He was studying business in NYC at Baruch College night school where he majored in marketing management while interning at Madison Ave. advertising firms for two years. His education and work experience came in useful when he entered Wall Street in 1984. His start was at a small boutique penny stock underwriter where he dialed for dollars from 8AM to 8PM daily. He soon realized there was a better way; he created a marketing plan, a budget and developed an advertising plan to reach investors. He created the national “Penny Stocks for Penny Savers” campaign which was a full page insert nearly every penny saver in the US. His page listed 10 penny stocks, their symbols, bid/ask, instructions to fill out a tear out coupon to open a new account, name, contact information, payment instructions (check to enclose with order) stocks wishing to purchase and social security number. In the first year alone, Shelly opened more than 3500 new accounts which placed him in a category all by himself. Penny Stocks for Penny Savers meant Shelly would never have to cold call again!

Even before Wall Street, Shelly started in his family’s Industrial sewing machine business and later became vice president of sales of a large international machine enterprise with responsibility for trade shows and designing the marketing materials.