Entrepreneur (Early Years)

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CIRCO HISTORY

Circo sought out entrepreneurial opportunities from his late teen years. At 19, he promoted a music concert, booking Jim Morrison and The Doors into the Tulsa, Oklahoma Auditorium in 1968. Investing every penny he had saved into that endeavor. Unfortunately, The Doors appeared on the Ed Sullivan show several days before the concert singing “Baby won’t you light my fire.” Most mothers in America protested the erotic nature of the song and the Doors were categorically banned by religious and other ethical critics. The auditorium seated 20,000 and only 4,000 people showed up. Circo subsequently lost all of the savings he had garnered over three years of summer jobs in one unfortunate night.

CIRCO HISTORY

Undaunted, Circo founded Farquhars Bar in the Old Market in Omaha, NE several years later; at that time the premier live music venue in the city of Omaha. This particular effort this time was a success, resulting in it becoming a regional stop for such great blues artists as Willie Dixon, the author of many of Muddy Waters’ songs and Muddy Waters himself. He played at Farquhars the year he won the Grammy Award. In addition to Muddy Waters, Hound Dog Taylor, Country Joe and the Fish of Woodstock fame and many other rock groups of the time played at Farquhars blues bar. Circo came up with the name Farquhars, which was a fictional character from Ambrose Bierce’s short story, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. Farquhars was subsequently sold to a number of other investors who unfortunately did not do well and the bar eventually closed. 

CIRCO HISTORY

Circo founded the Neterprise Company in 1987 before the internet existed. The software package provided online management of purchasing activities for large industrial corporations, making them essentially a paperless procurement system, allowing for expedited management of the purchasing and storeroom facilities functions.  

That entity morphed into what became the premier integrated supply company known as Precision Integrated Supply, a division of Precision Industries, which grew into $300 million dollar operation with 160 locations throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico, with export operations globally.

Circo became the Chief Executive Officer of Precision Industries in the mid 1980’s. The company grew to become the largest family-owned industrial distributor of its kind globally. After winning many awards, including Trailblazer + see list, the company was sold to DXP, a Nasdaq corporation for $106 million dollars in cash. Circo retained all of the real estate properties and the facilities around the United States, as well as Neterprise and other software rights of the proprietary systems the team had developed.