Thomas DeRosa

Family: Wife, Suzanne, and daughter, Hailey, 3

Employees: 0

Type of Business: Network Marketing

Year Started in Business: 1995

Best month (gross revenue): $15,000

Hours worked per week during start-up: 15 (while still a full-time college student)

Hours worked per week now: 15-50

Favorite Business Periodicals: Barron's, Business Week, Fortune

Favorite Business Books/Authors: The Road Ahead by Bill Gates, Brian Tracy

Relaxes by: Reading, traveling or watching movies (a favorite being: Braveheart)

Favorite part of his business: Working at home

Least favorite part of his business: Bookkeeping

Stays in shape by: Daily push-ups and sit-ups, snowboarding in the winter and playing tennis in the summer.

Admired Companies: Oracle, Microsoft, Alpine Industries

Favorite Quotes:

"There's no point in carrying the ball if you don't know where the goal is." (Mitchell Tolle)

"I will...until." (Brian Tracy)

Contact Thomas at: ecoquest@connecticutonline.net Or, visit his Website.

Thomas DeRosa boldly demonstrated his commitment to succeeding in his own business while still in college at the University of Connecticut. In his final semester of a four-year pursuit of a degree in Industrial Psychology/Business, while carrying honor status no less, Thomas dropped out to pursue his network marketing career with Alpine Industries.

Income, or in Thomas’ case, a lack of income, played a major role in his decision. “I was completely broke, and I needed some immediate income. But the truth is, I never wanted to rely on my degree for a job, and I was looking to start my own business.”

Most parents would have fought such a decision by a child; Thomas’ mother did not. Because of that support, “for believing in me even when I dropped out of college,” Thomas today considers his mother the person who has most influenced his life.

Other influences that helped Thomas achieve success in network marketing include his daughter, Hailey. “Her early addition into my life forced me to push harder.” Thomas also credits Bob Giddens, his upline in Alpine, for teaching him about goalsetting and how network marketing works.

If you ask Thomas about his motivation, he’ll tell you it’s being in complete control of his own success. “Doing what I want, when I want, especially in terms of spending time with my family.”

Heros include Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle. “He started out in life as a poor city boy, and through hard work, built the second largest software company in the world. I admire the ways he runs his company, forges alliances, and how one of his goals is to beat my second hero, Bill Gates!” Another hero is Mitchell Tolle, “for following and achieving his dream of becoming a world-renowned artist in his own time, in an industry where so few ever accomplish such a task. He epitomizes persistence.”

At the age of just 23, Thomas’ own successes have been remarkable. He turned his first profit in just his second month. His own network of Alpine distributors now numbers over 1200. And he was recently selected by Mike Jackson, the co-owner of Alpine to become one of the first 50 people to reach Alpine's top rank, Master Manager. Not bad for a college drop-out.