“Every good leader is a good follower and every good leader listens to their people.” Adam Bird

Often people are faced with circumstances where they have to make tough decisions that have profound effect on their lives and the lives of those around them. As our guest today, Adam Bird says, such decisions are never easy to make, having been faced with the question of whether to stay working in the military or leave to be a dad to his son. According to Adam, the ability to identify the right decision within a given time and it’s outcomes in the long term is very important not only career wise, but also in business.

Adam Bird, founder and CEO of Heroes Media Group LLC, is a seasoned, serial entrepreneur and leader in building companies, educating, training and mentoring and empowering teams to success. Bird’s career has been centered around serving America’s Community Heroes for more than a decade, including Military, Veterans, Firefighters, First Responders, Law Enforcement, Educators, Medical Professionals, and Clergy.

While he has primarily focused his attention on HMG’s media platforms, he saw an opportunity to expand into the beverage market this year. For the past two years HMG had a coffee blend called Heroes United. When he saw an opportunity to leverage these products as a way to give back, he took that opportunity to launch an entirely new business venture. HMG Beverage LLC launched in November 2020, the week of Thanksgiving. He started with five blends, and soon will be offering other beverage options, with a portion of every purchase donated to charity.

In today’s episode, Adam will talk about his journey being in the military and how his experiences have helped him in his entrepreneurial journey.

Listen in!

Social Media Links:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mradambird/

https://www.heroesmediagroup.com

https://hmgbeverage.com

https://www.facebook.com/heroesmediagrp

https://www.instagram.com/heroesmediagrp/

https://www.instagram.com/hmgbeverage

I started in the military where I joined the Army National Guard out of high school. [2:17]
I did join the National Guard and did that for about nine years and had several jobs in between that I was primarily a truck driver. [2:30]
In 2003 my unit got deployed for the initial push into Iraq and I spent some time overseas and got out of the military in 2007. [3:03]
It was it was a hard decision but the best decision I made and I absolutely loved my time with the military. [3:41]
The things that I learned gave me confidence that I could really do anything I put my mind to. [3:57]
Being in the National Guard opened up a lot of other opportunities for me where I worked with the guard for several years and also got to see the world. [5:46]
For me, being in the guard meant I got to enjoy the best of both world and nothing like the fulltime active duty. [6:32]
I’m a serial entrepreneur where I got to have my hands on a lot of different things. [7:29]
I started a company called Heroes Media Group which we are celebrating our six years under this brand. [7:44]
Prior to that I had another business that was focusing just on vets and from the response, I decided to create a company that focused on veterans. [7:52]
Three and a half years later, we decided go our separate ways and I created what is now Heroes Media Group. [8:34]
It wasn’t just focusing on Veterans, but I wanted to create a thing for community heroes as a whole and now we help people start their podcasts as well as manage for them. [8:41]
We started a publishing arm a couple years ago and so now we also do audio books and we help people publish their manuscripts into self published books as well. [9:06]
We have a transcription department that we work with a lot of clients across the country as well. [9:19]
Last year, I decided to start a beverage company because that just seemed like a really good idea at the time. [9:33]
I had a coffee blend for many years with a roaster who was good friend of mine who called me up and asked if I wanted to expand my line and now we have six different blends. [10:05]
We have also expanded into the alcohol business and now have three spirits, two Bourbons, a gin, and then we’re working on a couple other that I cannot mention right now. [10:46]
Commercial break. [11:33]
I think the biggest thing that service helped me is with my confidence and leadership as well as how to work with people from all different backgrounds. [12:41]
More importantly, it has taught me that I don’t have to be the one to get me to where I want to go, I can put people in those places that do it better than me. [13:34]
Every good leader is a good follower and every good leader listens to their people. [15:01]
As I was growing my companies I didn’t go out and get sponsors because I kind of wanted to do this on my own and for the longest time my pride did get in the way. [15:08]
I’m growing something that I want to last and I want to find the people that want to see the vision and want to be a part of that and eventually take over my job. [15:30]
I wanted to do an old prohibition brandy and we’re still working on that maybe someday. [18:49]
We just started the gin line this past January in we’ve already sold out our first 160 bottles of gin that we had and we got another 1200 that are getting ready to be bottled. [19:44]
We had a straight bourbon whiskey that we only do 100 bottles a year, very limited edition and then we have a bourbon blend that’s getting ready to come out [19:59]
Those of you that are out there that have thought about doing something and creating your own business and for some reason haven’t, take that first step. [21:14]
You’re going to fall and get hurt, bumps and bruises, but you will be happy that you took that first step. [21:33]

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