Congratulations Dave and Echo Valley Meats Inc. I see nothing but even bigger and better things on your path and many more successful endeavors.
