Who is JeffBarth10X?
Who is Jeff Barth? I would say I am an eternal Entrepreneur, husband, father and striving to be a great friend! With all of that said…I would also say that I am a “WORK IN PROGRESS”.
My big why is I feel it is my moral duty, obligation and calling to help others learn to create their own economy. I am still working on how I can do this.
Let’s go back a few years…A brief timeline…
- 1983 I graduated from High School — My guidance counselor said I shouldn’t go to college…just go get a job.
- 1984–1988 Graduated from UW-Stout with a degree in Hotel & Restaurant Mgmt.
- 1988–2011 got my Series 7 license(brokerage) and just about every other possible securities license
- 1990–1991 Ameriprise Financial Services
- 1999–2009 H&R Block
- 2008-present Started JWB Manufacturing, LLC
2008 I was at a point in my life when I wanted to create incredible experiences in my life and in the life of my friends and family; most importantly with my wife and two children. It was 2008, and I was struggling with what I wanted to do as a career. I had a successful corporate career, but felt very unfulfilled. In October 2008, I bought the equipment from an old machine shop that made wire cutting and stripping blades(at the time I still had my corporate job). Oh, by the way, I didn’t really know anything about Manufacturing and machining when I got into this business. My dad, Bill, came out of retirement and moved from Minnesota to work for me; he was 71 at the time. My shop serves as an aftermarket manufacturer and sells directly to factories and businesses that need replacement blades for their machines. We now sell the blades in over 17 countries.
In 2008 & 2009, when the economy crashed, sales in my manufacturing business fell to two thousand per month. Here I am thinking, “what did I get myself into?”
In June of 2009, my boss from H&R Block, flew in from Kansas City. He asked to meet me at a local restaurant. While walking over to the restaurant, I remember thinking, “what could be going on, he never just shows up.” He told me that H&R Block would be closing our Phoenix administration center(also laying of 100’s at their World Headquarters). He continued to tell me that the center would be closed in two weeks. My first thought was, “what will happen to my employees and then holy crap… that means me too.” I told my boss that I want to be the person that tells everyone; I wanted them to hear it from me. We went back to the center and told everyone of the news.
I was driving home and I was like “damn…..I have to tell my wife and kids that they are closing daddy’s center, that I no long have a job and we no longer have an income.” My wife handled it pretty well, but she was still freaked out because I was our only source of income. I have to tell you, that was one of the worst days of my life; I remember that day like it was yesterday. I went from a base wage of over $150k to Zero. Anger, fear, loneliness and a bunch of freaking out began. To be honest those emotions lasted for over 5 years…and even today they rear their ugly heads.
My wife Lisa is an incredible supporter. It was a really challenging time. We lost our household income, eventually our home, sense of direction and confidence. During this time we made a conscious decision that we would both work really hard at communicating with each other. This was the best thing decision we could have made. It was a very difficult time and through this time our marriage actually grew stronger. In April of 2020 we will celebrate 30 years of marriage. I am blessed that she has stuck it out with me. :)
I now had to focus on figuring out how to earn an income. No one was hiring and wages were being slashed. It was very hard to see clearly and continue to move forward. Eventually, my Lisa went back to work. I was very grateful for this, but also very conflicted. I fell into that stereotypical vision that society paints for us, that I was the man of the house; I should be the one working.
I spent three years looking for a job while I was trying to regrow the current blade business I had. It took 5 years of hard work to get to the point where I could finally deliver regular income to help support our family. We were finally moving forward financially and not backward.
Over the past 11 years, I have become a student of manufacturing and it has served my family and I very well. Yes, my dad still works for me at the age of 82. He’s an incredible teacher! How cool is it that I get to hang out with my dad everyday at our age. He is truly my 2nd best friend! (Lisa, my wife, is my number 1!)
Once my business got up and running and income was stable, I started dabbling in making candles; this was about four years ago. My kids would come to the shop with me some Saturday’s and we would spend the day making candles. They would fight over who gets to melt and stir the wax, pick the fragrance, set the wicks and pour our the hand crafted formula. All of the candles we made were either lit ourselves or given away to close family and friends. At some point, I plan to create a candle business as a side hustle…wait and see.
What did I want to accomplish?
Over the past 11 years, I have really wanted to create new and powerful experiences with the people around the world, but I have struggled to fulfill this with my existing blade manufacturing business. I needed to do a pivot to have realize this. How and what could I do to begin making this happen…..Part #2 to come…….
Jeff Barth
@JeffBarth10X (twitter)