Steven Samblis

Background

Steven Mark "Steve" Samblis is an American businessman, inventor, TV host, Interviewer, Movie Critic and Entrepreneur. He is the founder and CEO of Envision TV, Inc. and Cinema Buzz, Inc. He was born in Hammond, Indiana.

Samblis began his business life as a stock broker out of high school, where he was ranked among the top 50 rookie stock brokers at Dean Witter Reynolds. During this time Samblis also worked with congress on shareholder’s rights representing T Boone Pickens’ “United Shares Holders Association.”

In 1989 Samblis founded Self Help Zone, one of the first Fax based marketing company selling self-improvement programs. As the company grew he expanded into the production of audio programs with the opening of Ziglar Productions where they produced Zig Ziglar's "The Secret of Staying Motivated", "The Secrets of Closing The Sales", "Mega Memory" and other audio programs.

At this time Samblis collaborated with Chicken Soup for the Soul co-creator Mark Victor Hansen on the audio program that told the story of "The Reason For My Success" and how others could use his "permission based" fax marketing process. The program, called "The Worlds Greatest Marketing Tools". That program sold over 100,000 copies in the first 3 months of its release.

Working as a business consultant Samblis was hired by his friend Mike Grondahl, who owned a single gym named Coastal Fitness, in Dover New Hampshire. The gym was offering 30 days for free as a promotion. Samblis advised Mike that "Free" had no value, but $9.95 was an incredible value. The Gym tried the $9.95 strategy and it work so well that they changed their monthly memberships to only $9.95 a month. A few months later while having dinner with Mike and several friends at Planet Hollywood in Lake Buena Vista Florida. Samblis realized the Coastal Fitness would be a difficult name to franchise. Samblis took the placemat and with a crayon and drew out the name "Planet Fitness" and showed it to everyone and said "This needs to be the new name of the gym" In November 2015 Planet Fitness went public with a 1.2 billion dollar market valuation.

In 1999 Samblis traveled for a year as the keynote speaker for the Investor's Institute. The institute held seminars on the topic of stock market investing. During that year 250,000 people attended the lectures in cities throughout the U.S.

In 1990 Samblis launched Self Help Zone. In 2008 he took the company public. The main business was the website selfhelpzone.com which was founded to capitalize on the "new opportunity" for on-line Self Help Audio, Video and Book retailing. Before it was popular, He felt the Self Help industry was particularly suited to on-line retailing because of its unlimited on-line shelf space offering customers a vast selection through an efficient search and retrieval interface. After a successful IPO and launch the company was sold in 2003 to a private firm.

In 2004 Samblis founded IC Places, Inc. with a single website icplaces.com. The company grew from one site to a network of 350 city based websites connecting businesses with their patrons by providing up to the minute information. The sites where considered different from other social networking and reference sites because each city site offered a virtual portal to the entire community. Every unique aspect of the individual city's social, business, and cultural life was available right at the city's homepage. The sites provided communities with a place to talk, do business and get connected. As video online became a viable possibility in 2008 Samblis created the Instant Movie Review, where Samblis and his co-host Brad Daymond would go from a movie to a camera in the parking lot and give their instant thoughts on the latest Hollywood movies. The Instant Movie Review became the sites first video content. Later that year Adam Curry saw the Instant Movie Reviews and asked to run them on his site Mevio.com.

In 2008 Samblis took IC Places, Inc, public on the "Over The Counter Market" under the symbol of ICPA. During its peak in 2013, the public company held a market cap of 11.8 million dollars. Samblis sold his controlling interest in the company in 2015.

In 2015 Samblis founded Envision TV, Inc. with the Mission Statement of "To Empower and inspire people to become their greatest selves." The company is a Media Company focused on producing, acquiring and distributing personal development content across multiple platforms. The main platform of the company is www.Envision.TV

In 2015 Samblis Produced the Behind the Scenes Featurette for Lavalantula for the Blu-Ray and DVD release.

In 2016 Samblis began developing Envision VR a platform for Immersive Personal Development.

In 2015 Samblis co-produced and starred in Vigilante Diaries starring Michael Jai White from The Dark Knight, Michael Madsen from "Reservoir Dogs" and "The Hateful Eight", Danny Trejo "Machete" and Jason Mewes of "Jay and Silent Bob" fame.

Self help Zone

The company sold self-improvement programs. The story of the creation of his company was told in an audio program called The Worlds Greatest Marketing Tool. It was co-hosted by Chicken Soup for the Soul co-creator Mark Victor Hansen.

The Hollywood Fast Lane

After filming a show called The Instant Movie Reviews, Hollywood studios invited Samblis to join a small group of movie critics as they interview actors and directors prior to the release of their movies. This became a TV show called The Hollywood Fast Lane. In the show, Samblis has sat down one on one with over 600 actors and directors for on camera interviews. His comments on movies have appeared in national advertisements for some of the movies featured.

Television

Samblis is a creator and producer of TV shows including, My Home Office, The Uncommon Denominator, Masters of Success, Start-up Story, Cooking for Bachelors, Finding Mental Toughness, Beyond The Knock, One Habit, Selling Beyond the Choir, Static, Urban Beat Hollywood, The Hollywood Fast Lane and 1st Look.

In 2016, Steve signed an agreement to have 4 of the shows he produces to air in 40 million homes in the US on FOTV. Those shows include... Funny Space, Redneck Review, Cinema Buzz and Envision TV.

Envision TV

Envision TV was created by Samblis. The network which delivers videos by Speakers, Authors and Thought Leaders which Inspires, Educates, Empowers, Engages and Entertains our audience.

Cinema Buzz

In 2016 Samblis founded Cinema Buzz, Inc. a Media Company which owns websites, TV shows and apps which distributes video and written news and reviews covering topics in the area of cinema and television. The website was designed to bring fans together, by helping like-minded fans of cinema and television find each other and intact about the topic.

Accolades

Samblis has been honored with industry awards, including ’Top 5 Account Executives Registered 5 Year or Less’ (Dean Witter Reynolds )

Personal life

Samblis resides in Hollywood, California. He is an avid cigar smoker.