From Selling Ice Brandon Adams Shares His Inspiring Story of Rising to the Top

Pamela Bardhi
Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of underdog. Today I have an amazing guest here with me who’s like a Rockstar out of this world. Emmy Award-winning producers, speaker, coach, video marketing expert shark. He’s just like the bomb.com Brandon T. Adams, how are you, my friend?

Brandon Adams
You know, I’m gonna pay you later for calling me the shark, the bomb. I’m gonna bring you to all my events. You’re gonna be my hype woman.

Pamela Bardhi
Don’t say that, because I’ll actually be there and I’ll be there with love.

Brandon Adams
I know.

Pamela Bardhi
Such a blessing to have you here today. My friend. I’m like, I’ve heard snippets of your story. We were down in Florida together and I’m just so excited to have you here and honored to have yours. Well, thank you so much for being here.

Brandon Adams
I have a lot of fun with you in Florida and I can’t get out of my nose or my head. When I opened that freezer that was full of food and electricity was turned off and that one apartment. Oh my, Golly. That was horrible.

Pamela Bardhi
That smell is still ingrained in my nostrils. I will tell you that. And then we just ran out of there. We found all the ramen on the floor, we were just like, okay, it’s Oh, man, you gotta love it, though. You never know what you find in these Real Estate projects.

Brandon Adams
You’ll never know what you’re gonna find. It’s a world of real estate. I mean, not everybody can handle it. But the ones that do handle it, they can make out pretty well like yourself.

Pamela Bardhi
Absolutely. That was a blast. But today I’m just so honored to have you here, Brandon. And like, just your journey in general, you are just like a serial entrepreneur by trade shark so much more amazing. What led you on your journey to where you are today? Loaded question I know.

Brandon Adams
Yeah, we were selling ice for a living. I sold frozen water, believe it or not. And everybody says Oh, can you sell ice to an Eskimo? Yes, I could. So I learned how to sell ice. My dad grew up in a small town in Iowa and I was born and raised in Carnival, Iowa, my dad was always an entrepreneur. But in 1986, he started a business called Adam’s ice service. And so it was like cube dice bag dice. He would Buy Wholesale he would distribute it to bars, restaurants, different special events. So ever since I was born, literally a little kid. I was carrying bags of ice back to the truck and I was helping my dad and ice business.

And so that was my beginning and that’s why I really understand the power of selling. The power of customer relationships, the power of relationships. And my dad always taught me that going above and beyond for people treats them like family. But also customer service. One thing in the ice business is during the holidays. I mean 70% of our revenue came between Memorial Labour Day weekend. So those weekends, I was always working for the July week. We were working and so, one thing we told our customers, we might have charged more for our product. But we said you will never be out of product.

Because of the hot weather and also during the holidays. A lot of our competition in their stores. The people they would supply to would run out of ice, meaning they would lose out on sales. So what we did is we made sure they would never run out of ice. And what that consisted of is me working like 100 hour weeks. We were delivering ice late at night and going above and beyond for your client. Really just stuck with me for the rest of my life and everything that I do. And so did the ice business and went to college. I didn’t do well in my entrepreneur endeavors we’re selling moonshine in the dorm rooms.

That was like my fun time. I got a 1.68 GPA. My freshman year, I got kicked out of the dorms for fighting and I had to leave the dorms. And I really went down the wrong path. But then I read this book by Napoleon Hill, called Think and Grow Rich. The book completely changed my life and what a guy by the name of Napoleon Hill. He dedicated his life to share with the world the philosophies of success. And what it takes to achieve success. I interviewed Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, you name it. All these different people and he put it into principles.

And so the 13 principles of success were 17 of them, but 13 in the book. There’s an extra one that nobody knows about. But what I did was soak this book up, but I realized that. I don’t have to be the smartest person, I don’t have to have a 4.0. What I need is a burning desire to have success in life, I gotta know what I want. If I surround myself with the right people, I can get whatever I want in life. So that book changed my thought process, which led to me realizing I can do whatever I want. I mean, growing up in a town of 700 people. You don’t actually believe I could go, let’s say, become a millionaire. Or go be the next world changer. Because you just don’t know what’s beyond that small town.

And so, reading the book opened up. What I thought was possible and maybe look at life differently and what I did on a regular basis. So what I ended up doing, which led me kind of where I’m at today. I started being really motivated and working on different things. And one of the first things I did was I got into crowdfunding. So I was helping people raise money online, Kickstarter, Indiegogo and the key component to that crowdfunding was the video we created. We created a video that told a story, got their attention, got people to give us money for our project.

And so I ended up becoming known in the crowdfunding space. Because I helped some very influential people raise money on platforms. Then crowdfunding led to me realizing, oh. I want to do more of this video stuff. So then I went on, to go produce different TV shows, all my own TV shows. And then the coolest thing I did was that book that I had read and I ended up going on. To help produce a movie on it, called thinking grows a rich legacy. So that’ll happen, I mean, that book led me to doing all these other things.

Because I learned, there’s a couple things I’ll throw out here, specialized knowledge. I realized I had to have specialized knowledge. What was my specialized knowledge was raising money and filming things. Not me myself, but bringing a team together and then masterminding. Who you surround yourself with, I surrounded myself with world changers, which allowed me to get their persistence. So you have to be persistent and then have a burning desire to achieve what you want. And so, where did I begin? Where did it start? For me, it started slinging ice, working a lot of hours, getting paid by the hour to figure it out. How to make money while I sleep and working smarter. And really using my efforts to bring a team together to achieve big things and that’s where I am today.

Pamela Bardhi
I love it. Oh, my God, your journey is so out of this world. Amazing. We share that parallel of being in family business when we were younger. And growing up with that, you know, for me, it was the restaurant world when I was 10 years old and then, that teaches you so much. That you don’t think that those skills translate and a lot of people. They just like to hold back on talking about it. If they were a waitress or a waiter, or whatever, you know what I mean? Like all of these experiences that you have. Really do shape you and the skills that you can build are unreal. Because he said, like all your persuasion skills, your customer service skills, everything translated, right?

Brandon Adams
100% and it all translated. It made me so grateful. Like, I’m grateful I grew up in a small town. I’m grateful I had a father mentor and it did allow me to understand the foundation of business. And so I needed that, you know, and then, going to the book that ultimately led me to work with the world leaders out there. The billionaires and the sharks. And so yeah, it’s quite a journey. I mean, I’m super grateful for the journey and where it’s going.

Pamela Bardhi
Oh, my God, I can’t wait to get into all that. But first, I have to ask you the burning question of what did you want to be, when you were a kid? What was your dream?

Brandon Adams
Yeah, why achieved it too. So when I was in kindergarten, they asked you to write down what you want to be when you grew up. I drew a picture of myself and I drew a picture of my dad. Then I put a big ice truck and I had a bunch of ice bags and I always said. I want to go into business, my dad said when I grew up. And so ultimately, when I got out of college in 2014, I actually bought the business from my father. So I first went into business and then I bought the business outright from my father. Then I sold the business in 2019, so that’s what I wanted to be, I wanted to be Iceman. And then I became one, it was really cool.

Pamela Bardhi
That’s amazing. And you mentioned your father being your mentor. Which is another parallel that we have. Because my father was like that person. He’s like, Pam, I’m like seven years old and he’s like. You’re gonna stand on your own two feet, you’re gonna be a leader, you’re gonna do this, you’re gonna do that. He’s like, you’re not gonna need anyone, like, you’re gonna learn all the skills, like, you got this, you got this. So it’s just amazing to have those cheerleaders in our corner. And they play such a big role in who we become. So your father you had mentioned, he was like your mentor in the game. What are some of the most important things that he sort of taught you?

Brandon Adams
Yeah, so my father, sometimes it was saying. He taught me, but sometimes there’s things I noticed that he did. So I watched him hustle, I watched him work hard. But I also like one thing he told me is, he said. Son, he always tried to stray me away from nice business. He said, use your head not your back and I think about that all the time. Because now I get paid a lot for communicating and using this. And so I used to do the tedious labour all the time. So I learned that from my father. But I also like to say, before, I learned the power of being a good business person. Going above and beyond for your clients and customer service, like customer service could relate to relationships.

So business relationships, customer service, he would always, even like he would do every year. He would do his customer appreciation and in my parents cabin, he would have food and drinks. And to me, I do stuff like that. But also, he did little things for the clients that he had. He was always making them feel good and doing things above and beyond that. People will expect that, how I relate that today. Like my friends, I’ll buy them a birthday dinner or I’ll give them their favorite cigars. Or I will do things for them that most people wouldn’t do.

Because I just believe that, I really think you should just add massive value to other people and go above and beyond. You can create a great experience for somebody and add value to them. They’re gonna want to work with you forever. And you got to have fun, I don’t do business with people. I can’t see myself, I would have to see myself inviting them over for dinner, I can’t envision that, I don’t want to work with them.

Pamela Bardhi
Yeah, amen. I Love that, I love that so much. And now you mentioned, you transitioned into college and you were kind of like a 1.68 GPA. How was that and going from like the business then going into college? Because it’s weird, like college is like that transformational time in your life where you’re like. Who am I? Where am I going? What am I doing? So you’re in this, like a business of trying to figure out all these different things. And you’re on your own, so it’s totally different and you’re disconnected. So, what was that experience like for you?

Brandon Adams
Some people do, I mean, growing up in a small town and then you go to college. You have freedom, sex, drugs, alcohol. I mean, that wasn’t what I did, I mean, In high school, I think I had like a 3.9, I didn’t have to study or anything. And then once I went to college, I thought I can just show up and things go. Well, I found out that you have to go to class and I found out you did have to study. That’s why I got a 1.68 GPA. And that’s why I was struggling. You know, it’s funny, though. I want to share a story with you.

So I figured it out, I got through college and got my piece of paper. Which by the way, I don’t even know it’s diploma. And so I learned so much more through my business failures than I did at college. But I’m grateful for the connections at college, but I’ll tell you after I graduate. I had thought at once I was getting my MBA. And I don’t know why, I think it was just a sexy term MBA. But I did do a couple, I did one marketing class for graduate school. So when I went in, I told the professor, I said. I’m paying for this, I was paying out of pocket, I said, I just want to learn some things for you.

I honestly don’t really care that much about my grade. And I’m not going to make every class, I just want to learn specific things for marketing my own stuff. I told him that going into it and so I didn’t go to all the classes, I took away what I wanted. And when it came to the final exam, I told him I even wanted to show up. Because I did not study, I’m probably gonna bomb it. He’s like, show up. I did it and I literally half the answers, I probably guessed, like I was just like. I’m a straight smart guy and I am smart at inserting arrays. But when it comes to some of this stuff, I’m very bad at taking tests. So I handed it in and he passed me with the C, but here’s the part. That’s funny.

Two years later, I got asked by the College of Business to go speak at the university. And I go and speak in front of all these people about success. I look at the audience and there’s a guy that passed me with a C. And I just thought to myself, grades don’t fucking matter, it comes down to like, what are you doing with your knowledge? What action Are you taking? So I think that’s a big thing I got out of college and I realized I have to take action. Just because I have the degree and all that stuff, that doesn’t really get you a job anymore. I mean, it helps if you’re going to go do a nine to five.

But as an entrepreneur or somebody that really wants to go. Make a name for yourself in life, you have to be willing to think on your feet. You have to be willing to take risks and fail and you have to take action. And that’s the one thing I just got really good at taking a lot of action.

Pamela Bardhi
Thank you so much for sharing that because it’s really important. I want people to understand that no matter where you’re at in life, even if you are going through those experiences. Or going through hardships or whatever, you’re not the smartest kid in the room, it is possible for you to do it. Look at you, you were speaking in front of the university in front of the professor that gave you a C.

Like how baller is that and then also that you took your motivation and you read that book and you applied yourself. Yes, it is possible to transition from like a crap part of your life to go out there and be successful. You don’t have to be the smartest kid in the room. I say that all the time, hustle out beats talent every single day of the week. How talented you are is good for you. If you don’t apply yourself, it means nothing. And like anybody who’s hustling harder than you, they’re the ones that are gonna go out there and get it. That’s just the name of the game. So I love that you did that throughout your process and pulled yourself out of the situation you were in college and just killed it.

Brandon Adams
I took action and surrounded myself with the right people and got the right mentors.

Pamela Bardhi
I love that. And then you ended up creating a movie and there’s just so much I want to talk about. It’s so exciting, so post-college after that you were talking about crowdfunding and all of that a little bit. So walk me through a little bit what happened post-college and how you sort of really dove into your career?

Brandon Adams
Yeah, so there’s a couple steps there. So one part of it is my last semester of college. I came up with this concept called Arctic stick, a product called flavored drinks. It was another product I wanted to introduce to the ice market. I wanted to find a way to make more money and ice business. So I am spending three and a half years and 100 grand to get into the market. Though Amazon cools the flavour strengths, did it ever make me a lot of money. But what it did do is it led me to crowdfunding the last leg of funding, I did a crowdfunding campaign for it.

Then I realized that this is 2014. So I saw where the market was going, I knew that crowdfunding, crowdsourcing. This world was going to become a bigger thing. I said, there’s an opportunity for me to be an expert in this space and become the go-to person. So what I did is I became obsessed with it and started interviewing people like research and doing campaigns. And I built the business out of it and then what I did is my first big break. I had was I helped the guy named John Lee Dumas from Entrepreneur on Fire. We did a book campaign called the Freedom Journal. And so we raised on Kickstarter $453,000, in 33 days. It became one of the biggest campaigns of its time and so once I did that with that person, also, all these people wanted to work with me.

And so that opened my doors up and so I got to work with these other influential people. Which then I became the go-to person for crowdfunding. So that’s really how I built my brand in the space, but we’re the film came like I said. Before we were creating these videos for the people. Our clients and I realized I really liked being from the camera. But what happened is back in 2016, when a guy came to me and said. If you help me crowdfund. I’m a pilot, I’m on a TV show called Ambitious Adventures and he said. If you help me crowdfund this I’ll make you my co-host and we’ll do it together and I said. Yes, I helped him raise the money for it. We created the show and then became a success.

And then I started doing another show and then what happened. Was 30% in filming this movie called thinking rich legacy, they came to me and said. Hey, you help us fundraise this, we will collaborate with you on this. And I did that knowing I’m going to get in the movie and also, I’m going to become a producer and a big part of this. I became even a bigger part of it than I thought I would. So we released the movie, think of it as a legacy. I mean, some people in there which I’m sure you know. Grant, Cardone, and Barbara Corcoran, Kevin Harrington Grant, Lewis Howes Tim Store. You name it and so we did that.

And then I realized, okay, I want to do my own stuff. So I started crowdfunding my own stuff and then in that campaign internally. Like how I know, how to raise money and so that’s where I led to doing the show success in your city with my wife. So we traveled the country, filmed this TV series around success. Filmed it, shot three episodes at Amazon, and then we wrote a book on it, so that was a journey. That’s how I got into it. But I took again, my specialized knowledge and I utilize it to get into opportunities. I normally couldn’t get into and then I started realizing, Okay. I’m just gonna do it for my own stuff. And now, that’s what I do now.

Pamela Bardhi
That’s amazing. Oh, my God. And it’s just like one thing led to another led to another entrepreneur always facing this. What were the first couple of years, like as an entrepreneur building. That business gets everyone’s likes, shot from here to here, right? And it’s like, I want to make sure everyone knows the real process.

Brandon Adams
Okay, it did suck, but I also don’t want to say that, because I do enjoy the times during it. But I mean, I almost went bankrupt a couple times for a while there. And I didn’t know how to price things, I was like. Begging people to work for me, I didn’t know how to make money, I didn’t understand how to price it right. I didn’t understand how to scale something. I’m just trying to pay the bills. I’ll tell you what happened. So another reason what got me to crowdfunding is back in 2014. I had this idea to create this product development company called, Adam’s product innovation.

And my girlfriend is now my wife, today she was living in Winona, Minnesota. I was in Iowa and I said. Hey, leave your full-time job. We’re going to start this company together and I got this funding to back it up. And so she left her full-time job. But we moved to Des Moines, Iowa together and we had an office picked out. We had everything set up at the last minute. Like, once we moved in and everything, I’m like, Oh, my God. This is where my gut feeling told me this is not going to work like I needed. It wasn’t going to work, It was hard for me. Because I’m the kind of person who says, hey, if I’m going to do something do it. How to eat my pride and never follow that endeavor and then figure it out.

Then I was in a position, how am I going to pay rent, I’m in this apartment, everything else. And I also just told my girlfriend to follow me and now I have no job here. So it was definitely a very difficult, I felt like a fucking loser piece of shit. Like, I’m like. What did I just do? And so what I found out is when you hit rock bottom like that, you’re forced to figure things out. You get these superhuman powers when you’re put up against the wall. You’re going to figure it out and so I went to what I knew.

And what it was, I had studied crowdfunding. I saw what it was, I thought about doing a campaign before, I also had my invention, I said okay. I’m going to do a crowdfunding campaign for this product. That’s what we’re going to do. So we did it and then, the campaign raised money, it wasn’t a lot. But it made me realize. Okay, I can become an expert in this. So I share that because you look at it, I want to start this business and it failed. But sometimes our failures are a success in disguise, it happens for us. And so that got me to crowdfunding if that would have happened. I would have never produced TV shows and they were dead movies.

And so another part of that story is my wife. Now we were working in business together and we still do stuff together. But, because things didn’t work out for us there. She was forced to go figure out what to do per cell, so she went and worked at the front desk for a while. Well, that led to her becoming a trainer, and now empowering women.

So think about what happens for us, not against us. In the moment, it seems like Oh, man, that sucks. Life’s coming to end. But I always ask myself now, God. What’s happening for me now? Like what can I learn from this? And how can I use this to get better? Because after you have enough of those experiences, you know. It’s a part of the journey and so that just gives me a different perspective now. When I hit a wall, I say, Okay. What can I learn from this? And how can I use this to go even farther?

Pamela Bardhi
Amazing. I absolutely love everything you just said, that’s incredible. What is working for you, not against you? Right? Because oftentimes, yourselves reacting. And you’re just like, I always tell them, I’m like it myself, right? Like I have to be you, have to be your own cheerleader sometimes. When you’re up against it and you got to tell yourself, I can’t see why this is happening right now. But there’s a reason for it. So like, I’ll find out later, but just don’t freak out right now and just in South Korea, I’m gonna remember that. That’s amazing.

And I just love how you shared your Raw Story of like, okay, yeah. It’s not all like butterflies and happiness and all this stuff. Because the stuff that you’re up to now is like real. So I would love to hear a bit more about that. But before we get to that, I would love to hear your top tips for people, who want to raise capital for their business. Or do crowdfunding or any of that like biggest tips.

Brandon Adams
So I would say have a good idea. First, it’s got to be idea that’s going to bring value to whoever you’re raising money for. Whether it’s an investor or product. What’s the value proposition and why is your idea different? And also, who’s your team, I get pitched to all the time, and the one thing I learned from my business partner, Kevin Harrington. Is the dream team, who’s the dream team, and who’s going to be a part of it.

So that’s what I would say, make sure you have your team in place. Because people invest in teams and then, it’s gonna take a lot of work. I mean, for crowdfunding, we had to prepare prior to the campaign. Doing marketing, doing ads, once the campaign started, it’s even harder to push. Whatever you think it’s going to take times by 10. And most people underestimate what it actually takes to have success in crowdfunding, fundraising, raising money isn’t easy. You got to really have a great value proposition and you got to really show the value there. And people got to believe in you.

Pamela Bardhi
Right? Absolutely. And you had mentioned something and this came from the thinking Grow Rich book. But how did you start surrounding yourself with the right people to make your dreams come true? You know, because I mean that that’s a whole skill and talent within itself?

Brandon Adams
So one thing I did and I still do today is I write down names for five or 10 people. That I want to be like one day or five or 10 people that are already achievable. I research them, I read their books, I listen their podcast shows, I find out what makes them tick, I find ways I can support them. And so I serve them and a lot of people. What they do is they want to work with certain people and they will say. Hey, can you help me? Can you mentor me? Which is good, not some people do that. But when you’re working with the big dogs and you’re working with people that have hundreds of people reach out a day. That doesn’t stand out, what stands out. Finding ways to help them, but not just find ways to actually doing it.

And so for me, I serve the right people. Very influential people that now I’m in business with, it was a long game. But the greatest example, like I wanted to eventually work with Kevin Harrington. Because I saw him on Shark Tank, I saw his background and what he’s done. And he’s supported by young entrepreneurs and so what I did is I researched them. I read his books, everything. Well, I reached out to his team and I wanted him to speak at my event. So I asked, they told me his fee, which I didn’t have at the time. And then, after four months back and forth, showing my persistence, I eventually figured out a deal where I hired him.

When I made the commitment and paid the first check, I didn’t know-how. I was gonna make the next check to get in there. But I did, because I knew I’d figure it out. He flew into Iowa, I paid the fee for wine and dine, I created a great experience for them in front of a group of people. So 500 people there and so he really got time to see who I was. But also I paid him, I provide a great experience for him. And then I found other ways to help him. Then we launched a book together called, put a shark at your tank. We crowdfunded it. And then he became an executive producer of my TV show.

Now, we have equity in eight different companies together. So we became partners, but it came from a place of serving and helping and always showing up. If somebody you want to know, the quickest way to get somebody’s attention. Pay them, pay attention, donate to their charity, by a couple of 100 of their books, I guarantee you, they’ll listen. Versus you saying, Hey, I got a great opportunity, but you don’t do shit. So what can you do to help them, it’s like what’s in it for me? It’s almost the psychology behind it when you have so many people wanting something from you. The quickest way to stand out is to actually do something for that person. And then they will reciprocate and they will end up doing more for you than you did for them.

Pamela Bardhi
That’s amazing. I love that you touched on that because there’s a lot of like, giver taker mentalities. So you know, the givers, what you’re describing is literally a giver mentality. You’re giving and then the Law of Reciprocity kicks in. Where it’s always what you give out, you’ll get back like, tenfold. It’s just the name of the game and it’s so interesting to me. Because often our society is just like, tick, tick, tick, and I can’t tell you how many people consult with me. And they’re just like, oh, I want this, and then it’s like, Okay, bye. Have a nice day and I’m like, these people get inundated to like somebody like Kevin, I’m sure. There’s like, hundreds of I can’t even imagine how many pitches he’s heard.

Brandon Adams
A lot. 50,000 he’s heard over 50,000. He’s heard.

Pamela Bardhi
What does that even come down to per day?

Brandon Adams
A lot. I mean. It is business. I’ll give you an example, we did a clubhouse a couple months ago. And there were 3000 people living between Kevin, his son, Brian, and myself. We had over 600 dm slash emails with pitch decks and pitches, insane. One club, one clubhouse.

Pamela Bardhi
Wow, that’s unreal. No, I love what you described with the giver mentality. That’s how you get in front of these people. You know, and that’s how you add value when you’re genuine, being genuine and authentic.

Brandon Adams
But you also can’t come in, I don’t like it where somebody comes in. Where they want to do something for somebody and then, they expect. Hey, I do this for you. You do this for me, I don’t like that mentality. I have this mentality of wanting to do something for somebody. And if it comes back or not, whatever, but I know what’s going to come back. But I have the mentality now I just always have this habit of always wanting to help people. Whether it’s an introduction or whatnot. Because it does come back and return, but I don’t like hey, I did that for you. Now you owe me this favor.

Pamela Bardhi
Yeah, favors are no fun, but with the law of reciprocity. It doesn’t necessarily mean that person is going to feed you right back. But the universe itself will always bring you out and fold. That’s what’s believing that remember, that is a very important distinction. Thank you for mentioning that, because some people may take this as like. Oh yeah, this is how it’s gonna be. You don’t know how the universe is going to bring it back to you when you’re giving to somebody else. So things without expectation are the keys. I absolutely love that. Now, Brandon, like what’s your day-to-day look like and what are the types of projects. And everything that you’re working on at this point in time?

Brandon Adams
It depends. I mean, when the lockdown happened and COVID it changed my schedule a little bit. Because I was going from speaking every week, not speaking. But actually speaking, I’m gonna open up again in the last 24 hours, so I booked out two events. So I mean, they’re starting to open up now, but what my day looks like is If I’m home. I have a schedule, wake up at five, I’ll read, I’ll pray I’ll workout. I’ll do my own thing, I like both sponge. Which is looking at things, it’s kind of creative, I’ll shower, I’ll start my day. And I’ll have a schedule before I go. So like I have got like, there’s some days, I’d 15 calls a day and then that’s my schedule.

Now, starting tomorrow, I’m going to be in LA, Thursday, Friday, I’m going to be in San Diego. Saturday, I’m gonna be in Vegas. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, I’m gonna be in LA, and then, I’m going to go to Florida. So I have to adapt. Now, I still have my dependency if I’m really late into a shooter, something. I’ll usually wake up at the same time, I’ll still wake up early, I’ll do my things. But it’s just a different schedule, you have to be really able to adapt to different schedules. When you have the life that I do in terms of travel business, take it up as an opportunity. And so that’s one thing, but also delegation. So I have people on my team, I can delegate different things. And I know what I’m good at and what I shouldn’t be doing.

I really want to utilize my time wisely and batch my work. And so the projects I’m working on right now, for a show of success in your city. We have one more or two more episodes coming out, we have three of them that are on amazon prime. The next one is so excited about it’s my wife’s story and about women empowerment. And then also what I’m doing is advising on investing in companies. So I sit on advisory boards, I help companies scale through. Either video marketing, fundraising abilities, strategic relationships, events and so that’s one side of it.

And I’m working with a lot of companies in the tech space. So we have three companies right now that they will IPO in the next eight to 12 months. Yeah, I want to work on fun projects. It has to be a hell, yes, It’s not a hell yes is a hell no. It’s got to be something I really believe in and want to work on. And I get opportunities every day and it’s almost now. It used to be five years ago was like shit, I was begging to get opportunities. Now I have to learn what to say yes, no to because if I say yes to something, I ask myself, I say yes to this. I could be saying no to something that could be a bigger opportunity. So I have to be very careful in terms of what I say yes or no to.

Pamela Bardhi
Yes. And question that for you. How has it been to learn to say no, because that’s been one of my biggest struggles in life that I’m still working?

Brandon Adams
You know, it feels good to say no. And also the best dealmakers, best negotiators. The best people in business can walk away, always be willing to walk away and I’ve learned now. It was not meant to be, it’s not meant to be. And sometimes if you’re not getting the deal that you feel like, you should get swept away. If it’s meant to be those people will give you what you want and so that’s how I look at it. Don’t try to do favors for me. Like if I’m doing things that are maybe in a different way than I normally would. It’s because I like somebody.

So I’m really particular about my time, so how do you want to dedicate your time. I dedicate my time with people I enjoy working with. And I’ll dedicate my time to people who respect me and they don’t question a fee that I charge or whatnot. Because they understand the value. Which ultimately leads to a great relationship from doing that. So be willing to walk away, always be willing to walk away from deals. And if it’s not a fuck, yes, it’s a buck.

What Would Brandon’s Older Self Tell His Younger Self

Pamela Bardhi
I love it. I’m going to remember that. Totally. And now written with your experience. And you know, where you are now, where you’ve been, you know. What would your older self tell your younger self?

Brandon Adams
My older self would tell my younger self to, I guess, read the book think and Grow Rich earlier. But also, I would say, I would tell him, Hey, figure out. What you enjoy doing and what you want to do with your life. And then find somebody that’s already achieved it and go work with them for free. Say, Hey, I’ll go work for you and I won’t charge anything. Just I want to learn from you and I’ll do whatever you want me to sweep floors. Whatever, that’s knowing that I know now I wish I did that a long time ago.

Pamela Bardhi
I love that. And also to you know, on your latest projects. What are you up to? I mean, you know, you launched your book with your wife The road to success, which is super awesome. So like what’s on the horizon in the next year for you?

Brandon Adams
Yeah, so loving the companies I’m working on also two more episodes of our show coming out. I am actually about to announce in the person event so I’m doing an in-person event in Florida. So we’re going to be in St. Petersburg, Florida. That’s going to happen in October so I’m really excited for that. So that’s one of the things that I’m also working on another concept for my own show, the Brandon TFM show.

Pamela Bardhi
I love it. Oh, Brandon, where can everyone find you and you’re amazingness?

Brandon Adams
Yeah, you can find me all over on social media at Brandon Seattle’s Feel free to direct message me. I’d love to hear from you. Let me know what you got from this podcast show. And also you can text me on community. My number is 563-217-6850. Send me a text and say you heard me on the underdog show.