Who is Brett Blackman?
My name is Brett Blackman and I have been an entrepreneur almost my entire life.
At 15 I started trading stocks and options, and I planned to eventually become a stock broker.
At 17, my 16 year old girlfriend became pregnant with our daughter Jillian, who is now seven. This unexpected fork in the road left me with two choices. I could go down the path that led to Wall Street, or take the path that led to a different job, marriage, and beginning my adult life as a husband and father.
I took the second path and chose to become the best husband and father that I could become.
Kyndra and I got married and we had our wonderful baby girl. With my family’s best interest at heart, I drew from my entrepreneurial spirit and started my own moving business, contracting with another company to work its overflow jobs. Kyndra, in the same spirit, started her own business packing and preparing household items for my customers before we moved them.
The moving business can be lucrative, but as it turns out there’s a lot of heavy lifting involved. So at age 20 I sold my company, my wife sold hers, and I went into the mortgage business. I’ve been blessed with many things throughout my life, including the skills to make a good living in that industry. But as an FHA loan officer, I didn’t believe in selling the high interest rate 100% mortgages that have now caused our economy so much trouble. And after three years in the mortgage industry, I realized I needed to make yet another change.
I took a few months off at the end of 2005, and by the beginning of 2006 I was again blessed with a great opportunity this time, the opportunity seemed like it was meant to be. My family had just returned from a trip to Colorado with our friends the Coles when I decided to go play in a poker tournament. While I played, the gentleman in the seat next to me started to talk about real estate, which like many business subjects, always interests me. We didn’t really get much of a chance to talk in depth though, since we were playing poker, so it was only a brief, but very noteworthy conversation. Anyway, the tournament ended (I broke even) and I went home.
When I got home, I received a phone call from a salesman who was trying to sell me real estate coaching. He had received my name because I had purchased a product 5 months earlier. After talking for a few minutes, we realized that we had just played poker together.
What were the chances I was 1 lead out of 100,000.
He asked if he could call me back later with a business proposition. That evening, Cliff Poindexter, my poker table friend, and his partner, Randy Griffin, called me back and asked if we could get together to talk in person about their idea. On that Thursday, April 6, 2006, I met with Cliff and Randy and they pitched me business proposition that I thought was great.
They only needed a $5,000 investment to get started, so I decided to go ahead and pitch in.
On May 1, 2006, our new company was created. We started as a marketing company, our business blossomed, and became a full service marketing and management firm. Reaching this successful milestone wasn’t easy. Cliff and Randy both eventually decided to go a different way, but I rolled up my sleeves and stuck with it. We continue to grow and focus on helping others manage their businesses.
I now have two beautiful daughters and a handsome son. Jillian is eight, Elizabeth is four and Malachi is was born in April of 2009. Kyndra and I truly believe that we are two of the most blessed people on Earth to have such incredible family, friends and business associates surrounding us.
My business and family mentors continue to push us to become better people. We continue to put our faith in God and He in return continues to bless us. I am proud to be an example of how God blesses someone if they remain faithful.
Success- true success can only be found when you are fulfilled, your heart is overflowing, and you choose to pour outgoing love to those around you.
Some people find their way financially, but do not always know how to deal with this kind of success. I’ve seen people close to me fall, even though they were well on their way to becoming truly successful.
This recently happened to someone I watched grow financially. They had difficulty with their personal life and their financial success crumbled before they even knew it. After thinking about the situation, I realized that I may have been able to help them better understand the power of money. Money will change a person for the good or the bad. Unfortunately, most people don’t understand its power, and it changes them for the bad.
If you are one of the people who pray for money, you are praying for the wrong thing.
Many times you may be praying for the release of your problems, which you think money will solve. In reality, money may solve some of those problems, but will also create many new and often bigger challenges.
If you desire success in your personal and financial endeavors and feel like you need some direction, I would be happy to help. Although I’m very young, I’ve had a lot of experience with money, investments and running successful businesses. I also know how money can change a person, and have found ways to humble and improve myself to keep this from happening to me.
First, your goal should be greater than money.
Although your goal may require money, reach for something non-monetary instead. My own personal goal is to create a World Wide Christian School System that works to reach lost people and develop children into our next generation of leaders. This will take hundreds of billions of dollars to do?so I have a long way to go!
Second, have a financial game plan.
Determine what you will do when you do gain capital resources so you don’t spend it all. Many people go broke because they spend more than they earn. One of the ways I have found to solve this problem is by using an automatic savings account. Once you have 3 to 6 months of your bills in savings, then you are able to invest but you’ll still need a game plan. Figure out that plan now before you reach your goal.
Third, don’t let the money go to your head.
Treat everyone with respect and try to help others achieve their goals. People will respect you more if you do. You’ll also be more fulfilled helping others than in just helping yourself. Read “How to Win Friends and Influence People” this is one of the best books on how to understand and treat people. Whatever you do, don’t forget where you came from.
I truly feel blessed to be a part of such an incredible group of people, and want to share the lessons I have learned. If you would like help handling the life changes that you may be going through, please feel free to email me at bblackman@teamcsi.info
Whatever you do, remember that a little hard work will go a long way, and more will go even farther
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