Jesse Tarr

I graduated from Florida International University (FIU) in 2012 with a Bachelors of Business Administration in International Business. Simultaneously I was enlisted in the United States Marine Corps (USMC) and successfully completed Officer Candidates School (OCS) during my enlistment.

After graduation I moved back to the DC Metropolitan area from Miami and started working for GEICO as a claims adjuster on a fast track to management as part of their Supervisor Leadership Program (SLP). In an effort to accelerate my earning potential and consolidate college debt I was faced with a challenge because I needed to maximize my top line but I knew I did not want to go back to undergraduate study or pursue any form of graduate school. I narrowed it down to sales and more specifically bartending, it was a product which had a natural demand and the earning potential was great considering no additional formal education is required. Also, I could keep my day job and do this work at night. The hurdle then came once I completed bartending school, actually getting hired and behind a bar with good revenue. After being rejected at several local bars and clubs I quickly figured out I needed to start at the bottom of the industry to get an "in" so I started working security at various nightclubs in DC. Security was often brutal with fights, damaged uniforms, and a fixed pay having risk outweigh the reward. However after close to a year in the security business I was able to gain employment from a bar as a floor back and my duties were to clean up the dance floor, pick up cups, and throw away trash. After an additional three months and always volunteering for extra shifts I was able to get behind the bar as a barback. Then months later a bartender. Finally I was behind the bar where time didn't dictate my earnings, sales did. Unfortunately this bar wasn't popular or exclusive enough to make any real money but I got a break as was recruited to work at a bar on U St NW, one of DC's busiest scenes in nightlife. Here is where I saw the true power of sales. I made in one night what I would make at GEICO during a 52 hour work week.

I ended up getting fired from GEICO, it was the longest I've ever kept a job and stumbled across an opportunity to facilitate a building permit for a gas pipeline in Baltimore County, MD. I discovered this new industry, well new to me at least, of permit expediting. The work was great, it encompassed sales, and was something I could scale. Yet again a challenge, of how to gain more clients. About a year later City Permit was born and since its inception I've been able to grow the company from just serving DC to residential and commercial clients across the nation.