"I happened to be good at it, but I was bored to tears and looking for something new," said Tino, adding that serendipity intervened and provided a more interesting — and eventually lucrative — career path.

Tino is now president of Las Vegas-based Recognition Express, and also doubles as president of a Las Vegas franchisee of the business, a 10-unit network that provides personalized name badges, interior signage, awards and advertising specialty items for customers that range from global corporations to local, family-owned businesses.

The company was originally founded in 1972 in San Juan Capistrano, Calif., by Dick Ferguson, who was a friend of Century 21 Real Estate Corp. co-founder Art Bartlett.

"Dick and Art were sitting around one day and somebody said Century 21 needed name badges and Dick said 'I'll do it,' so at first the company just made name badges and was called Bagdeman," according to Tino. "A few years later, Dick ran into Dennis Hunt, who was with Kampgrounds of America and he had some franchising experience and thought it would be a good opportunity so he became a partner and started franchising with Badgeman in 1974."

By 1986, the company had grown to almost 90 U.S. franchises, had added plaques, awards, interior signage and advertising specialty products to its lineup, and changed its name to Recognition Express. That same year, however, Ferguson suffered a stroke from which he would never fully recover, and when he passed away three years later, the franchisee network had fallen into shambles.

Then Tino became involved with the business.

"Dennis Hunt was diagnosed with cancer in 1986 so Dick Ferguson bought him out and Dennis left and started a brokerage firm in San Diego and that's where I met Dennis — I was an engineer and wanted more from life than sitting around writing simulation models so I became a partner in the brokerage firm," Tino said. "Then Dennis told me Dick had some health issues and his wife was selling (Recognition Express) and he wanted to know if I wanted to go in on repurchasing the business. As soon as I left the office I saw name badges everywhere — at the grocery store, at the car dealership, at restaurants — and I never knew they were out there, and I came back the next day and said 'I'm in.' So in 1989, Dennis and I and two silent partners purchased the business."

Tino invested about $125,000 in personal funds — "pretty much everything I had," he said — to get in on the corporate side. Then, in 1991, the woman who owned the franchise in Las Vegas had health problems and wanted to retire so Tino purchased the local location as a franchisee.

"It was so upside down I paid about $30,000 in cash and then just took it over and cleaned it up," he said. "I had to call all the creditors and make deals and they all got paid but it took a while. In 1991, sales were about $3,000 a month and now it's about $3 million a year and I am the largest Recognition Express franchisee in the country."

He said each franchise has its own manufacturing plant — the local 10,000-square-foot facility is at Sunset Road and Eastern Avenue — and manufactures thousands and thousands of products for delivery each year.

Name badges account for about two-thirds of the local business, with interior signage and awards comprising some 10 to 15 percent apiece, and promotional products bringing in about 7 percent. The Las Vegas franchise now has 34 employees and is the approved supplier for every real estate franchise brand in the country, and also provides recognition products for Disneyland, Dairy Queen, Radisson Hotels, Howard Johnson and Days Inn.

Other local clients include Human Resouces Solutions, a company that provides HR services for small businesses. Fred Harmon, president and CEO, originally began working with Recognition Express when he was with MGM Grand.

"We ordered our name badges from them and I happened to be in the same department as the decision-maker and ended up working with Recognition Express for the next five years," said Harmon. "After MGM I went to the Rio and switched name badges to Recognition Express, then the Aladdin and the Palms as head of HR and used Recognition Express for both of those."

Harmon launched Human Resources Solutions three years ago, and continued doing business with Tino's company, both for his own employees' name badges as well for his clients'.

"Just from the service standpoint they're very receptive," said Harmon, whose company has 13 staff members. "If there are last-minute changes they very reactive to our needs and very customer focused. They would even hand-deliver to my house, and I've just stuck with them. I would never even consider changing because of their level of service. We get stuff (from other similar national companies) and I doubt we even keep it."

Coldwell Banker Wardley real estate, which has four valley locations, is also a client, according to Connie Turnbull, office administrator for the main branch.

"They make all of our name badges and the desk plates for our employees and new agents," Turnbull said, adding that Recognition Express provides 15 to 20 new pieces per week for the four offices.

Tino said challenges to operating the franchise include employee recruitment.

"Finding the right employees is (critical)," he said. "If you get the wrong person they can be like a cancer to the organization, and it's taken years but I have a fantastic team."

Tino, who assumed majority ownership of the franchise system in 2000 and later assumed sole ownership (Hunt passed away in 1996), also said that his franchisees are a challenge.

"It's not about 'That's what you did for me yesterday,' it's 'What are you going to do for me today,'" he said, adding that franchisees at first balked when he and Hunt came on board.

Tino said that a comprehensive one-week training program is provided at Recognition Express world headquarters in Las Vegas as well as two or three days of onsite assistance for grand openings for franchisees, who pay an initial investment of $79,000, which includes a $29,500 franchisee fee.

He said the network could eventually expand to 400 U.S. franchisees. The company has also established a presence in Europe with 27 production and service centers in 10 countries.

Tino credits his success as a franchisee — as well as a corporate owner — to a factor many business owners cite: perseverance.

"In the early day, some days I'd wake up and pull the cover over my head, but then I'd say 'I've got to get up and call the creditors,'" he said. "I'd never failed at anything and this will not be the first, so I just kept pushing forward and never gave up."

To that end, he offered the following advice to fellow entrepreneurs:

"You can never give up," he said. "I don't know that there are any secrets, just work hard and believe in yourself and push forward and it will happen if you know your product and knock on enough doors. But you can't sit there and wait for the phone to ring."