My Journey

From a young age, I was convinced that I was going to be a sports agent. 

I remember people would encourage it, saying sthings like: “there’s big money in that” or “you got this, just keep getting A’s in school!” 

As time went by, I realized that my average athletic ability wasn’t going to take me places. Not only that, but I realized very quickly that Izzy and School didn’t belong in the same sentence. 

Nonetheless, I graduated high school early, enrolled in a community college and just did as everyone told me to do. 

“Going to school and getting a degree will bring you money.” - Everyone I talked to from the ages of 16-20.

When it was time for me to decide on a college, I chose a smaller one. I picked the school I did because of its small class sizes, hoping that more access to the teacher would help me with my grades. 

I was wrong. 

I struggled through every single year in college. I realized very quickly that I needed to do something to set myself apart from everyone else. 

That something was putting a focus on sales. I’ve been in sales since I was 16. Yeah some people don’t count retail as real sales experience but I would love to see those same people try to sell used sporting goods to someone (I used to work at Play It Again Sports).

SOOO, I did a bunch of internships in sales. I did what felt like 10,000 of them throughout college and in the summers. I was even named a finalist for Under Armour’s internship program. But I still wasn’t impressed with myself. 

I graduated college early and received offers from teams in the NBA/NFL/MLB and USL. 

I graduated college with a 2.4 GPA. 

I’ve worked in a number of jobs since graduating college and have had some trouble trying to figure out the right way in life. 

I’ve found it in entrepreneurship. Growing up I didn’t think this was attainable for someone like me. Even 3-4 months ago, I had family and friends saying how dumb I was making a move into the space. 

To date, I’ve lost friends, family and support throughout this journey. I have people trolling and hating on things I post every day. 

But for the first time in awhile I can honestly say that I am happy with where I am in life. 

I know most people have “3 takeaways” or “click on this link and join my cult” here but I have this:

“Sometimes you have to make people unhappy to ensure that you’re happy.”

Don’t be afraid to go against the grain, dare to be a misfit.