This week's '21 Things You Might Not Know About Me' features Spooner business man, Tim Frey.
- I am an only child and was born on the Fourth of July!!! I feel it’s the best day of the year to have a birthday, everyone has the day off, it's summer, and I get fireworks.
- My family owned Harriet’s store from 1978-1983, so if you received ice cream on the fourth of July from a little boy, that was me, because I gave out ice cream on my birthday. We lived there when the Oak Lake fire happened, that was a very scary time for me as a child and still have memories to this day from it. The fire fighters used our store as a base camp because we could feed them and give them water. It probably was a good idea that they were there considering we had gas pumps right outside my bedroom window.
- I traveled a lot when I was young with my grandparents in their motor home, so I have been to 46 states. I even got to go to Space Camp along the way.
- I attended St Francis from 1st – 4th grade, Shell Lake class of 1996, University of MN Duluth 1996-1998 (Christopher Newport University, Newport News VA 1998-1999) 1999-2001 Finance and Management Information Systems.
- When I moved to Virginia and was looking for a job while in school, I approached a cell phone store, got an application but the manager chased me down and hired me on the spot. I was then promoted to manager of my own Kiosk 30 days later and 5 months after that they promoted me to District Manager where I controlled 5 stores and 23 employees at the age of 20.
- I stayed with my Uncle and Aunt for a short time in Fort Monroe (Hampton VA) before moving back. This was quite the experience as my uncle was a Cornel in the Army, so I got to golf on Langley air force base. (on one of my drives I thought my slice was going to hit an F-15 that was taking off)
- One day while in VA, I was at Bush Gardens in line for a roller coaster and all of a sudden they shut the ride down and then I see some big blond haired guy coming off the last coaster bleeding all over the place. Yes, it was the day the Fabio got hit in the face from a goose while riding the coaster.
- When I moved back from VA, my friend and I started our own cell phone company “Clarity Digital” while in college and sold phones to kids on campus.
- I have been in Insurance & Investments since 2003, I hold 6, 63, 65, 7 security licenses and I pride myself on helping people and giving good advice. The investment world is a scary place and I try and explain products and strategies in a very simple way to clients to help people understand. There are no stupid questions and love to help people start businesses and choose the right investment for them.
- I am part owner in 5 retail stores in WI and also manage our family farm in Illinois, it is a Century Farm and has been in my family since the 1800’s. I don’t do any farming anymore (but have in the past) but have to watch the commodities markets to know when to buy and sell the corn and soybeans. The commodities market is quite different than the stock market, who knew I would have to watch the weather in Brazil to help with selling decisions
- My family owned part of a resort on Middle McKenzie in the 1890’s, called the Gentleman’s resort. It was a place for them to come and for businessmen from Chicago to come up and fish. Their main job was in the Ice business down in Silver Lake WI and they used to cut ice out of the lake and ship it to Chicago. I still have one of the old ice house foundations on my property there from the resort. It ended up burning down because the sauna caught on fire.
- I have a family Cottage on some of the old property from way back then. Our Cottage was originally built in 1906 and with many updates, additions, etc, it still stands today.
- I love anything to do with the lake, Fishing, boating, or just floating. I also enjoy hunting, golf, basketball, and football. I always jump in the lake on April 15th (tax day) if there is no ice to start my summer off right!
- My Grandparents moved to Spooner in 1985 from Waukegan IL where my grandfather was commodore of the Waukegan yacht club. He was a big time sailor and enjoyed all of my sailing adventures with him when I was young. I hope to pick sailing back up someday!
- My Grandfather worked on the Manhattan Project in WWII. He used to tell me stories of G-men following him to the bank and searching his apartment to make sure he wasn’t a spy. To keep his cover, he was drafted three separate times and every time during basic training they would yank him out and send him back to work on the Atom Bomb.
- I moved back to Spooner in Nov 2014 from Minneapolis and haven’t looked back! I purchased the old subway building and have been trying to open businesses and bring jobs to the community. I am always looking for talented people to join my team so swing in and tell me what interests you.
- I am constantly trying to recruit people over to Spooner, I have already helped a friend buy a cabin on Big McKenzie Lake and relocated two of my friends from Minneapolis up here. One of which is my assistant/bookkeeper/manager Jamie, which I couldn’t do all I do without her. My friends are everything and hope to get a few more transplants over to Northern WI.
- I live back in the woods you see, the woman, a dog and the cat and me! (see if you can tell the song that came from) My beautiful wife Andrea is my support system and I owe everything to her as she allowed me to relocate us up to the north woods. She works from home as a Client Manager for Mortgages Unlimited. We got married in 2013 at the Basilica in Minneapolis, it was quite the powerful venue and I cried as she walked down the aisle towards me.
- My pet peeve is people who drive slow in the left lane and I hate cilantro, yuk!
- My dream is to own a float plane someday
- My favorite quote is “Work hard, Stay true, surround yourself with good people and there is nothing that I can’t accomplish!”
Note: If you would like to submit your '21 Things', you may do so by emailing it to DrydenWire@gmail.com.
Last Update: Jul 20, 2017 7:51 am CDT
