Brad’s TEDx Message Is Helping Businesses On A Global Scale
For over ten years, Brad Stevens has helped thousands of entrepreneurs, small to medium businesses, and non-profits redefine how their work gets done and scale efficiently. During that time, Brad has established himself as a leader in the entrepreneurial space, grown his virtual assistant business, Outsource Access to employ over 370 individuals, and become a global advisor and keynote speaker.
Brad is the former President of the Atlanta Global Entrepreneurs Organization and currently the EO US East Regional Director for Engagement. He’s a 4-time author in INC Magazine and a recipient of the Top 40 Most Innovative Businesses Award. Top 40 Most Innovative Businesses
While Brad’s accomplishments speak for themself, the road to success wasn’t without its difficulties. After graduating from Wharton Business School, Brad landed his first corporate job. However, right before the job started, the investment banking firm he signed with ended up going under unexpectedly. Brad knew he either needed to find another job working corporately or start something on his own. So, he decided to give entrepreneurship a try.
Brad’s Entrepreneurship Journey
Brad had always been intrigued by entrepreneurship, and with the volunteered time of his family, he started his first business, Physician Rx Assistance. This organization helped low-income senior citizens afford their medicines with mail-order partnerships and doctors committed to helping with patient assistance programs.
His company was an innovator of its day. Brad looks back on the early days of this business fondly as he recalls a makeshift home-based call center, where his mom, aunt, and grandmother answered calls and helped elderly individuals navigate patient-assistance programs.
The Discount Drug Company
Even though Brad’s business was booming, it only took one legislative change to shift an entire business model. When the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act went into effect in 2006, pharmaceuticals became more affordable.
While Brad and his family were happy about this help for senior citizens, his company was no longer in strong demand. At this point, Brad decided to partner with a new colleague he met through networking and start a nutritional supplement business.
The Nutritional Supplement Business
Brad and his partner worked with several salons, medical offices, and gyms to provide individuals with nutritional supplements and meal planning software. This was before direct-to-consumer sites like Amazon were mainstream.
As Brad tried to propel the business forward, he realized something was holding back its success. High-end service providers like spas and gyms, struggle to sell physical products off their counters. Once Brad made this realization he decided to part ways with the nutritional industry.
The Teeth Whitening Endeavor
The good news is Brad’s nutritional venture gave him several relationships with businesses in the beauty industry. So, in 2008, Brad and his partner decided to leverage their contacts to start a teeth whitening business.
2008 wasn’t an easy year to start a business, especially in the beauty industry. According to a study by Investopedia, during Brad’s startup (between December 2008 and December 2010,) about 1.8 million small businesses went under. But Brad’s perseverance pulled through.
2008 wasn’t an easy year to start a business. During the year of Brad’s startup, about 1.8 million small businesses went under.
“Launching a business in the aesthetic space, with disposable income in the middle of 2008 was a challenge. But despite those odds, we pulled through. We leveraged our contacts and worked hard to get it off the ground.”
Brad Stevens
CEO, Entrepreneur, Business Organization President, and Keynote Speaker
Brad also had to teach himself how to do supply chain on a global scale as he handled products from Asia and Europe, packaging in China, and distribution centers in various states. Yet, despite all of the newness and economic obstacles, Brad’s business expanded.
Almost Losing His Business Caused Brad’s Purpose to Shift
Several years after Brad and his partner launched their teeth whitening business they ran into a major, unexpected issue that caused a significant cash crunch. In a last attempt to help the business succeed, Brad used his global supply chain knowledge to his advantage. He utilized the help of affordable virtual staffing to save his company.
As a result of these difficulties, Brad learned something that changed his life forever: If outsourcing could help save his organization, it could redefine entrepreneurialism for others too.
If outsourcing could help save his organization, it could redefine entrepreneurialism for others too.
Brad Saw An Opportunity to Share His Story and Success
Brad’s outsourcing journey opened up his eyes to the struggle many small and mid-sized U.S. businesses face. They often need help but lack the time and monetary resources to achieve their goals.
Even though outsourcing could solve that problem, many people still viewed it negatively as something that took jobs away from local economies. However, the reality was outsourcing allowed Brad to save his business, create local jobs for his company, and scale-up simultaneously. Brad knew he had to find a way to share this with others.
So, the idea of normalizing outsourcing became a new passion of Brad’s.
The Outsourcing Company
To give back and build awareness, Brad agreed to free speaking engagements, participated in local chamber events, and even started a podcast to get his message out there. His passion and desire to “educate first” helped him gain traction; however, he still wasn’t reaching as many individuals as he wanted to. He also felt he needed additional authority to land more speaking opportunities.
Brad knew a TEDx talk would help him establish more credibility, grow his platform, and spread his message further. It was the catalyst he needed. However, Brad was splitting his time between business ventures, board meetings, and a growing family, so he knew he needed an efficient, time-saving process to land his talk. That’s when he found Thought-Leader’s TED coaching program.
How Thought-Leader Helped Brad Share His Message With the World
While Brad had given speeches before, he wasn’t sure how to write a talk specifically for the TEDx stage. He also wasn’t sure how to get event organizers to hear his message without immediately thinking it was an advertisement. Thought-Leader helped Brad tailor his message into a step-by-step process while remaining true to himself.
Thought-Leader helped me organize my thoughts into a framework for TEDx.
“Thought leader helped me organize my thoughts for TEDx, which enabled me to develop this concept of 3 risks that most small businesses face. It forced me to think about a framework to communicate a message in a way I haven’t had to do before.”
Perseverance is something that shapes Brad’s story, even during his TEDx journey with Thought-Leader. Brad submitted multiple applications before he landed his TEDx talk. Yet, Brad didn’t give up. He kept following our process, and after dozens of applications, Brad received his yes email from TEDx.
We were going on two years of applications, but you guys didn’t give up on me.
“I appreciate the tenacity Thought Leader had in helping me land this talk. We were going on two years of applications, but you guys didn’t give up. You continued to reach out and said, hey, let’s retweak the bio and the message a bit. Then, we landed the talk! I’m thankful for the consistency and structure you guys brought to the table.”
Watch Brad’s TEDx Talk!
Since Landing A Tedx Talk, Brad Has Helped Businesses All Over the World Succeed
Since recently landing his TEDx talk, Brad has gained 18,000 views and dozens of leads for his outsourcing organization. Brad uses the TEDx talk as an educational piece in his business email marketing funnel, where he’s reaching 130 to 150 new entrepreneurs and business owners each month.
As a CEO, entrepreneur, business organization president, podcast host, and speaker, everything Brad does comes from the mindset of helping small and medium-sized businesses grow and thrive. According to Brad, business owners and thought leaders often fail to realize the power they need to make an impact is within them already. He just helps them see their potential and leverage outsourcing to make their goals a reality.
“People don’t realize what they have in their head. I began this outsourcing economy to save my business, but I didn’t realize that knowledge and confidence on their own had value. People started asking me to talk about it, and before I knew it, I was building a business model where I could help other companies thrive and even boost their local economies in the process.”
Brad’s TEDx message of entrepreneurial perseverance is something we can all learn from. Brad didn’t anticipate his journey to become something that inspired others, but that didn’t stop him from sharing his experience and knowledge. Brad reminds us it’s never too late to start something new, to keep going, and find ways to help others in the process.
