52 Cups of Coffee: Inspiring and insightful stories for navigating life’s uncertainties (24 page)

Bo Fishback

A local coffee shop in Kansas City, Missouri

Small brewed coffee

You have more potential than you think.

Bo Fishback
was the self-proclaimed luckiest man in the world. By age 30, he had found his dream job. He worked as the president of Kauffman Labs for Enterprise Creation in Kansas City, Missouri, where his main task was allocating 100 million dollars a year to various entrepreneurial projects. It was a job that was easy to love, and one he saw himself doing for another 20 years.

Then, one Monday in February, he walked into work and announced his resignation—effective immediately.

The news came as a shock to Kauffman. It probably came as a shock to Bo as well—when he left work on Friday he had every intention of returning the following Monday. But life intervened.

At the insistence of his good friend,
Eric Koester, Bo had gone to Los Angeles, where he competed in a 54-hour Startup Weekend Event. He pitched an idea that had been rolling around the back of his mind for a while. It was a last-minute decision to compete, and the decision paid off: not only did Bo’s team win; they had attracted the attention of investors (including Ashton Kutcher), and raised nearly a million dollars overnight.

He explained this as we sat sipping coffee at the coffee shop in Kansas City, a five-minute walk from the headquarters of
Zaarly—one of the fastest-growing, most-talked about start-ups of 2012. In just seven months, they had scaled their product, assembled a dynamic team, and left a noticeable impact on cities nationwide.

* * *

Bo had always known he would start a company. When he was four years old, Bo’s father left his job at a hospital to start his own company, selling respiratory therapy supplies. When Bo was 18, his father sold his company and retired comfortably. Watching his dad run a business instilled the entrepreneurial bug in both Bo and his brother, who was also a successful entrepreneur.

However, at age 18, Bo
didn’t expect to be in the position he was in today. He’d grown up in a small Georgia town, where he drove 50 miles to and from school. By the time senior year rolled around, his top concern was finding a school outside of Georgia, where he could play basketball (he’s 6’8”), and meet girls. He ended up at Southern Methodist University, and while his basketball career was short-lived, it was where he met his wife (and now mother of their newborn baby boy).

After earning a degree in Medical Biosystems, he
went to work for a corporation that gave him a budget and said, “go start a new branch for our company.” You could say he met their expectations. By the time he left, the team he’d built had over 200 employees. He then started his own company that (in what he calls a complete stroke of luck) sold within eight months. Next, he decided to pursue an MBA and headed to Harvard Business School, where he once again rolled out a successful venture. That’s how he garnered the attention of Kauffman and landed a job helping other start-ups.

His motive for serial start-ups
was simple: “I just like to build shit.”

And he also g
ot lucky: “I’ve had so many experiences where luck was on my side, I’ve reached a point where I just assume I’ll be lucky.”

Of course, the harder you work, the luckier you get. And Bo
worked hard.

You wouldn
’t know it if you met him, though; he’s easygoing, with a propensity for fun. He’s also charismatic, optimistic, and visionary. In all honestly, after Bo took time out of his busy schedule to sit down and have a genuine conversation with me, I could have been convinced to relocate my life to Kansas City and join his team.

I wouldn
’t have been the first Michigan State kid to do it. Zaarly worked its magic on three of my closest friends (which was why I was visiting Kansas City in the first place). Bo could provide a chance to create something meaningful, and it was a hard offer to turn down.

It
was a big vision and Bo thought it was going to work. But, even if it didn’t, it would have been an incredible ride, an exciting chapter of life he could look back on as a reminder that he was willing to take a risk to create something great.

* * *

I will take a lot away from Cup 46, but what I will remember most is Bo’s optimism and vision.

Everyone
is capable of finding that once-in-a-lifetime idea or opportunity that captures their heart and changes their life (and the lives of others)—that risky idea that somehow doesn’t seem risky at all. It is an idea you can’t get off your mind, one that creates meaning and purpose.

But sadly, not everyone
knows they have this capability.

Bo sa
id he was lucky, but it took more than luck to stumble into a dream job (twice). I asked him what made him different from those who don’t find meaningful jobs.

His answer was simple:
“I surround myself with good people.”

Cup 46
is a testament to the fact that a life filled with meaning, laughter, love, and fun is possible for everyone. It takes a lot of work to make it happen, but it is possible. If you don’t believe that, surround yourself with people who do. Their contagious optimism and support will help lead you in the right direction.

Then when you find it (and don
’t settle until you do), reach out and help someone else, whether it’s being a mentor to a young college student or a co-founder for a company that starts a movement.

Or better yet, do both.

Brittany Fox

A Skype call from East Lansing, Michigan to Bangkok, Thailand

Home-brewed coffee

If you never try, you will never know what is possible
.

Brittany Fox had traveled to a lot of cool places.

However, in all of her travels, she never found a city to which she could envision herself moving. She liked Michigan, and that was where she wanted to stay.

Until
she went to Thailand.

An interest in humanitarian work led her to a summer study abroad program spent volunteering in several different countries. When Brittany arrived in
Pattaya, Thailand, she felt something she had never felt during her previous travels: a sense of connectedness. A thought from out of nowhere entered her head, “
I could live here.
”

A few years later,
she made it happen.

Brittany relayed her story to me via Skype from her apartment in Bangkok,
while preparing for a full day of work. I listened from my kitchen table in Michigan, relaxing before heading to bed. I had found her through a friend and was grateful technology made our conversation possible. The Internet connection wasn’t ideal, but it held up long enough to hear her story.

* * *

During her first visit to Thailand, Brittany was volunteering with YWAM Thailand, a center that provides help, healing, and hope for women caught in Thailand’s large prostitution industry. According to their website, Pattaya was known as Thailand’s number-one sex destination. It was home to 20,000 male, female, and child prostitutes, who attracted over one million visitors each year.

Many of the women Brittany worked with shared the same heart-breaking story—they were single mothers facing the challenge of raising their children, while taking care of their aging parents
. As the financial pressures increased, they felt powerless and saw no option other than prostitution.

YWAM work
ed to help these young women by providing them with an education and opportunities to find a job outside of prostitution. Brittany’s role was to go into bars and clubs during the day to talk with the young girls about the organization and the opportunities available. It required bold action on Brittany’s part and taught her something truly amazing.

Her preconceived notions about prostitution—the type of women involved, their morals, personalities, etc.—
were completely dispelled. Instead of meeting disreputable women, as she expected, she met smart, hardworking women trapped in a terrible situation because of financial troubles.

She listened with compassion, as one after another told the story of how they had come to prostitution
. It seemed that each story involved an “end of the rope” moment, the final straw that convinced them to accept prostitution as their only option.

Those “end of the rope” moments had stuck with Brittany
. She couldn’t stop thinking about what would be possible if an organization reached out to women during that bleakest moment to prevent them from going down a dark road.

It was a thought that stayed with her as she returned to the States to study International Relations at
Michigan State. When she returned home, the first thing she did was buy a Thai language book—she knew that as soon as she graduated, she wanted to be back in Thailand.

After graduating from college, with $300 left in her bank account, she boarded a plane for Bangkok
. She figured that would be enough money to survive for two months while she searched for a job with a non-profit or non-governmental organization in the area.

* * *

For a while Brittany, played around with the idea of starting her own business, but it was always more of a daydream than an actual desire. A few years before, her brother had bought her a tote bag crocheted with recycled plastic bags. She loved the uniqueness of the bag and often received compliments from people while she was wearing it.

Her brother was also doing humanitarian work in Tha
iland. He had fallen in love with the country when volunteering in a refugee camp after the tsunami in 2004. He knew how much Brittany liked the bag, and pointed out that it wouldn’t be hard to make one herself—in fact, it might just be a great business opportunity for her.

Brittany liked the idea, and had fun brainstorming about how she would start
a company, but that’s as far as the idea went. Brittany didn’t believe in herself enough to take the next step, to turn the idea into action. She wasn’t crafty; she had never taken a business class. She simply didn’t have the skills to make it happen. She also had school loans to pay off, which meant getting a job with a larger organization would be “the responsible thing to do.”

So she ditched the idea and jumped into a job-search. But then
, something happened. Her roommate, Panida, a Thai woman she met at Michigan State, came home with devastating news. Her supervisor had come to her in tears—she was struggling to make ends meet at her current job… and had decided to start prostituting.

She was at the end of her rope.

Brittany knew she had to do something. This was her chance to intervene before it was too late.

The idea of starting a company re-emerged
. She still wasn’t convinced it would work, but she decided to try. She bought the needed materials, found instructions online, and sewed (in her words) the world’s ugliest little bag. But it was a completed bag, and it was a start.

Panida joined Brittany in her efforts
. They approached her supervisor about the possibility of her working for their new company making bags.

The supervisor quickly said no.

Like Brittany, she didn’t believe in herself. She didn’t know how to make a bag, and she was afraid to try.

Brittany and Panida refused to give up
. They told her they would leave her the supplies and instructions, and encouraged her to give it a shot. When they returned a week later, the supervisor opened the door with a big smile on her face. She held up a completed bag with pride in her eyes—she proved to herself she could do it.

Although it was also “one of the world
’s ugliest little bags,” it was a start.

Sometimes, that
’s all you need.

With practice
, they began making beautiful bags that they sold in the United States, United Kingdom and online through Brittany’s company Thai Song. The company she thought would never work was approaching its second anniversary. And, more importantly, they employed six women who felt empowered, dignified, and confident.

* * *

At the ripe age of 24, Brittany Fox has already changed many lives. Perhaps that’s why she felt so connected to Thailand when she first arrived: it needed help and, somewhere deep inside, Brittany knew she could provide it.

Cup 47 taught me the value of testing our assumptions, instead of simply assuming an idea
won’t work.

Brittany could have stuck to the belief that her idea wouldn
’t work.

But she
didn’t.

And now
six women in Thailand are facing a much brighter future.