by Jonathan Gramling

Being an entrepreneur must be in Jermaine Butler’s genes. Even as a child, Butler, owner of Zenith Hospitality Group, had that urge.

“Growing up, I always had the entrepreneurial spirit,” Butler said. “I tried to start a company selling rims for cars. I was always selling, selling, selling. So I’ve always had that drive, that spirit to create my own income.”

It was when Butler was working for American Family that the opportunity — and the idea — came his way.

“We were giving rides to people,” Butler said. “We had an event. And they started giving me money thanking me for picking them up. I was directed to the business.”

Butler had already developed and went out and purchased his first limo, a 24-seat stretch limousine complete with a fireplace. Park Synch was born.

“I was driving at first, just trying to get a feel for the position, the vehicle and the clients,” Butler said. “And then I started purchasing more vehicles. At that point, I obviously had to have more drivers. It was just me. I would put money back into the company, which is the smartest thing to do. I was living off the company at least I could. And everything else was going back in.”

This was the start — and not the end — of Butler’s expansion. While he focused on his company, he also had an eye on new opportunities.

“Our businesses are in Ashville, NC, Kansas City, Houston, Palm Beach, FL, and Las Vegas,” Butler said. “It wasn’t really that I chose them. I feel like they chose me. I would take a trip and get somewhere and I would see that this place needs our services. And then I started investigating establishing a business there and then we would move forward.”

The building block for any successful business is the people who work for it. While he is a sole proprietor, Butler knows he isn’t in it alone

“I don’t have financial partners,” Butler said. “I say ‘we’ because I look at my employees as co-workers. It’s not just ‘I.’ It’s ‘we.’ But it is my company. I just say ‘we’ as a whole. I respect the people who work for me. I just have one manager in each location and that particular manager reports to me. All of their staff reports to them. That way, I don’t have to manage everyone. I just manage the 5-6 people I need who support me.”

Butler went wherever opportunity took him.

“We went beyond the initial service when we started valet parking for hotels,” Butler said. “We’ve been doing that for many, many years. We’ve been doing it for 10 plus years. And then we got into the food and beverage side of things. That seems to be going well for us. We’re a five-star restaurant in the state of Wisconsin out of Mt. Horeb.”