Jan. 21, 2025

From Burnout to Breakthrough Seth Spears' Entrepreneurial Odyssey

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Join us on the Living the Dream podcast with Curveball as we explore the entrepreneurial journey of Seth Spears, a mission-driven entrepreneur who values purpose over profit. From his beginnings in collegiate admissions to building successful digital marketing and wellness companies, Seth shares his story of overcoming adversity and finding fulfillment through helping others. Discover insights into his ventures, including Spears Marketing, WellnessMama.com, and Rewild Gear, as well as his passion for angel investing in the health and wellness industry. Tune in for an inspiring conversation about business, personal growth, and the importance of connecting with nature.
www.sethspears.com
Want to be a guest on Living the Dream with Curveball? Send Curtis Jackson a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1628631536976x919760049303001600

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Welcome, um, to the Living the Dream podcast with Curveball. Uh, if you believe you can achieve.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Welcome to the Living the Dream with Curveball podcast, uh, a show where I interview guests that teach, motivate, and inspire.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Today I am joined by Seth Spears.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Seth is an adventurous entrepreneur who focuses on, um, helping other entrepreneurs who values mission over margin and purpose over profit. He does a lot of things. He has a lot of experience. He's done product design.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>He's an angel investor, a, uh, podcaster. He has a couple of companies. So we're going to be talking to him about everything he's up to and the method to his madness. So, Seth, thank you so much for joining me today.

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> Speaker B>Thanks, Curtis. Happy to be here.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Why don't you start off by telling everybody a little bit about yourself?

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> Speaker B>Sure. So, you know, I've been an entrepreneur for many, many years, most of my adult life, and it's been a very circuitous journey and one that I never would have expected if you would have told me. When I was in Colle College, um, where. Where should we begin? Um, you know, I. I, uh, lived in Nashville, Tennessee for several years, and I. The last real job I had was while I was there. I was working in collegiate admissions for a small liberal arts college there, and I got really burnt out on it and had problems with the administration, uh, and just we didn't get along well. And so I ended up leaving there and went out on my own doing independent consulting. That was a big leap of faith. That was the first, first real entrepreneurial venture that I had embarked in where there wasn't much of a safety net. I had a little bit of savings, but I was married. Uh, I had two children and a third child on the way, and so left that steady paycheck to go out on my own and consult.

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> Speaker B>And I was doing consulting for homeschool students that were preparing for college.

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> Speaker B>I was homeschooled my entire life, from grade school all the way through high school.

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> Speaker B>And so the first time I ever sat in a classroom was my freshman year of college. Then after I graduated and I started working for, um, this college, doing collegiate admissions counseling. Um, and then I left there I realized I had a skill set where I could help homeschool students who typically don't have that much preparation for college just because it's not in their zeitgeist. As far as the things that you need to do. Um, for example, making sure that you're prepping for the ACT and the sat, um, the classes that are best to take as far as just to get prepped for it.

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> Speaker B>And then so having that experience of being homeschooled myself and then, uh, working with students that were trying to get into college, I knew that I had a skill set that could help them with, so I started doing that. But I realized that in order to take on consulting clients, students, uh, their parents, in order to help them, I needed to market myself. And so I went about building a website and then using social media and creating content. Uh, and then what I found at starting this venture was that although this was something that a lot of these students needed and their parents needed for them, they either didn't realize how necessary it was or they didn't necessarily want to pay for it.

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> Speaker B>So I also realized that I had a skill set as far as how to market myself, how to market the business that I had started, uh, and how to build a website and use social media and create content so that people could find it when searching for it.

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> Speaker B>So I pivoted. I had several friends and family members who were starting businesses at the time and were just, you know, as a side hustle or a primary thing. And so they asked me, hey, I saw that you just built this website for yourself. Would you be interested in helping me do the same? Like, okay, sure, why not? So I went about learning and teaching myself website design and how to build a, uh, site from scratch and then marketing that and realized I really enjoyed it. And so, like, hey, this is an opportunity where I could help other business owners, other entrepreneurs to market themselves. And so I started a boutique digital marketing agency that started out just as freelance and consulting, uh, just uh, myself doing all the work. And grew into a much bigger business where I was working with a lot of local business owners and some bloggers and content creators, uh, to help them build a really solid web presence. And that was called Spears Marketing. Uh, and so we focused on website design and search engine optimization and social media marketing and all of those items that pertain to the digital realm of marketing. And I did that for several years and around the same time that I was launching that company, um, I started another kind of a side project with my now ex wife, uh, in the health and wellness space.

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> Speaker B>She was, had gone back to school to study nutrition and to learn what was going to be the healthiest things for our family. She had some health issues and she wanted to make sure that she was able to overcome those and to provide the best healthy options for our family and both the food that she was cooking and the products that we were using and Everything that we're putting on her body and in our body and just those things that are in our natural world.

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> Speaker B>And so I created a website for her to document her health journey. And I used that site as the testing ground for my paying clients, or Spears marketing. And then that website and that platform grew and grew and it started to do really well and become really successful.

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> Speaker B>And so I think it was around 2015 or so I got very burnt out on client services and just working with all of those clients that I had been focused on, just, or as the website design and SEO and social media. And so I realized I was at a crossroads. I could continue to work, work with clients, which I got fulfillment from, but I was getting burnt out on, or I could take a step back from that, and then I could go all in on building this platform that I had helped, uh, my wife at the time to create and really help a lot of people to improve their health. And so I made that choice. So I went all in on growing that platform, uh, called wellnessmommet.com and grew it into the largest health and wellness natural health and wellness website, blog and podcast for moms. And I did that for several years.

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> Speaker B>Uh, and then around 2019, we had the realization that a lot of the content that we were putting out, we had tutorials on how to make personal care products. So toothpaste and shampoo, conditioner, deodorant and all those products that everyone needs and uses every day. So we had tutorials on how you could make them yourselves in your own home. And the audience, they really loved those products, but they started getting tired of making it themselves. And so we kept hearing the request over and over, will you please just make these products and sell them so that I don't have to make them in my own home? And so when you hear that request enough times, I had the realization that this is a very good business opportunity, or sounds like it could be. So we decided to launch another company, uh, wellness. So in 2020, we launched that company and started making better for you products in the personal care space.

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> Speaker B>So oral hair and skin care.

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> Speaker B>Around that same time, the marriage started to, um, disintegrate. And we had just grown apart over the years, um, and realized that it just wasn't working. So ended up separating and divorcing and separated out the companies. Uh, and that was one of the hardest things that I've ever, ever gone through.

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> Speaker B>Um, being a father, being a husband was, uh, something that I got a lot of fulfillment from. And it, uh, was my life and so I went. I went through a really dark time of life. Very depressed. The company started not doing well, um, due to some or hires and, um, oversight of the management of it. And so I had to dig myself out of a very dark hole and went down a deep path of personal development and learning how to overcome adversity and going through that dark time of life. And so was able to crawl out of that hole and turn wellness around, um, and made a lot of personal changes.

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> Speaker B>And to fast forward to today, and the company is all doing very well. We're profitable, we're gaining new customers every day. We just had our best year ever. Again, um, this past year in 2024, um, and so things have turned around quite a bit.

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> Speaker B>So that's my story in a nutshell. And there's lots of other little pieces in there as far as some other side companies and projects that I've been involved with. Ah, some investing in the health space, uh, but played around in the outdoor industry as well, where I've got a little side project, um, called We Wild Gear, where we make sustainable, um, outdoor equipment for camping, hunting, backpacking. And so, yeah, my entrepreneurial journey has been very long and circuitous and interesting, for sure.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Okay, well, can you talk about your podcast? You also started a podcast.

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> Speaker B>Yes. So I started a podcast called, um, the Adventure Made Podcast. And that was to in support of Rewild Gear, the outdoor equipment company that I started with my three brothers. Uh, and the goal was to bring on experts in the outdoor space to talk about their favorite adventures and to be both inspirational and aspirational. Uh, because I had this realization that there's so much pollution and environmental issues and things going on in the world today that is destroying our natural world to realize we can't protect what we don't understand or love because there's a disconnect within ourselves and within the natural world. So I realized that if I could bring on experts in the outdoor space to encourage people to get outside, to spend more time in nature.

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> Speaker B>Camping, hunting, backpacking, hiking, just doing those things that we love and that can connect us to the natural world, we're going to be better people all around and want to protect those, uh, natural resources that we're starting to lose. So I started that podcast, which, uh, has been on hiatus for the past year. Um, uh, but, uh, started that to bring on experts in the outdoor space to, um, tell their stories and just encourage people to get outside to spend more time in nature.

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> Speaker B>Because from a health perspective and everything that I've Done has really been all about health and self improvement. Whether that's improving your business, improving your physical health, improving your mental and emotional health, um, the more we can do that and we can connect with nature that improves so many aspects of our life or our mental health, our emotional health, uh, because we live in such a digital age that if we can let go of that digital side or part of the time and get more analog and reconnect with family, reconnect with friends, reconnect with nature, reconnect with our bodies and who we are, that life is going to be much better, more enjoyable and more fulfilling.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, let's talk about your investment side. Uh, we, you also are an angel investor. So explain the listeners what, what that is.

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> Speaker B>Yeah, so angel investing is where instead of investing in the stock market and with publicly traded companies, you invest, uh, a set amount into a startup company. So the angel investing that I've been involved with has all been in the health and wellness space. Because to me, just investing in the stock market, it's totally out of my control. It feels like it's, it's gambling to me because I don't have any control over what happens with those companies, um, their ups and their downs. It's based on so many other factors, uh, that really are irrelevant to if I invest money or not.

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> Speaker B>So it doesn't, it doesn't feel like it's a good investment to me, even though, you know, long term it is for the most part, uh, unless there's issues that come up, but it's totally out of my control. So angel investing, especially in the health and wellness space, because I've been in that industry for so many years, well over a decade now, that I could help drive traffic and sales either through the platform that I had via email, via social media, via marketing, via the connections that I have and connecting people, uh, so that I can help drive sales, which grows the company.

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> Speaker B>And so it's a much, a much higher likelihood of a return on that, those investment dollars. So typically you don't get paid out until the company sells or goes public or, you know, there's some type of liquidity event. Although sometimes they'll pay out dividends or things like that. But to me it's a much safer way to invest and the upside potential is a lot higher. Although if you look at the industry as a whole, most angel investments fail. But to me, it's really, it's hedging my bets because I can help affect positively the sales and the growth of the company.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Yeah, well, you Definitely, you know, have done a lot and have a lot of experience over the years. You know, tell us about some of your most successful experience and you know, your worst experience.

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> Speaker B>That's a great question.

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> Speaker B>Um, the. Let's start with the worst experience or lesson that I learned. Um, okay. So many years ago, probably 2015, 2016, um, when I was growing wellness model at the health and website that I had with my ex wife, um, there was an affiliate competition. So for those people who don't know what an affiliate is, one of the ways to make money in the online space is if you, you promote someone else's products or services. So let's take Amazon.com as an example. If you sign up as an affiliate and you pull a specific tracking link to an Amazon product and then you send that to your friends or family or followers and then they click through that link and they make a purchase, then you would get a small commission. You know, it's a very minimal amount. So, but it rewards those who have influence and have eyeballs on their content so that um, it helps everyone win.

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> Speaker B>So there was an affiliate competition where we're promoting the book launch for someone in the health and wellness space.

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> Speaker B>And whoever won the competition got a larger sum of money, maybe a trip. I can't remember the specifics about what the winner got, but we got really competitive with it and started emailing, um, our list of readers and followers, um, in order to win. And then as part of it, the when someone signed up to purchase the book that was being launched, um, they were also subscribed to this author's email list. And then that person began, uh, emailing the audience quite a bit more. And it seemed almost spammy.

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> Speaker B>I mean, technically it wasn't, but it felt like it to the audience. And so we got a lot of pushback on that and a lot of unsubscribes and people began, our readers kept saying that this doesn't seem like you. It doesn't seem like it's in alignment with your values, uh, just because it's so much content, it's an overload and it seems very salesy and just not what we had hoped or expected from things that you would promote. So we retracted the email and said, hey, sorry, this wasn't a fit. Um, and here's a free ebook for your time and feel free to unsubscribe. Well, the person who is running the launch, who was conducting the, the contest to win, got very upset and said, hey, you've hurt our launch. It's costing Us a lot of money. We're not actually making, uh, what we thought we would from it and so threatened a lawsuit. And that got very, um, it was a very challenging time because there was like threats involved around, um, financial side and potential lawsuits and things like that. So it was a big learning experience that never let doing the right thing, um, or never let a competition or the desire to win or profit get in the way of doing the right thing for the audience. And we weren't doing anything unethical or immoral or legal, but it wasn't in line with the values that we had as far as the company and only promoting those things that were in the best interest of the audience. And so that was a, um, challenging lesson to learn. Uh, and then something along those lines as well.

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> Speaker B>We were going to make an acquisition for another company and the owners of the company were personal friends and it seemed like it was going to be a good fit. Um, but then there were some red flags that came up. And even though those red flags came up around the personality of the owners and what that might look like to work together, we pushed through and went ahead with the acquisition.

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> Speaker B>To make a long story short and kind of tie a bow around it, we ended up giving the company back to them. Lost the friendship and cost close to half a million dollars just with the year long process and the legality of it and just everything that was involved. And so the realization there was that there are red flags and it's not a hell yes, then don't go through with it. Even though you think it's what the other person wants and it might benefit some people if, if you don't follow your intuition and you just, you go against that, you're going to get hurt and bad things will happen. So those would be the two lessons as far as the most challenging things in business. Um, and then the most successful. Um, I'd say my favorite time in business was very early on when we did a product launch and it was just getting started in the health and wellness space and did a product launch for a meal planning service. And so we launched this product, sent it out to email lists and had no idea if it would work or not. Uh, and then just waited and like an hour later, um, so the sales started coming in and it didn't make that much in you know, comparison to like now and what launches have done and other products that I've launched and, and have put forth. Um, I think it probably made maybe $13,000.

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> Speaker B>So you know, a small amount, but it was a lot of money back then. That was to an email list of I think 6 or 7,000. But it was just so exciting realizing that we basically put this system on autopilot and it was just bringing in cash.

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> Speaker B>And so that was on my entrepreneurial journey. Uh, but it was just a very exciting time. So I'd put that up there as what I would consider my most successful, just because that was the first one of the first things that I did that just felt like it had so much potential and, uh, could grow so much more.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, tell us about any upcoming projects that you're working on that people need to be aware of.

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> Speaker B>Uh, yeah, so wellness is my primary project these days.

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> Speaker B>And so we are a B Corp certified brand of all natural oral hair and skincare products. And we focus primarily on the oral care side. Uh, we have multiple toothpastes and we use the cleanest ingredients on the market. So no fluoride, no sodium lauryl sulfate, no glycerin. We use micro hydroxyapatite, which is a naturally occurring mineral that your, the, the enamel of your teeth is made up of. So our toothpaste is both mineralizing and great for the oral microbiome. So it improves, um, everything about your mouth and your oral health. Uh, so we are launching some new products coming up here in the first quarter of this year in the oral care space. Um, I can't say too much about the what they are yet because we haven't announced them yet, but let's just say that, uh, there's going to be a couple that are going to be very good and, uh, help you to have cleaner, fresher breath and a brighter smile all day long.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Okay, what are your contact info so people can keep up with everything you're up to? Include those product launches?

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> Speaker B>Yeah. Great. So the best way to stay in touch with me, um, my website, seth spears.com where, um, I have links to all my social media and wellness.com and that's wellness with an E on the end. So W e L L N e s s e.com and I'm on all the standard social media. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, x, uh, LinkedIn, YouTube, et cetera. Close.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Um, this out with some m. Final thoughts. Maybe if that was something I forgot to talk about that you would like to touch on or any final thoughts you have for the listeners.

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> Speaker B>Yeah. You know, I think in life we're always thrown curveballs.

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> Speaker B>There's adversity that happens in everyone's life and the common denominator that all humans have is suffering. In some aspect. And so but it's not what happens to us. It's how we react to those things that that throws those curveballs that throw us that adversity. And we can choose to either get bitter or get better. And it's all about our mindsets and how we look at those things. And the more positive that we are with it, I mean, being realistic, but also working to overcome those, the better we're going to become in life. And so using those hurdles, those adversities that come up as stepping stones to a bigger and better and more enjoyable.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Life all, uh, right, ladies and gentlemen, sethspiers.com please be sure to check out his products when they come out. Check out his website and everything that he's up to.

00:24:17.362 --> 00:24:41.867
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Follow Rate Review Share this episode to as many people as possible. Jump on your favorite podcast app, check out the show, share it, review it. Follow Us if you have any guests or suggestion Topics Curtis Jackson 1978 att.net is the place to send them. Thank you for listening and supporting the show. Seth. Thank you for all that you do and thank you for joining us.

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> Speaker B>Thanks, Curtis.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>For more information on the Living the Dream podcast, visit www.djcurveball.com until next time M Stay focused on Living the Dream. Dream.