Listen to the Podcast Episode

In this episode, you will hear from a guest who had a remarkable journey to Harvard Business School, which included turning down an acceptance to Harvard undergrad, and carving out a non-traditional post-MBA path and getting involved with search funds. Listen as he shares his experience becoming the CEO of a small private business and pursuing a purpose-filled role that supports his values, faith, and family.

Transcript

Victoria Hefty (00:00):

Hi, I'm Victoria Hefty and welcome to the Post MBA Pivot podcast, where I share stories, professionals who took unexpected, interesting or unique paths after graduating from business school. Today's guest had a remarkable journey to Harvard business school, which included turning down an acceptance to Harvard undergrad, and carving out a non traditional post MBA path, by getting involved with Search Funds. Listen, as he shares his experience, becoming the CEO of a small private business and pursuing a purpose filled role that supports his family, faith and values. As always, I like to dive right in and get the conversation started.

Victoria Hefty (00:40):

Give me a sense of the background or catalyst for going to business school, What was your motivation?

Post MBA Pivot Guest (00:48):

So when I was in high school, I had a dream of going to Harvard for college, and it was a dream clearly my family knew about, particularly my mom. I was raised in a single mom, single parent household with my sister. It was from freshman year in high school, I was like, I want to go to Harvard. It's my dream. Senior year came about and I applied and I got into Harvard, thankfully! At that time I was basically like, oh, I'm done, no more applications.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (01:19):

I'm skipping around, jumping up and down in the hallway, I'm done, senior-itis take full effect. Take me, Jesus take the wheel, I'm done. Then shortly afterwards, my college guidance counselor said, Hey, there's a scholarship at the university of North Carolina that we want to nominate you for. It's the first time we're able to nominate students, and we thought we want to nominate you for it.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (01:44):

In my youthful arrogance, I was like, sure, why not? But I just want to let you know, I'm still planning on going to Harvard, but why not?

Post MBA Pivot Guest (01:53):

So it was always that reason when I tell this story, that I'm so thankful that they didn't take me up on my arrogance and say, oh really well, pass. We'll go with somebody else. Because if you looked at my resume, I didn't end up at Harvard for college. I ended up at university, North Carolina. Fast forward, I got the scholarship, clearly a first world problem. Do I choose Harvard? Or do I choose full scholarship at UNC play, the violin for me, don't cry for me, Argentina.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (02:21):

It was one of those things that was just a tough decision because, you have the dream that you've been working for and wanting for years.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (02:28):

Then this opportunity comes up where it's a great school. You're going to graduate debt-free. The only way I could live afforded at Harvard was I had to go into the ROTC program, particularly in aid. At that time it was 2003, shortly, not too far off from 9/11. 2003, The United States was involved overseas in terms of combat and this sort of thing in Iraq, and so the thought that came in my head, at least for, an 18 year old was, yeah you go to Harvard. But if you take that program, if you take that scholarship ROTC, you're likely going to have to serve, and it may be overseas, you have no idea. You don't have no choice. I'm my mom's only boy, in that sort of sense. So you think to yourself, there's a great sense of uncertainty that comes with that, if you really want to go to Harvard versus you can go to Carolina, and literally everything is paid for, everything is covered.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (03:28):

So I think you kind of go across this thing that a bunch of high achievers, overachievers or whatever you want to call it, you start going off this whole prestige and status factor. When I'm just starting out, I'd love to have a big name, a prestigious school on your resume and that sort. This was one you had to decide, how important is that to you?

Post MBA Pivot Guest (03:51):

Like I said before, my resume doesn't show that I went to Harvard for college. So I did decide to take the scholarship and go to Carolina, definitely one of the best decisions I've made in my life. But it was a hard decision to relay that to my mom, because she was of that attitude of, I'm willing to do whatever. If I need to sell a car or sell the house or do this, or take on over time. Whatever it takes to make it work, I'm willing to do, so you can go to Harvard. Because it was partly her dream too. It wasn't just solely about me.

Victoria Hefty (04:23):

If you don't mind me asking, was there a moment? What was the deciding factor? I always love when people are sort of like, if you have a moment or conversation that you're like yeah, I'm going to go to North Carolina instead of Harvard.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (04:36):

I think it was when I went for the finals weekend, when I was doing final interviews and I went on campus and you see it. You're thinking to yourself, damn. It's not like anything more of this, is going to be a hard decision, if I get it. You're Walking on campus, you're talking to people. You go to the Dean dome, you're thinking, imagine watching the Carolina basketball games. You're like, man this is going to be hard.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (05:05):

So you're almost thinking yourself, do I bomb the interviews just so that... Take that out altogether and say, oh, it didn't work out, I'm going to Harvard.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (05:12):

Or, do you give it your best shot at the risk, so to speak that you may get this scholarship, you may have to make a tough decision. So I didn't want to shoot myself in the foot, we're going to give it our best shot. When they gave me the scholarship, they basically went full court press on me and sent a bunch of alumni to call me, reach out to me. This is 2003, so this was more so calls, actual phone calls. They got my number, who would've thought right? Calling the house. 2003, I didn't have a cell phone until I went to college. So they called the house, left on the house phone voicemail... Looking for Phillip, this is so-and-so the president of blank company or the director of this. You're like, why are y'all trying to call me, a high school senior, to talk about a scholarship that you took 20 years ago, for your Alma mater. I think that was the indication for me.

Victoria Hefty (06:13):

What did it give you a preview of, what was it telling you, when they were doing that?

Post MBA Pivot Guest (06:17):

If somebody, was willing to take time out of their day to call somebody they never met before, to basically encourage them and sell them and persuade them on taking on this scholarship. They got their own work schedules, they got their own families, they got their own things to do. That was an indicator to me, because I didn't have that with Harvard.

Victoria Hefty (06:38):

Yeah. I was going to ask what was the experience with Harvard?

Post MBA Pivot Guest (06:41):

It was just, you got accepted. Let us know if you want it or not. That's what comes with it, Harvard doesn't really have to sell itself. It's Harvard period. But we also know, we have a ton of people on wait lists that would love to go over and replace your seat if you don't want to go.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (06:57):

Versus this was one that was only like 40 recipients... That my class in the scholarship was 40 people. I think that was another indicator too, where my thought was, not so much prestige and status, but there was something more, being a class of 40 that received this scholarship at Carolina. That seemed more significant to me at the time, versus being one of 1600 that goes to this school, that's highly acclaimed, very prestigious and those sorts.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (07:26):

I think those were the things that came off, and so relaying that decision to my mom. Of course, she was disappointed, but at that point at 18, I said, Hey, let me go to Carolina and make the most out of this scholarship. I promise I will do my very best afterwards, not just to get into business school, but to get in the Harvard business school.

Victoria Hefty (07:47):

Wow. So you knew then... So tell me about that. What was sort of your thinking that you still respected and wanted that name, or what was the motivation with Harvard? What was the love other than obviously the name, but there has to be something more?

Post MBA Pivot Guest (08:02):

I think it was one where it's like, I wanted to go there. I wanted to be in Cambridge. I wanted to be in Boston. I wanted to know what it was like to be educated at Harvard. I think one of the things that as a high school student for me, I was trying to figure out was what's more valuable? Is it more valuable to go to Harvard college, for your career and your trajectory in life? Or is it more valuable to go to Harvard business school? Now I know people that have gone to Harvard college. I know people who have gone to Harvard business school. I know people have gone to both, but if you had to choose, you can only go to one, which one would it be?

Post MBA Pivot Guest (08:39):

The majority of opinions I got as a high school student, when I was asking that question was, if you had to choose, go to business school there. College is... Enjoy college, Carolina sounds like a great school, you'll have a lot of fun. You'll learn a lot there, but if you really want to go to Harvard for something, go there for graduate school,

Victoria Hefty (08:57):

So, that seed was planted early. Fast-forward where are you when you're actually thinking now, of applying to Harvard business school?

Post MBA Pivot Guest (09:07):

I applied twice. I applied first time on a whim basically. I was working at FedEx, I had this great position, working in their social responsibility team. I had relocated from New York city, New Jersey city area, back home to Memphis. First major bout of adversity going through and then basically press the reset button. Came back home.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (09:31):

A family friend of mine, was working in social responsibility. They shared that they had a position open. It was a temporary position, literally it expires in less than a year. I was like, sure, I'd love to apply for it and I got it. This is great working, in Memphis. I'm seeming to get my feet back up under me. At that point, I was just thinking to myself, initially as... Well, I don't know what the next step is after this position expires, but maybe this might be the way to go into business school.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (10:02):

At that point I had chosen, to go down that route pretty late in the process, so it's more like round two dead line is within a month or two, or something like that. Well, I'm not necessarily going to go through the whole gamut of schools as far as research, learning, visiting and applying to MLT and those type of programs.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (10:22):

It was more like if you're going to do it at this point, given the last minuteness, go all out for the one you want to go to. So I applied to HBS, I get on the wait list. I try to get off the wait list. That doesn't work. So I think at that point, disappointment never really resonates well with people, particularly those that tend to be type A personalities. But it was like, look we're still alive. We still have a job for a little bit. You can try again If you like.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (10:52):

I remember my mom was like, have your pity party this weekend. I won't bother you. You go eat your ice cream or watch your shows, or just lay in the bed for the weekend and that sort. But by Monday have a plan and what you're going to do and get off your pity party. So thankful for that, and it was just, Okay, well let's figure out the job situation first. This position is going away.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (11:18):

Thankfully one of my colleagues Eric, showed me this position that was coming up, for basically serving as an internal communicator for some of FedEx's senior marketing executives. This seems kind of out of reach for me, but I'll buy and give it my best. Thankfully I got it and at that point when I was working in that position, which was not a temporary position, you're going through that first year or two. You're basically saying, okay, where do I see myself going forward? I can go the corporate route, just rising up so to speak. Or do you feel like there's something needed, for you to do that that's missing, which would likely be going back to school, for a business degree.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (12:03):

Okay if I'm going to do that, I'm going to do it differently than the first time I applied. I'm going to improve my GMAT, I'm going to apply to MLT, MBA prep. I'm going to have more than one school and of course they're going to force me to have more than one school anyways.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (12:22):

But, I think you're also coming about it with different career ambitions. At that point, you have one or two more years of work experience. So your profile and your application is going to look different. It wasn't so much just me putting consulting down, just to put it down there. I want to build a social enterprise that helps people do X, Y, Z, at the time. It was a little more thought that went into it, and so I applied to three business schools because my deal, so to speak with my MBA prep coach, was if I get in one of my top three schools round one, I'm not applying to any schools around two. So I had my top three schools round one that I applied. I got into one, rejected the other one, and then wait listed ,later accepted in the third one. The one I got accepted the first time around was HBS. That was my top choice. So safe to say I was done applying at that point.

Victoria Hefty (13:20):

So tell me the moment the acceptance came in.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (13:23):

I was at my desk. I knew the day, was that day. I had planned to go on a trip to California, for a conference because my thought was, I want to go attend this conference. I want to get out of Memphis. But my thought was, if I get in, I'm going to be overly ecstatic. I've already took off, half that afternoon so I can go get on the flight. I was only going into the work, basically just say hi to everyone. Wait until that [inaudible 00:13:54] shows up, and then one of two things was going to happen.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (13:57):

Either, I was going to be overly ecstatic and just start skipping around outside. Or I was going to, walk of shame outside the office building and get on a plane to just essentially say, Hey, I just need to get away. When the time came, you've probably heard stories like this, I literally read the first sentence. I think it was, at that time, the answer's yes or yes you're in, and like a whole flow of emotions came through.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (14:25):

I didn't even stop to read the rest of the letter. I didn't print out the letter. I basically stopped what I was doing, closed the computer and ran outside.

Victoria Hefty (14:38):

You have to tell me the range of emotions. I have to hear them, because you've been through such a journey with them.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (14:44):

Well, think about it. This was something I wanted to do since I was 18, and at that time, for me... Let's see, 2014 was when I attended. So that'd be 2013 or actually, or first round, so that'd be the winners, so 2013. I had just turned 29, in the 30s, in the latter age of the group that typically go to business school, so to speak. So I think for me, one, I could finally make due on my promise to my mom. Two, I get to go to Harvard. Three, it almost seems like a whole new door to your life opens up here. Four was... I think I was just thinking about my grandparents who had passed a couple of years before, reminiscing about that, as far as how instrumental they were, as far as my development and growth in education and that sort, before they passed. Which later went to my mom and then my aunt and uncle, when I was calling my mom, ugly crying on the phone, we did it!

Post MBA Pivot Guest (15:48):

Then I think at the same time too, it was just more so like okay, we got to leave soon because the plane leaves in a few hours. So you have like a half hour or so to rejoice, and then from there you realize you needed to get your stuff together and that sort of thing and go. While you're on your way to the airport and while you're on the plane now, you're just not worried about work. You can, just relish that feeling and where things are, just knowing that you got into your dream business school.

Victoria Hefty (16:20):

That's amazing. So fast forward, when you're in business school, are you thinking about.... Is there a decision in your head of, traditional exit? Because I know even people that came in with a non-traditional background, they get surrounded by all of the peer pressure. The companies are coming on campus. You're like, I didn't want to do banking, but maybe I should, because I'm here. What was sort of your thought process when you were figuring out what to do post business school?

Post MBA Pivot Guest (16:47):

So I was thinking about the whole social enterprise, a for-profit social enterprise. I was trying to think to myself, I wanted to do something that was going to be helpful for many people, utilize skills that were helpful for me. My big idea was, I should start a for-profit social enterprise that helps people with improving their interviewing skills, so they can improve their chances of getting into college, graduate school, jobs and internships.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (17:14):

That was what I was very much like, this is what I want to do because I realized for me, I was trying to be self-reflective, self-aware and I thought a lot of where I've gone before in terms of jobs and colleges and internships, and that sort, there was usually interviews involved. I thought maybe there's something there, that I can be able to share, what's been helpful for me. I started going into that, that first year and a particularly noteworthy person at HBS got wind of what I was doing.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (17:47):

She met with me. It wasn't so much like this is in contrast in what we're doing here at admissions and that sort of thing. It was more... I don't know about you, but many people that go to HBS, the type of things that they do after HBS. They're not necessarily creating a company to help people get into graduate school and college and internships as a full-time thing. They may do something on the side, like a nonprofit board or that sort, not like, this is it. I just want you to think a little bit bigger about that. Of course, for me, I think when I was younger at that time, I'm thinking to myself, well, you can't tell me, don't tell me to squash my dreams, you do your thing and leave me to do mine. I think in retrospect it was helpful Victoria, because I think that might've been an easier route for me to pursue or think about, and it wasn't allowing me to really explore and open myself up to all that business school could expose me to.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (18:49):

If I had had that sort of mindset, no matter what, that's what I'm doing, I would have never came across this whole concept of search funds in business school. My trajectory could have been a lot different, which in retrospect, I remember, a few years ago, I was like, thank goodness I didn't go that route because my thought was, with places like LinkedIn and other people that are in that field, I don't think I would have stood a chance.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (19:14):

I think I would have been quickly commoditized in terms of what I could offer. There would've been so much work to make a full-time living out of it, let alone try to support a family off of that. I think that would have been really challenging, at least for me. I think that that was one where it's like, okay, that was what I was going to, all the way up until, into the summer first year. Then the start of second year, was when I got introduced to search funds. That was when my mind started thinking, maybe there's something more here.

Victoria Hefty (19:44):

Yeah. Talk to me about that. So what was the first touch point or memorable touch point? Either learning what search funds is or a person that exposed you to that, what do you sort of remember as your earliest recognition of like, huh, there's this world out there!

Post MBA Pivot Guest (19:59):

When you're getting ready to apply... Sign up for second year classes. Of course you're asking those that have come before you, what do you recommend? What are popular classes? What are good classes? Who are good professors? This class, financial management of smaller firms, that kept popping up. And I was like, what is that? What is that about?

Post MBA Pivot Guest (20:21):

As I learned more about the whole concept, of finding a small privately owned business to buy and to run as CEO afterwards. Then later on, if you so desire, you can sell it later and do well, or keep running it long-term. That was just something different, because in comparison to your traditional consulting, banking, startup, technology, VC, private equity, private equity as far as much bigger companies. Not smaller mom and pop businesses that you can grow. It's like big businesses you're working on, you're just not seeing that sort of thing. So I think there was a curiosity part about it, and then when I took the class, I think it was just a done deal at that point.

Victoria Hefty (21:07):

What about that appealed to you? So what aspects of either your personality or your skills was like, that seems like something that would be interesting for me.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (21:16):

I think what was going on there was, I went to HBS partly because they had a general management approach, and so it wasn't about you trying to major or specialize in finance or marketing and that sort. You're going to get a breadth of study; finance, operations, marketing, strategy, accounting, all this sort of thing that you would need to learn to manage a business.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (21:40):

That's what I went in there for, and so there's a natural parallel to doing that for a small business. The aspect of helping continue a legacy of what the founder or previous owner had built with that business, how you can apply what you've learned in business school and from your past life experiences to not only sustain the business, but hopefully grow it and improve on it. The other thing that came off top of my... It's Funny we're having this conversation now, where it's like sometimes, I just have these thoughts in my head where I'm looking at every job that I've done or every path I've considered and just played it out. Now that I'm a little bit older, where could that have led to, what are the benefits and the trade-offs, but particularly the trade-offs?

Post MBA Pivot Guest (22:26):

Because not every position or job is completely a hundred percent perfect, where there're no issues, there're no trade-offs, there're no concerns, there're no weaknesses about it. I think one of the things I saw about this concept was, there was a better sense of work-life balance for me, that if I wanted to have a family, I knew that I was going to live near or in the area where that business was. I knew that more than likely, I would come home at 5, 5 30 to come see my family and I could have dinner with them each night. I can tuck in the kids. I could potentially be there on the weekends. One particular traditional path out of business school. You know this, I don't even have to mention it. You're out. Of town. For days.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (23:19):

You're working almost around the clock every night while you're there. You're probably taking home, work with you for the weekend. Then that Sunday you're back on the plane to be away for multiple days. Another typical tradition, no path. You're at the office, late at night, pouring over spreadsheets, taking in, take-home food, before there was a door dash, before there was Uber eats-

Victoria Hefty (23:48):

Seamless.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (23:52):

Absolutely, Seamless. You knew you were going to be there for at least 12 hours.

Victoria Hefty (23:59):

Oh yeah...

Post MBA Pivot Guest (24:00):

When you went back home, you knew you had enough time to get four to five hours before you needed to freshen up and get right back there to keep working. Those were two traditional paths outside of business school that I realized, was not the case with this one. I think that the thought of being able to have a better balance, you applying your general management skills and what you've learned, particularly in a field that you probably do not know a lot of to begin with.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (24:28):

So there's a learning curve for you. That's going to keep you interested. That's going to keep you on your toes and a great amount of responsibility, that was significant.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (24:38):

Then yeah, I think the entrepreneurial financial benefits, potentially that plays out, where you're basically not capping what you could earn or what you could benefit from in this place, because you're the one that's more so, making that call based on how the company is doing. Because I think, everything included, there was just more so, when you add those up, that was something that was definitely at play, not to mention the fact that it became more real to me, because at that time I was seeing somebody that would eventually become my wife. That's when things were becoming more real where, this is not so much just about me.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (25:20):

It's now, I might be with this person. We may have a family and what type of setting do I want to be in? It's one thing when you're in your mid twenties and it's all about you, and you're all about experimenting and trying new things, trying new cities, trying new industries, trying new jobs. But at some point you're going to have to put your stake in the ground and say, this is what we're doing. This is what we're going to build upon.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (25:47):

You can't just keep trying new things at 42 or 47. At some point you have to build something. At least that's how I thought about it. So I think all of those things played a role, and once again, the newness of it, the uniqueness of it, it even gets back to the whole scholarship versus Harvard. Do you want to be one of 40 or one of 1600? There was a part of me that wanted to buck the trend of just doing what typical MBA graduates do.

Victoria Hefty (26:14):

First of all, I'm so inspired. It looks like you were an associate at the search fund. So you did that for a little bit. Was it a moment there, or your next role that... If I had to say, what was one thing that led you to your current role, post MBA? What would that be? A moment or something where you realized this is what I want to do.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (26:36):

So when I was an associate, I came across this company and things didn't workout as far as actually doing a deal there, but I kept a good rapport and relationship with the previous owner. At that point, my girls were being born in March 2017. One of the key things for me was, when my wife and I were talking over at Shake Shack, about this whole search deal. She had known that Hey, the rules of the game is, be open to travel.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (27:09):

Meaning you could find a business here in the Boston area. You can find it in San Francisco or Dallas. You could find it in the middle of small hick town, fill in the blank, in the middle of nowhere in the United States. That's where you and your family would be. At that time, my wife and I, we were married and we were pregnant.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (27:31):

That was one of those aha moments where we're like, okay this is becoming more real. My wife has a great job, secure job, working in the medical field. We live in a great neighborhood in the Boston area. That'd be great to raise kids in, that came across where it's like, okay do I want to necessarily uproot everyone for an unknown?

Post MBA Pivot Guest (27:55):

I'm a man of faith, but I also understand too. There's something about it where I was just open to saying, is that necessarily the right call, to go on.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (28:04):

For something that could span three to five years or longer, and so we made a decision, a joint decision to say, look, if we're going to do this whole search thing, we needed to find a business in the greater Boston area that you can drive to. That takes about up to an hour commute or something like that.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (28:19):

So you very much cut your search parameters significantly. So, at that time I saw this company, I liked it, this was basically, if this deal works then we're good. If it doesn't, I've pretty much exhausted my Uber local search and need to find something else to do.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (28:40):

When it didn't go well, and my girls were willing to be born a few weeks later, I had to figure out what was I going to do next, which had the two jobs in between my current role. The thing that brought me back to my current role here was I believe, God really bringing me and the former owner back together again.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (29:00):

What I mean by that is, there was a huge gas explosion. I believe it was September 13th 2018. Something prompted me. I believe it was God that prompted me to think of the former owner because he lives in Lawrence.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (29:15):

His business is based in Lawrence and it prompted me to reach out to him. So, I reached out to him. I wanted to see first of all, if he's okay, if everyone there is okay. And he's like yeah, everyone's great. Thanks for reaching out. When things settle down, I'd love to catch up. Months pass by and I catch up with him, and at that time I'm in this role, more of a wealth management sort of role. I'm thinking to myself may be good to catch up, may be good prospecting as far as a potential client. And he basically flips the script on me while we're eating at a deli locally, why don't you come work with me as my business manager?

Post MBA Pivot Guest (29:52):

I wasn't anticipating this, but this is kind of one of those moments where, do you jump or do you not? But this can very much change everything. At that time for me and I blame business school for this one, I sort of saw things in wealth management, that kind of gave me the writing on the wall, to build a long-term career there, it would be significantly more challenging and more difficult than it would have been 20 years ago.

Victoria Hefty (30:17):

I'm curious, what was the writing that you saw? Obviously you can keep it high level, but what were the one or two things that you saw that you're like, I don't see this happening.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (30:25):

I think many business school students can be ambitious to think that they can do everything on their own. I've had to grow out of that, and realize that a lot of what I do is not just on me. Sometimes it's about seeing, where it makes sense for you to be in and where it doesn't. I think business school was helpful for me to understand how to identify key points of what would make an industry a good fit for you, whether as an employee or an executive or as an owner.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (30:53):

In that industry, I saw it, where it was like, unless you were on a team that already had a growing or solid book of business already, because it became much more difficult to reach people, because of certain regulations or certain new technological developments that allow people to basically hide.

Victoria Hefty (31:14):

Yeah.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (31:16):

Just become incognito [inaudible 00:31:018].

Post MBA Pivot Guest (31:21):

Unless you joined an existing team that was already looking for someone to help transition new responsibilities for, it just became much harder for me to think you could build something, unless you just knew a lot of people that were willing to take a chance on you, and had funds to relay your way to manage. So I think for me, at that time I had kids that were about one year old or something like that. So I'm looking at this from a lens of, is this a good long-term fit for me that can help provide for my family? Because it's not just me anymore, my risk tolerance has changed.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (31:57):

My responsibility as a husband and a father had upgraded, that I had to look at things differently. When the incident happened in Lawrence, that later led into me working as a business manager for the former owner that later blossomed to us, trying to do a deal between me and him again and see if second time works out. Fortunately it works, a year to the day of the gas explosion, September 13th 2019.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (32:28):

I think it was just one of those things, if I hadn't gotten that prompting, that incident hadn't happened, I'd probably be in a completely different place.

Victoria Hefty (32:38):

Oh my goodness. I Think so too. I guess that brings me to one of my final questions. So do you ever have any, I don't know, in the last year, a moment where you just had a beautiful day at work and you're like, everything just seemed to come together, that you feel like this is what you're supposed to be doing right now?

Post MBA Pivot Guest (32:55):

I think it happened recently. I don't anticipate my first year running a business to be during a pandemic-

Victoria Hefty (33:01):

Yeah.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (33:02):

And a recession. Once again, I'm smart, but I'm not that smart. I can tell you, I've had my fair share of mistakes and things I wish I could have done differently, if I were to revisit 2020. Even to the point, I was just like, I don't know how well I can manage this and just being realistic about it. I think it was recently, this week recently.

Victoria Hefty (33:26):

Yeah, nice.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (33:27):

Where it was just, sometimes when you think the pieces are falling around you, it's almost like God, is actually making them fall into place. It's an eerie feeling, because you're going on a roller coaster emotionally about where things are, and that's kind of the track of entrepreneurs. Things are great, things are bad. Things are great. I'm going under. That sort of thing, right?

Victoria Hefty (33:47):

Yeah.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (33:48):

I think it was just more so, connecting the dots as far as, what I felt like my purpose was here to do, in this business, in this area, with this family, with my wife and just connecting the dots of what happened before and how things have worked out so well.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (34:08):

I've been blessed with so much, and to get through 2020 learning the lessons I've learned, and working on improving on the things I need to improve on after that year, currently. But just realizing that God was very helpful to get me through it. I know there's a reason for me to get through it, part of that is to learn what I need to learn to better manage this business and lead it, going forward for the long-term. But also because there's more people involved in and at stake here than just me.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (34:40):

I think it was just one of those things when it just all connected together where, it's not about me, ultimately, and I'm here for a purpose. I believe I found out what that is, and trusting that, if I'm giving my best each day more will be provided, if I'm being faithful over a few.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (34:59):

Essentially from there, it's more so, it makes sense. You just look at it and this all makes sense. This may not be me, ringing the New York stock exchange bell at the opening. This may not be me, celebrating a $400 million capital raise, Series E. It may not be me reaching partner at this Uber successful prestigious consulting firm, but it's something that I feel content in my heart about. It's something that I feel like I can run with. I can seer long-term fit with, I can improve on the things that I needed to learn and that better days are ahead, partly because of it.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (35:46):

I can do that sustainably, while raising a family and being involved in the local community and just being faithful with what I've been blessed with and entrusted with as a steward. To me, that's what makes it all worthwhile, and makes it all make sense.

Victoria Hefty (36:02):

That's beautiful. Final question. So how has retelling the story... Has it brought up new memories you forgot about, I'm just curious, because people always tell me, they haven't shared this in a long time.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (36:16):

I think what's helpful about it, Victoria is... The timing of this has been perfect, because I'm at a point where I've been very much retrospective or introspective, whichever the word is, of the past. I'm 36 now, I'll say past 10 to 15 years, I've been through a lot, and there were definitely moments where I felt like giving up was definitely an option. I felt like there were definitely moments where there was a lot of uncertainty and why things worked out the way they did. I think that, what's been helpful about this time is, its given me at least a moment to say, you can look at your resume, and other people can look at it, and it's like, he's gone through different places. Some people can interpret that as, he didn't know what he was doing.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (37:01):

Some people would say, he was just experimenting to see what works for him. But I think what's helpful about it is once again, it's helped me better understand why things worked the way they did, and long-term trying to find a long-term fit for me. That's just part of the journey, just getting back to the whole post MBA pivot.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (37:18):

People are trying to figure out, what they want to do when they grow up. They want to figure out what is it for them, even if it's non-traditional, even if they have to try a number of hats to see what really fits them. I think that's just, what has really been helpful for me because it's given me contentment and gratitude with where I'm at right now. Where I recognize why certain paths don't make sense for me. I recognize why this path in particular is one that makes a lot of sense for me. That I can just buckle down and focus and really just give him my best each day and not get caught up in comparison mode, which I've had to wean myself off of thanks to places like Instagram and Facebook.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (38:00):

You got business school, classmates that are doing different things and people are on Shark Tank, CNBC and people on this publication; top 40, under 40, all this other stuff, and you're just thinking to yourself, what's right for me? What does God have for me, that's for me. Doubling down on that, and trusting that things are working out in a certain way for a reason and you'll find that out sooner or later and be content in that.

Post MBA Pivot Guest (38:29):

Because, I think that one of the things that many business school graduates have to grapple with is ultimately finding out what's right for them, even if it's not the most traditional or most popular or most prestigious or most lucrative, what's right for them?

Victoria Hefty (38:45):

Thank you for listening to this episode. If you are interested in crafting your next career move or reading the transcript of the conversation, please visit post NBA pivot.com. Finally, if you enjoyed today's discussion, make sure the to leave a review and subscribe to receive the next episode!