David Brent (#9)

David Brent lives in Atlanta Georgia. He has owned over 8 business in his life time, and currently owns a commercial construction company. When he got off of his mission in 1990, his dad gave him $25,000 to do what ever he wanted with. His dad hoped he would use this money to enroll himself into Brigham Young University, but David had way bigger dreams. He used this $25,000 to start a construction company. The company took off, and by the age of 24 he had made a million dollars. He never looked back at his decision to skip over college and dive right into the working world.

After his first company took off, David decided to start another construction company in Phoenix, open up a gas station, start an online trading business, start a landscaping maintenance business, and owning a metal distribution building.

David's advice for me was to give your dreams 100%. If this means dropping out of school right now to begin the business of your dreams, then you should go for it. If you want to start your own doctors practice than of course school is necessary, but unless that is your entrepreneur dream then dropping out of school could be the best decision. He also mentioned the importance of networking. He said that life is all about who you know, and your connections are what are going to land you a job. Not a fancy resume.

I really enjoyed talking to David and seeing what entrepreneurship is like over on the east coast. Most of the people that I talked to were in Utah or the west coast, so I liked getting a fresh perspective from a different side of the country.

David Pestana (#8)

This month I had the opportunity to be connected with David Pestana through Jon Bradshaw. I was super excited about this connection because David is currently working in the real estate field which is what I have been leaning towards doing. David is a part time owner of EdgeCreek property management in Provo. His company acts like a professional management company and manages 1700 student housing contracts in Idaho, and 300 apartments.

David has currently finished up two projects. The first project was an expensive remodel of 72 Heritage Apartments in Rexburg. The second project was building a River Bottom office structure in Idaho. His company currently owns three office buildings, and most of the properties he manages are located in Idaho.

I also got the chance to talk with him about starting his company. He started the company in 2008 with his brother and life long friend. He was working in California at Wachovia, and just decided that he needed diversity and change and wanted to start something new. He went to school for exercise at BYU Hawaii and University of Las Vegas, but he said if he could go back he would go for something in the tech field.

Currently, EdgeCreek is the only business that David is working with, but he said that in the far future he may consider starting another company. He says he really enjoys the real estate market and will probably stick with this field. He recommended the real estate market because he said that all of the baby boomers are currently retiring, and are using real estates as retirement. He also suggested staying on the west coast if I am planning on going into real estate.

Casey Cunningham (#7)

I had the chance to interview Casey Cunningham, CEO of XINNIX. XINNIX is a company in Atlanta that is designed to sharpen seasoned veterans and produce new mortgage sales professionals. This is a privately held company that has been very successful and was founded in 2002. I talked with Casey about her previous experience that led her to her current career, and what made her realize that entrepreneurship was her calling.

Casey went to Wofford College and Georgia State University and studied marketing and business. She said that early on, she wanted to reap the benefits of hard work and not have limitations on earnings. After graduating college, she started out in straight commissions sales in order to have unlimited upside. She later decided that she wanted to be an entrepreneur after realizing that she had a service that people wanted. She said that she always felt like an entrepreneur even working for companies because she would always work as if she owned the company. This attitude caused multiple promotions for her. In 2002, she decided to turn from sales and start her own business- a mortgage academy.

When asking about her unexpected challenges that she ran into while starting her company, she mentioned market conditions, lack of quality workers available, managing cash flow, and time limitations. When asking her if she often uses her schooling experience to help her run her business, she said that she does to some degree but real life work experience has definitely been more meaningful and helpful to her. When I asked her if there is any advice she would give to her college self, she said “Work hard in school so you are getting experience and education simultaneously, realize that the future is as big as you make it, apply yourself 100%, and be involved in a leadership position on campus as this is the greatest skill you will need as a successful entrepreneur.”