Mark Carroll 39 - Marketing
& Management Consultant
I started my first company
at 12, a yard mowing service
but also had a part-time
job delivering the afternoon
Raleigh Times. Learning
at an early age the pros
and cons of “being
your own boss”! Since
graduating from ECU, I have
held various positions in
the legal, management &
marketing fields. My last
company, Gold Coast Consulting,
which provided marketing
and efficiency consultation
to legal and medical professionals.
In 1999 I founded GCC when
I saw the need to streamline
the business organizations
of numerous legal organizations
while I was providing investigative
services for these same
businesses. I decided to
reduce the workload with
GCC for the year 2004 for
numerous reasons, the most
important, being needed
by my grandpa for his home
health care. I decided to
relocate to be near him,
it was my privilege and
my duty to provide for any
needs that he had. He gave
me freedom when he was awarded
a Purple Heart while serving
our nation in World War
II but he gave me countless
lessons in love, life and
business. Remember this;
we get to choose our friends
but not our family, sometimes
however, we get lucky and
have family that become
great friends! You will
see that I like to mix in
having a good time in anything
that I do, life is too short
to be too serious! I enjoy
the “team” concept
not only in business but
also in other aspects of
my life that is why I enjoy
Rugby; it gives me the chance
to help my team by excelling
individually. I am currently
going through my “mid-life
crisis” in determining
my career direction. I am
open to any type of business
and being single allows
me the luxury to relocate
wherever the door of opportunity
is open. Being a part of
Entrepreneurs has given
me the chance to utilize
my creative and professional
abilities in the challenges
presented. My biggest strength
is my loyalty, which ironically
can be viewed as my biggest
liability. I know that the
other contestants as well
as you, will see my true
Entrepreneurial spirit and
that winning isn’t
everything - except in business!
