Zak Glenn Allen
Owner. Business Consultant.
Specializing in:
Business Optimization. Sales Optimization. Operations Optimization. Higher Education Planning & Governance, Technology Integration, Marketing, Analytics, Rebranding, Organizational Strategic Planning, Risk Assessment & Management, Economic & Market Analysis, and Bricks to Clicks Business Optimization (Retail to E-commerce to Mobile). I prioritize helping friends, D.E.I. supporting businesses, & union friendly institutions to ensure long term business and employee success through shared governance. Meaning, we make your business better by working together as a team with all stakeholders within your organization.
Industries:
Higher Education, Technology, Retail, Hospitality Services, Transportation, Mobility, Online/Mobile Food Ordering, Retail-Groceries, Veterinary Medicine, & Automotive Sales-Finance-Internet.
Expertise
I am an executive with multi-industry experience in retail, transportation, hospitality, higher education, food delivery industry, and veterinary science. My cross-industry experience allows me to identify and understand business/consumer trends from multiple perspectives, often before they happen. I use the scientific method to analyze internal and external data from your company, then I use the best process and procedures from each industry to customize strategic business plans, then capture those opportunities.
We will achieve success using modified, customer-centric agile product development methods and your businesses’ competitive advantages to create a quick to market, on target, sustainable product development department/program. Your program will be able to develop “must have” (creating demand) consumer products that mitigate risks, are aligned with continuously changing consumer tastes, and exceeds your company goals. Thus, successfully gaining short- & long-term control of targeted markets, while concurrently developing market dominance (slice of market pie vs. owning the bakery).
My experience for creating positive successes within businesses is derived from the ability to cut through the bullshit and connect with people of all job titles, races, genders, cultures, identities, social, and economic backgrounds. This ability to connect allows me to understand, get a truer, and more accurate state of an organization’s culture and wellbeing, which in turn produces an organization’s synergy and products. These leadership skills were refined through an applied honors economics program, while concurrently serving as a member of an executive board leadership team, in a publicly run higher education institution. The multi-ethnic & female led leadership executive board was/is the norm, which led to a breadth and depth of experience/knowledge that is essential to understanding how to create unifying synergies within businesses, companies, and organizations.
​
My business acumen in short- and long-term organizational strategic planning will assist us with accountability, maximizing profits & revenues, and “Nourishing” opportunities for development & growth. Additionally, my acumen with business development, sales, brick-and-mortar transition to E-commerce, omni-channel sales development, multi-option finance, cross media marketing, supply chain management, and operations will assist us with creating an environment that will allow us to successfully implement new policies and procedures leading to short- & long-term growth of sustainable profits & revenue.
Buddy Consultants. Ethics. Why We Matter.
Buddy-Consultants is a business concept derived from the idea of giving advice from your best friend's point of view "the important stuff without the fluff".
​
Since I was Jim Crowed, blacklisted (see Zak's story), and had my work stolen to further the careers of former bosses, now executives, I realized that I had to showcase my work as best as possible on my own terms. I am homeless, jobless, transportation less (soon), and living on the streets from speaking out about my Chinese mother's attempted murder which I have been punished for over 18 years of my life. I have tried to contact lawyers, since I was illegally fired by the same people that fired me in Georgia, and in California at USC, Lyft, Uber, and now Shipt. I have proof that I was illegally fired, but it doesn't matter, if no one calls you back and talks to you. I even saw a channel 7 news van across the street from Ralphs in Westwood, yesterday. So, I grabbed my stuff to go talk to them, then they saw me and drove off.
​
During my time in the semi corporate world, I realized that there was and is, a great need for leadership that tells it like it is. Because the pillars of white supremacy promotes each other through their corporate ladder fast tracks. Thus, the reason so many companies go bankrupt and the reason people that should not be promoted are promoted. They use tricks and scams to steal peoples work and ideas, then promote the ideas as their own. Scandalous right. Well, America has a deep history of stealing land, labor, work, ideas, and "time," so not so scandalous.
In my opinion, the glass ceiling for women and minorities is as real as it gets. When life doesn't feel right, when you have done "all the work," and you haven't reaped the rewards and pay for those successes, there really are people sabotaging your future, by stealing your work, and your ideas.
Thus, the reason Buddy-Consultants came about. I needed to showcase my skills, my work, and my leadership abilities.
I became friends with a lot of really good people along the way in life, so I'm giving back the only way that I can. I am helping them through consulting, by making their business better!
​
Most of my work will be rough draft projects or commentaries, that need a lot of polishing. Please see through the rough work and realize the quality of the message. I try to focus on sales, operations, and marketing areas of business, as those three areas tend to drive most of the revenues within organization. ​
​​​​​​
I believe in and promote diversity and women's rights initiatives. I only work for companies and people that believe in both of these ideals through verifiable action and culture. Please note, because I don't personally run any of these companies, their current corporate actions towards diversity and women's rights, may have changed since I was a part of the organization. Additionally, if I have/had a difference of opinion, on the strategy execution towards diversity and women's rights, then the reason that I made any recommendations for these companies is that "I firmly believe these corporations can become better within the larger forward moving context of our society." Especially, since our current political atmosphere within the United States is to move backwards in time, towards the removal of basic human rights, minority rights, and women's rights. I am absolutely against the proselytization of every aspect of our lives, which runs counter-intuitive to the U.S. bill of rights, within the U.S. constitution.
​
I create a positive environment to bring out the best from myself and my co-workers. This positive relationship forges an environment that allows creativity, trust, and comradery to develop, thus keeping our team's focus on creating the best customer experience possible.​
Professional Highlights.
​​​
​Advised Uber Eats investors, C-suite executives, and management professionals that led to millions of increased revenues, profitability, new customers, returning customer optimization, top-line and bottom-line growth via multiple market expansions, strategy implementation, product development, sales channel optimization, and business model innovation.
Unsuccessfully & successfully rebranded a startup similar to Uber Eats before scaling with sales volumes per customer similar to Cost Co.
Created strategic partnerships with Augusta State University, the Augusta-Richmond County Human Society, & local veterinarian hospitals to study the viscous elastic effects of Dirofilaria- immitis in canine blood.
​
Authored a 10 page biodata driven agricultural-economic analysis from lab results of soy and corn germination at A.S.U. comparing long term inefficiencies of the United States' subsidized single crop yield vs. mixed crop yields using A.S.U. lab results vs. agricultural production data from universities in Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska. Hypothesized long term inefficiencies in U.S. agricultural production would become volatile with agriculture and energy industries crossing market paths, world population growth increasing at unsustainable rates, and increasing unpredictable weather patterns that would cause world agricultural production to become unstable. Realized U.S. farming outputs growth rates could be increased by 40% with the use of location specific crop paring resulting in synergistic soil regeneration, reducing the need for excess, crop rotation, pesticides, labor, and government subsidies.
Advised leadership of a least costly new opportunity for partnership expansion in the online floral business out of the University of Southern California hotel (U.S.C.), then Radisson Hotel. Market demand in 2020 for global cut flowers were $29.2 B and U.S. cut flowers were $7.9 B. Florist utilization at the Radisson was 15% of current market with customer base targeted at hotel guest services only. New customer/sales opportunities included on and near campus events, university owned hospitals, school visitors, students, families, staff, with an opportunity to increase profit margins and corner the market via direct from producer’s supply chain management agreement. Annual budgeted forecast would have doubled or tripled revenues during the slow months, while boosting revenues in the university owned/run hotel and hospitals throughout the year. Bouqs a similar company founded in 2013 the same time as the market analysis and featured on shark tank raised 24 million in funding and since 2021 has delivered over "140 million flowers worldwide".
Created a university wide strategic marketing & business development plan for the executive leadership team with an emphasis on U.S.C.'s diverse student population as a reflection of the Los Angeles community and the world to increase student, employee, community, and employer engagement. The plan created new career opportunities for students by creating stronger bonds with mentors and alumni while focusing on strengthening core business operations while creating an interconnected multi school undergraduate, graduate, Ph.D., postdoctoral, and alumni career development, career services program. The plan developed relationships with prospective internal and external partners using emerging technology (data analytics, virtual reality/mixed reality optics, live concerts streaming partnerships, apps similar to Uber and Airbnb, etc.) while leveraging competitive advantages for continuous improvement, focusing on innovation, the Trojan family, and the Olympic games timeline to establish dominant positions in future markets (Innovate vs. Imitate). Growth opportunities: retail industry, hospitality industry, floral industry, e-books, fundraising, video games, sports industry, automotive industry, electronic industry, entertainment industry, etc.
Demolished a U.S.C. Marshall School of Business Mark Cuban backed startup x120 their monthly revenues from our slowest month. That month our web-based business crashed without any back up business plans from directors or management. When plans finally trickled down to staff members, they contained zero basic knowledge of the current customer base or market opportunities, pricing was increased to extreme levels in comparison to on campus and off campus competitors without any increase in quality of products or services, and the most important part of a business plan, that is similar to medical's base line measurements are your industry's KPIs vs. your current KPIs, which were nonexistent in the plan. Thus, our staff, union/non-union got together and created sales revenues the old-fashioned way; we looked up old orders, made telephone calls, knocked on doors, and sent out gift baskets for in person solicitation, and word-of-mouth advertising.
​​​​
Increased customer satisfaction rates from 75% to 95% through the implementation of modified agile product development with customers leading to on-target customized new products and a refreshment of product lines.
Reduced returning customer time in ½
Stabilized profit margins from 30% to 70% after restructuring business, re/training and hiring new employees, and revamping product lines. Business operations were restructured after finding excessive shrinkage of inventory, laxed security measures in the ordering and recording processes with suppliers and accounting, and the realization the cost of goods for all products were not updated by management and directors for the past 10 years. New protocols and security measures were put in place system wide from ordering, payments, inventory, accounting, to management, then new product lines and services were developed in line with proper margins.
​