Dean Caravelis is the award winning CEO of Blezoo; a promotional marketing agency he founded in 2008 during the depths of the great recession. Through grit & creativity, he survived a bumpy ride and has grown sales an average of 40% every year. Its customers include Fortune 500 companies, major professional sports teams & national brands…..
WAIT! I dislike formal bios, and this is my personal site so let’s do it my way, shall we? Let’s dive in backwards, chronologically.
My name is Dean, I spend every day of my life focused on inspiring change. Hopefully changing people and businesses for the better.
During the day, I lead an innovative promotional marketing agency called Blezoo (which sends brochures that turn into robots, launches remarkable campaigns people can’t stop talking about and helps amazing brands launch promotions). I love to challenge the status quo and help businesses stand out which is why I created my blog ‘Outrageously Remarkable’; so I can help individuals stand out, too. The blog’s platform is H2H (human-to-human) and it helps me connect with people outside of my daily B2B (business-to-business) realm. Unique people, like you!
Truth is, every big breakthrough that I’ve ever made in my life has been a byproduct of unleashing my Right Brain (creativity, imagination, intuition). I wish I realized this when I first started my business, but I was so focused on “looking the part” that I ended up falling into the status quo. It took me a couple of years to snap out of it and create a vision for the future: a solution-based business that has a unique approach and loves to go against the grain.
Before starting Blezoo, I took a year off from work and traveled quite a bit; mostly in Europe. I guess I was resting for the big endeavor of entrepreneurship ahead. Boy, I was right on that one. This also gave my head space to think about the next big step I was going to take in my life.
The crux of my early career experience was involved with a couple of start-ups and a fashion company called Silver Moon Creations. This is where I learned the ropes and without it there is no way I would have been a part of the 5% of entrepreneurs who survive 9+ years in business. My philosophy early on was to just say “YES”. Anything that needed to be done I raised my hand and said yes. I soaked up all of the experiences; from running trade shows in 3 continents, to large scale direct mail campaigns, e-marketing in the early 2000s and establishing licensing deals with national brands.
To prepare for my career, I received a Bachelors in Marketing & MBA from University of Central Florida, and my A.A. at Valencia College. I speak a lot about networking, and I must say that taking a long time to graduate served me well because I got to meet a lot of people! I do business today with dozens of people I met during my education. You should always be networking, all the time, regardless of your job title. As a matter of fact, when I started my business I went to my favorite teacher, Dr. Ganesh. My life would have been totally different if I didn’t have him as a teacher because he is the person that got me totally on fire about marketing. When you can see the passion in someone else’s eyes it can be infectious.
In my pre-collegiate life I was the typical slacker gifted kid who went to a math magnet middle school and continued into high school living a life of apathy towards education. I was a person that was on the trajectory of being a chronic underachiever. The only things I put effort into was sports & having fun. There were times that my parents had lost hope for me, which is why I give young people grace today.
It’s rarely ever too late to change, to reinvent yourself and to find purpose in life. We all have outrageously remarkable qualities about us, I want to give you the spark & drive to find it.
Thank you for being here and reading my bio. You rock. I look forward to connecting & learning with you!
