Today we’d like to introduce you to Benson Fischer.
Hi Benson, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I’m a seasoned entrepreneur with an exciting, fast-paced 45-year track record across a wide spectrum of industries. Over the decades, my journey has been all about building, launching, and managing ventures in commercial real estate, restaurants, food and beverage manufacturing, distribution, marketing, and business consulting.
Today, I pour that lifetime of experience into my latest undertaking, ZivZo Marketing Group. ZivZo is a dynamic marketing and business consulting agency. We provide an array of digital and traditional marketing tools that includes; social media marketing, graphic design, video and animation production, lead generation, SEO, website design, promotional products- just about every marketing need you or your company may have! My ZivZo team of professionals are known for creating high-impact, creative strategies that help local, regional, and national businesses scale.
My entrepreneurial spirit started early right here in Montgomery County, Maryland. As a kid, I was always looking for the next hustle—shoveling snow, raking leaves, cutting grass, and even going door-to-door pre- selling children’s portrait packages for a local photographer. While attending Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda, I kept busy working at Drug Fair and David’s Western Clothing Store in Silver Spring. I even landed a high-paying job at an Army urinalysis laboratory, testing the urine of soldiers returning from active duty in Vietnam (that job did not last long!).
When I moved on to American University in Washington, D.C., the hustle didn’t stop. I worked at E.F. Sly, a trendy clothing store in Georgetown, selling Faded Glory outfits and Huckapoo shirts. I also promoted massive dance parties in hotel ballrooms, like the Disco Ball. During the summers, I’d head down to Ocean City, spending my days selling telescope pictures on the beach and my nights parking cars at the Carousel Hotel.
My lifelong passion for the restaurant industry officially kicked off in 1974 when I became the marketing director for the famous D.C. nightclub, The Plum. By 1975, I co-founded Yummy Yogurt, a frozen yogurt chain that we grew to a dozen locations across the D.C. area. By 1985, I struck out completely on my own, eventually designing, constructing, and operating dozens of restaurants. Some of my favorite concepts included Café 57, Montana Steak Houses, Buffalo Bill’s, Mr. Peperoni’s, Bensoni’s Italian Kitchen, How Sweet It Is, and Name That Sandwich.
I also discovered a knack for finding value in distressed assets. When the iconic Gifford’s Ice Cream Company filed bankruptcy, I stepped in and bought the intellectual property, trademarks, and secret ice cream and candy recipes at the bankruptcy auction. Shortly after, I sold the package to James Hunt (a Montgomery County Judge). James and his family successfully revived the beloved Gifford’s Ice Cream brand on in 1989.
In 1990, while still operating multiple restaurants, I dove headfirst into commercial real estate and founded The Fischer Organization. As a boutique commercial brokerage firm, we facilitated hundreds of transactions in the D.C. metro area. When the real estate market collapsed in the early & 90s, we pivoted to providing critical leasing, sales, and tenant work-out services, while also helping several national and regional franchise brands secure qualified franchisees and prime retail sites.
The 1990s were an incredibly diverse time for me. I purchased ten poorly performing Washington, D.C. Papa John’s franchise locations, successfully turned their operations around, and sold them back to corporate Papa John’s two years later. Around that same time, I created a novelty beer brand called Redneck Premium Beer. Working with the Stroh Brewing Company for production and distribution, we managed to sell over 2 million cases across 32 states in just a single year.
In 2001, I took on another major turnaround by acquiring the Montgomery Donut Company out of bankruptcy. I executed a strategic move by purchasing the secured creditor debt for just seven cents on the dollar, taking over a 30,000-square-foot production plant and nine retail stores. Within months, we were profitable, expanding our product lines and securing major corporate clients like Starbucks. Then, disaster struck—a massive blizzard caused the roof of our manufacturing facility to collapse, destroying the entire building. Instead of throwing in the towel, I adapted, outsourced our production to a large contract baker, and still engineered a profitable outcome.
Next, I created Coin X Change, placing automated coin-counting machines in major supermarkets. In our very first year of operation, our machines processed over $30 million in loose change, catching the attention of our main competitor, Constar, who promptly acquired us. After that sale, the restaurant business pulled me back in; I opened Slice & Dice in Arlington and Benny’s Bar & Grill in Potomac, which I eventually sold in 2010 and 2015, respectively.
After selling my last restaurant, I naturally transitioned into full-time business consulting. I realized that my decades of hands-on experience in the trenches—handling everything from construction to crisis management—was incredibly valuable to other business owners and executives. That consulting practice organically evolved, and in 2016, I launched ZivZo to incorporate cutting-edge marketing, advertising, and high-end video production into the mix.
Today, ZivZo is a trusted partner for businesses seeking real growth. I look back at my career as a testament to resilience, constant adaptation, and strategic vision—and I bring that exact same relentless energy to helping our clients succeed every single day.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Would I say it’s been a smooth road? Absolutely not. Anyone who tells you the road to success is smooth has never truly been in the trenches.
Over a career where I’ve owned and operated nearly 60 businesses, I have yet to encounter a single venture that didn’t come with its own set of roadblocks, unexpected crises, and challenging situations. The reality of entrepreneurship is that friction is guaranteed. Every single business demands that you fight to move it forward.
To survive—and ultimately thrive—in business, you cannot afford to be rigid. You must possess the ability to think outside the box and pivot instantly when a strategy isn’t working or circumstances shift. Change isn’t just an occasional hurdle; it is a permanent condition of the marketplace.
At the end of the day, adaptability is the ultimate predictor of success. If you can’t, or won’t, evolve as the marketplace demands, your business won’t just fail—it is likely to suffer a slow, painful, and entirely preventable death. True leadership is about mastering the pivot.
We’ve been impressed with ZivZo Marketing Group, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
At ZivZo Marketing Group, we don’t just create marketing campaigns—we build growth engines. We are a full-service digital marketing agency, but what truly sets us apart is that our strategies aren’t born out of textbooks. They are forged from real-world, hands-on business ownership.
Before I opened a marketing agency, I owned and operated nearly 60 businesses across multiple industries. I know exactly what it feels like to worry about payroll, to fight for market share, and to need a real return on every single dollar spent. Most agencies look at data through the lens of a marketer; at ZivZo, we look at marketing through the lens of a CEO.
Because of that, we don’t believe in superficial cookie-cutter marketing. The very first thing we do with every company that engages ZivZo is a comprehensive, granular deep dive into their entire operation. We know that the more we understand the inner workings, the nuances, and the unique challenges of your specific business, the more precisely we can engineer the strategy to help your company reach its goals.
We specialize in high-impact visibility and lead generation, taking a brand—whether it’s a local favorite or a fast-scaling franchise—and making it dominant in its marketplace.
The market changes at lightning speed, and we pride ourselves on our agility, our out-of-the-box thinking, and our ability to pivot quickly to keep our clients ahead of the curve. If you work with ZivZo, you aren’t just hiring a vendor; you’re gaining a battle-tested partner dedicated to your revenue growth.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
If I had to sum up what truly drives me, it comes down to a relentless work ethic and a level of street-savvy that you can only get from fifty years in the entrepreneurial trenches. I didn’t learn business in a classroom; I learned it on the pavement, managing payroll, negotiating leases, and navigating the harsh realities of the open market. That street-smart DNA is baked into everything we do.
Crucially, I have walked a mile in our clients shoes. Throughout my career owning dozens of companies, I have sat on the other side of the table. I’ve been the client hiring the marketing agency. I know exactly how it feels to be asked to hand over your hard-earned money and place your trust in someone else’s hands, hoping they deliver on their promises. Because I’ve been there, I respect that trust immensely.
When a business owner signs on with ZivZo, that responsibility weighs heavily on me. I take their success personally. My extensive business background brings an absolute wealth of real-world knowledge to the table—insights on operations, scaling, and market positioning that our clients heavily benefit from, far beyond standard marketing advice.
That weight is exactly what fuels my drive. I push myself incredibly hard, and I expect that same level of absolute commitment from the ZivZo team. We aren’t a passive agency that watches the clock. We are aggressive, focused, and relentless.
We push boundaries, challenge standard assumptions, and outwork the competition because we know what’s at stake for our clients. When you partner with ZivZo, you get a battle-tested advocate who treats your capital with the same respect I treated my own, and a team that will do whatever it takes to engineer a successful marketing program that delivers bottom-line results.
Pricing:
- At ZivZo, we’ve built a reputation for being accessible to businesses of all sizes, from agile local operations to rapidly scaling enterprises. We firmly believe that world-class, elite marketing should not be an exclusive luxury reserved only for corporate giants with endless capital.
- We don’t force our clients into rigid, overpriced, pre-packaged digital models. Instead, we have been architecting bespoke marketing programs tailored directly to each client’s specific goals and budget, based strictly on the required scope of work. Because I’ve sat on your side of the desk, I know that every dollar in a business budget must be justified. We pride ourselves on the fact that ZivZo’s fees will never break the bank.
- Our focus is entirely on efficiency, transparency, and Return On Investment. We align our services with what your business needs today, with the built-in flexibility to scale up as we help your revenue grow. When you invest with ZivZo, you aren’t paying for agency overhead or unnecessary fluff—you are paying for targeted, battle-tested strategies designed to maximize your bottom line without overextending your resources.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://ZivZo.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ZivZoVideos
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bensonfischer/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTHszUwUsuq2-zfj-oZCW9w/videos
- Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/zivzo
