Among the most striking qualities of Scientologist Patrick Clouden are his friendliness, energy, and intention—traits that explain, at least in part, his success in sales, as a motivational speaker and an entrepreneur. But Clouden describes the inauspicious beginnings of his career and the role Scientology played in helping him accomplish his goals.

“I had just graduated from Canisius College in Buffalo, New York, in 1975 and I was ready to take on the world. But no one seemed interested,” he says. “I couldn’t get a job.”

Clouden grew up in a large and close-knit family and his sister’s husband, a Scientologist, noticed his frustration. Hearing what Clouden was running into, he suggested the Communication Course at the Church of Scientology of Buffalo.

“Just by gaining practical skill in the component parts of communication, within two weeks I had five different job offers,” says Clouden.

He took a job selling Yellow Pages in Western and Upstate New York, and although he was their youngest outside sales rep he excelled.

Perfect timing was a factor in the success of his first entrepreneurial venture. He put together a team to sell long distance service when the telecommunications industry was deregulated. But Clouden feels an even more significant factor was his ability to focus and carry out his intention—to persevere along a given course—an ability he says was greatly augmented by his Scientology training.

He set up and developed a long distance company with a subscriber base of 50-60,000 customers.

He then moved into the energy deregulation field, co-founding a company in 1999 that enrolled 2.5 million residential and 300,000 commercial customers across the United States and Canada, including many Fortune 500 companies.

Clouden has a distinctive operating basis. He builds a team and creates an environment where people can work successfully toward a common goal. He gained these skills by studying the Hubbard Management System administrative technology developed by L. Ron Hubbard.

Clouden and wife Laura have been married for 28 years and raised two sons.

Committed to empowering the next generation, Clouden is a staunch supporter of the Drug-Free World drug education and prevention campaign. His company has a fulltime employee whose entire job is to encourage other businesses and groups to implement drug education in the workplace.

"As family-oriented people, we know we must educate youth and adults about drugs. We make significant contributions to this and other humanitarian programs as we believe people are worth helping and that through our actions we can create a better future for all,” he says.

To learn more about Scientology and view videos of more than 200 Scientologists visit the Scientology website.

The popular “Meet a Scientologist” profiles on the Church of Scientology International Video Channel at Scientology.org now total more than 200 broadcast-quality documentary videos featuring Scientologists from diverse locations and walks of life. The personal stories are told by Scientologists who are educators, teenagers, skydivers, a golf instructor, a hip-hop dancer, IT manager, stunt pilot, mothers, fathers, dentists, photographers, actors, musicians, fashion designers, engineers, students, business owners and more.

A digital pioneer and leader in the online religious community, in April 2008 the Church of Scientology became the first major religion to launch its own official YouTube Video Channel, with videos now viewed more than 6 million times.