Brandon T. Adams on Why Making Connections Is Essential to Success

We have all heard these quotes:

“Nothing worth having comes easy”

 

“Dreams don’t work unless you do.”

We all know that hard work pays off. But in a world where it sometimes seems that you have to be born into fame, it is nice to hear a story proving that commitment and perseverance are more important than bloodlines.

In this article, I’m going to tell you the story of Brandon T. Adams, one of the most dedicated entrepreneurs in existence. If Brandon’s story doesn’t motivate you and prove that hard work pays off, then nothing will.

Brandon is the co-host and one of two executive producers of Ambitious Adventures, a reality television show that tells captivating stories of young entrepreneurs much like himself. But Brandon’s work goes beyond the popular TV show. He owns a stake in numerous businesses including the Young Entrepreneur Convention, Keys to the Crowd, Arctic Stick and an ice distribution company. He has served as financial advisor for several high-profile clients including the Napoleon Hill Foundation. Brandon is well known for motivating others as he travels across the country sharing stories of his successes and failures.

Fail Big and Hold On

Brandon wasn’t always as successful as he is now. In fact, he talks a lot about how many times he has failed in the past and how he has overcome those failures. “I had a big failure with the product development company and was basically broke. I was living the entrepreneur lifestyle of going month to month wondering how I was going to pay the bills,” Brandon recalls. There were even times that he thought about throwing in the towel and giving up. But the thing that sticks out most about Brandon is how he kept his nose to the grindstone even when success didn’t seem to be in the cards. After hearing Brandon’s story, I am convinced his dedication is the reason for his success.

“In the beginning, when I was trying to make money on the side, I was doing commercials, and I was doing some acting. I was making money buying and selling things. I was making money doing side gigs. I was doing whatever I had to do.”

Drop Everything for the Right Mentors

Everyone knows how important networking and building the right connections is, but Brandon took it to a whole new level in his journey. He would drop everything and spend thousands of dollars to get thirty minutes of time with someone he valued or someone he could learn from. These connections are the reason he can now charge $10,000-$25,000. “You need good people to surround yourself with. You are the average of the five people you hang out with. Seriously, the people I’ve spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to build up my connections are now just an email or call away. That is worth a lot of money. So, it’s all who you know.”

Make Commitments to Yourself

When you read about all of Brandon’s accomplishments, you probably wonder how he got started and what motivated him. I was dying to know. When I asked him where he got his spark, his answer did not disappoint. Brandon explained to me that his childhood dream was to be an amazing salesman, but he had a speech impediment. He knew that speaking was integral to great sales, so he practiced every single night in front of his mirror. He charged right past his comfort zone and spoke everywhere he could until he overcame his impediment completely.

“I had a lisp. I knew I couldn’t be great at sales one day if I couldn’t speak. People would laugh at me. So I made the commitment to myself that I was going to become a great speaker. Now I can speak in front of thousands of people. At a young age I always had this spark to become the best, and that was just one example of what I had to overcome.”

Delegation Is the Only Way to Stay Sane

Brandon likes to do things his own way. He never was one for taking orders. He likes to try new things even when his valued mentors do it differently and even when he knows he might fail. Brandon doesn’t take the easy way out, and he isn’t afraid to admit it. “Yes, I’m rebellious, and sometimes I just do what I want and just go with it. I’ve always made mistakes, and I will continue to make mistakes, but I learn from the mistakes and make pivots.”

Given that Brandon likes things done his way, you probably won’t be surprised to hear that he was once a workaholic. He told me about a time back in 2013 when he had a mental breakdown on the side of the road. For him, it was a life-changing experience that made him realize that he was working too much. He finally realized that he couldn’t do it all himself. He had become victim to the mentality that he shouldn’t delegate because “nobody could do it as good as me.” Today he has learned to delegate. He has learned that delegation is the only way you can scale your business. “You gotta get out and be the visionary and let people do the manual labor.” It can be tough to let go of the details, but trusting others to help run his businesses has been key to Brandon’s success and is a valuable lesson to us all.

What Do You Think about Most?

Before I let Brandon go, I had to ask him what piece of advice he wanted to leave with the readers. His words were powerful and certainly motivated me to adjust my mindset. “Whatever the mind conceives and believes, the mind achieves. Whatever you think about the most is what you become.” Obviously, Brandon thinks most about success because that is exactly what he has become. He reminds himself of how capable he is both physically and mentally every day by doing a warrior chant for motivation. He also reminds us to be teachable. “Whatever you want to achieve in life, find someone who has already achieved it. Follow in their footsteps and learn from them. Ask them to mentor you. Work for them for free.”

Brandon’s story reminds me of a quote by Babe Ruth .

“It is hard to beat a person who never gives up.”

Brandon refused to give in to failure. He refused to give up on his childhood dream. I hope that it has also motivated you to never give up on your dreams.