SHORT VERSION: Small town boy finds his way and purpose, escapes the 9-5 grind and crushes it in the network marketing and e-commerce world.
Hopefully my story will help you with your own entrepreneurial path. It takes grit and tenacity to fight for your dreams when all, even your friends and family, seem to be against you. Don’t quit. You’ll have an AMAZING STORY to tell the world. No test, no testimony. Music, art, crafts, history, and MARKETING are all things that move me. I am a marketing nerd. When I see a really good commercial aired, I will literally rewind it and take all of the aspects in. Which is probably one of the reasons I have a good intuition about the topic of marketing.
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MY STORY: When I look back on my life I realize that I was always an entrepreneur in some form or another.
For 2 summers when I was 7 and 8 years old I would walk around the neighborhood with my, (red radio flyer wagon), selling: corn, green beans, strawberries and the like. Which all came from our family garden.
When I was 10-13 I had a paper route that I ran all year. This was also a form of entrepreneurship because I could go door-to-door and get “new customers.” This gave me more money since I got paid a certain amount for every subscriber.
When I turned 14, I got struck with the hankering to become a “Rock Star.” I didn’t realize being a musician is DEFINITELY a form on entrepreneurship. I knew I needed to learn an instrument. I had my heart set on it being the drums. (I bought my own sticks and was drumming on everything.) That all changed when my Dad and I went to the music store. We looked at all the drums that were available and the least expensive one was $800 (somewhere around 1985) which was a lot of money. My dad took a look around and asked the sales person, “how much is that red guitar?” The salesman said “99 dollars.” My Dad looked at me and said, “Son, you’re going to be a guitar player”. Needless to say…we went home with the red guitar. TRUE STORY. I spent years honing my craft and became a pretty decent guitar player. I went on to record 4 studio albums and our originals were really good. We were even played on local radio stations. Hold on, it wasn’t recording contract impressive. They were all self-funded by unknown bands I was in. However, I have played live in front of hundreds, and a few times thousands of people. I kept that going until my thirties. Took a break in 2005…I will come back to this time frame and my music career later.
When I was 19, I had someone show me “the network marketing circles” for the first time. The vision was planted. Needless to say, since that day I have always seen the vision of building a NETWORK. After all, your net-worth is directly tied to your network. I mean they had me hook, line, and sinker. I jumped in feet first and gave it my all, building the infamous “A” company. That’s right, I joined Amway. I also will NEVER REGRET those lessons. I learned the importance of self-development and the POWER OF HAVING A DREAM. I gave it my all, but I also failed miserably. I WAS AN EPIC FAILURE. I was pure ignorance on fire.
Realizing I needed some REAL INCOME, I reluctantly went out and got another job (Just-Over-Broke) in a die cast factory. I started in the machine department for a temp-agency making $5.00 per hour, quickly making my way to the die cast department, which paid $6.00 an hour. I eventually got hired in and worked that same job for the next 15 years, leaving in 2006. All along the way learning basically the entire plant. I worked my way up many levels of what I would call “grunt work” leader. I also learned that I hated that kind of lifestyle. The natural effect was to find my way back into FREE ENTERPRISE.
Some of the biggest events of my life happened during this time period. In 2000, I was gifted my son. Me and his mom didn’t make it (I will spare you the details…) but we did create an amazing human. I was granted custody of him when he was 15 months old. Don’t get me wrong. I had to fight for him and I would do it all over again. So if you find yourself in this situation, don’t think you won’t have to fight. I will give you some advice…Most men don’t get custody of their children because they think they can’t, so they sit back and wait for papers to be served. If you love your kids and want them in your life or KNOW they deserve to be with you, SEND THE PAPERS FIRST. It’s no guarantee, but it does display that you are willing to fight. From 2002-2003 I was a single parent raising my son AND working a full-time job. I can’t thank the people enough that helped me get through that time in my life. I was drinking 3 pots of coffee per day and sleeping about 3-4 hours. Only GOD ALMIGHTY got me through that.
It was 2003 I met my future wife. This is another big moment in my life, as she also had a son. It always felt right because we both were seeking the same things in life. My wife is, and always has been my rock. I could not do what I do without her doing what she does. My wife has always supported and believed in me. That support and belief is what allowed me to be free and accomplish so much.
It was in 2004 I was introduced to another Network Marketing opportunity. I was still working at the die cast factory where I worked since 1991. With some wind under my wings I saw the vision and went straight to work. 14 months later, I had a team of 700 reps and I was making twice as much money with my Network Marketing company as I was in the job I ever had for 15 years. It was the last job I ever had, I quit that job in Jan of 2006.
2006 is where my BUSINESS JOURNEY really begins…
I was now FREE. Free to do whatever I needed to do to thrive in FREE ENTERPRISE. No more job dipping in to my time at the pace of 60 hours per week. I started honing my newly required skills, learning: people skills, graphic art skills, website building skills, team building skills, branding skills, communication skills, copywriting skills, and on and on. By 2008 my skills were getting better but the company I was in started receding. I was so naive that I thought it would last forever and grow exponentially. Nope. Even though my skills were much better, my team had diminished from where it once was. Now I had to keep bucketing the water out of my sinking boat, or find another boat that wasn’t leaking. I chose to find another opportunity in the home based business arena. I did and it bombed. I found another…and it bombed. I found another…and it exploded. It was like hitting the jackpot. I had a team of 3,000 people in 90 days,. I thought I had finally arrived. Well guess what? Easy come easy go. It bombed in next 90 days. Tough lessons… But God is AMAZING. HE ALWAYS HAS A PLAN FOR US.
My wife and I married in November of 2007. Within months we were blessed with a pregnancy. It felt like a gift from God for commitment to marriage. It was 5 months into the pregnancy when we had a miscarriage. We were instantly thrown into neonatal intensive care trying to save our premature babies life. We named her Miya. We were ready for the long-haul, but God had other plans… He took her home to heal and she died after 4 days of life. It was tragic. We got the phone call saying she was not going to make it. I will never forget that ride. It makes me break down just reliving it here. They kept her alive until we could get to the hospital. We held her as she passed. I will never forget how I felt holding my dead baby. THIS KINDA STUFF WILL CHANGE YOU FOREVER. It really puts things into perspective. I saw these tiny babies (their heads are the size of tennis balls), fighting for their chance at life. Then we walked to our car to see nurses smoking by the fence and street drunks walking around. These people had a chance at life and they’re wasting it. If you are reading this, then you have a chance at life too. DON’T WASTE IT!
In 2009, we were blessed again with a pregnancy. Talk about living on pins and needles. After losing a baby so recently, it was nerve racking. But God is AMAZING. HE ALWAYS HAS A PLAN FOR US. We had a perfect pregnancy with few complications. This is the year God gave me my daughter. She is our destiny by God Almighty. If Miya wasn’t taken back to heaven, we would not have tried for another. WE ALL HAVE PURPOSE, LIVE YOUR LIFE WITH PURPOSE.
Between 2008 and 2012 I dabbled in go-nowhere-Network-Marketing-opportunities. Unfortunately, they all started going loopy, becoming the ME-TOO companies that we see today. What I mean by Me-Too, is everyone is selling the same stuff “you sell a weight loss shake? me too.” I just couldn’t find anything to really get my heart into. Therefore, I focused on honing my internet skills, building systems and websites that I could turn in to revenue. During this time, I learned the bulk of my graphic design skills, website building skills, speaking skills, training abilities, and began sharpening my sales funnels.
Finally, here is when tenacity starts to PAY OFF…
It was 2012 when I discovered the power of e-commerce. I discovered how to sell on various platforms like eBay & Amazon. It was at this time the embers of my calling to build my own brand began to flame. We were drilling for water and up comes PURE OIL. I’m talking go get Granny, Jethro and Elly May!!! I mean wow! We were selling weight-loss shakes (and other products) faster than I could print the shipping labels. It was crazy. We started in our basement. Quickly realizing we didn’t like to carry these boxes of products up and down the stairs, I started brain storming about taking over our garage. Shortly after that moment, we decided to build a 30×30 building just to fulfill all of the orders. So we had finally arrived to the big leagues. For about 3 years straight we would do more than 1.4 million in sales every year. It was this year, I had the inner-burning-desire to start my own brand. It had always been a dream but I never acted on it. After all, I had no idea “how to create my own brand.” Life was good. It was so good, I got lazy. I quit all my side projects, I stopped developing my personal brand and building networks. We were simply suppling the demands of the market.
After about 3 years, in 2015 we starting seeing it was getting crowded in the marketplaces. More and more companies were not letting us sell their products anymore, as they were realizing they could do so without us.
WE WERE BEING SQUEEZED OUT.
I felt like every where I turned there were only dried up watering holes. We went from 1.4 million in sales down to a mere $200,000. The biggest problem with that is we still had 1.4 million dollar bills. We also had the State of California contact us for back sales tax that we never collected but was still responsible for. We were just on top of the world and now nothing but feelings of helplessness.
Here come the panic attacks… Here comes a major transition for us.
I remember my first panic attack. I was driving to my retail store and I started burning up. My skin was on fire and I had cold sweats at the same time. I eventually came to the conclusion that I needed to pull over, so I did. I pulled over. I was wearing a beanie hat, sweatshirt and a coat (it was the middle of winter). So… I got out of the car and took off the beanie and my jacket but that seemed to do nothing. So I took off my sweatshirt and eventually my undershirt. I stood in the middle of the road (not typically a busy road). I had a decision to make, I had to make it fast because I was about to pass out. “Do I get back in the car or… go to the ditch?” I decided to go back to car and turned the fans on high trying to cool off. I was suspended in time. I couldn’t even make a phone call to call my wife (who was at the store packing products waiting for me), I was completely out of it. I thought I was having a heart attack or dying right then, I was alone and I was scared. This all took place in about 5 minutes, yet it seemed like an hour. I recovered and got back to normal, I got dressed and started driving again. The rest of the way to the store I was like WTF JUST HAPPENED TO ME? I called my wife and started telling her what happened. We started googling the symptoms and learned that I had a full on panic attack. Owing more than I could pay eventually broke me down to having chronic panic attacks. It was at this point I truly understood why some people find a tall building to end it all. It is real! It is real… scary to feel that broken. I used to think that people who have anxiety and panic attacks all the time, were full sh!t. Well, I have a new found respect for those people – that’s for sure. I realized that my panic attacks were starting in my mind. I was spending too much time thinking about of all the bad going on. Being so overwhelmed, it seemed I had no control. Eventually I was able to snap out of it. Almost like a JEDI-MIND-TRICK. I learned to relax and stop buying what your brain is trying to sell me. JUST LET GO AND GIVE IT TO GOD.
We decided to create our OWN BRANDS.
In 2015, I created my first trademarked brand MOJObody. The seeds were first planted 2-3 years prior. As I have said before, God is AMAZING. HE ALWAYS HAS A PLAN FOR US. I applied for my first trademark, mapped out my game plan. I built a website, designed the labels – the whole 9 yards. Quickly starting my 2nd trademarked brand, In Love Gourmet in 2016. We started In Love Gourmet online but quickly jumped in to the local markets and trade shows. I was quickly thrust in to a whole new environment. I had been doing business only online. Now I had to learn new offline skills to compete. All of these skills have converged into our current business models.
As I have stated, I have overcame many adversities. One of my first branding debacles was when I first applied to trademark my gourmet food company. When I started I was going to call it “Olove Gourmet Oil Company”. I thought changing the “i” for an “o” was brilliant. I thought I was super clever and nobody else would ever think of something so clever. I laugh, because it was a VERY COSTLY and STUPID MISTAKE that I made. It turned out that I could not trademark the name because it was already registered. It was registered to an olive company in the UK. So I JUMPED THE GUN and had a mess to clean up. We had already purchased inventory with the WRONG LABELS and also a branded tent that cost over $1,000.00. We we able to relabel our products but the tent went straight to the trash along side my trademark fee of $500. Oh yeah, if you apply for a trademark and don’t get approved…they keep your money. Good thing I didn’t quit as In Love Gourmet is one of highlights of branding achievement.
During 2018, I started my branding and advertising company – Brand Abundance. As I went to various trade shows I would get compliments on my branding and marketing. I realized I had skills that others did not. I realized I could help a lot of other business owners create and build a better brand. This is my focus to this day. You can learn more about our products and services at BrandAbundance.com
So now we reach 2020…eeek!!! WE ALL KNOW WHAT HAPPENED THEN. 🙁
Looking for more fulfillment in life… I started my band again as a hobby. It had been a 15 year hiatus. It is something that I love and it comes easy to me. Now I am “back at it.” In 2020, I started another band and I am doing what I love to do. SUCCESS. It may of started as a hobby, but you know me… Now we are monetizing it – wouldn’t be right if we didn’t. 😉 I am simply doing my thing… logo, website, branding, marketing, recording studio, etc.
2022 comes in like a hung-over turtle, with a sluggish economy and a whole new slew of challenges to running a business. This is the year we launched our Mastermind Series “Pursuing Free Enterprise in a Slow Economy.” We are running full speed to help as many entrepreneurs as possible. We have a list of things you can do right now to combat, overcome, and prosper.
As for today…
My biggest passion is developing a life that matters, a life we love and cherish. My brands are GROWING every year and as we evolve so do they. My branding, coaching, and training clients are GROWING and my passion for helping others BREAKTHROUGH their business adversities is also GROWING EXPONENTIALLY. My rock band is doing great and our following is GROWING, and…we sound REALLY GOOD. 🙂
Hopefully you enjoyed my story and may be some of it hit home for YOU. Are you are an entrepreneur that wants to find your way on the map? Take my 5 minute questionnaire and schedule an appointment with me today. I look forward to creating something magical together.
Here’s to YOUR MASSIVE SUCCESS!
Branding & Marketing Coach
Dave Bradbury
877-753-8231
PS: Did you know I offer a FREE consultation zoom/call to evaluate your business desires? Book an appointment with me today!!! http://book.davebradbury.net/
