Xgen President Andy Green remembers the old days of the true sales hustle. If beginning one's career before the advent of AOL isn't yet a marker of success, it should be. That, and sharing a single email account between three coworkers — namely Michael and Frank Koretsky.
“My office was directly between their two offices. We would laugh and joke, but work hard all day and in to the night,” recalls Green. “This was before email! When we got our first AOL email account we all shared it, can you imagine? They were great times. Hustling and selling.”
[Michael and Frank Koretsky] believed in me at a very young age and allowed me to grow within their system and hone my craft.
Today, Green is Xgen's resident workaholic. He dives into his inbox at 6 a.m., before most of us are even out of the shower. Somewhere around the time most folks roll into the office at 8 a.m., Green is already prepping orders for the warehouse.
When asked what his average day looks like, he laughs and exclaims, “Wow, how much time do you have?”
For Green, being the president means immersing yourself in every detail of your work, and devouring every minute of it. “I love going in to work everyday,” he says. “In fact, I’m on vacation now and missing it a little bit!”
But back in the late ‘90s, Green was just stepping onto the bottom rung of his career ladder.
In 1997, during his senior year of college, Green nabbed a gig with then-video giant IVD and Pleasure Productions. Green initially worked in the warehouse during porn's generation in the spotlight, boxing up high-end studio features from Wicked Pictures and shipping Jenna Jameson's teased blond hair all over the country.
“I changed all of my classes to night classes and worked during the day, picking and packing VHS and beta tapes,” recalls Green. “It was great. It was the heyday. A whole different world from what it is today. East Coast News had barely been started at this point.”
Green moved up the ranks quickly and transitioned to managing Pleasure Productions and the company's video licensing department, where he managed international accounts, TV stations, and even hotels and cruise lines.
“I started traveling a lot and meeting all sorts of amazing people around the world,” says Green.
And then, just like that, Green was gone. He left the industry for a few years to hone his skills in the mainstream world. Meanwhile, companies were transitioning from focusing on porn to sex toys, and when Green finally returned, he had big plans for catching the latest trend wave.
“I stayed close to everyone I had worked with at IVD/ECN and wanted to come back, but at a different angle than what was being done,” recalls Green. “I saw that video sales were going down and people were looking for other items to carry that would draw in a different clientele, especially more women and couples.”
By late 2008, Green and his colleagues brain-stormed what would become Xgen, a source for pleasure businesses to buy wholesale lingerie and KY-brand lubricants. After a successful running start, the company took off with their own creative brands like Perfect Position sex cushions and Pleasure Wigs. Green and his team knew they'd found the ticket to hitting it big.
“Then it was off to the races,” recalls Green. “More lines, more types of products. I found an amazing team of people to work with overseas that made my life so much easier. We collaborate on newness on a consistent basis so we can pivot quickly to bring what the market demands.”
Looking back, Green hands all the credit to industry greats Michael and Frank Koretsky, who Green says he cannot thank enough for kick-starting his career.
“They believed in me at a very young age and allowed me to grow within their system and hone my craft,” he reflects.
Now Green's priorities involve keeping up with the modern market as consumers demand sex education and product knowledge from every brick-and-mortar.
“Consumer knowledge and interaction has changed dramatically with the internet and social media,” says Green. “I am full-on right now educating store staff and consumers about our items. I hired a person to literally travel the U.S. 48 weeks out of the year to do trainings and store events. We will spend a week canvassing a particular city and teaching anyone who will listen!”
By pleasure industry standards, one might assume Green parties as hard as he works when on the road. The “work hard, play hard” adage rings true for plenty of high-level managers, CEOs, and sales reps alike — but not for Green. He'd prefer to save his energy for the trade show floor.
“I think the joke is on me here. I’m the boring guy at the party,” laughs Green. “At the shows I’m in bed by 11 p.m., and I was never really into partying or staying out late, then feeling like crap the next day. Over the years I have seen so many people get in to trouble with crazy behavior that just costs them in the end.”
Green seems to have plenty of fun back at Xgen headquarters, where he happily spends his days bouncing between projects and departments from 7:30 a.m. to long past closing time.
“I’ll work with the international customers in the early part of the day before they go home. We are unique on the East Coast, we can correspond sooner than if we were on the West Coast,” says Green of his daily run-down. “I’ll check on the warehouse during the day and help pack or ship if needed. I love it back there. The guys don’t want me back there, but we make it a point to ship as much as we can every day.”
Then it’s off to the sales department, where Green leaves most of the creativity up to his efficient staff.
“I work with our amazing sales team during the day, planning strategy and assisting where needed, but to be honest they are so incredible they don’t really need me too much, which is great because that allows me to focus on new products, plan trade shows, and work on marketing materials,” Green says.
When he finally leaves the office around 7 p.m., Green still can't bear to pull himself away from his email. He's back on the grind until sleep finally calls sometime before midnight.
“I leave for the day around 7 p.m., go home and work out, eat, answer emails from China since they just got into the office, and go to sleep by 11,” he concludes. “Repeat that every day!”
If there's a recipe for happiness, Green has certainly found it. It's easy to envy those with a life of leisure. It's a lot harder to find this much satisfaction in a work-loaded week, and Green wouldn't have it any other way.
