Brandon T Adams
Jul 20, 2017 · 5 min read

When you Hit Rock Bottom You can only go up: Just Keep Going

4 Years ago today was a day I will NEVER Forget

July 19th, 2013.

I hit Rock Bottom. I thought it was the end for me.

After Consecutive weeks of doing 100 hour weeks working for Corporate, getting 4 hours of sleep a night, and sacrificing my health, and relationships I hit a wall. I Snapped.

This led to a Mental Breakdown on the side of the road, which felt like the combination of a seizure, heat stroke, heart attack, and deep pain in my stomach. I was in an Ice truck pulled over on the side of the road helpless wondering if I would live through the day.

The ambulance came and brought me out of shock and my state, and I snapped out of it. They insisted I go to the hospital, but I convinced them to let me go and I went back to work.

After getting done working that night around 11pm on Friday, I sat there alone in a warehouse by myself. I took a reevaluation of my life and realized I wasn’t happy.

I was working a Corporate Job Full Time, Selling Real Estate on the Weekends and weeknights, working in Adams’ Ice when free, and putting all the money and energy I had left into my invention Arctic Stick.

After this night I told myself I would change, but I ended up not changing. It took a loss of a friend and some other experience to make me realize life is too short not to do what you want.

February of 2014 I left my corporate Job to pursue my vision of Starting Adams Product Innovation.

After 5 months of hard work my girlfriend Samantha Rossin left her job to join me in starting this company in Des Moines, IA. We burned the ships and never looked back. That decision led to us almost losing it all and going broke. The company failed and I felt like I let everyone down. I felt like a failure.

I hit Rock Bottom again.

We made a pivot and turned to Crowdfunding. We did a crowdfunding campaign for my invention Arctic Stick and funded it.

3 years ago today I was in Rock Valley, IA on RAGBRAI and pitching Arctic Stick to Lance Armstrong. It was a pretty cool moment and I felt like I had seen some success.

That fall we failed to get Arctic Stick to market due to obstacles. Once again I fell short.

February 7th 2015 I launched a podcast show called University of Young Entrepreneurs. I had never felt prouder. It was a big moment for me. That summer I worked on building my brand and influence more through writing a book and going on live TV across the country to share my message and give tips on Crowdfunding.

This was my beginning of becoming the King of Crowdfunding.

During this time I was still struggling financially but I was making progress. To build my experience and brand even more I started doing modeling and commercials for talent agencies.

I always said that if I were to sell Arctic Stick on an Infomercial one day, I would be the person to do it. I would be the pitchman and I wanted to be prepared for it.

During this time I got caught up in the GRIND and lost focus on my family, friends, and loved ones, including my GF Samantha who eventually left, for good reasons.

Once again I hit Rock Bottom. I lost the girl I loved.

During this time I kept grinding even during my darkest times. What kept me going was my drive to achieve big goals, working nonstop on my business to succeed, going to the gym, and the determination to get my girl back one day.

This drive in my darkest times led to some Success.

January 4th, 2016 My Company Keys to the Crowd worked with John Lee Dumas to launch the Freedom Journal on Kickstater. We raised $453,000 in 33 days. That success attracted more success.

April 22–23, 2016 we had Young Entrepreneur Convention, which became Iowa’s Largest Entrepreneurial Event.

Kevin Harrington spoke at the event and ending up staying in contact with me.

That led to working together to do a crowdfunding campaign, which led to a Mastermind, which led to a Best Selling Book and more.

This success led to Meeting Greg Rollett to film a Reality TV show together.

Soon after I joined a Team to Fund and produce a film called Think and Grow Rich the Legacy.

Before I knew it 2017 had arrived and I was starting to see the overnight success everyone had talked about.

Today on July 19th, 2017 I look back on this journey that I have been on. It’s been a Grind and always will be.

Today I had the best interview of my podcasting Career with Kevin Harrington. I always said I would work with Kevin one day, and after the interview I realized I’ve been working with Kevin on projects for over a year now and have big future plans to come.

I had to take a picture with Kevin holding the Arctic Stick, not for promotion (even tho you can buy the Arctic Stick on Amazon), but because this day resembled how far I have come.

4 years ago Kevin was the person I was looking to strike a deal with to sell Arctic Stick on Infomercials. No, I’m not working with Kevin to sell Arctic Stick, but Arctic Stick did lead me to working with Kevin in other ways.

It’s funny where life takes you.

The Future is promising and I’m excited for what’s to come.

In October Think and Grow Rich the Legacy airs worldwide.

Later this year we plan to launch Ambitious Adventures to a big audience.

December I pray Greg and I win an Emmy for Ambitious Adventures.

2018 Samantha Rossin and I travel the country together. I forgot to mention, I got her back ☺

Here is the moral of the story.

JUST KEEP GOING…

When you hit Rock Bottom, there is nowhere else to go but back up.

Let the darkest times be your motivation to become successful.

Live life to the fullest and Love others.

Enjoy the journey.

Life is too short not to.

Live to Grind..

BTA

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Brandon T Adams

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