“Frank and I own a title agency, and life was good for a while until we got caught in the market plunge of 2008,” he said. “Being serial entrepreneurs we were always looking for a new venture, so when someone told us about energy deregulation, we took a closer look. We even lost a loan officer to the business, so we started looking at it more carefully.”

The duo did their homework and liked what they saw. “We started talking to people and someone told us about deregulation in Connecticut, and said it was coming to New Jersey. We reached out to Rob McFadden, met him, and decided to put our involvement on a high priority.”

The rest is company history. Occhiogrosso’s record of success speaks for itself as he joins Frank Marone as one of the company’s first two Platinum Ambassadors. But their work is far from over.

“We’ve always made good money, but never on a residual basis,” he said. “We always had employees and salaries to be concerned about, but now we have the residual aspect to it. Now we know how much money we’re going to make next month, and our overhead is minimal, so that’s a good feeling.”

Still, Occhiogrosso is pragmatic about the ongoing income stream. “It’s nice to be making five or fifty or one hundred grand a month without having to get out of bed,” he said. “Think how big of a certificate of deposit you’d need to make that much interest every month.”

Yet besides the obvious benefits of the money, Joe O. has also been surprised by how much the business has impacted those on his team. “People come up to me, to thank me for the inspiration. They say ‘You’ve changed my life, saved my home and my marriage,’” he said. “This is all extra stuff I didn’t expect from this business.”

He also finds joy in the simple things his success has afforded him.

“My ‘Why’ is going on vacation with my family, and not having to worry about the bills. Making sure my family has what it wants and needs is important to me,” he said. “Viridian not only offers money, but more time. Anyone can get a job and make money, but successful Viridian Associates are tired of trading time for money. Life is too short.”

Occhiogrosso puts that extra time to good use. “On Thursdays Frank and I go to the food shelter from 9 til 12, to volunteer our time,” he said. “People in need come to pick up food. Viridian has enabled us to spend more time volunteering, so we can give something back.”

Like Frank Marone, Joe O. also has big plans for the future. “My goal is to make a million dollars a month,” he said. “When I told [CEO] Michael Fallquist that, he said ‘I hope to pay you guys that some day. Because that means the company will be worth more than a billion dollars by then.’”

Will the help of his team, Occhiogrosso will surely hit his goal sooner rather than later. “In my experience, most partners in business are looking to backstab each other,” he said. “But this company is the only one I’ve seen where everyone helps everyone else all the time. It’s the perfect business model."