2018: A Year In The Rearview

It wasn’t supposed to be this way … at least not this fast.

Early in my career, I discovered what made me tick. Those pillars represented giving people a voice and helping people build meaningful relationships. From running an emotional startup platform to the work I’m currently doing, the “Why” has consistently remained the same.

Today, I’m running a self-sustaining business called BW Missions to help entrepreneurs and brands cultivate communities and build missions that matter.

Before I reflect on 2018, let me tell you what initially led me to establish the foundation I stand on today and shed light on lessons that can help you in your own career.

In 2016, a year and a half after graduation, I was working as a startup founder in my college town sharing a room with a friend. While both this lifestyle and endeavor weren’t sustainable, it made one thing clear for me: I discovered my inherent passion for building meaningful communities around a central mission at scale.

A Series of Big Breaks

As I followed this curiosity down the rabbit hole, one conversation in the Atlanta Tech Village grabbed me particularly hard. Adam Wexler, CEO of Prize Pricks, turned over the pivotal rock that exposed me to Kairos. Built on the heels of solving the world’s greatest challenges, Kairos was a community of the brightest young entrepreneurs around the world. Post-discussion, I leveraged LinkedIn to introduce myself to every “Fellow” within Kairos.

My digital outreach efforts asserted me to leading the Southeast Region of the Fellowship as I worked alongside their HQ team. Eventually, I was brought on as the Global Fellowship Director to discover, support, and connect entrepreneurs at the top universities from all ends of the world.

I went from banging my head against a wall in my own startup, to leading people I always would have classified as more talented. Despite a textbook case of imposter syndrome, I tried my best to “Act As If,” which catalyzed the creation of a solid infrastructure to benefit entrepreneurs within the community.

While reflecting on this formative experience, I wrote down the two areas I wanted to understand more thoroughly in my next role.

1. Work under someone who I wanted to emulate
2. Learn how to put digital marketing to full use

During a dinner conversation, my good friend Ari Krasner told me about Allen Gannett, CEO of TrackMaven at the time (now Skyword). A few weeks later, I met Allen for a casual meet and greet.

Two weeks later, at the Forbes 30U30 conference, I received an email from Allen:

“Hey! Want to run my book launch?” I said “YES!”, feeling like the luckiest 24-year-old in the world.

As the saying goes, “Luck is missed by most people because it comes dressed in overalls and looks like work." - Thomas Edison

2018 was by far the most challenging year of my life. It hit me from every angle: personally, professionally, and even my health.

Simply stated, it was the year of putting foundations in place.

Professionally, I had about ten months to figure my life out before I was done with Allen. The unique experience of working on his book, The Creative Curve, came with an extensive amount of self-inflicted pressure. Even though he’s only a few years older than I am, Allen had already done the exact type of work I envisioned myself accomplishing; building a company, writing a book, and creating an audience to foster positive change.

As a leader, Allen made an investment in me both personally and professionally. He was my “Master Teacher”, possessing an innate ability to effortlessly plan, execute logistics, day in and day out consistency, and strong vision. He made everything extraordinarily simple for me to absorb. Like a sponge, I strived to internalize every detail of his vision. During the times I struggled to grasp or execute on his goals properly, he strategized systems I could implement to circumvent my weaknesses.

From a marketing standpoint, during my first startup I faced a critical lack of clarity with how to make all the components work synergistically with brand, content, public relations, events, and digital audience building. Under Allen, I witnessed firsthand how pairing content and community had the combined power to drive book sales and speaking engagements to yield tangible ROI.

Looking back at my past two years, I viewed it as a Master’s Degree in building a startup and understanding how to find product market fit. All these experiences were born from a genuine curiosity to expand my knowledge base and skill sets, realizing I didn’t have to do all of this alone, a thought process I was mired in during my first startup endeavor.

Building BW Missions

Four years ago, I saw how a digital storytelling medium could create ripple effects in local communities giving everyday people a platform to project their authentic self. My work with Kairos and Allen exposed the fundamental reasons Wish Dish lacked the scalability it required to grow the way I initially hoped to see it evolve. When I look at the platform, I now see that the reason it failed, was the faulty brand foundation it stood on, and the clearly defined target audience it lacked.

In my work with Allen, I repeated the same process I’d applied prior to my arrival on the project. When I was considering next steps last February, I thought I should build a brand on myself first, and understand the essential building blocks of this process. I also see a personal brand as a long-term investment that will always exist. When I did Wish Dish, it became my identity, and my emotions rode the highs and lows of the startup. Simply, I looked at this as an opportunity to build something central to myself, where the success or failure of any future endeavor I create wouldn’t define my self-worth.

Branding myself to build a website was a thorough eight-month process.

1. First, I hired a brand strategy wizard, Chloe Belangia, to help me appeal to my target audience through messaging, and persona development.
2. Secondly, I hired a photographer to create professional-grade imagery for the site and corresponding social media channels.
3. Third, I hired brand designer Zac Oransky to create the font system, color palette, wordmark, and visual texture.
4. The fourth and final step was putting all of these pieces together in a useful and synergistic way to build a finalized website.

I learned designing a brand and creating content demands constant consideration of the audience at hand. Are you creating something because you like it, or because it will resonate and provide value to real users?

After the design and site content were complete, I worked with my girlfriend Elizabeth, who has sold hundreds of weddings, to package and simplify my pitch to potential clients in the future.

In the past four months, I have gone from zero clients to having my plate full with incredible people growing inspiring missions. In a recent post, I outlined some of the lessons I’ve learned building a service-based business.

To wake up every day, and build my own dream while helping others build theirs makes me feel incredibly lucky.

Thank you for reading this far, and if you enjoyed, I’ve left more tangible lessons and books that influenced me below.

2018 Books of the Year

1. Sapiens, Yuval Noah Harari
2. Principles, Ray Dalio
3. The Art of Not Giving a F*&^, Mark Manson
4. The 5 Love Languages, Gary Chapman
5. The Creative Curve, Allen Gannett

2018 Lessons

1. Consistent Execution + Planning & Organization + Clear Vision = Dreams with Legs
2. Give as much deliberation to personal relationships as you allocate for your professional life
3. Process creates exponential results
4. Find one day for a 24-hour shut down
5. Do jobs that provide transferable skills/frameworks and networks
6. You’re not above anyone no matter how high you climb