Dylan Anderson's Biography #2

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They said I should write my story, so let's see how this goes!

I was born in Phoenix, AZ in 1980, and lived a bit of the desert rat life you might expect. On the slope of then named Squaw Peak (now Piestewa), I bummed around the mountain with friends hiking, biking, waging war against the heat and each other with an impressive arsenal of water guns and balloons. Playing basketball, baseball and swimming were the only other real activities of the city.

I got an arguably too early start in the world of business thanks to my grandmother. My grandparents had moved to Phoenix not long after a little local children's TV show had started in the early 60's, and through means somewhat foggy in the mists of time, became the owner/operators of the Wallace and Ladmo drive-ins. Fast food was still a new concept in the late 50's and early 60's, but they kept at it, as well as the mobile concessions at the fairs and other events of the time. My best childhood experiences were growing up helping run the trailer until my grandmother's passing. It always seemed preferable to run my own business with all the love and adoration the public had for all things Ladmo, and that rockstar-esque influence would lead me to always want to build businesses of value and community consciousness.

At 16, fascinated with cars, planes and machines, and having learned all I could about them, I started a website in my non-school time and sold plans to build your ultimate dream. Yes, it was a business, mostly done wrong. Edison may have said he didn't fail, but found 10,000 ways not to build a lightbulb. Well, somehow, I failed spectacularly enough in my endeavor to keep my business running and meet the right people for round #2.

In college for engineering (before learning they wouldn't allow me to design cars), I transitioned to real estate and business development. Writing business plans, contracts for purchase, and all the due-diligence necessary for these endeavors taught me many more mistakes and costly side roads to avoid. If you can't be a smart man, then at least be a resillient one! At least that's the motto I often lived by in those days.

On the side through these ventures/adventures, I did also work as an employee of businesses. Often employed by clients or friends, I was an account manager, a shop mechanic and foreman, an instrument sales and repair adviser, a construction worker, and a knife store clerk. Later, in slow winters, I would also drive forklifts, work in an Amazon warehouse, drive for gig work and promotions. All over the board I know! Sometimes I wonder if my work motivations don't have a borderline personality disorder.

The next big adventure began with the 'aught's. The 2008/9's bubble burst didn't just hurt the real estate market, it made every new (cranky) client in my business consulting days more of a chore than my commissions seemed worth. So I went to the outdoors I loved as a kid. I've been certified to teach outdoor action sports like kayaking, white water rafting, wilderness survival, caving and more most of my life. It was only a matter of time before I would start an outfitter some would say.

South by Southwest Adventures grew rapidly. The early days were a lot of fun and if I could have stayed on the trail or river all day, I would probably still be doing that now. But the life of an owner is not so simple, and the growth led to more board room time, days on the phone with government entities and insurance providers, and interviewing ever more guides, drivers and instructors. I outgrew my aspirations and found myself growing stagnant again. A personal tragedy would lead to a whole new chapter in this multifaceted book of life.

A major corporation made me an offer to be an executive that I couldn't refuse. Better yet, I would be responsible for sales of a product I could believe in, and so 2018 saw my move away from self employment, as well as from the desert I knew my whole life. Sacramento welcomed me with open arms, and I set about the work hard meant to allow me to retire early.

2020
Oh no...

Yes, like so many, I found out just how completely expendable a major corporation considers even loyal, determined workers. I was one of what would become nearly the entire department to be fired thanks to Covid. I didn't like this, so here I am today, working with small businesses to compete with and take market share from the major corporations that would see us as just another commodity to be picked up or dropped as needed. Have a small business (or a big one that started small and still respects people)? Then let's work together to take on the world!