Just a few years ago, I found myself becoming bored with work. I felt like creatively I had done everything I could do in the glazing industry. I had pushed the envelope with the frameless shower market and had my work featured in a couple of magazines and catalogs. I had invented 4 tools that were being sold worldwide by the largest industry distributor. I had built a company that was seemingly self sustained without me. Now what?
I’ve always had a need to be creative. There is something inside me that requires a creative outlet and I’ve always looked for a way to feed that creative hunger. At that exact point in my life where I found myself bored, I had an opportunity to help start a company that was built on creativity. A startup that catered to sport programs and businesses alike, specifically in the area of recruiting. I already had one business running and the thought of getting another one up didn’t scare me at all. The decision was made and just like that, I was an entrepreneur again.
Within a year the new design company was doing well, operating without any debt and rapidly establishing a customer base. The glass company had began to struggle in my absence but I was adamant that the employees would manage it and things would be fine. During this time, the glass company had also been doing work on an HGTV show that had started off with a little bit of steam but had been rapidly gaining ground in ratings. I needed to be a bigger part of this if possible, not only to showcase our work but expose the glass industry for the incredible things that could be done. This escalated rapidly and before I knew it I was being featured on the show a couple times during the following season.
From the outside, everything looked amazing. There I was on the show with two people that were rapidly becoming the hottest stars on HGTV while working with some of the most exciting names in college sports coaching. What the outside world couldn’t see was an internal struggle that still plagues me to this day. There is no easy was to put this so I’ll just say it…I could not effectively keep every important person in my life happy. I was letting people down. This also included me. See, I’m the type of person that finds my happiness in pleasing those I love. When I feel like I have let them down, it hurts. I quickly learned that being an entrepreneur wasn’t as glamorous as I once thought. Not only was I letting down those around me in some facet or another but I no longer had time to feed the internal need to create.
No two days in my life are the same and every single day poses some new problem or obstacle. This is the path I wanted and it’s the path I chose. No complaints about the journey and no focusing on the destination. I’m doing my thing one day at a time.
My name is Dustin Anderson and this is my journey as an entrepreneur.
