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Entrepreneur Brandon Adams to host reality TV show

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Garnavillo native Brandon Adams, left, will co-host a reality TV show about entrepreneurs called Ambitious Adventures. To learn more about the show, visit their site on Kickstarter. (Photo submitted)

By Molly Moser

Clayton Ridge High School 2008 graduate Brandon Adams started small, working for his father’s ice company in Garnavillo. Now, his goal is to impact one billion lives by 2029. He’ll do it by organizing events that bring people together, through public speaking to inspire and motivate, by building relationships and by using video to tell his story and the stories of other young entrepreneurs. 

Adams’ next big project is a new reality TV series called Ambitious Adventures. He and partners Greg Rollett, an Emmy-nominated musician, best-selling author and serial entrepreneur, and Los Silva, who owns and manages a number of million-dollar businesses, will begin filming within weeks – not only in cities like L.A., but right here in the Midwest.

The show follows hosts Adams, Rollett and Silva around the country as they find the stories of the next generation of business leaders. “The goal with the show is to interview entrepreneurs making a difference and doing big things, to highlight how they’ve done it and show their communities,” Adams told The Press. “Personally, we want all the people watching this show to see all these people who had an idea and pursued it and turned it into something, to spark up an idea and get the inspiration or motivation to go and do their own business.”

Adams advocates for entrepreneurship as a vehicle toward one simple goal – living a happy, successful existence. Entrepreneurship, he says, is more than starting a business –it’s a lifestyle. “Figure out what you love to do and are passionate about, build a business around it and make money doing it. If you don’t like what you do, find your passion and pursue your own business around that, and let that be your lifestyle. I want to show people that it can be a choice for them and it’s really not that hard if you have the right resources,” said Adams. “I know we all have a gift on earth, and my thing on earth is to try to give people the keys to pursue their gift.”

The 26-year-old son of Randy and Becky Adams of Garnavillo says he’s living his happiest life. “I’m doing what I love, I’m making an impact and I’m making money doing it. That’s a fulfilled life for me,” he told The Press. “I want to share that with others.”

One way he does so is through his business Keys to the Crowd. In July of 2014, Adams raised $26,000 for his own product, the Arctic Stick, through Kickstarter. “I found out there was a need in the market to help people with crowdfunding.” Adams spent 2015 traveling the country doing interviews and collecting wisdom, then wrote a book called Keys to the Crowd. He built a team by the same name and first raised funds for an event he co-founded, the Young Entrepreneur Convention, which became Iowa’s largest entrepreneurship convention. The team gained more credibility early this year, when in 33 days it raised over $450,000 for another project. Now, he’s crowdfunding for Ambitious Adventures. 

“The one thing that’s really surreal about the show is the Emmy-award winning documentary film crew we have. Their recent Emmy was for the documentary Visioneer. I’m so grateful to be a part of this and to have the best film crew in the country filming our TV show,” Adams said. In August, the crew will film three entrepreneurs in Des Moines, as well as featuring scenes from the Iowa State Fair and the Des Moines Farmers Market to help promote the city. Other locations that have been announced include Los Angeles, Calif., and La Crosse, Wis. The show will film in five to ten cities across the country, and will be released in the spring of 2017 on Apple TV, Roku, and Amazon Prime, as well as on YouTube and Facebook. 

Although he doesn’t spend much time there, Adams has a home in Garnavillo he returns to every Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Labor Day to help his father in the ice truck. “I’ve never missed a holiday my entire life,” he says. “I enjoy it and love to talk with the customers.” Adams now owns the company his father manages, and credits his success back to the family ice business. His invention, the Arctic Stick, came as the solution to a problem he wanted to solve on a hot day in the ice truck – desiring a cold bottled beverage. 

“Arctic Stick is what led me to what I’m doing today. I believed in it so much, I stuck with it, and because of my drive and passion for it people believed in me. Through that process, I realized who I was as a person and found that I love to help people, lead, build teams and empower. It led me to a lot of connections and opportunities.” Adams advises, “Just get started and stick with something. It may not be your life story, but it may lead you to the thing that turns into your life story.”

The 2012 graduate of Iowa State University now spends his days however he likes. “Every day is different. I can decide: I can get up and work out, do meetings, do calls; I might have six hours nonstop late at night doing work or I might go the pool later today. I do things that I love, that in return make me money.”

Adams says that for millenials, this is one of the most vital times in history. “We’re in a time now where a billion dollar company can be created within 12-18 months and be destroyed even faster. With technologies changing so fast, we have to adapt a lot faster – but it’s also very promising because with our technology, it’s never been so easy to do your own thing,” he explained. “It’s our time to step up and take the lead with that because we understand it. We’re driven by community and creating awesome things… We come together and for us it’s not about the money – we have the shared vision of impacting lives and enjoying ourselves along the way.”

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