Sprouted - Our Story

My very first business, Ryan's Lawn Service, started in 1992 at the ripe old age of 12 in Long Beach Indiana, a small beach town on the southern shore of Lake Michigan, where my family would visit our parents' hometown relatives for the summer.  I was born into a modest family and raised with an entrepreneurial spirit at heart.  My Dad, and later Sprout Co-Founder Richard Jensen, always had time to listen to my next 'big idea.'  Perhaps not having yet experienced failure allowed me to pursue such dreams, or maybe I was just a kid, young and wet behind the ears, but highly motivated by Walmart's electronics' aisle.

And so the uncomfortable, often times nauseating march from one unknown neighbor's door to the next began.  While my family spent their summer days swimming in the warm waters of Lake Michigan, I equipped myself with a handful of home-made business cards (original pictured), an old pair of tennis shoes, and did my best to ignore my discomforts, hoping that I could make my own way, and reap the fruits of my labor.  I had the simple notion that with enough effort, determination, and a little luck, I could make enough money to buy the 19" Panasonic television I'd been eyeing during the weekly trip to the local Walmart.

By the end of that summer I had my TV, about 10-15 weekly customers (whom, by the way, I would've converted into winter accounts clearing snow from their driveways had I not just been visiting from California), and more money than I knew what to do with stuffed in the top drawer of my hand-me-down dresser.  My younger brother and sisters were jealous of my spoils but unaware of the efforts required to achieve them.  And, as my mother would say, "I was one happy camper."

My experiences that summer set the tone for what has become the cornerstone for Sprout Promotions today.  Through the collaborative efforts of myself and childhood friend Richard Jensen, our mission has always been to build the types of substainable relationships with our customers that today's business environment often ignores.  People want to do business with people, not with computers, not with 1's and 0's, and certainly not with an outsourced customer service representative on the other side of the world.

People want to do business with people.  Richard and I get that.  And that, in essence, is what Sprout Promotions is all about.

Sincerely,

Ryan McIntosh
President & Co-Founder

Richard, a fellow entrepreneur with nearly a decade of experience in real estate investments and property management, as well as corporate experience as a regional manager for a large Fortune 500 © company, joined forces with his childhood friend to create a revolutionary company in a multibillion dollar industry. 

What started as a seed has sprouted into the business it is today.

Ryan and Richard were born and raised in Southern California and have maintained their friendship since the day they built their first treehouse together nearly 20 years ago. Their commitment to building meaningful, sustainable relationships is at the root of all business practices and marketing efforts implemented by Sprout Promotions. As such, Sprout continues to integrate with business partners that understand the value of relationships and have the same desire to grow.

Connect with Richard Jensen and Ryan McIntosh thru LinkedIn.