JB YOWELL

PRESIDENT & CEO

Acquisition entrepreneur JB Yowell has for decades been in the business of… well, business! As a child, he got his first taste of industry from hanging around his family’s shoe store. While his elementary classmates were learning how to tie their laces, JB was watching Grandpa Ted sell shoes. He learned a lot back then. 35 years later, JB still remembers his grandfather paying for his own shoes to keep the books straight. It’s this kind of integrity that led JB to start his own company—ALG Holdings Family, LLC—in 2019. 

It has been a long road from shoe-slinging adolescence to CEO of a highly efficient and successful holdings company. Along the way, JB has dipped his hands in many different business ventures. During high school, he dabbled in hospitality and retail. There is something special about scraping burnt cheese from steel sheet pans that teaches a teenager about humility! After high school, JB joined the US Coast Guard before making his return to footwear. In two short years at Larry’s Shoes, he became the top salesperson in the company. There were multiple stores at the time. Later he did a stint at a pet shop that led to the start of his very first business—Washadoggery. With the help of longtime friend (and current ALG Operations Manager) Chuck Hawkins, JB ran a grooming company. Washadoggery was a learning experience, for sure, but by utilizing old-school sales tactics—cold calls, flyers, knocking on doors—this canine cleaning crew did six figures in sales by year’s end. 

In 2001 JB answered a newspaper ad for a position as telemarketing manager with a company called Internet Development Incorporated. IDI was a forerunner into dropshipping resale websites. They had a deal, back then, with this up-and-coming entrepreneur named Jeff. Jeff sold books from a rainforest in South America, or something like that. The interviewing manager at IDI was hesitant on hiring JB at first because of a lack of experience, so JB offered to work with ZERO base pay. The manager had to say yes! After JB proved himself worthy via selling thousands of dollars worth of businesses, JB went on to build and develop a highly successful sales team. His sales team was closing over $100k in sales every week.

In 2002 JB got into energy when he secured a gig with Magna Resources. At Manga, he worked under Kip Zimmerman, learning the ins and outs of the oil business, focusing primarily on fundraising. In 2007 JB’s entrepreneurial restlessness got the better of him once more and he founded a construction company, Rock Solid Remolding. Partnered once more with Chuck Hawkins, Rock Solid remodeled hundreds of homes. Also in 2007, as an independent consultant, JB attempted to finance his own oil and gas deal in partnership with Core Exploration. 

In 2009 JB’s reputation as a fundraiser got him recruited to Cunningham Energy. During his time at Cunningham, he was involved in several oil and gas projects before leaving in 2011 to create Yohawk Energy, an oil business of his own. In 2016 JB sold Yohawk to Harris Energy Partners. While at Yohawk he met Jamie Kinser. Together they started a radio program called The Bryan Blue Show with future ALG Senior Team Member Jason Engelman, marketing guru Olivia Thomas, and PR superstar Paul Salfen. They developed a marketing agency centered around the program, offering interactive marketing experiences to participating sponsors. The Bryan Blue Show became a nationally syndicated radio production airing on over 50 stations around the country. The following year, The Blue Knight Agency was founded. BKA was a full-service digital content marketing firm. Two years later, JB sold his shares and assets to Jamie Kinser’s new company, Firecracker Agency. Following Firecracker, Jamie again partnered back with JB in ALG and formed a marketing alliance. In 2019 JB became a minority partner with both Kroh Exploration, LLC and Freaky Fast Homebuyers & Investments, LLC. In March of 2019, JB formed ALG Holdings Family, LLC, which in-turn absorbed JB’s ownership into Kroh and Freaky Fast kicking-off ALG’s acquisition entrepreneurship.

ALG represents a culmination of JB’s hard-earned business lessons while also setting the stage for massive growth at what JB does best—starting, buying, and building businesses. All of JB’s assets are included under the ALG Holdings Family umbrella. 

There have been bumps along the way, mistakes made, checked pride. Not every venture leads to financial success. What’s important to JB is learning from past mistakes and finding out what you’re good at. This takes time. Let the experts be experts. Be observant and never stop learning.

As a leader JB believes not just in setting goals, but in setting visions. It’s one thing to say—’Let’s grow the business 50% over the next year!’ It’s a whole other thing to paint a picture of what that growth will look like. Growth is something JB knows. Since its launch in 2019, ALG Holdings Family has added several companies to its, seemingly, ever-expanding umbrella—Hyena’s Comedy Club, Freaky Fast Home Buyers and Investments, Right Fit Property Management, web series and reality show, Down to Business, Perrotti’s Pizza, High Tower Deli and Café, Perk Café and more.

JB isn’t just about business. There is a reason “Family” is part of his company’s name. As a loving father of three, JB christened his holding company A. L. G., each letter taken from the first initial of his children’s names. Family, however, goes deeper than blood. ALG works tirelessly for its employees. To JB, people matter the most. As a leader, he is looking to tap into something beyond money. People are the most important resource. It’s this ideology that makes ALG Holdings truly a family affair.