David Parker
David Parker, Owner, Founder, President, and sometimes chief dishwasher, holds a B.S. in Business Management and a Masters in Business Administration. A mostly lifelong resident of Kansas City (has lived in multiple cities during his career in the airline industry), he founded Vanguard Business Services with a single thought in mind, ‘Help Small Businesses’. Working with small businesses there was a clear void in a business suite for small business owners. A business owner went into business to produce a certain product(s), or perform a certain task(s), that is their passion, managing a business is almost always an afterthought. Sometimes these business owners find themselves in a bind or just do not know where to turn to ask a question, that is where David loves to come in. With his extensive network of business partners and other owners, if you need a service he knows a person, if you need a product he knows where to get it, if not he will find someone who will!
David takes this ‘helping’ attitude to a different level while providing a complete package to the small business owner, or individual services, whatever the business owner truly needs. There are no ‘cookie-cutter’ or ‘bundles’ like at many large out-of-state corporations, each plan is designed specifically for that client. Through strategic business partnerships, Vanguard Business Services brings a group approach to tackle a problem and provide a viable, affordable, budgettable solution for the small business owner. This is the passion that David explores every time he answers the phone, as well as any referred service provider. “Bringing the Person back into Personalized Service” is a direct quote that David uses as a mantra every day. Unfortunatley, many business providers have lost this perspective in the past several years. He does not allow his customers to have a customer number, nor do you have to press #1 for english. David at times even answers his clients phone calls by name. Taking copious notes about conversations, there is no real need to tell the story over and over again. Vanguard Business Services prides itself on learning, listening, customizing, and helping the small business owner as if they were the only item on the to-do list for that week!
The founding pillars that Vanguard Business Services was founded on were the core services needed by small business owners:
- Payroll
- Bookkeeping
- Human Resources
- Web Design and Maintenance
- Virtual Administrative Assistant
- Training
These items are the preeminent areas where small businesses spend more of their time away from revenue generating activities or their personal lives trying to generate revenue. Vanguard Business Services gets to know their clients, remembers names, and services only what is needed. If it is not broken, we don’t attempt to change it or force a fix.
David, brought up with mid-western values understands that is if you put your name on something, it is your name on the line as a guarantee. David knows every person and company involved with Vanguard Business Services and he would take pride in staking his name on that service or product. The name of the company, Vanguard, even holds special meaning. The forward fighting force of any action is referred to as the vanguard. For instance, the pawns on a chess-board are the vanguard of the game. Being the forward fighting force is a daunting and mostly the most dangerous part of any action force, but David relishes in it for small business owners.
David is happily married to the love of his life of over 11 years, and is Dad to a former foster child, Jakob, who attends Winnetonka High School and on the Honor Roll. Jakob also is literally the best sportsman ever, no matter the sport (yes, David is biased). David also is a very vocal supporter of children in the foster system and is still an active foster parent. Advocating for a child is always needed, and sometimes he even makes Children’s Division uncomfortable if they seem to lose focus on the child, rather than filling out the right paper. David is active in the community and different groups, such as:
- Business Over Brunch (A non-profit charitable business organization)
- Business Network International – BNI Innovators Chapter
- Liberty United Methodist Church – Member and Congregational Care Minister
- More Coming all the Time!
David also as a form of ‘giving back’ to the community selects many different small and starting charities to help pro bono.
We make a difference by being different. Contact us today and see the personal touch that has been lacking for too long.