The Sweeney Agency

About Steven Schussler - Creator of Rainforest Cafe & Speaker on Sales and Innovation:

Steven Schussler is a master at multi-tasking as the World’s Premiere Branding Expert, Consultant, Entrepreneur, Restaurateur and creator of Rainforest Cafe, Teacher, motivational Speaker and National Best-selling Author of It’s A Jungle In There. Passion and imagination are the two most powerful engines of success. Steven has breathed life into his restaurants, retail, attractions and entertainment venues worldwide by combining persistence and an unwavering belief in his dreams. In his presentations, he shares his insights on sales and marketing , innovation and being entrepreneurial.

Steven started his entrepreneurial career early with a paper route at 9 years old and reinvented himself many times with more than a dozen jobs before his sixteenth birthday. As an executive in the television and broadcast industry, Steven learned to sell concepts and the intangible. A creative type all his life, Schussler has a passion for conceiving concepts that appeal to the masses. His career in the restaurant industry began with the development of Jukebox Saturday Night, a nostalgic restaurant and night club with 8 locations across the US.

Well-known as the creator of one of the most successful themed restaurants in the world, Rainforest Cafe® (A Wild Place to Shop and Eat®), Steven opened the first at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota in October 1994. Steven and his public company owned and operated 45 Rainforest Cafe restaurants in seven years, on three continents and sold the chain to Landry’s Restaurants in 2000, but not before receiving more than 40 awards in six years including: Fortune Magazine’s Top 100 Fastest Growing Companies in the U.S.A. (named to the list two consecutive years); and Entrepreneur Magazine’s Top 100 entrepreneurs in the country.

Since founding Schussler Creative, Inc. in 2000, Steven leads the creative vision and overall strategic direction of the organization. Steven has created, built and owns the following restaurants and attractions: T-REX, Yak & Yeti Restaurant, Betty & Joe’s, Hot Dog Hall of Fame, Galaxy Drive In and Backfire BBQ.

Author of the National Best-selling It’s a Jungle In There: Inspiring Lessons, Hard-won Insights and Other Acts of Entrepreneurial Daring, Steven is committed to inspiring and educating fellow entrepreneurs, the nation’s future business leaders and business professionals alike. He teaches an entrepreneurial class for the Carlson School of Business Management at the University of Minnesota. He is also a columnist for Minnesota Business Magazine. Steven’s monthly “Backtalk” column motivates and educates readers by sharing new and fascinating stories, advice and experiences from nationally and internationally recognized business leaders.

Giving back to the community is one of Schussler’s passions. As a founding member and lifetime advisor of the board of directors of Smile Network International, Steven donates 100% of the profits from It’s a Jungle In There to the organization. He has been involved with charitable and civic organizations that include the Leukemia Society, American Lung Association, Minneapolis Youth Connection, Lifeskills Center for Leadership, Special Olympics, Neighborhood House, and the Animal Humane Society.

What Steven Schussler Talks About:

What are the five keys to marketing and selling ideas in today’s economy? How do you bring those ideas to fruition?

Steven Schussler can answer those questions with vivid and original examples that inspire people to say, If he can do it, I can do it. This is amazing.

Topics:

Innovation: Innovation Takes Time
Why Research and Development are so important and underestimated for bringing a successful concept, service or product to market.

Passion: Passion +Ambition Yields Success … (It P.A.Y.S.)!
Conceiving, Believing and Achieving

Sales/Marketing: It’s a Jungle In There!
Customers won’t buy what they don’t know exists

Entrepreneurism: I Dream… Therefore I Can: Five P’s for Success
Personality, Product, Persistence, People and Philanthropy