Last updated on June 28th, 2017 at 05:35 pm
Jason A. Prescott is CEO of JP Communications Inc, a network of B2B trade platforms for manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, and importers.
Over 1.5 million businesses utilize the network, everywhere in the world.
JPC owns Manufacturer.com, a global business to business trade platform based in Los Angeles. Its primary goal is to help entrepreneurs, small businesses, and enterprise level businesses work safely with verified suppliers.
TopTenWholesale.com, another subsidiary, is known as the leading business to business wholesale trade platform in the US, for locating wholesalers, importers, and distributors. TopTenWholesale was ranked in the Top 20 for Technology Awards, by San Diego Business Journal.
Among its innovations, they launched the first dedicated video hub where the wholesale community can view and post business videos for free.
JPC also produces Apparel Textile Sourcing Canada, in Toronto, the largest apparel and textile trade show in North America, featuring more than 400 manufacturers, service providers and trading companies from more than twenty different countries.
Prescott has spoken at a variety of trade shows and conferences, and provides consulting and seminars in China for companies looking to invest in the US. He has authored articles on business and technology, appearing in B2B Online, Omma, CEO Magazine, Entrepreneur, as well cited in Inc Magazine, Business Week and Forbes.
Prescott was selected to the Top 40 Entrepreneurs Under 40 roster in 2007 by San Diego’s Metropolitan Magazine. Other accolades include being recognized for Outstanding Emerging Business of the Year, by the San Diego Chamber of Commerce.
What is your job description?
Jason Prescott: I am the ‘Caped-Crusader of Manifestation’. I have the fortunate opportunity to be appointed the leader of a small group of very passionate, highly driven, intellectual human beings who make tremendously great things happen.
We have a team of about two dozen people worldwide. They run some of the largest trading platforms in the world, and now we run the largest trade show for the apparel sector.
My one job description would be: having the ability to plan and research and execute a large strategy.
What business advice would you like to impart?
Jason Prescott: Understand the essence and layers that exist on a team, and understand how to form a functional team, and rid dysfunction. Know how to lead, and know how to be led.
All business people need good communication, and a high level of accountability.
What’s the best advice that you have received?
Jason Prescott: Be patient. Have wisdom. Ask for help.
That was from the former Chief of Procurement for Pepsi, Mr. Jim Kozlowski.
Talk about a challenge in your career and how you overcame it.
Jason Prescott: The biggest challenge that I ever had in my life was, after acquiring Manufacturer.com, we decided to open up our own company in China – a WOFE (Wholly Owned Foreign Enterprise), eight years ago.
In the midst of having our most significant failed product launch, I remember being in my house in Malibu, and I was watching our products in what used to be superb product development turn into mush. I sat there, holding my chin in my hands, and couldn’t figure out what to do. It dawned on me that, ‘Wow. I need to move to China.’
I decided to take a piece of advice, which was given to me by reading a book called The Prince, by Niccolo Machiavelli. The only way a Prince can govern in his own State is to exist in his Kingdom.
I knew that this small little business, now putting all of our assets in a new culture – a new country – had no leadership there. They had all of these people who probably wanted to work hard and succeed, but because of continually being blamed for everything that went wrong instead of us taking our own accountability, we resulted in significant failures.
I moved to China, and I took over the company. I realized that, at that point, all of the failures we were having in the business were my fault.
It was my fault for expecting a different culture to understand what we were doing. We didn’t embrace their strengths, their intellects, their team.
Driving home these erroneous and these false expectations on people, I realized, were never really logical in the first place. It was after living there, and understanding our team, and immersing myself, that I finally had the ability to understand.
The best thing we can do is form trusting relationships with people that we see best fit to run our business divisions, and give them the set of training, the set of values, and principles that can govern, guide, and steer the ship to where we want it to go.
We lost millions of dollars. We lost significant investments. We lost a lot of time in the market. We were very thankful not only that we were able to come out of it, but that we were able to come out of it stronger and bigger than ever.
