One Day, Two Businesses & A Ginger

The day starts at 5:30a. I need to get up and be at the gym by 6:15a so I can be at the office by 7:00a. I take a quick shower and I'm ready to go by 7:30a. I will prepare my morning meeting and my day while sitting in my office. This office is everything I've ever wanted in an office. There is a loft area built out of steel where my desk sits. There is a section of the floor that is glass. There is a wall covered in some of my favorite quotes. Another wall sports a full phone booth, a newspaper stand and one of my favorite graffiti pieces from the artist Banksy. This is the place where I can spend 80 hours a week. The good news is, I don't have to. There is an equally amazing office on the other side of the 10,000 square foot building where there is also a loft that sports two desks. One for me and one for my partner in other business.

The morning meeting for Anderson Glass starts at 8:00a promptly. We discuss the previous days business and the current days schedule. When the meeting is over I head to my office on the Anderson Glass side. I manage a few of the details of the day including the financials and then I head over the D1 Design Group office. This walk is a short one because both of my businesses are under one roof.

Anderson Glass is the family business that I own so that my dad could retire. D1 Design Group is the partnership I am co-owner of, that was established to meet a demand while helping feed my creative outlet. Most days however are spent solving problems and fixing the issues. On the Anderson Glass side, we work on the HGTV show "Fixer Upper" with two people that I've worked with and respected for over 10 years. The excitement around the show is incredible and working on the glass side can be fun and challenging. D1 Design Group caters to division sports programs, creating incredible spaces that are geared to improve recruiting. We work with some of the most exciting college sports coaches in an array of sports. How could any day be boring with this as a work load? The truth is...it never gets boring! It's overwhelming more often than not but that is what makes the entire daily process fun and exciting!

The day may end at 5:00p but that's not likely. Either way, when I get home I will be greeted by my wife, Rebekah. Together now now for over 18 years, Rebekah and I have a great relationship. She constantly reminds of how lucky I am and the truth is, I am. Also waiting for me is my middle child of 14, Hannah. Her passion is dance and she competes with her dance company year round. My 10 year old son, Holden will be in his room playing video games or outside going 100 mph. Oh add the 4 crazy rambunctious dogs to the list. My oldest, 17 year old Hayley, will come home later and tell me how wrong I am about everything which I firmly believe she thinks is her full time job.

I'll end the evening with a little binge watching of whatever show Rebekah and I are on at the time. Maybe some social media work. Then off to sleep where I will wake up and do it all over again. I might however skip the gym tomorrow. Winky face, winky face.

My Journey as an Entrepreneur

Just a few years ago, I found myself becoming bored with work.  I felt like creatively I had done everything I could do in the glazing industry.  I had pushed the envelope with the frameless shower market and had my work featured in a couple of magazines and catalogs.  I had invented 4 tools that were being sold worldwide by the largest industry distributor.  I had built a company that was seemingly self sustained without me.  Now what?

I’ve always had a need to be creative.  There is something inside me that requires a creative outlet and I’ve always looked for a way to feed that creative hunger.  At that exact point in my life where I found myself bored, I had an opportunity to help start a company that was built on creativity.  A startup that catered to sport programs and businesses alike, specifically in the area of recruiting.  I already had one business running and the thought of getting another one up didn’t scare me at all.  The decision was made and just like that, I was an entrepreneur again.

Within a year the new design company was doing well, operating without any debt and rapidly establishing a customer base.  The glass company had began to struggle in my absence but I was adamant that the employees would manage it and things would be fine.  During this time, the glass company had also been doing work on an HGTV show that had started off with a little bit of steam but had been rapidly gaining ground in ratings.  I needed to be a bigger part of this if possible, not only to showcase our work but expose the glass industry for the incredible things that could be done.  This escalated rapidly and before I knew it I was being featured on the show a couple times during the following season. 

From the outside, everything looked amazing.  There I was on the show with two people that were rapidly becoming the hottest stars on HGTV while working with some of the most exciting names in college sports coaching.  What the outside world couldn’t see was an internal struggle that still plagues me to this day.  There is no easy was to put this so I’ll just say it…I could not effectively keep every important person in my life happy.  I was letting people down.  This also included me.  See, I’m the type of person that finds my happiness in pleasing those I love.  When I feel like I have let them down, it hurts.  I quickly learned that being an entrepreneur wasn’t as glamorous as I once thought.  Not only was I letting down those around me in some facet or another but I no longer had time to feed the internal need to create.

No two days in my life are the same and every single day poses some new problem or obstacle.  This is the path I wanted and it’s the path I chose.  No complaints about the journey and no focusing on the destination.  I’m doing my thing one day at a time.

My name is Dustin Anderson and this is my journey as an entrepreneur.