MEET

The Mark Howley Show is an interview based podcast inspired by my upbringing in the highly urban and diverse Philadelphia, business ownership, and a life of travel. As your host, I draw on not only travel but stability and family. The first forty years of my life were spent in Philadelphia, the past 20 years living in Seattle, raising five daughters, and owning/operating my own small business. My career started when I stumbled into a sales position in coffee packaging -- we all know bags aren’t cool -- and I planned to quickly move on to find my fame and fortune, post haste. It turned out a lot different. After my initial cold calling job, I slowly climbed to VP Sales in the coffee packaging industry to eventually running/owning the business for 20+ years. My business, Pacific Bag Inc., grew three-fold during my ownership. We expanded our clientele to over 4000 customers internationally and domestically, including distributors in Hawaii, Germany and Costa Rica. I travelled and conducted business on four of the five continents. I have visited 48 states (missed the Dakotas). I ventured to India, Vietnam, SE Asia, Taiwan, China, Korea, most of Europe, Central America and more. I swear I will make Africa. My origins were seed sized and I could not fathom the growth that would take place in the early days of my career. I can say with humility I became an expert on coffee bags but proudly, a savvy business owner. I committed all my time to my industry and through that effort, hard work and dedication, I found a proftable and highly rewarding outcome. One of my great skills was speaking to people at every level: customer, vendor, factory worker. I chatted with my employees in every department (sales, accounting, manufacturing, shipping etc.) I ended up knowing about their kids, hobbies, problems and most importantly, how to make them laugh. It blew my mind that someone sitting at a desk staring at numbers, running some bore-ass machine or working in a warehouse, could be content and happy! I learned in time people at every level of the company, and for that matter every level of any profession, can offer contentment. I wish I could interview all of the people I met during my years of international and domestic travel. I suppose this podcast is my attempt at finding, once again, the magic in the mundane and bringing this understanding to you. Lastly and most importantly, I am deeply in love with my wife and our five daughters. They are a gift from God, an honor, and as I believe, a miracle!