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“When my father died when I was 7, I looked up to the wrong people as role models. What’s worse, along with that, I also had this immense want to be liked and accepted by everyone else.”
Zachary had a rough childhood. Aside from the early passing of his dad, he went with the wrong crowd and was also in and out of juvenile detention and boys homes from age nine to sixteen. When he was 17, he started committing bigger crimes and doing drugs because he didn’t have any chief aim in his life.
At 19, he went to prison for a couple of crimes and stayed there for four years. On his second year, he learned that he lost his sister to a heroin overdose. That, plus his determination to change his life, was his battle cry when we got out.
For a bright-eyed twenty-three-year-old ex-convict, he knew he would have a difficult time looking for a job. But he just pressed on. When he finally landed a sales position, he was determined to make it work. Zachary exceeded the expectations of his boss and got promoted within his first two weeks at work. To him, it felt like he was finally putting his past behind him.
Unfortunately, two days after his first promotion, he got fired for being a convicted felon. Something did not sit well with the management, they said. This crushed his spirit. For the first time, he felt like his luck was finally turning around. And then it seemed like the universe just claimed it all back after two short days.
Instead of searching for another opportunity, Zachary suffered from alcoholism and was back in prison for a DUI a few months later.
Zach woke up in a Missouri Police Department from an alcohol-induced blackout to learn he was heading back to prison. This was 20 days before his twin sons were born. To him, this was the lowest he’s ever felt, but it also pushed him to make the transformation he needed and to finally be the father his sons deserve.
Every day that he spent in jail that time was devoted into looking forward to seeing his children and that he will do everything to build a home with his wife. Every morning when he woke up, he would imagine finally having a “normal” life, be a good partner, father, and a man his community will look up to. That he could make it. That people were wrong about him. Eight months later, he got out of prison determined to make it happen.
He applied for several jobs, sent over 200 applications in two months, but no company would accept him. To some, this would feel like a total loss, but to him, it just inspired him to think smarter, and he kept his eyes peeled for better opportunities.
Due to a narrow set of options, he got into entrepreneurship. He didn’t even think it was cool to do so, he just had to. He got introduced into network marketing, and that time, he didn’t even know what it was so the word “pyramid scheme” was a stranger to him as well. When he started making $2,000 a month within the first six months of getting into entrepreneurship, it was an instant game changer.
He took that opportunity and ran with it. Although network marketing wasn’t his true calling in life, he was able to move on from it and work on his passion. And although a lot of people think that network marketing is sleazy, to him, it was his way in. It showed him that he can still do something special—something like gives him a second lease in life, be the father he should be – coming out of prison (twice). It was also his first brush with personal development.
“There was never a fire in me that burned stronger than my desire to improve myself, I wanted the same for other people,” Zachary shares.
Zachary spent the next few months working on his process, sharing his strategies with the world, speaking to stages, and helping other people pull themselves back up from any form of failure—no matter how hopeless it might seem at first.
With an incredible story, relentless spirit, and his unfettered optimism, he has gone a full 180 to how his life had been in the past. Today, Zachary Babcock helps thousands of underdog entrepreneurs with motivation, goal achievement, and starting their own business. He is also the host of the Top 200 Rated Podcast in the World (iTunes), Underdog Empowerment, where he interviews highly successful and motivated entrepreneurs and shares their best tools to get where they are. His podcast, along with his coaching programs, helps empower underdog entrepreneurs with practical tools to rise up, break free, and dominate life.
And, in the spirit of Father’s Day, he also recently learned he will welcome another daughter in his family a few months from now.
Relevant links:
https://www.zacharybabcock.com/coaching (One to one coaching application link) I coach anyone looking to get into entrepreneurship, just starting out, or any underdog business owner who is struggling with their goals and needs my expertise to advance. I teach them my simple 6 step process for goal achievement
https://www.zacharybabcock.com/goal-process (My free guide for goal achievement) plus other strategies for winning as an underdog.
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Photo Credit: Zachary Babcock