Meet Marco Johnson | Co-Founder of Accreditation Advisors Group

We had the good fortune of connecting with Marco Johnson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Marco, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
As an entrepreneur, risk-taking comes with the territory. We’ve always maintained the mindset that if we take a risk, as it relates to business, “what’s the worst-case scenario if things don’t go the way we’ve hoped for?” and, can we handle that outcome and have a plan of action on standby to address this outcome?

Entrepreneurship and risk-taking are not for the faint of heart. Without question, the most significant risk we’ve taken was for my wife and me to decide to walk away from a fantastically secure and rewarding career as a firefighter/paramedic for the city of Los Angeles to focus 100% of our efforts on our start-up company. Fortunately, things worked out for the good, and after being in business for nearly 25 years, we recently had a reasonably successful exit.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Attending college in one of the most beautiful places in the world, Hawaii, being a college and professional athlete, a firefighter/paramedic for one of the most progressive departments in the country (LAFD), and founding a traditional regionally accredited university, has been an absolute unique path to success.

Strategically planning and executing every small task with the same focus and vigor as the more significant tasks has been a procedure that we’ve made a standard practice.

Exciting but definitely not easy.

We’ve found that the best way for us to handle workplace challenges is to embrace and face them head-on. Most importantly, remember what brought on or caused the challenge and learn to navigate around that cause in the future. And take into consideration what worked or did not work when that same challenge arises in the future.

We’ve learned several lessons along the way, two of the most important: If you have employees, you don’t have to be a master of what each of their duties are but it’s imperative that you have a solid fundamental base/understanding as to how to execute their duties. This is especially important the smaller your employee roster happens to be. Secondly, when situations get tough and trying, step back and remind yourself why you set out on this adventure.

Tough question….. My wife and I set out to serve our community, not ourselves. From this, we have been extremely fortunate to achieve some fantastic accomplishments. Give where you live has been our mantra.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
There are so many great places we love to go in our community, so it is hard to pick just a few. Some of our favorite restaurants include the Broken Bit Steakhouse and Coach’s Bar and Grill for the best wings in town. For anyone who is looking for some great entertainment, they should check out The Lancaster Performing Arts Center.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
We’ve been incredibly blessed to have several individuals in our lives who, if we didn’t have their support, the road to “success” would have been much more arduous. Our parents, our children, and our community as a whole.

Personally, without question, my bride, who is my partner in life and business, our success doesn’t come close to the peaks we reached without her.

Website: https://aagteam.org/

Other: If you’d like to contact Marco and/or Sandra, email them at: Marco.Johnson@AAGteam.org Sandra.Johnson@AAGteam.org