A sit down with Shifting Paradigms co-founder Brad Littlejohn reveals insights to leaving the world of conventional wisdom, starting up a business, and dealing with success and failure. Littlejohn pulls out all the stops in this candid interview.
Pulling into the parking lot of the restaurant two-minutes late, I see a small framed, young man, wearing a faded polo shirt and khaki shorts with worn-out tennis shoes. Atop his dirty-blonde hair of head sits a khaki baseball cap. He is talking on his cell phone. Just then my cell phone buzzes to let me know that I have voicemail waiting. It’s him. It’s the man I am going to interview about being an entrepreneur. He’s left a message telling me that he’s checked the restaurant, and since I’m not there yet, I must be late. “Thank you, Sherlock,” I thought to myself as I approached the boyish figure in front of the diner. I instinctively put my hand out and identified myself, to which he replied, “Brad Littlejohn,” with a firm handshake.
I must admit that this was not what I was expecting. Here we are about to have a meeting and this business owner is wearing something that would be more appropriate at some rowdy college bar on a Saturday night. I give him the benefit of the doubt and we get sat at a table. He orders a healthy and conservative tuna wrap with two soufflé cups of blue cheese dressing on the side. I get an unhealthy Ruben sandwich with extra cheese. We each make an obvious passing of judgment about each other’s food order as we both raise eyebrows and sigh, almost in sync. OK, time to get out the pen and paper and get this show on the road!
THE STORY BEHIND THE BUSINESS
Randy: You’ve got a startup in Central Florida. What exactly is Shifting Paradigms (SP) about?
Brad: Basically, I got tired of conventional wisdom ruling my life. You know, work 40+ hours a week, pay your bills, save what’s left over, retire at 65, and live off social security. That sort of thing. So I got together with some friends and brainstormed ideas of how we could change our lifestyle. And it hit us that very wealthy people don’t make money like the rest of us. They focused on or lived a life of passive income. They realized that if they had enough streams of income coming from a variety of sources that could cover the expenses of their lifestyle, then they wouldn’t have to work as much, or as hard, or as frequently as the majority of people out there do. Think about people with rental properties. Shifting Paradigms is basically a company invested in looking at, researching, and trying out different ways to make passive income.
Randy: Why did you need a business for that? Couldn’t you do that on your own?
Brad: Yes. But many people incorporate themselves. Just look at some of the company names out there like “John Smith, LLC.” People are doing this because they want to manage their personal finances like a business. I think it’s pretty smart. So that’s what me and my business partners did. Except we get to divide the investment costs and profits. But most importantly is that we’re looking longer term, down the road. We want to be able to establish some sort of business credit now because we know that we will be getting involved in bigger projects down the road. We want to position ourselves to take advantage of branding opportunities, have some credibility, and to make it easier for future investors or business partners to join us on new ventures. We wanted to start a formal business sooner than later.
THE PROJECTS
R: What is SP currently involved in?
B: We’re a new company, but right off the bat, before we formed an LLC (limited liability company), we had a small website that sold T-shirts with logos of our blog site, Mangrove Root Gang (MRG).
R: I see that your hat has the Mangrove Root Gang logo on it. Looks pretty cool.
B: Thanks. We actually had the blog site before we started SP as a business. Now we’re looking at writing books, investing in real estate, setting up new blog sites, and other things that will generate passive income.
R: OK. I think I understand. But can you elaborate a little more on why you needed to form a company?
B: We wanted to have a professional outlet for sharing ideas with others. Forming the LLC also gave us some protection with the name of the company. We liked the name, because we felt it represented who we are, what we’ve been through, and what we do. Every day our thinking changes about how we look at the world in terms of how it operates, how happiness is achieved, how wealth is created, and how personal growth develops. The closer we look, the more we realize things don’t have to be the way we were always taught to believe how things should be. We don’t have to work for someone else and we don’t have to retire at 65. Conventional wisdom is a real downer. Seeing things differently caused huge paradigm shifts in our mentality, hence, the name.
R: So have you left your job yet? Any money from the business? You’re a psychotherapist, correct?
B: I still work full time. I’m in a management position for a private company that provides counseling and behavioral modification services for families. The business, like I said, is still in its early stages. We’re generating revenue, just not enough to live off of yet. It’s basically going towards recouping the initial capital investments. It’s only been about two months, but the opportunities are growing and new doors are opening all the time. That’s what I like about being your own boss. It’s a sense of accomplishment and knowing that what you’re doing can really take off. For now, I’m handling most of the bookkeeping for the company, as well as overseeing the plans for current and future projects. I’m also trying to get more blogging done.
