Life by Design, Not by Default - Darrah Brustein

Episode 222, Darrah Brustein

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Part 2:

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Darrah Brustein

“I’ve seen success in building businesses that support the life i want to live, are in alignment with my values, and allow me to use my gifts and skills to serve clients with whom i want to work. while these companies' core competencies vary, they all center around my core competency: connection. i love bringing people and ideas together, for the advancement of both.

in 2009, i started on my entrepreneurial journey founding equitable payments with my twin brother. we brought the unrepresented brokerage model to credit card processing to create honest and transparent options for businesses to accept credit card payments. we’ve been fortunate to grow into 38 states because of our relational approach and reliable solutions - which is not a small feat in this shady field. 

during this time, i saw a need for financial literacy education in general, but specifically for children to start early at forming positive money habits. as a writer, i wanted to help with this problem by creating a kids’ book series called finance whiz kids, which works with elementary-aged children to teach basic financial lessons through fun and engaging stories. along with the kid-friendly teachings, each book features an appendix to help adults institute the lessons into their homes with ease. as a result of this series, a career highlight was being invited to davos for the world economic forum’s annual meeting to represent about youth financial literacy.     

while growing these companies primarily through relationships, at the request of a friend for a place to go to make friends after college without getting hit on or sold to, i started network under 40. at our events, we mix business and pleasure, throwing out the conventional wisdom that says you have to change who you are to ‘be professional’. we’ve facilitated connections for over 30,000 people and currently operate in atlanta, baltimore, dc, nashville, austin, and dallas, with other cities to come. 

after inviting my online community to join me for 30 days of giving, accidentally, i founded the social movement #giveitforward, which strives to empower 1,000,000 people to give intentionally to one person in some way every day, with no strings attached.  

through my desire to continue connecting and learning while running multiple companies, the world has become my office. if i am not traveling in pursuit of my goal to visit every country, i am cuddled up with my cat watching the latest real housewives and eating dill pickles. 

i look forward to connecting, learning about your goals, and seeing how we can design the life you were meant to live!”