Flying Through Turbulent Skies: Joel Thomas, CEO of Stratos Jets (Part 7)

Joel Thomas: The reason I’m willing to share this is I had a choice to make. I could either be a victim in 2014 or I could choose to fight and one day be a victor. I hired Heather, Justin, and Meagan. Sadly Heather got sick. Justin was incredibly good. To this day, he’s our

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Flying Through Turbulent Skies: Joel Thomas, CEO of Stratos Jets (Part 6)

Sramana Mitra: It sounds like you have a wonderful relationship with your dad. Joel Thomas: He’s been great and amazing to my mom. He’s my stepdad, but he’s been a part of my whole life. He has invested so much emotionally in all of us in helping all of us realize our purpose. My older

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Flying Through Turbulent Skies: Joel Thomas, CEO of Stratos Jets (Part 5)

Joel Thomas: On January 6 of 2014, when I showed up at work, there were resignation letters. Everybody had quit and gone to work at another company. It was really challenging. I had just gotten engaged a year before. To wake up on my birthday and not have anybody at the company was scary. I

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Flying Through Turbulent Skies: Joel Thomas, CEO of Stratos Jets (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: As long as it works, it’s great. When it doesn’t work, it’s problematic.  Joel Thomas: It did work till 2014. Everybody was doing really well. We were leaders in our industry. Because of the volume of business that we were doing, I was invited to join this organization called Air Charter Association of

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Flying Through Turbulent Skies: Joel Thomas, CEO of Stratos Jets (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: What’s the next major milestone after October 2008? Joel Thomas: I had invested every dollar back into this marketing idea. There were two strategies. I believe in web-based marketing. That was a good strategy because of my experience of running this political organization at UCF.

Flying Through Turbulent Skies: Joel Thomas, CEO of Stratos Jets (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: Talk about the next few strategic steps of how you put one foot before the other. Joel Thomas: When I tried to incorporate, we didn’t have a merchant processor. If you’re working locally with people, it’s easy enough to get a wire. People who utilize our service are called unscheduled, on-demand air transport.

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Flying Through Turbulent Skies: Joel Thomas, CEO of Stratos Jets (Part 1)

If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page.  Entrepreneurs seldom discuss the emotional and spiritual trauma of things going wrong. Joel’s story is a deeply felt and authentically told one where he shares how he survived immense setbacks and found the courage to keep going in his Stratos Jets journey. Sramana Mitra: Let’s start

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